State of Elections — Page 150 — William & Mary Law School

Missouri to hold “beauty contest” primary

Election Law Society · December 8, 2011 ·

by Lindsey Gill

With less than a year until the 2012 general election, Americans everywhere are gearing up for primary season. With Iowa, as usual, holding the coveted number one spot, the rest of the 50 states will hold their primaries or caucuses sometime between January and June. Because Missouri law mandates that the state hold a primary election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in February, that sets the date for the 2012 primary as February 7^th. With only a few states holding a primary or caucus earlier, Missouri’s primary has the possibility to be very influential in the Republican nomination… well, at least it would, if any of Missouri’s votes actually counted. Instead, the state is set to spend between 6 and 8 million dollars on what Senate Majority Leader Tom Dempsey called a “beauty contest.”

The reason? A rift in the Missouri Republican Party. Nearly a decade after legislators moved Missouri’s primary to February, the Republican and Democratic National Committees instituted new primary rules mandating that all states except Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada, hold their primary no earlier than the first Tuesday of March. The Missouri Republican Party immediately began pushing state legislators to change the date of the primary in order to accord with the new rules. Holding the largest Republican majority in state history, one would think that the state legislature would pass an amendment to the primary law with little opposition. Indeed, that appeared to be the case when the legislature passed SB 282 in May of 2011, including the presidential primary provision as one of its several changes to Missouri election law.

Governor Jay Nixon, however, agreeing with the presidential primary provision, vetoed the bill for other reasons. With the national party threatening to sanction any state that did not adhere to the new primary rules by seating only half their delegates, Missouri legislators tried again during special session, limiting HB 3 specifically to the issue of changing the primary date. After barreling through the House, the bill stalled in the Senate as the Republican majority could not decide whether to submit to the national party rules. [Read more…] about Missouri to hold “beauty contest” primary

Idaho localities sue over redistricting

Election Law Society · December 7, 2011 ·

by Daniel Page

Idaho’s redistricting problems seem far from over. Several localities are less than pleased with the second redistricting commission’s adopted plan. Several Counties, county commissioners, and cities, including Twin Falls County, Teton County, and Owyhee County have collectively sued the redistricting commission and the Secretary of State. The plaintiffs are complaining because of map L87, which divides the state into 35 districts, each of which may elect two representatives and one senator. Each of these localities dislikes the way the lines were drawn because it divides the localities and combines them with other localities, diluting the plaintiffs’ votes.

In a 2002 case called Bingham County v. Idaho Commission for Reapportionment, Idaho recognized that under Brown v. Thomson, any redistricting plan with a deviation of more than 10% was prima facie violative of the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause. In that case, the Idaho Supreme Court stated: [Read more…] about Idaho localities sue over redistricting

Colorado’s super-secret ballots

Election Law Society · December 5, 2011 ·

by Wesley Moore

Colorado is currently in the midst of a heated legal dispute over whether images of local ballots should be made available for public scrutiny in an election dispute. The controversy started in 2009, when Marilyn Marks lost the Aspen city mayoral election to Mick Ireland. Marks petitioned to view images of the anonymous ballots (sometimes referred to as TIFF files), but the city denied her request.

She then filed suit in state court under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA), but the district court ruled against her. She appealed to the Colorado Court of Appeals, which reversed the lower court in September of this year, holding that the contents of the ballots should be released. [Read more…] about Colorado’s super-secret ballots

A look at election websites state by state

Election Law Society · December 1, 2011 ·

by Jim Ogorzalek

The Internet has increasingly become the main source of information for many Americans. Indeed, many errands we once accomplishedwith a car or a postage stamp are now done simply with a few clicks of the mouse. As Americans have grown more dependent upon sites such as Amazon and Netflix, it stands to reason that they are also increasingly more likely to seek out information regarding their civic duties using the Internet.

Because of this ever-growing dependence upon the Web, it is more important than ever that government institutions engage voters online. While analysts, politicians, and many others have been busy discussing online voting for years, few have taken stock of where state governments are right now when it comes to communicating with voters online. If Internet voting ever does become commonplace in the American electoral landscape, it is only logical that it would come after other necessary steps in the voting process like Internet registration and Internet absentee applications. Before any of those technological advances in the voting process, it makes sense that a state must first determine how to properly communicate information online and create logical ways to access the functionality the state already enlists. In the spirit of calls for what Heather Gerken has termed a “Democracy Index” of how well states run elections, this post attempts to survey states’ online voter information sites to assess where things stand. [Read more…] about A look at election websites state by state

Orlando’s redistricting advisory board may not please everyone

Election Law Society · November 30, 2011 ·

According to the 2010 census, the population of Orlando, FL has increased significantly over the past ten years, jumping from 185,951 in 2000 to a whopping 238,916 in 2010. This change in population has not occurred evenly over the city’s six districts, and new districts must be drawn as a remedy. This process is called redistricting.

Redistricting seeks to equalize representation in malapportioned districts. In Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims, two landmark United States Supreme Court decisions, the idea of equal representation came about through the notion of one person, one vote: “Whatever the means of accomplishment, the overriding objective must be substantial equality of population among the various districts, so that the vote of any citizen is approximately equal in weight to that of any other citizen in the State.”

In order to achieve a more even and representative portrait of Orlando, the Orlando City Council appointed a nine member board to handle the task of redistricting. In coming up with a proposed plan, the Redistricting Advisory Board also sought and received the input of many other Orlando citizens.