State of Elections

William & Mary Law School | Election Law Society

Archives for March 2011

California says “We Draw the Lines”, but Who are “We”?

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In 2008, California voters—doing what they do best—amended their constitution to take away the responsibility of redistricting from the state legislature and give it to a “Citizens Redistricting Commission.”  That is, by and large, exactly what it sounds like: a panel of citizens who have applied to do the thankless and mind-numbing job of redistricting California’s many, many state and federal electoral districts  (it’s a bit more complicated than that, but I’ll get to the details later).  This post focuses on the question of who is getting through the process. In particular, I wonder what effect this process has on diversity, in particular the selection of the most qualified diverse applicants.

Here’s how the application and selection process works: California citizens apply, with some important restrictions.  While it is not necessary to get into the nitty-gritty details, those who have served in a paid capacity on a political campaign, held public office, or donated a certain amount of money to a political campaign within a certain amount of years from the date of application are prohibited from serving on the Commission.  In addition, applicants must have voted in two of the past three elections.  The message: be engaged, but not too engaged. [Read more…] about California says “We Draw the Lines”, but Who are “We”?

The End of Public Financing Trigger Provisions? A Review of McComish v. Bennett

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The Supreme Court on Monday heard oral argument in a case challenging provisions of Arizona’s public financing law, which it is said burden the free speech rights of opponents who don’t receive the funds.  Under the Arizona law, publicly financed candidates receive an initial grant of money with which to conduct their campaign.  Then, if an opponent who is not publicly funded spends more than the initial grant, it “triggers” the state to match what the opponent raises up to three times the initial amount.  Given the Court’s recent hostility to campaign finance regulations which are said to burden the exercise of political speech, it seems likely that the Court will reverse the Ninth Circuit and strike down at least portions of the matching funds system.  This conclusion was reinforced by the questions at oral argument, which seemed to suggest that the Justices will again vote by a 5-4 margin to restrict the ability of the government to regulate campaign finance. This post will briefly review the background of the case and look at how such a decision could effect the twenty-two other states with public financing systems and particularly those with triggering provisions. [Read more…] about The End of Public Financing Trigger Provisions? A Review of McComish v. Bennett

With Great Success Comes Great Responsibility: Virginia Bipartisan Commission Asks W&M Law Students to Assist in Redistricting Process

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Last week, a team of W&M law students enjoyed tremendous success in Virginia’s Redistricting Competition.  Because of their success in the competition, the W&M team has been asked by the Bipartisan Governor’s Commission to assist them in drawing its own maps to submit to the Virginia Assembly.   The Commission was so impressed with the W&M team’s maps that they requested at least two students from the team work with them as the Commission draws its own maps to submit to the Assembly.  The last Commission meeting is on Wednesday, so it is crunch time for the Commission to come up with a map they believe the Assembly should adopt.  W&M law students began assisting the Commission on Thursday and will continue to help until the Commission’s last meeting on Wednesday.

In addition, the W&M Law Redistricting Team has been in the press a lot lately.  See below for all of the press coverage.  Well done team!

Washington Post: College Students Compete to Redraw Virginia’s Congressional Districts

Virginia Public Radio: Redistricting Competition Maps Do ‘Something That’s Much Different’

Daily Press: College Teams Redraw Political Maps

Williamsburg Yorktown Daily: Two WM Teams Win In Redistricting Competition

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Virginia Redistricting Competition

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The Virginia Redistricting Competition announced its winners yesterday and William and Mary Law School team won the Congressional Governor/Commission division!  W&M Law also took home a second place finish for its state senate map in the Competition division!  W&M Law narratives describing decisions behind the map also received distinction from the judges, saying the W&M Law narratives “set the standard” for the competition.  Go W&M Law!!

We spent many hours staring at maps and working to draw lines that met the criteria of the competition along with what the law requires.  Focusing on compactness, contiguity, communities of interest, and equipopulation, the team’s goal was to draw lines that made logical sense.  The team was open to all students, but we ended up with only one student from Virginia.  This proved to be somewhat of an advantage in the sense of we were not aware of current partisan politics and drew lines without knowing where incumbents lived.  For a second category, the competitiveness factor was added where we attempted to make districts as politically competitive as possible, again not taking incumbency into consideration.

Overall, we achieved what we set out to do – draw maps that make logical sense, relying on redistricting case law.  Congratulations to the entire team!

The full results of the Competition are available here.

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Weekly Wrap Up

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Facebook sued over election results: Majed Moughni,a Michigan Republican who lost in the primary in 2010, is suing Facebook, claiming that he lost the election because his Facebook page was shut down. Moughni claims his page was shut down for criticizing one of his opponent’s views, but a Facebook spokesperson said it was because of suspicious behavior. Moughni had been adding 20-100 friends per day.

Kentucky judge gets 26 years for voter fraud: A former federal magistrate judge in Kentucky was sentenced to 26 years in federal prison for heading a conspiracy to control politics in Eastern Kentucky. Prosecutors say that 8,000 people were paid $50 for their vote and 150 votes were stolen from the machines.

Charlie White saga continues: The Indiana Secretary of State’s office lost two staffers this week, as the chief spokesman and the deputy secretary of state both resigned in the wake of the allegations against Charlie White. White, who is charged with seven felony counts including voter fraud, is also being investigated for abuse of power–that he improperly accessed a document shortly after taking office containing evidence against him in the voter fraud indictment.

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