State of Elections

William & Mary Law School | Election Law Society

Weekly Wrap Up

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– The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United has been released, and it’s a doorstopper.  Weighing in at over 180 pages, the decision gives corporations, unions, and non-profits more power to spend freely in federal elections.  Of course, Citizens United has sparked quite a bit of controversy.  Rick Hasen, a leading election law scholar and member of the William and Mary Election Law Program Advisory Board,  posted a scathing critique of the opinion on Slate, and an examination of the possible future of campaign finance on the Huffington Post.  Ironically, Hasen’s book was cited in the majority opinion.

– Senator Chuck Schumer  is rumored to be working on a “universal voter registration” bill.   Originally, rumors had pegged Barney Frank as the author of the bill, sparking a mild controversy on the Hill and a fierce denial by Frank.   The possibly fictional bill would automatically register millions of people to vote.

– State of Elections has published several articles about felon disenfranchisement over the past few weeks, all of which have supported the restoration of felon voting rights.  In the interest of balance, here’s an editorial opposing the restoration of felon voting rights, written by Hans A. Von Spakovsky and John Park and published in the Richmond Times Dispatch.

– State of Elections is working on a new article, possibly a series of articles, about voting machines.  Specifically, we will be looking at New York City’s recent decision to replace its old lever operated machines with modern electronic voting machines.  If you have any information about NYC’s process for selecting a company to provide its machines, or any special knowledge about voting machines in general, please contact us at editor@stateofelections.com.

http://stateofelections.pages.wm.edu/2010/01/22/weekly-wrap-up-8/

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State of Elections Welcomes First Editor in Chief

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State of Elections and the Election Law Society of William & Mary are thrilled to announce it’s first Editor-in-Chief, Anthony Balady.  A first year law student born and raised in New Jersey, Anthony has a degree in political science with a minor in writing and rhetoric from James Madison University.  While we have a team of great editors on our blog, Anthony has emerged as a leader who will roll up his sleeves and leaves draft blog posts bleeding with red ink.

Reaction to this historic move for our blog was widely positive.  When reached for comment, President Obama said it was “the best news we’ve had all week.”

Aware of Mr. Balady’s brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, Senator-elect Brown (R-MA) issued a statement nominating Anthony for Cosmo’s 2010 “America’s Sexiest Man.” It’s worth noting that when Cosmo comes calling, both men will have won the award while in law school, but only one will have had the privilege of leading the best student-run election law blog in the country.

For our readers wondering what type of political background Anthony has, we asked him a few basic questions.  His first political memory?  Clinton’s Lewinsky scandal.  The first campaign that got him into politics?  McCain in 2000:  “That was the first time I realized that politics wasn’t just an entertaining sideshow, it had a real impact on real people,” the new chief said.  Though he was quick to point out that McCain 2008 didn’t inspire the same feelings.  In 2008, Anthony was pulling for Stephen Colbert.  Seems like all of his candidates run into trouble in South Carolina.

Please join our blog family and the national, bi-partisan enthusiasm and welcome Anthony with an email at editor@stateofelections.com.

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Online Voter Registration: A Small Step in the Right Direction

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Lawmakers in the Michigan House recently passed HB 4539 and 4540, which together lay out the principles to allow for the electronic submission of voter registration applications. The change would allow for citizens with access to the Internet to register online by filling out a form similar to the paper form, and signing computerelectronically. The form is then automatically printed at the local clerk’s office. Arizona was the first to implement online voter registration in 2003, followed by Washington in 2008, with six other states following last year.  Other states have proposed similar legislation, and online registration continues to grow in popularity.  In Arizona, 25% of all new voter registrations took place online in its first year and within a few years that number reached 70%. Michigan is expected to see similar numbers. The bills are currently headed to the Senate for further review.

This new legislation has several clear aims. The costs associated with online registrations are significantly lower than paper forms. Arizona spends nearly 83 cents processing each paper voter registration form while their online voter registrations may be completed with a cost of only 3 cents. Postage for delivery and receipt is not necessary with online registration because the form is immediately and automatically printed off at the clerk’s office after the registrant submits online. The registrant then has the option to print off a copy on their printer for personal records. This process would also cut down the amount of information that needs to be manually entered from paper forms, which would help prevent errors.  Michigan in particular experienced difficulties with third-party form falsification last fall with groups like ACORN. Michigan hopes to eliminate such risks  by taking the registration forms out of those group’s hands and giving voters this simple and streamlined way of registering.

[Read more…] about Online Voter Registration: A Small Step in the Right Direction

Weekly Wrap Up

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

– Implementation of the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act has been delayed until 2012. The Act, which would require paper ballots in all Tennessee elections, has been highly controversial and strongly opposed by Republicans in the legislature.  Lt. Gov Ron Ramsey even declared that delaying the bill was his No. 1 priority.  Bernie Ellis, a leading proponent of the Act, posted this editorial on State of Elections in December.  For more background, check out this article by Drew Staniewski.

– A federal judge in Arizona appears ready to dramatically change that state’s system of funding elections.  Under Arizona’s Clean Elections system, certain candidates receive government funding for their campaigns.  The system is designed to allow less well-funded candidates to compete with more affluent opponents.  Judge Roslyn Silver, however, has written a draft order that would strike down these matching funds as unconstitutional.

– Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna and Secretary of State Sam Reed have announced that they will appeal the 9th Circuit Court’s decision in Farrakhan v. Gregoire.  The decision restored the voting rights of felons in Washington.  For more of State of Election’s coverage of the debate over felon voting rights, go here and here.

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Voter Privacy and the Know Campaign

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I get tons of political mail.  Most of it I don’t read – after all, it contains little useful information.  But if someone mailed me this, it would surely catch my eye:

political-campaign-mail“Below is a partial list of your recent voting history — public information obtained from the Virginia State Board of Elections…We have sent you this information as a public service because we believe that democracy only works when you vote.”

What if this mailing also contained information about my neighbor’s voting history in order for me to encourage/shame him into voting in the upcoming election?

This is exactly what the Know Campaign in Virginia sought to do this election cycle before legal action stopped them in their tracks.  To read more about that, check out the Washington Post’s story here.  The Know Campaign’s press release that started all of the excitement is here. [Read more…] about Voter Privacy and the Know Campaign