State of Elections

William & Mary Law School | Election Law Society

Wisconsin

Redistricting Reform Resurgence in the Badger State

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By Alex Phillips

A proposal to adopt non-partisan redistricting for state and federal elections in Wisconsin is gaining momentum. Currently Wisconsin is one of twenty-four states where the state legislature is responsible for redistricting.  As outlined in the Wisconsin Constitution, districts must be as compact as practicable and contiguous.  They are also supposed to follow municipal ward lines when possible and three Assembly districts must be nested in each Senate district. [Read more…] about Redistricting Reform Resurgence in the Badger State

No Use Crying Over Spoilt Votes: A Report on the Election Law Program’s Wisconsin War Game

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by Jacob Derr, Editor

On December 7, 2012, the Election Law Program held its third war game scenario in Neenah, Wisconsin. The war game focused on potential overvoting and the rights of Wisconsin voters to override their spoiled votes in a hypothetical governor’s race.

Carey Kleinman voted absentee several weeks before the election for governor of the state of Wisconsin, but due to a confusing error in ballot design, she accidentally voted for two gubernatorial candidates. The Republican, Democrat, and Green Party candidates were each listed on their own line, and then three other third party candidates were listed in a box next to the lines. Many voters, like Ms. Kleinman, mistakenly voted for two of these candidates–one from the box, and one from the lines. Ms. Kleinman is joined by 247 other absentee voters who believe their ballot may be spoiled.

There are two statutes in the state which pertain to accidental overvoting. The first allows a voter on Election Day “who, by accident or mistake, spoils or erroneously prepares a ballot” to “receive another, by returning the defective ballot.” Wis. Stat. §6.80(2)(c). Their initial vote is destroyed, and the re-vote is counted. On the other hand, another statute disallows absentee voters who mail or deliver a ballot to the clerk from getting another ballot from the county clerk, and they may not vote a second on Election Day. Wis. Stat. §6.86(6). All of the counties except for Stone County, where the plaintiffs reside, chose to allow absentee voters to re-cast their vote under a reading of the first statute. [Read more…] about No Use Crying Over Spoilt Votes: A Report on the Election Law Program’s Wisconsin War Game

Total Recall: Great Movie, Dangerous Political Process

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By Joe Figueroa 

Fresh off of a convincing 52-46 electoral victory, a young, dynamic politician has recently come under fire for the passage of a bill that he considers to be a hallmark of his legacy.

And it is not President Obama.

True, the parallels between Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the 44th President are noteworthy.  But unlike Mr. Obama, a quirky yet significant electoral procedure stands in the way of Governor Walker even completing his first term in office.

Following Wisconsin law, multiple public committees have been formed to gather the requisite number of voter signatures needed to hold a recall election of Governor Walker.  One of those committees has already submitted a signature petition that is estimated to have twice the amount of the 540,000 signatures needed to hold an election.

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board has yet to verify the signatures or officially call an election.  But the day is coming.  If there are a sufficient number of valid signatures, a recall election will be held in May (if only one or two candidates file) or June (if more than two file). [Read more…] about Total Recall: Great Movie, Dangerous Political Process

Two Wisconsin Voter ID Cases Demonstrate the Need for the Right to Vote in the U.S. Constitution

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by Guest Contributor Elise Helgesen of FairVote

On March 6th, the Wisconsin Circuit Court in Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP v. Walker, granted a temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing a voter ID law in the upcoming primary election. Then, on March 13, a second Circuit Court judge struck down the same voter ID law in League of Women Voters v. Walker. The courts proceeded with similar, yet differentiated, analyses of the law in finding that Act 23, Wisconsin’s 2011 voter ID law, was unconstitutional based on the Wisconsin Constitution’s affirmative right to vote – a right unfortunately not found in the U.S. Constitution.

The holdings of these two cases are important in looking to other states’ voter ID laws. For courts to hold that the right to vote is fundamental, the right to vote must be stated unequivocally in each states’ constitution, and it must be explicitly protected from legislation trying to abridge that right. FairVote supports an amendment creating an affirmative right to vote in the U.S. Constitution. If the right to vote were incorporated not only into every state constitution, but also into the U.S. Constitution, governments would have to prove that such forms of voter ID laws are necessary to a compelling state interest. To justify restrictive voter ID laws that unduly burden qualified voters’ constitutional right to take cast their ballots the legislature would need to put forth a more narrowly tailored regulation – one which did not effectively disenfranchise eligible voters.

Both courts were clear that Act 23 was unlawful; however, both were also clear that voter ID laws could be upheld under different circumstances. The court in League of Women Voters v. Walker stated that, “this court does not hold that photo ID requirements under all circumstances and in all forms are unconstitutional per se. Rather, the holding is simply that the disqualification of qualified electors from casting votes in any election where they do not timely produce photo ID’s satisfying Act 23’s requirements violates Article III, Sections 1 and 2 the Wisconsin Constitution.” Likewise, NAACP v. Walker distinguished Act 23 from other voter ID laws because Act 23 was overly restrictive and did not allow for alternative means of proving identification or of casting a provisional ballot. [Read more…] about Two Wisconsin Voter ID Cases Demonstrate the Need for the Right to Vote in the U.S. Constitution

Voter identification laws in New Hampshire: continuing the national debate

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In September 2011, New Hampshire state senators failed to override the gubernatorial veto of Senate Bill No. 129, which would have imposed identification requirements on New Hampshire voters. More specifically, the Bill would have required voters to present a valid voter identification (as specified in the Bill) on Election Day before being able to cast their ballots. For those voters without valid IDs on Election Day, the Bill granted them the ability to vote using a provisional ballot with the requirement that the voter show his or her official ID two-and-a-half days later. According to one source, the proposed law would have been “one of the most regressive voter photo ID laws in the nation,” and Governor John Lynch (D) claimed that the Bill would “create a real risk that voters would be denied their right to vote.” To support his veto, Gov. Lynch pointed to the positive state of elections in New Hampshire, specifically high voter turnout, the absence of fraud issues, and strong election laws, and he relied upon those reasons – among others – to justify not needing a strict voter identification law in New Hampshire.   [Read more…] about Voter identification laws in New Hampshire: continuing the national debate