State of Elections

William & Mary Law School | Election Law Society

Search Results for: Anthony Balady

Staff History

2022-2023

John Howell, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Nam Kim, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Steph Lewis, Co-Editor-in-Chief

2021-2022

Brendan W. Clark, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Rachel Clyburn, Co-Editor-in-Chief

2020-2021

Valerie Brankovic, Editor-in-Chief

Alex Boone, Editor-in-Chief

2019-2020

Maxwell Weiss, Editor-in-Chief

Camden Kelliher, Technical Editor
Daniel Bruce, Deputy Editor-in Chief
Elizabeth DePatie, Deputy Editor-in Chief

2018-2019

Camden Kelliher, Editor-in-Chief & Technical Editor

Helen Brewer, Deputy Editor-in Chief
Bryn Clegg, Deputy Editor-in Chief
Lily Cusack, Deputy Editor-in Chief
George Townsend, Deputy Editor-in Chief
Shawn Syed, Associate Editor

2017-2018
Caiti Anderson, Editor-in-Chief & Technical Editor
Anna McMullen, Editor-in-Chief
Camden Kelliher, Editor-in-Chief

2016-2017
Caiti Anderson, Editor-in-Chief & Technical Editor
Nathan Burchard, Editor-in-Chief
Anna McMullen, Editor-in-Chief
Lila Friedlander, Editor-in-Chief

2015-2016
Ben Ader, Editor-in-Chief
Caiti Anderson, Editor-in-Chief
Anna McMullen, Editor-in-Chief
Johnathan Gonzalez, Advisory Editor
Sarah Wiley, Advisory Editor

2013-2014
Jonathan Gonzalez, Editor
Sarah Wiley, Advisory Editor
Cristopher Willis, Advisory Editor
Tony Glosson, Advisory Editor
Jacob Derr, Advisory Editor
Patrick Genova, Advisory Editor
John Loughney, Advisory Editor
Brett Piersma, Advisory Editor

2012-2013
Tony Glosson, Editor
Jacob Derr, Editor

2011-2012
Patrick Genova, Editor
John Loughney, Editor
Brett Piersma, Editor

2010-2011
Amanda Lowther, Editor
Amelia Vance, Editor

2009-2010
Anthony Balady, Founding Editor
Brian Cannon, Founder

A series of tubes: Transmitting ballots via the Internet

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by Anthony Balady

The Internet is a strange and unpredictable place, filled with cats playing keyboard and Rick Astley videos. It’s the kind of place you wouldn’t want your ballot floating around without protection. So, ever since the widespread adoption of electronic voting machines, voters and election administrators alike have feared for the safety of votes traveling through the Internet tubes.

Five voters in Hawaii, concerned about the accuracy and safety of electronically transmitted ballots, filed suit against Chief Election Officer Kevin Cronin to prevent the use of electronic voting machines in the 2010 elections. The suit, Babson v. Cronin, resulted from the Hawaii Office of Election’s decision to use Direct-Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines in the 2010 elections. DRE voting machines eliminate the need for paper ballots by storing the vote electronically. In some DRE machines, the vote is stored on a physical device, like a flash drive, and then physically taken to a central vote tabulation machine.  In other DRE machines, like those used in Hawaii, the vote is transmitted electronically through an Internet style network. [Read more…] about A series of tubes: Transmitting ballots via the Internet

HI (ballot access): Gotta be in it to win it: Ralph Nader loses Hawaiian ballot access challenge

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by Anthony Balady

Ralph Nader may be accustomed to losing elections, but it takes a special kind of talent to lose before the first ballot has been cast. But that is just what happened back in 2004, when Hawaiian election officials kept independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader off the state ballot for failing to meet that state’s ballot access requirements.

Ballot access is a catch-all term for the requirements a candidate must meet before their name can appear on the ballot. Generally, a candidate is required to demonstrate a minimum level of support before the state will start printing ballots with their name on it. Ballot access laws vary significantly from state to state, but one thing is almost universally true: candidates from major parties, Republicans and Democrats, have a much easier time getting on the ballot than independents and third-party candidates. [Read more…] about HI (ballot access): Gotta be in it to win it: Ralph Nader loses Hawaiian ballot access challenge

We Didn’t Start the Fire: Texas Loses Thousands of Voting Machines in Inferno

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Elections are a delicate and complex process. In the months leading up to Election Day, election officials must anticipate and prepare for hundreds of potential issues. But in Texas, an issue nobody could have foreseen has left the best laid plans of the Harris County Clerk’s Office in disarray.

Over 10,000  voting machines were destroyed in a sudden warehouse fire on August 27th, leaving the county without a single voting machine to use in the upcoming elections.  Luckily, no one was injured, but with just two months to go before Election Day, the county is scrambling to find ways to salvage the situation. [Read more…] about We Didn’t Start the Fire: Texas Loses Thousands of Voting Machines in Inferno

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the People’s Veto

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dr_strangelove_1ed07Like many other states, Maine allows for citizen initiatives, the process by which individual citizens and nongovernmental organizations directly propose legislation.  Also like many other states, Maine’s initiative process attracts more than its fair share of bizarre characters and proposals, including this referendum to end the fluoridation of Maine’s drinking water.  Considering the most famous attempt to end the fluoridation of drinking water ended in a nuclear war, I suppose that the initiative process is a vast improvement.

However, the occasional strange referendum isn’t the only thing that makes Maine’s initiative process interesting. In addition to allowing conventional initiatives, Maine also gives its citizens a “People’s Veto”, through which the voters can veto laws passed by the state legislature.  The right to a People’s Veto is enshrined in Article IV, Section 17 of Maine’s Constitution, which also outlines the process by which a veto can appear on the ballot.  [Read more…] about How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the People’s Veto