State of Elections

William & Mary Law School | Election Law Society

Election Law Society

Unlikely Challenge: North Carolina Election Challenge Procedures and Write-In Candidates

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by Justin Moore

“You can’t beat somebody with nobody”. On Election Day 2012, President Obama was re-elected, and North Carolina elected a Republican Governor for the first time in two decades. But there were thousands of other races further down the ballot, ones that are barely noticed by the public. In one of the most competitive counties in a swing state, on the last race on the ballot, a very odd thing happened. There was an election for an office that no one ran for. This election, for Watauga County Soil and Water Supervisor, had only write-in candidates since no one officially filed to run. Of the 27,764 ballots cast in Watauga County, only 1,839 voted in the race, all write in votes.  The election was won by Chris Stevens, a college student who registered to vote in September in Watauga County. The ineligible candidate discussed by this post, Alan Teitleman, finished fifth. [Read more…] about Unlikely Challenge: North Carolina Election Challenge Procedures and Write-In Candidates

Politics and courts in Oklahoma: Recipe for Accountability? Or Corruption?

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by Grant McLoughlin

Oklahoma Judicial elections have long been afterthoughts. Oklahoma has a two tiered system for selecting judges. Voters elect local trial judges directly through a non-partisan Top Two primary. Every four years local trial judges must run for re-election. Statewide appellate judges are nominated through a nonpartisan judicial nominating commission. The commission is made up of fifteen members, six lawyers and nine non lawyers. The commission sends a list of candidates to the governor, who then appoints those individuals she thinks best to serve. Appellate judges, whether recently appointed or not, then face voters on a nonpartisan retention ballot every four years. Voters have two options: they can either keep the judge; or remove the judge, causing the nominating process to begin anew to fill the vacancy.  Prior to this system judges ran in partisan races and were forced to commit a great deal of time to campaigning and raising funds.  Since the retention system has been in place in Oklahoma, no judge has ever been removed through a vote of the people. [Read more…] about Politics and courts in Oklahoma: Recipe for Accountability? Or Corruption?

Kansas’ Secretary of State: Protecting Voter Privacy, or Politics as Usual?

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by Katherine Paige

A U.S. District Court ruling handed down Wednesday in Kansas granted disclosure of the names of provisional ballot voters to candidates in a tightly contested state house race, thereby clarifying the scope of voter privacy protection under federal law.

The ruling was issued in response to a federal lawsuit filed by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to prevent disclosure of the names.

Kobach argued that federal election law protects voters’ identities from disclosure, citing § 302(a) of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA): “Access to information about an individual provisional ballot shall be restricted to the individual who cast the ballot.” U.S. District Court Judge Marten rejected Kobach’s argument, reading the plain text of the statute to protect only disclosure of how someone voted, not the identity of the voter. [Read more…] about Kansas’ Secretary of State: Protecting Voter Privacy, or Politics as Usual?

Reject perennial ‘Etch A Sketch’ redistricting

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by Brian Cannon

Update: Brian Cannon’s letter to the Richmond Times-Dispatch is available here.

Whether Sen. John Watkins’ Martin Luther King Day surprise defies the U.S. Constitution or the federal Voting Rights Act are complicated questions. But the constitutionality of his “re-redisticting” bill might live closer to home. Consider Virginia’s state Constitution.

In Article II Section 6, the Virginia Constitution grants the legislature the authority to redraw district lines with the following passage:  “The General Assembly shall reapportion the Commonwealth into electoral districts … in the year 2011 and every ten years thereafter.  Any such decennial reapportionment law shall take effect immediately….” [Read more…] about Reject perennial ‘Etch A Sketch’ redistricting

Hurricane Sandy and Election Day in New York: What Can we Learn From Disaster?

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by Emily Lippolis

Big storms tend to bring out the Eagle Scout in all of us. Nature reminds us that we are not always in control of our access to basic necessities and our ability to move freely so we stock up and hunker down. When the storm passes, most of us end up a little better off. Now we know what our contingency plan is, we have canned goods and bottled water for the next storm, and we figure out what needs to be fixed around the house. You would think that the lessons most people learn from natural disasters would also inform our voting system, but sadly, they have not. If Sandy has taught us anything, it has been how weak our system is when it comes to overcoming disasters.  [Read more…] about Hurricane Sandy and Election Day in New York: What Can we Learn From Disaster?