A Constitutional Right To Lie In Campaigns And Elections?,
2013
University of California, Irvine School of Law
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,
2013
Stetson University College of Law
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,
2013
Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law
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,
2013
Barry University School of Law
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 …
Procedural Fairness In Election Contests,
2013
University of Kentucky College of Law
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!,
2013
University of Kentucky College of Law
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,
2013
Harvard Law School
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,
2013
University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School of Law
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,
2013
University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School of Law
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.
Recalibrating Campaign Finance Law,
2013
Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana
Recalibrating Campaign Finance Law, Anthony Johnstone
Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings
This Essay seeks to provide a theoretical framework for conceptualizing this relationship and considering reforms. Part I traces the variation of campaign finance regimes across several political eras and several jurisdictional scales. Strikingly, although similar six-figure campaign finance scandals prompted the reforms of each era, federal lawmakers in each era have drawn progressively lower one-size-fits-all contribution limits and disclosure thresholds. Meanwhile, state campaign finance laws have been more carefully calibrated to reflect the electoral and financial circumstances of particular electoral contests. Part II considers the currently permissible means and ends of campaign finance law and how they constrain the calibration …
Are Ballot Titles Biased: Partisanship In California's Supervision Of Direct Democracy,
2013
University of Colorado Law School
Are Ballot Titles Biased: Partisanship In California's Supervision Of Direct Democracy, Christopher S. Elmendorf, Douglas M. Spencer
Publications
This study investigates whether and if so under what conditions the California attorney general (AG), who authors the ballot title and summary (label) for statewide ballot initiatives, writes ballot language that is biased rather than impartial. State law demands an impartial label, but commentators frequently complain that the AG chooses misleading language to bolster (undermine) measures that the AG or the AG's party supports (opposes). In this Article, using a convenience sample of students from several universities, we measure ordinary observers' perceptions of bias in ballot labels for initiatives dating back to 1974. Separately, we calculate an objective measure of …
Reimagining Democratic Inclusion: Asian Americans And The Voting Rights Act,
2013
University of Colorado Law School
Reimagining Democratic Inclusion: Asian Americans And The Voting Rights Act, Ming Hsu Chen, Taeku Lee
Publications
The current legal framework for protecting voting rights in the United States has been dramatically destabilized by Supreme Court decisions re-interpreting the protections against minority vote dilution and requires rethinking to survive modern challenges. At the same time, the nation has itself undergone dramatic changes in the racial composition of its polity and in the complexity and salience of race as a factor in political life. In this paper, we focus on a relatively unexamined constituent of this complex reality of modern racial diversity that illustrates some of the core features that all minority groups face in continuing VRA challenges: …
The Forgotten Amendment And Voter Identification: How The New Wave Of Voter Identification Laws Violates The Twenty-Fourth Amendment,
2013
Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University
The Forgotten Amendment And Voter Identification: How The New Wave Of Voter Identification Laws Violates The Twenty-Fourth Amendment, Brendan F. Friedman
Hofstra Law Review
The article discusses various state voter identification laws in America as of 2013, focusing on the U.S. Congress' passage of the nation's Help America Vote Act and the claim that the state voter identification laws violate the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (USC). The U.S. Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the USC are mentioned. It states that courts have upheld certain identification laws which imposed merely incidental costs.
Are Ballot Titles Biased? Partisanship In California's Supervision Of Direct Democracy,
2013
University of Connecticut School of Law
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.
First Amendment And "Foreign-Controlled" U.S. Corporations: Why Congress Ought To Affirm Domestic Subsidiaries' Corporate Political-Speech Rights,
2013
Vanderbilt University Law School
First Amendment And "Foreign-Controlled" U.S. Corporations: Why Congress Ought To Affirm Domestic Subsidiaries' Corporate Political-Speech Rights, Scott L. Friedman
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Political spending in the modern-day, prolonged election cycle continues to exceed historic proportions. With money equated to speech, whether the First Amendment entitles certain contributors to engage in this political activity remains an open question. Unlike France and Israel, which prohibit corporate contributions, and Canada and the United Kingdom, which turn to public funding for campaign finance, the United States has pushed candidates to rely on political party contributions, personal wealth, and the generosity of individuals, political action committees, and corporations. Concerns about corporate and foreign influence on politics have been especially salient during this lengthy economic downturn, as shown …
The Causal Context Of Disparate Vote Denial,
2013
St. John's University School of Law
The Causal Context Of Disparate Vote Denial, Janai S. Nelson
Faculty Publications
For nearly fifty years, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ("VRA") and its amendments have remedied racial discrimination in the electoral process with unparalleled muscularity. Modern vote denial practices that have a disparate impact on minority political participation, however, increasingly fall outside the VRA's ambit. As judicial tolerance of disparate impact claims has waned in other areas of law, the contours of Section 2, one of the VRA's most powerful provisions, have also narrowed to fit the shifting landscape. Section 2's "on account of race" standard to determine discrimination in voting has evolved from one of quasi-intent determined by a …
The First Amendment, Equal Protection, And Felon Disenfranchisement: A New Viewpoint,
2013
St. John's University School of Law
The First Amendment, Equal Protection, And Felon Disenfranchisement: A New Viewpoint, Janai S. Nelson
Faculty Publications
This Article engages the equality principles of the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause to reconsider the constitutionality of one of the last and most entrenched barriers to universal suffrage—felon disenfranchisement. A deeply racialized problem, felon disenfranchisement is additionally and independently a legislative judgment as to which citizen's ideas are worthy of inclusion in the electorate. Relying on a series of cases involving state interests in protecting the ballot and promoting its intelligent use, this Article demonstrates that felon disenfranchisement is open to attack under the Supreme Court's fundamental rights jurisprudence when it is motivated by a desire to …
The Political Morality Of Voting In Direct Democracy,
2013
Independent
The Political Morality Of Voting In Direct Democracy, Michael Serota, Ethan J. Leib
Faculty Scholarship
The voting levers in candidate elections and in direct democracy elections are identical. The political obligations that bind the citizens that pull them are not. This Essay argues that voters in direct democracy elections, unlike their counterparts in candidate elections, serve as representatives of the people and are, accordingly, bound by the ethics of political representation. Upending the traditional dichotomy between representative and direct democracy, this Essay explains why citizens voting in direct democracy are representative legislators who must vote in the public interest and must not vote in their private interests.
Voter Ignorance And Judicial Elections,
2013
University of Maine School of Law
Voter Ignorance And Judicial Elections, Dmitry Bam
Kentucky Law Journal
No abstract provided.
What Is The Value Of Participation?,
2013
Saint Louis University School of Law
What Is The Value Of Participation?, Chad Flanders
All Faculty Scholarship
In the days after the 2012 presidential election, the pictures became drearily familiar: long lines at polling places from Election Day; people waiting four, five, even six hours in order to vote.1 The causes? Not enough polling booths. Not enough election workers. Voting machines that did not work, or were too old. Early voting days that were off, then on, then off again. The results? Confusion. Frustration. What might have been an inspiring picture, had it been the first election in some recently democratized country, instead turned into an embarrassment. Even Russia-a famously dysfunctional polity-got into the act. In …
