Election Law Commons^™

How Young Should Voters Be?: 16-Year-Olds’ Entitlement To The Most Basic Civil Right [Part V], Vivian E. Hamilton

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Just How Young Should Voters Be? Part Iv: Assessing Adolescents’ Electoral Competence, Vivian E. Hamilton

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Just How Youthful Should Voters Be? Part Iii: Why We Need A Conception Of Electoral Competence, And Its Implications For Adults With Cognitive Impairments, Vivian E. Hamilton

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Just How Youthful Should Voters Be? Part Ii: Defining Electoral Decision-Making Competence, Vivian E. Hamilton

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

The Youth Vote Matters. But Just How Young Should Voters Be? [Part I], Vivian E. Hamilton

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Chapter 497: A Vote For Greater Participation In Elections, Danielle Lenth

McGeorge Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chapter 160: Felons Who Violate “Public Trust” Banned From Elected Office, Kevin Heitz

McGeorge Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chapter 271: Another Step In California’S Redistricting Reform, Elizabeth Smutz

McGeorge Law Review

No abstract provided.

Buying The Electorate: An Empirical Study Of The Current Campaign Finance Landscape And How The Supreme Court Erred In Not Revisiting Citizens United, William Alan Nelson Ii

Cleveland State Law Review

The Article discusses how the Supreme Court erred by summarily reversing the Montana Supreme Court’s decision in Western Tradition Partnership v. AG and not revisiting its holding in Citizens United v. FEC. The Article begins by discussing the holding in the Western Tradition Partnership case and analyzing both the majority and dissenting opinions. The Article then analyzes how the Montana Supreme Court distinguished Citizens United, with the Court specifically looking at the “unique” political history in Montana and finding that Montana’s ban on corporate independent political spending served a compelling state interest and was narrowly tailored to that interest. The …

Foreword: The State Of The Republican Form Of Government In Montana, Anthony Johnstone

Faculty Law Review Articles

This foreword to the 2012 Browning Symposium contributes to the discussion of republican forms of government in the states by situating Montana's experience in broader themes of federal intervention in state republicanism. It serves as an epilogue to match Jeff Wiltse's prologue, which reexamines the election in 1912 that gave birth to the Corrupt Practices Act by examining the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's burial of that law 100 years later.

Part I of the foreword considers the recent federal constitutional challenges that dismantled elements of the republican form of government that prevailed in Montana for the past century. …

Voter Id: Who Has Them? Who Shows Them?, Charles Stewart Iii

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

What Is The Value Of Participation?, Chad W. Flanders

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

P = E2 And Other Thoughts On What Is The Value Of Participation?, Michael J. Pitts

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Foundational Importance Of Participation: A Response To Professor Flanders, Joshua A. Douglas

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Partisanship, Politics, And The Voting Rights Act: The Curious Case Of U.S. V. Ike Brown, Donald E. Campbell

Journal Articles

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been described as the "crown jewel" of the Civil Rights Movement. The success of the Act to remove official obstacles to voting is undeniable, and the influx of African American voters into the political system changed the nature of politics in the United States at all levels. The political and cultural context has changed so greatly that in 2006, it was politically possible for the President Bush's Justice Department to bring the first claim against an African American for violating the voting rights of white citizens. This article seeks to explain how this …

Mapping A Post-Shelby County Contingency Strategy, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, Guy-Uriel E. Charles

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Professors Guy-Uriel E. Charles and Luis Fuentes-Rohwer argue that voting rights activists ought to be prepared for a future in which section 5 is not part of the landscape. If the Court strikes down section 5, an emerging ecosystem of private entities and organized interest groups of various stripes—what they call institutional intermediaries—may be willing and able to mimic the elements that made section 5 an effective regulatory device. As voting rights activists plot a post-Shelby County contingency strategy, they should both account for institutional intermediaries and think about the types of changes that could enhance the ability of these …

Blocking The Ballot: Why Florida’S New Voting Restrictions Demonstrate A Need For Continued Enforcement Of The Voting Rights Act Preclearance Requirement, Michael Ellement

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Procedural Fairness In Election Contests, Joshua A. Douglas

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Constitutional Right To Lie In Campaigns And Elections?, Richard L. Hasen

Montana Law Review

After Alvarez, the state may no longer have the power to ban or punish malicious false campaign speech, whether made by candidates or others. The result of this conclusion is that we are likely to see more false campaign speech in elections, including some brazen lies. With candidates’ pants increasingly on fire, and with the wooden noses of campaign consultants growing ever longer, the question is whether counterspeech—from opposing candidates, the media, and perhaps the government—will be enough to give voters the tools they need to make intelligent choices. I take solace in Jack Shafer’s depressing observation that most voters …

Taking Opt-In Rights Seriously: What Knox V. Seiu Could Mean For Post-Citizens United Shareholder Rights, Ciara Torres-Spelliscy

