U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks ruled yesterday that Rep. Tom DeLay’s name must remain on the ballot in Texas’ 22nd District, despite the fact that he claims to have moved to Virginia. The AP has this story and NY… Continue reading

Judge Melvin K. Westmoreland of Fulton County Superior Court yesterday issued a temporary restraining order against Georgia’s revised photo identification requirement, passed earlier this year. The NY Times has this report and the AP this one. The order comes… Continue reading

A floor debate on Voting Rights Act renewal is slated for next week, according to CQ Weekly (subscription required), which reports that the bill is “penciled in for floor debate late in the week.” It also reports the “Rules Committee… Continue reading

Mark Posner has published this article, entitled “The Real Story Behind the Justice Department’s Implementation of Section 5 of the VRA: Vigorous Enforcement, as Intended by Congress,” in the inaugural issue of the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law and… Continue reading

The AP has this report on a lawsut by the ACLU, third-party candidates, and lobbyists challenging Connecticut’s campaign finance law passed late last year and amended in June. The complaint may be found here and plaintiffs’ press release here.

Reuters reports here that: “Felipe Calderon, a ruling party conservative, won a razor-thin victory on Thursday in Mexico’s presidential election but his leftist rival vowed to contest the result in the courts and on the streets.” Further discussion of the… Continue reading

The Salt Lake Tribune offers this report on the difficulty of conducting recounts on Utah’s voting machines, which generate a contemporaneous paper record (or “voter verified paper audit trail”) of the electronic vote. The problem, according to the article, is… Continue reading

The Austin American-Statesman has this report on a lawsuit challenging the electronic voting system used in Travis County, Texas. According to the report of a hearing on Thursday, “visiting Judge Rose Spector, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, voiced skepticism… Continue reading

Tova Wang of The Century Foundation has written this issue brief on “Improving Voter Participation.” Among its recommendations are that: -Voters should be allowed to register up until and on Election Day. -Election Day should be a national holiday. -As… Continue reading

The complaint in Project Vote v. Blackwell, described in this post yesterday, may be found here. It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Plaintiffs include Project Vote, the American Association of People… Continue reading

The American Spectator has this comment from Quin Hillyer, arguing that “Congress ought to move slowly” in renewing the VRA and that Section 5 should be altered significantly.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has this report on a new lawsuit challenging voter-registration rules promulgated by the office of Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. Background on the rules may be found here on the Election Law @ Moritz site.

The AP has this report, on a radio campaign linking illegal immigration and voter identification requirements. The ad, from a group called North Carolina Conservatives United, reportedly states: “Now we need to pass a law that prevents illegal immigrants… Continue reading

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has this report on the debate between Cuyahoga County election officials and Diebold over who’s responsible for the problems that occurred in the implementation of new voting equipment during the May primary.