All States

The ID That Gets You Discounted Movie Tickets Now Permits You To Vote

Election Law Society · February 3, 2020 ·

By: Gabrielle Vance

In November of 2018, 55% of North Carolinians voted “yes” to a constitutional requirement that voters must present a photo ID to vote in person. The Governor promptly vetoed it. Then in December, the North Carolina House of Representatives voted in favor to override the Governor ‘s veto.

The resulting law, Senate Bill 824, amends North Carolina’s state constitution to require voters to present valid photo identification. The bill offers voters several examples of acceptable forms of photo ID, such as a driver’s license, a military ID card, and select student IDs. The strict qualifying requirements for student IDs effectively prevent students at some North Carolina colleges and universities from voting in-state, as explained below. If that student then fails to vote by absentee ballot in their home state, young voter turnout could be diminished.

Who Commissions the Commissioners? The Constitutionality of Nebraska’s Appointed Election Officers

Election Law Society · January 29, 2020 ·

By: George Townsend

On September 24, 2019, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson issued an opinion in which he described the appointment of county election commissioners by the governor of the state or the board of the county as “constitutionally suspect” and suggested that, if challenged, the state’s current process for selecting commissioners could be overturned by the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Illinois Voters’ Will Thwarted: State Supreme Court Enshrines Strict Limits on Ballot Initiatives, Hampering Efforts to Solve Illinois’ Biggest Problems

Election Law Society · January 27, 2020 ·

In August of 2016, more than 563,000 Illinois voters signed a petition for a ballot initiative that many hoped would end partisan gerrymandering in the Land of Lincoln. The Illinois State Supreme Court quickly dashed those hopes when it struck down the ballot initiative as unconstitutional. The ruling affirms the Illinois constitution’s, exceptionally limited scope of potential ballot initiatives. This ruling has implications far beyond gerrymandering: this decision limits the potential for future ballot initiatives in Illinois, and thus the resolution of many of the state’s thorniest issues..

Georgia’s Voter Registration Surge: The Investigations and Lawsuits Behind the Numbers

Election Law Society · January 22, 2020 ·

By: Amber Stapleton

Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, with Georgia expected to be a key political battleground, the state has seen a record number of citizens registered to vote. In the last 11 months alone, more that 352,000 Georgia citizens have been registered to vote and the influx has boosted the state’s voter rolls to the record high of nearly 7.4 million. According to one Atlanta Journal-Constitution article which cited the publications own analysis of registered voters from November 6, 2018 to August 12, 2019, “[a]bout 47% of the new voters who identified their race are minorities and 45% are age 30 or younger.”

Election Woes in Alabama

Election Law Society · January 20, 2020 ·

By: Christopher Shepard

The Alabama Democratic Party has featured much dissension in the past year. Results of an election in August 2018 (in which Nancy Worley and Randy Kelley retained their seats as chair and vice chair, respectively) were challenged for failure of the party to comply with orders from the Democratic National Committee. Eventual bylaws were passed and rejected by the DNC. As a result, the DNC took credentials from Worley and Kelley and began withholding payments to the Alabama Democratic Party, marking the first time the DNC has withheld payments from a state party.