The other candidate is lazy, soft on crime; a politician. These are the accusations blaring over Alabama airwaves, but you would be mistaken to think that 2012 White House hopefuls have begun campaigning. No, these are the television spots for Alabama Supreme Court candidates. These messages and others like them are often funded by large interest groups like the Alabama Democratic Party, and linked with the plaintiffs’ bar, the Business Council of Alabama, and groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, Alabama’s judicial elections are the most expensive in the nation, with Supreme Court candidates having raised $40.9 million from 2000-2009. [Read more…] about Voters Demand a Fair and Impartial Judiciary: NOW WHAT?!
Holiday Hiatus
State of Elections is going on a temporary hiatus for the next few weeks. Exams begin next week at William & Mary, and shortly after that we take our well-deserved winter break. We will be posting a few new articles periodically over the next few weeks, so make sure to check in every now and then. We’ll return to our normal, thrice weekly posting schedule on January 10th.
See you next year!
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I Know What You Did Last Summer: Signed a Petition in Washington
Last year, female Facebook users around the world updated their status messages with their bra color. Version 2.0 of this breast cancer awareness marketing strategy ran this year. Perhaps some things should be kept private. But what about our politics? As vast amounts of information goes digital – from individual campaign contributions to the personal communications of our officials – traditional notions of privacy are giving way to an era of sunshine in all aspects of our lives.
Enter (from stage right) Tim Eyman, a veteran ballot initiative activist in the state of Washington. If state-wide ballot initiatives create a de facto citizen legislature, then Eyman is the conservative Washington citizen’s whip. To get an idea on the ballot, initiative supporters must sign petitions, and give such information as their home addresses to verify they’re eligible to sign. [Read more…] about I Know What You Did Last Summer: Signed a Petition in Washington
Optical Scanners, Punch Cards, and Levers: New York City’s Continuing War Against the Machines
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| Photo taken at New York’s 32nd Precinct. Voters had some difficulty with New York’s new “Terminator” voting machines. |
In the fallout of the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election, the U.S. Congress and President Bush passed the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (“HAVA”) to prevent a recurrence of the voter confusion and vote invalidation that occurred in that election. Among its provisions, HAVA required states to create electronic voter registration lists, implement stricter voter identification standards, and transition to modern electronic voting machines. These changes were met with resistance from voting rights advocates and state officials; nevertheless the number of HAVA compliant localities continues to increase. New York remained among the states that did not implement key provisions of HAVA, even in the face of challenges from the U.S. Justice Department. [Read more…] about Optical Scanners, Punch Cards, and Levers: New York City’s Continuing War Against the Machines
Hotspots: Key Post-Election Disputes in the States
Keep checking back here for links to the latest state midterm election results and recount coverage
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois (Gubernatorial, House), Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri,New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington
SENATE
Joe Miller, the Republican candidate for Senate in Alaska, will probably require a hand recount of the write-in votes before he will concede the race.
Wednesday night, Democrat Scott McAdams conceded the race after only getting 23% of the vote.
Murkowski and Miller are preparing for the next round of ballot counting that will begin next week. Murkowski has set up a separate campaign account to support campaign efforts in the counting process.
Joe Miller is questioning the fairness of the process and has filed a lawsuit in federal court to prevent misspelled ballots being counted for Senator Lisa Murkowski.
The Associated Press reports that a federal court judge has denied Republican Joe Miller’s request for an injunction to stop the counting of incorrectly spelled write-in ballots.
Live coverage of the counting is being streamed online.
The Court has rejected Miller’s request to stop the recount. The count now shows Murkowski with 98% of the initial write-in vote.
Joe Miller’s prospects for victory are getting slimmer, and the lawyers are starting to leave Alaska.
Alaska election officials have completed the fifth day of counting write-in ballots. Senator Lisa Murkowski has retained 89% of write-in votes
With almost all votes counted, Senator Lisa Murkowski currently has an edge of over 2,000 votes over Republican Joe Miller. Murkowski’s total does not include the over 10,000 challenged ballots.
As counting ends, Murkowski is heading back home and is expected to declare victory soon. 8,135 ballots have been challenged, but even if all of those ballots were thrown out by the Court, Murkowski would still be ahead by more than 2,000 votes.
With all but 700 write-in votes counted, Senator Lisa Murkowski has declared victory over Republican candidate Joe Miller. The AP called the race for Murkowski Wednesday evening.
Joe Miller is asking a federal judge to stop election officials from certifying results declaring Murkowski the winner. Murkowski leads by about 10,400 votes; Miller has challenged 8,153 of the ballots counted for Murkowski.
A federal judge has granted Joe Miller (R) a temporary injunction preventing election officials from naming Senator Lisa Murkowski the winner. Miller filed his complaint on the grounds that the counting of misspelled ballots for Murkowski violates state law. Miller will now bring the issue to state court.
Attorneys for the state of Alaska have asked a judge to decide the case over contested absentee ballots by next week. The case will be heard Wednesday in state court in Juneau. Senator Lisa Murkowski is seeking to intervene in the suit. Her attorneys have said her seniority will be in jeopardy if she is not sworn in when the new Congress meets in January. [Read more…] about Hotspots: Key Post-Election Disputes in the States