Election Law Commons^™

Updating Disclosure For The New Era Of Independent Spending, Richard Briffault

Faculty Scholarship

One of the most striking developments in recent elections has been the upsurge in spending by independent committees, particularly Super PACs and 501(c) nonprofit corporations, that are not technically affiliated with specific candidates or parties but that frequently work to promote or oppose specific candidates or parties. In many elections, these committees are de facto surrogates for the candidates they are aiding. Although our disclosure laws are reasonably effective at obtaining the disclosure of the identities of donors to candidates and parties, they fail to provide effective disclosure of the identities of the donors to independent committees. The Citizens United …

Section 2 Is Dead: Long Live Section 2, Guy-Uriel Charles

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Election Law Behind A Veil Of Ignorance, Chad W. Flanders

All Faculty Scholarship

Election law struggles with the question of neutrality, not only with its possibility — can election rules truly be neutral between parties?—but also with its definition. What does it mean for election laws to be ― neutral? This Article examines one form of election law neutrality, found in what it terms ― veil of ignorance rules Such rules are formed in circumstances where neither party knows which rule will benefit its candidates in future elections.

This Article considers the existence of veil of ignorance rules in two recent election law controversies: the rule that write-in ballots must be spelled correctly …

Public Corruption Concerns And Counter-Majoritarian Democracy Definition In Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission, Daaron Kimmel

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In determining the shape of the free speech rights and anti-corruption concerns that courts must balance in campaign finance cases, judges are influenced by their own underlying understandings of what an ideal democracy should look like. For judges to decide whether the government is appropriately regulating the political process, the rules that allow all citizens to interact with and shape their democracy, judges must first decide what that democracy ought to look like. This affords judges a great deal of discretion in campaign finance cases. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is a particularly bold judicial attempt to reshape the …

No Vacancy: Why Congress Can Regulate Senate Vacancy-Filling Elections Without Amending (Or Offending) The Constitution, Zachary M. Ista

American University Law Review

There currently exists no uniform method for filling vacancies in the United States Senate, leaving the states to create and implement their own vacancy-filling procedures. As a result of recent problems under this system, such as ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich’s notorious scandal in Illinois, some in Congress have suggested a standardized method for filling Senate vacancies. However, an apparent constitutional conflict between the Elections Clause and the Seventeenth Amendment’s vacancy-filling clause presents the question of whether such standardization could be accomplished with federal legislation, or whether it would require amending the Constitution. Applying the textual, structural, and historical approaches of constitutional …

Politics In The Non-Political Branch, Justin L. Swanson

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

Across the country there exists a patchwork of legal systems by which judges are appointed retained. In some states, like Illinois, it is a fully political process where judges actively campaign for election to the bench. But a majority of states, including Nebraska, have adopted the Merit Selection System, which attempts to remove politics from these processes. Nevertheless, politics can enter into the retention votes. And when they do, it can be extremely difficult for judges to overcome.

The Impact Of Connecticut's Clean Election Law: An Empirical Quick Look, A. E. Rodriguez, Lesley A. Denardis

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

The State of Connecticut’s General Assembly passed a Clean Elections Law in 2005. In this paper we conduct a preliminary appraisal of the law’s performance based on recently published data on the voting results of the 2010 and 2008 state-wide office elections. The Clean Elections Law was considered among the most stringent in the nation at the time of its passage. It established full public financing for all elections to state offices, including the state legislature. The law applied to primaries as well as general elections. It allowed for supplemental monies in unbalanced contests pitting a privately-financed candidate against a …

Election Law And Government Ethics, Christopher R. Nolen, Jeff Palmore

University of Richmond Law Review

The last two years have produced modest "tweaks" to Virginia'selection laws. Most notably, 2011 ushered in the decennial tradition of reapportionment and redistricting. This article surveys developments in Virginia election law for 2010 and 2011 and focuses on those statutory developments that have significance or general applicability to the implementation of Virginia's election laws. Consequently, not every election-related bill approved bythe General Assembly is discussed.

Disrobing Judicial Campaign Contributions: A Case For Using The Buckley Framework To Analyze The Constitutionality Of Judicial Solicitation Bans, Aimee Ghosh

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Elected Presidency In A New Normal, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Asst Prof Eugene Tan shared his views on the outcome of the recently concluded Presidential Election and commented on the need for both the incoming President and the Government to evolve the office of the President in a manner that is in sync with Singaporeans' expectations.

