Archives for December 2019

Seventeen-Year-Old Voters in California

Election Law Society · December 30, 2019 ·

By: Maria Callahan

On January 18, 2019, California Assembly Speaker pro tempore Kevin Mullin introduced ACA 4. The bill is a resolution to propose an amendment to the Constitution of California that would authorize 17-year-olds to vote in primaries or special elections if they will be 18-years-old at the time of the general election, given they are a United States citizen and a resident of the state. Mullin, a Democrat from San Mateo County, told the New York Times that he has proposed amending the Constitution similarly twice before.

Yacht-Owners, The Kingdom Of Hawaii, And a Bill That Means Very Little

Election Law Society · December 23, 2019 ·

By: Jack Notar

Several months ago, I was hit by a sudden urge to move to Hawaii. I’d never been before, but I’d seen pictures, and my college roommate had just gotten back from a vacation there. She’d spent a month aboard a fashion mogul’s yacht, docked off the port of Honolulu, kayaking during the day, and drinking rum at night. Yacht-owners, from what I’ve been told, are almost never on the high seas. They have companies to run, politics to control, and mistresses to impress. At most, they spend a month out of the year actually using their vessels and let them sit idle the rest of the time. During this eleven-month period, yacht-owners hire out skeleton crews to keep their boats up and running. These skeleton crews are left to their own devices, so long as they’re ready at a moment’s notice to pick up the owner and his 20-40 closest friends. My roommate joined a skeleton crew and went on to have “the best month of her life.”

158,000 Ohio Voters Purged Part II: An Open Source Process

Election Law Society · December 18, 2019 ·

By: Sadie Peloquin

Following the decision in Husted v. Philip Randolph Institute, which upheld the Ohio’s supplemental removal process, Ohio purged 158,000 voters from its role due to inactivity and inaccurate registrations. However, that number could have been much higher. Secretary of State Frank LaRose originally complied a list of 235,000 voters who were eligible to be purged on September 6^th. Due to the implementation of certain exemptions and a uniquely transparent and collaborative removal process, 20% of the names on the original list were saved from the purge. Since the purge, LaRose has continued to advance further measures to improve the Ohio voter registration system, while still dealing with problems arising from this most recent removal.

158,000 Ohio Voters Purged Part I: Junk Mail Matters

Election Law Society · December 16, 2019 ·

By: Sadie Peloquin

On September 6^th of this year, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose oversaw the removal of roughly 158,000 registrations from the state’s voter roll. This purge resulted from a controversial 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, handed down in June 2018, which upheld an Ohio voter-purge law that allowed the removal of inactive voters who failed to update their registrations if they moved. Though LaRose implemented a series of removal exemptions over the past year, many voting rights activists are concerned that the purge still resulted in the mistaken removal of active voters. This blog post will cover the 2018 Supreme Court case and will be followed by another that looks at how the voter purge itself was carried out over the last year.

New York Offers Voters More Time Off Work To Vote

Election Law Society · December 11, 2019 ·

By: David Lim

After taking the Assembly last year, state Democrats have been busy. Despite its progressive reputation, New York had among the most restrictive voting laws in the nation. In particular, no other state held its state and federal primary elections on different days. Moreover, New York was one of twelve states without early voting. For voters who want to change their party, they have to change it more than a year before the election. But with control of the legislature, New York’s Democrats, Governor Cuomo included, have made significant efforts to reform New York’s election laws in the past year.