William & Mary

Election Law Program Alumni File Redistricting Suit

Election Law Society · September 14, 2015 ·

By: Emily Wagman

William & Mary Law School alumni Brian Cannon ’11 and Nick Mueller ’12 are a force in the latest round of redistricting in the state of Virginia. Cannon, Executive Director of OneVirginia2021, is leading an effort to improve fairness in the redistricting process in Virginia. OneVirginia2021: Virginians for Fair Redistricting has filed a lawsuit challenging 11 state legislative districts in the Richmond Circuit Court. Mueller, working with the Richmond firm DurretteCrump, is one of the lead attorneys on the case. As students, both Cannon and Mueller participated in William & Mary Law School’s award-winning redistricting team during the Virginia Redistricting Competition in 2011.

William & Mary Law School to Host 9th Annual Election Law Symposium

Election Law Society · February 5, 2015 ·

By The William & Mary Election Law Society

WILLIAMSBURG, VA – The Election Law Society and the Election Law Program at William & Mary Law School announce the Ninth Annual Election Law Symposium, which will take place on Thursday, February 26. Featuring prominent election attorneys, voting rights advocates, and a former Texas Solicitor General, the symposium addresses the topic “Pre-election Litigation: Judicial Influence Before Election Day” and evaluates the current state of pre-election litigation and the challenges courts face when hearing election litigation prior to an election. [Read more…] about William & Mary Law School to Host 9th Annual Election Law Symposium

William & Mary Law’s Winning Map May Prove Useful as Virginia Legislators Head Back to the Drawing Board

Election Law Society · October 27, 2014 ·

By Staff Writer

Back in 2011, a team of William & Mary Law students won first place in the Governor/Commission Division for the U.S. Congressional Map category in the Virginia Redistricting Competition. The project may have started merely as an experiment to see whether students might be able to create useful maps using new redistricting software and real data on Virginia voters. But now that a federal court has declared Virginia’s 3^rd Congressional District unconstitutional, the map designed by William & Mary students has taken on a whole new level of importance in the drawing of fair and just Congressional districts in Virginia. [Read more…] about William & Mary Law’s Winning Map May Prove Useful as Virginia Legislators Head Back to the Drawing Board

Symposium Report: Voting tech from the front lines

Election Law Society · February 27, 2013 ·

by Andrew McCoy, Special Contributor

On February 21 the William and Mary Election Law Society held its annual Symposium with a focus on election day delays. During the symposium three panel discussions were held, and I had the pleasure of being present in the Voting Technology panel. This discussion was facilitated by Paul Herrnson and included three William and Mary Law students, two Virginia Registrars: Kirk Showalter and Greg R, and a Member of an Electoral Board: Al Ablowich. We were meant to look at voting technology problems, their impact on voting day delays, and potential solutions.

We were unable to note any specific solutions, partially because we could not pinpoint the impact of technological problems. Mr. Riddlemoser stated that there were no technology related delays in his county, and Ms. Showalter noted that, absent voter or poll worker errors, there was only one technology problem in her county and the resulting delay cleared by mid-morning. Mr. Ablowich did note some technology problems on election day, but these were related to the age of the machines and human error. Based on this panel discussion it appears that reports of delays caused by voting machine failures may have mis-identified other issues with technology failures. [Read more…] about Symposium Report: Voting tech from the front lines

News Brief: Former W&M Election Law Symposium panelists will chair commission to reduce election delays

Election Law Society · February 14, 2013 ·

by Jacob Derr, Editor

President Obama took the first step yesterday to address election deficiencies by appointing two top election attorneys on opposite sides of the aisle to chair a Presidential Commission on Election Administration: Bob Bauer and Ben Ginsberg. Both are wise picks. Bauer served as White House Counsel during the first Obama administration, and general counsel to Obama’s reelection campaign. Ginsberg, a prominent Bush attorney during the historic 2000 election, ran Romney’s legal team in 2012.

Bauer and Ginsberg are no strangers to William & Mary Law. Both Bauer and Ginsberg sit on the Advisory Board to the Election Law Program (a joint program of William & Mary Law School and the National Center for State Courts). In 2009 the pair traveled to Williamsburg for William & Mary’s Third Annual Election Law Symposium, “Campaigning in the Courts: The Rise of Election Litigation.” The symposium examined the rising tide of litigation as a central campaign strategy. In conjunction with the symposium, Bauer and Ginsberg also filmed a web lecture entitled “A View from the Trenches: Advice for Judges Handling Election Related Lawsuits” for the Election Law Program website electionlawissues.org. Moderated by William & Mary Law School Dean Davison Douglas, the discussion focuses on trends in election litigation since Bush v. Gore. In addition, Bauer will travel again to William & Mary Law to participate in our 7th Annual Election Law Symposium on February 21st which will address Election Day delays. For more information see here.

William & Mary’s Election Law Program, a joint project of William & Mary and the National Center for State Courts, is proud of its connection to Bauer and Ginsberg, and the many other outstanding luminaries from the election law field who speak and teach at William & Mary.

See, “A View from the Trenches”: http://www.electionlawissues.org/Video-Modules/View-from-the-Trenches.aspx

http://stateofelections.pages.wm.edu/?p=4912 [Read more…] about News Brief: Former W&M Election Law Symposium panelists will chair commission to reduce election delays