What Do We Want In A Presidential Primary - An Election Law Perspective, Chad Flanders

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Although the 2008 presidential primaries were in many ways a resounding success in terms of turnout, attention, and sheer excitement, many noted the pressing need for reform. States were rushing to hold their primaries sooner than ever, giving rise to "Super-Duper Tuesday," where twenty-four states had their primaries on the same day. The Democratic nominee at one point looked like it might be decided by the votes of so-called "Superdelegates"-party regulars beholden to no one. As the Democratic nomination contest wore on, Rush Limbaugh, in "Operation Chaos," encouraged his "dittoheads" to raid the party primaries of the Democrats, tilting the …

Television May Be Game-Changer, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

To wid presidential candidates will have to secure strong support across the political divide

Is There A Truly Independent Candidate?, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Assistant Professor of Law Eugene Tan provides an analysis of the three possible presidential election candidates, the Government's role in endorsing its preferred candidate and how the presidential election campaign is likely to pan out.

Online Behavioral Advertising And Deceptive Campaign Tactics: Policy Issues, Nichole Rustin-Paschal

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Internet Voting, Security, And Privacy, Jeremy Epstein

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Campaign Disclosure, Privacy And Transparency, Deborah G. Johnson, Priscilla M. Regan, Kent Wayland

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Mrs. Mcintyre's Persona: Brining Privacy Theory To Election Law, William Mcgeveran

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Anonymity And Democratic Citizenship, James A. Gardner

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Two Challenges For Campaign Finance Disclosure After Citizens United And Doe V. Reed, Richard Briffault

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Anonymity And Democratic Citizenship, James A. Gardner

Journal Articles

Many aspects of modern democratic life are or can be performed anonymously – voting, financial contributions, petition signing, political speech and debate, communication with and lobbying of officials, and so forth. But is it desirable for citizens to perform such tasks anonymously? Anonymity frees people from social pressures associated with observation and identifiability, but does this freedom produce behavior that is democratically beneficial? What, in short, is the effect of anonymity on the behavior of democratic citizens, and how should we evaluate it?

In this paper, I attempt a first pass answer to these questions by turning to both democratic …

Key Issues That Have Not Been Addressed, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The last nine days of hustings period have provided for a most engaging electoral campaign in recent memory. There seems to be a nascent but growing political consciousness and Singaporeans are not shy to express their political inclinations and loyalties.

Post Election, Let The Healing Begin, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Assistant professor of law Eugene Tan notes in his commentary that a more complex global environment, a rapidly changing Singapore and the challenges it faces will require political parties and Singaporeans alike to mature politically so that Singapore's politics will not limit its potential as a nation.

Do Judicial Elections Facilitate Popular Constitutionalism; Can They?, Nicole Mansker, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Optical Scan Voting Machine And The 65 And Older Staten Island Voter, Matthew C. Desaro

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was signed into law with the explicit goals of: (1) creating a program by which States could utilize federal funds to replace punch card voting systems, (2) establishing the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to act as the administrator for Federal elections and provide assistance to States in the compliance with the new Federal election standards, and (3) establishing those new Federal standards for which the States would now have to abide. For New York State, the last State to conform to the new requirements and only after a court order was issued …

Voting Equality And Educational Equality: Is The Former Possible Without The Latter And Are Bilingual Ballots A Sensible Response To Education Discrimination?, Meaghan Field

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Shaping Up For A Landmark Election, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Asst Prof Eugene Tan talks about significant developments he hopes to see in the upcoming General Elections.

Arizona Free Enterprise Club's Freedom Club Pac V. Bennett, Et Al.: Brief For Amici Curiae Professors Of Constitutional And Election Law In Support Of Respondents, Ellen D. Katz

Appellate Briefs

Amici states confront significant issues of citizen confidence in both state and national governments. We wish to share our view that public financing of state elections should remain available as a tool to restore public confidence.

While specific sources of discontent vary from state to state, at the root of the problem is a sense of powerlessness among the citizenry, powerlessness in the face of large governments and other ever larger financial and business institutions. Whatever one may think of changes proposed by the Tea Party movement, its existence may be traced rather directly to the frustration of ordinary people …

Changes May Mean Slaying Sacred Cows, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Changing may means slaying sacred crows

Campaign Disclosure And Tax-Exempt Entities: A Quick Repair To The Regulatory Plumbing, Donald B. Tobin

Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that there are some quick regulatory fixes the Treasury can implement to ensure that tax-exempt organizations are operating within the rules and that aggressive tax planning is not being used as a way to obfuscate rules for political organizations requiring disclosure. The article recommends that Treasury promulgate new regulations to require disclosure by tax-exempt entities of expenditures and contributions in excess of $25,000. The article also proposes that Treasury institute procedures to require tax-exempt organizations to file for exempt status, and to provide procedures for ensuring that these organizations meet the requirements in the statute and are …

Foreword: The Impact Of Citizens United, 44 J. Marshall L. Rev. Xxiii (2011), Steven D. Schwinn

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.