State of Elections

William & Mary Law School | Election Law Society

Election Law Symposium this Thursday!

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The William & Mary Election Law Symposium is this Thursday, March 18th.  The Symposium is titled “Back to the Drawing Board: The 2010 Census and the Politics of Redistricting” and our expert panel will be discussing various topics related to the upcoming nationwide redistricting efforts.

The panelists include:

– Trevor Potter, John McCain’s General Counsel for the 2000 and 2008 campaigns, founding President and General Counsel of the Campaign Legal Center, and member of the Washington, D.C., based firm Caplin & Drysdale.

– J. Gerald Hebert,  Executive Director and Director of Litigation at the Campaign Legal Center, and former adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center where he taught courses on voting rights, election law, and campaign finance regulation.

– Jessica Amunson, associate at the Washington, D.C., based firm Jenner & Block where she is a member of the Election Law and Redistricting practice.

The discussion will be moderated by John Hardin Young, noted election lawyer featured in the movie “Recount,” Adjunct Professor at William & Mary Law School, and member of the Advisory Committee to the William & Mary Election Law Program.

The Symposium is set for March 18 at 3:30 PM at William & Mary Law School in Room 124 with a reception to follow at 5:00 PM.  The event is free and open to the public.

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Weekly Wrap Up

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Every week, State of Elections brings you the latest news in state election law.

– The Idaho and Alaska legislatures have introduced bills to streamline the absentee voting process.

– A Mississippi proposal to require voter identification at the polls will appear on the 2011ballot.

– Election Systems and Software, the nation’s largest voting machine provider, has agreed to a settlement in an anti-trust action.  ES&S will be required to sell off assets acquired in its recent merger with Premier Election Solutions.

-The Kansas legislature is considering a change to the state constitution that would protect the voting rights of the mentally ill.

– In San Francisco, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi has proposed an amendment to the county charter that would allow same day voter registration.  If passed, the amendment would make San Francisco the first county in California to allow same day registration.

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Bye Bye Bayh, Hello Cougar

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John Cougar Mellencamp, shown here considering the ramifications of the estate tax

Senator Evan Bayh (D) of Indiana announced his retirement from Congress on the eve of the filing deadline in the Hoosier state. In Indiana, Senate candidates are required to submit 500 signatures from each of that state’s districts by the filing deadline in order to appear on the ballot. However, no Democratic candidate was able to accumulate the required signatures in the day between Bayh’s announcement and the filing deadline. Still,  Democrats will get to field a candidate. Indiana election law provides “a candidate vacancy for United States Senator or a state office shall be filled by the state committee of the political party.” This announcement leaves the Indiana Democratic Party’s executive committee in control of selecting a candidate to replace the two-term Senator.

Bayh’s retirement may have come as a shock but an even bigger shock could result from the selection of Bayh’s replacement. The current Democratic frontrunner is Congressman Brad Ellsworth, but the blogsophere is abuzz with rumors of a possible celebrity replacement for Bayh. Indiana resident and reality tv star made famous from “The Girls Next Door” Kendra Wilkinson has some grassroots support for the position. Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for the people of Indiana, Ms. Wilkinson is two years shy of the age requirement to become a US Senator.

Another celebrity who could be a more serious contender for the seat is musician John Cougar Mellencamp. The Indiana resident is an ardent champion for social change, and he made frequent forays into the political realm with appearances at campaign events during the 2008 Presidential election. When the John McCain campaign used Mellencamp’s songs “Our Country” and “Pink Houses” at events during that same election cycle, Mellencamp asked them to stop using his song because he supported the Democratic candidates. A look at the lyrics in “Our Country” demonstrates Mellencamp’s support for the poor and the common man. The song advocates:

That poverty could be just another thing
and bigotry would be
Seen only as obscene
And the ones that run this land
Help the poor and common man
This is our country.

Mellancamp is also a founding member of Farm Aid, an organization that raises awareness about the plight of the family farm.

Mellencamp would not be the first unlikely candidate to join the ranks of the Senate. Former Saturday Night Live alumni Al Franken defeated incumbent Republican Norm Coleman during the 2008 Minnesota Senate elections. Mellencamp may lack the resume of Senator Bayh, but do not count him out of the race just yet. He boasts a Facebook group, Draft John Mellencamp for Senate, with more than 5,000 supporters backing his official jump into American politics. Last month, film critic Roger Ebert tweeted, “John Mellencamp (D-Ind.) has a nice ring to it.”

Mellencamp has not issued a release about his intentions to run for Senate but with his growing online support, the Democratic Party of Indiana may want to tune their dials to a Mellencamp nomination.

Martina Mills is a student at William & Mary Law School

Link:http://stateofelections.pages.wm.edu/2010/03/10/bye-bye-bayh-hello-cougar/

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California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission: Do it Yourself Gerrymandering!

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For too long, the joys of disenfranchising minorities and gerrymandering a district into irrelevancy have been selfishly hoarded by state legislatures. But in California, a group of 14 ordinary citizens will get the opportunity to draw the lines themselves, as members of California’s first Citizens Redistricting Commission.

The Citizens Redistricting Commission was created as a result of California’s citizen initiative process. California Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization for “open and accountable government”, proposed an amendment to the California Constitution that would take the task of redistricting out of the hands of the legislature and put it directly in the hands of the people.  That proposed amendment became Proposition 11, also known as the Voter First Initiative, and was voted on by the people of California in the 2008 general election.  Despite receiving support from a number of prominent figures, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Bloomberg, Prop 11 barely passed, receiving less than 51% of the vote. [Read more…] about California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission: Do it Yourself Gerrymandering!

Weekly Wrap Up

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Every week, State of Elections brings you the latest news in election law.

– The Indiana Supreme Court heard oral arguments today regarding that state’s 2005 law requiring a photo ID at the polls.

– An Idaho bill to require a photo ID at the polls has passed that state’s House.

– Over 31,000 Californians have applied to be members of that state’s Citizen Redistricting Commission.  In 2008, California voted to transfer the responsibility of redistricting from the legislature to a citizen’s committee.  This Citizen’s Committee is unique among the states and the upcoming redistricting session will be its first test.

– A Virginia bill that would have created a bipartisan panel to prepare redistricting plans for the legislature has been shot down in a house subcommittee.  The bill was proposed by Creigh Deeds, former candidate for Virginia governor, and passed unanimously in the state senate.

– The Justice Department is investigating the merger between voting machine manufacturers Diebold and Election Systems and Software.

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