State of Elections

William & Mary Law School | Election Law Society

The Legislature Strikes Back: Citizen Initiatives in Washington State

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Initiative proponent/Dark Lord of the Sith Tim Eyman appears in front of the Washington Secretary of State’s Office

This past January, for the second time in two years, a bill has been filed with the Washington State legislature to amend the State Constitution, removing the provisions allowing for citizen initiatives and referendums.  If passed by the state legislature, the measure would be sent to the voters for their approval at the next general election.  Citizen initiatives are the process by which citizens and nongovernmental organizations can directly propose legislation. If the proposed legislature receives a certain number of signatures (a number equal to 8% of the voters in the previous gubernatorial election), the proposal is then voted on by the people of the state, completely bypassing the legislature. Referenda require fewer signatures, but the proposed legislation must still be voted on by the legislature.

The bill, proposed by state Senator Ken Jacobsen, would remove the entirety of Article II, Section 1 of the Washington Constitution, as well as other sections that acknowledge the initiative and referendum process.   The initiative process is constantly being challenged by lawmakers, and this bill is just the latest debate in a long battle in a number of states, mostly in the West, where the use of initiatives is common.  Proponents of citizen initiatives argue that they are vitally important to ensuring the people have a say in their own government, while opponents argue that they interfere with the functioning of the legislature and government.

The initiative process has often been seen as the purest form of direct democracy, giving the most voice to individual citizens. Tim Eyman, intuitive guru and anti-tax crusader, had harsh words for Jacobsen and his initiative, as well the sponsors of other bills that would regulate the signature-gathering and initiative-filing process. Eyman calls the bill a “legislative jihad”, and claims that Ken Jacobson “is the most honest elected official on this issue. He’s openly pushing to take our rights away from us. The sponsors of the other anti-initiative bills…hide their opposition and seek to impose unneeded, costly requirements on citizens so as to effectively repeal the initiative process with a stealth “regulate to death” strategy.” [Read more…] about The Legislature Strikes Back: Citizen Initiatives in Washington State

Weekly Wrap Up

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

– The Alabama House is considering a bill that would require voters to present a photo ID before voting.

– According to a Washington Post – ABC  poll, 80% of Americans oppose the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United.  65% say they strongly oppose the ruling.

– Project Vote and Advancement Project,  two voter protection organizations, have filed a lawsuit against Virginia election officials for failing to provide access to rejected voter registration applications.  The organizations heard reports about unusually large numbers of rejected voter registration applications from Norfolk State University, a historically black college, and asked to review those applications to determine if qualified voters were being unlawfully rejected.  A Virginia law prohibits the disclosure of those records, and so the state refused to disclose the registration applications.  Project Vote and the Advancement Project believe that the Virginia law is a violation of the National Voter Registration Act.

– Hans A. von Spakovsky has posted an editorial discussing the recent redistricting lawsuit in Texas.   For a brief summary of the lawsuit, see our previous Weekly Wrap Up.

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Election Law Society Symposium!

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Every year, the William & Mary Election Law Society holds a Symposium to discuss a pressing election law issue.  This year is no different.  The Election Law Society is proud to announce its fourth annual Election Law Symposium, “Back to the Drawing Board: The 2010 Census and the Politics of Redistricting.”  Here’s the official blurb:

Symposium

Speakers at previous Election Law Symposiums have included Robert Bauer, President Obama’s personal attorney, longtime chief election lawyer for the Democratic Party, and current White House Counsel; Benjamin Ginsberg, previously chief counsel for the Bush-Cheney Presidential Campaigns and current partner at Patton Boggs LLP; Michael Toner, former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission and current head of the Election Law and Government Ethics Practice at Bryan Cave LLP, and numerous other distinguished speakers.

If you’re interested in coming or have questions you’d like asked to the panelists, please email us for more information at editor@stateofelections.com

http://stateofelections.pages.wm.edu/2010/02/17/election-law-society-symposium/

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Redistricting Reform Part 4

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Let’s make some sausage, the first half

When we last saw our intrepid hero…. He was explaining why redistricting by partisan actors is  a bad thing. It’s been about a month, so it may be worthwhile to go back and read the last few in the series.

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The magic answer to redistricting

So you’ve decided you’re going to change the world and fix redistricting. Great! Now let’s talk about how. How, you ask? Yeah, how. It’s not like you’ve got the magic answer to the problem. Unless you’re smarter than, well, everyone, you have to make a lot of difficult decisions when you’re trying to reform an integral (constitutional!) part of the government.

This piece will outline the first half of decisions you have to make along the way as you develop a reform proposal. This may not be entirely applicable to every place in the country, but it’s what we went through in Virginia. [Read more…] about Redistricting Reform Part 4

Weekly Wrap Up

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

– The Kentucky House has voted overwhelmingly to pass a proposed constitutional amendment that would restore felon voting rights in that state. Currently, the governor must approve the restoration of voting rights, but the proposal would automatically restore voting privileges upon the completion of their sentence.

– In Texas, a lawsuit has been filed over the creation of new city council districts.  The new districts were created without distinguishing between voting citizens and non-citizens, so according to the plaintiffs, there are wide disparities in the number of voting age citizens from district to district.  They claim the new districts, due to this disparity, are a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause

– The Hawaiian legislature has struck down two bills that would have significantly changed how elections are conducted in that state. Hawaiian elections are overseen by an appointed chief elections officer and the office of elections, but given the recent problems in that state, the legislature is looking for new ways to handle elections. The bills would have put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to create a new office of Secretary of State to oversee elections.

– The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that state election codes do not automatically pre-empt local laws.  The controversy began when voters in Florida’s Sarasota County approved a proposal that banned touch screen voting machines.  The state government banned touch screen machines some time later, but the state questioned the constitutionality of the Sarasota County proposal, claiming that state election codes trumped local legislation.  The Court rejected this argument, and upheld the right of local officials to take steps to ensure the accuracy of elections.

– Adam Fogel at Fairvote has written this article about the growing controversy over universal voter registration.

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