Montana Law Review

Our nation has struggled with regulating money in politics for centuries. In the normal course of events, the political branches, the 50 states, or voters choose the contours of such regulations. Knox is remarkable because it makes the Supreme Court the source of a national paycheck protection rationale, at least in the case of special assessments for public-sector unions. But Knox raises the intriguing possibility that a future Supreme Court (instead of a state legislature or Congress) could impose a shareholder consent rule. In the meantime, the onus is on state legislatures, Congress, administrative agencies, and American voters to bring …

The Separation Of Electoral Powers, Edward B. Foley

Montana Law Review

The separation of electoral powers, as outlined in this essay, is a progression in the evolution of republican political theory. Just as Madison improved upon Montesquieu, so too is it necessary for our generation to improve upon Madison in light of our experience with the Madisonian system since the founding of our federal republic. I harbor no illusions that the system described will be adopted anytime soon. Yet aspects of this system are already being put into place, as increasing numbers of democratic republics—both American states and others abroad—adopt nonpartisan institutions for different aspects of the electoral process (whether redistricting, …

The Potential For Abuse In Developer-Controlled Community Development Districts, Paul D. Asfour

Barry Law Review

The scope of this article is to discuss Florida Community Development Districts and their potential for abuse and mismanagement on the part of the developers that control them through the developer elected boards of supervisors (boards). This article will discuss the various statutes that control both the districts and their respective boards. In addition, this article will recommend changes to certain sections of those statutes to better protect the residents, who are subject to the districts’ control, from developers who put profit and personal gain above the best interests of the districts they control and the districts’ residents, who have …

Are Ballot Titles Biased? Partisanship In California's Supervision Of Direct Democracy, Douglas M. Spencer, Christopher S. Elmendorf

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Procedural Fairness In Election Contests, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article uncovers the different mechanisms states use to resolve election contests. One universal rule regarding post-election disputes is that "[t]here is no common law basis for election challenges." As the Iowa Supreme Court explained, "[t]he right to contest an election is only conferred by statute, and contestants must strictly comply with the provisions of the statute in order to confer jurisdiction. Thus, contestants are limited to the scheme provided by the legislature." An inquiry into election contests therefore entails a survey of state election statutes and constitutions. Although it is possible that parties may file in federal court and …

To Hava, And Beyond!, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Book review of Martha Kropf and David C. Kimball, Helping America Vote: The Limits of Election Reform. New York, NY: Routledge, 2012, 154 pp., $41.95 (paperback).

Keynote Address: On What Being A (Small R) Republican Means, Lawrence Lessig

Montana Law Review

This Article is an edited, annotated transcript of the Keynote Address delivered by Professor Lawrence Lessig at the Montana Law Review’s Honorable James R. Browning Symposium on Election Law, The State of the Republican Form of Government in the States: Debating Democracy’s Future, held at The University of Montana School of Law on September 27, 2012.

Ballot Design As Fail-Safe: An Ounce Of Rotation Is Worth A Pound Of Litigation, Mary Beth Beazley

Scholarly Works

For generations, some candidates have argued that first-listed candidates gain ‘‘extra’’ votes due to primacy effect, recommending ballot rotation to solve the problem. These votes, however, are generally intentional votes, accurately cast, and rotation is controversial. This article argues that rotation is appropriate because it mitigates the electoral impact of not only primacy effect, but also of two categories of miscast votes. First, rotation mitigates the impact of proximity-mistake votes, which can occur even on well-designed ballots when voters mis-vote for a candidate in proximity to their chosen candidate. Second, rotation mitigates the impact of mis-votes caused by flawed ballot …

Blacks And Voting Rights In Nevada, Rachel J. Anderson

Scholarly Works

This article is a brief foray into black suffrage and equal rights in Nevada legal history. It is part of "A Special Series on African Americans in Nevada Politics - Past and Present" on pages 16-21 of the issue. Sources are on page 21 of the issue.

South Carolina's 'Evolutionary Process', Ellen D. Katz

Articles

When Congress first enacted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965, public officials in South Carolina led the charge to scrap the new statute. Their brief to the Supreme Court of the United States described the VRA as an “unjustified” and “arbitrary” affront to the “Equality of Statehood” principle, and a “usurp[ation]” of the State’s legislative and executive functions. Not surprisingly, the Warren Court was unpersuaded and opted instead to endorse broad congressional power to craft “inventive” remedies to address systematic racial discrimination and to “shift the advantage of time and inertia from the perpetrators of evil to its victims.” …

Shelby County V. Holder: Why Section 2 Matters, Ellen D. Katz

Articles

Editor’s Note: Professor Ellen D. Katz writes and teaches about election law, civil rights and remedies, and equal protection. She and the Voting Rights Initiative at Michigan Law filed a brief as amicus curiae in Shelby County v. Holder, on which the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments February 27. Here, she examines why Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act bears consideration in the case, which involves a challenge to Section 5 of the act.