Angela Migally of the Brennan Center and Brad Smith are debating Citizens United today at the University of Michigan Law School. I’m told that video of the event will be posted afterwards. Update: Video may be found here. … Continue reading
Dan Tokaji
Senators Chris Dodd and Tom Udall have introduced a constitutional amendment that would overrule Citizens United, according to The Hill. Update: The text of the proposed constitutional amendment, which would authorize federal and state limits on campaign expenditures and contributions, … Continue reading
The Washington Post has this report. … Continue reading
The table of contents for the Syracuse Law Review’s symposium on Caperton v. Massey may be found here. It includes contributions from Dahlia Lithwick, Steven Lubet, Bruce Green, Elizabeth Wydra, Ronald Rotunda, Andrew Frey & Jeffrey Berger, and James Sample. … Continue reading
The WSJ editorializes here($) against proposed legislation responding to Citizens United. … Continue reading
I’m sure all members of the election law community join me in expressing sympathy to Rick on the passing of his father. I didn’t know Marty Hasen but, judging by how his son turned out, am sure that he was … Continue reading
In recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice has rarely exercised its preclearance power under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to stop election adminstration rules from taking effect. But in a letter issued Monday, DOJ declines to withdraw … Continue reading
See this report on the proposed initiative in California, supported by Dan Lowenstein, to put redistricting back in the hands of state legislators. … Continue reading
The AP reports here that Rep. Ahn Cao, the only House Republican to support the health care bill, “has seen his fundraising drop by nearly 40 percent since his vote,” although he continues to enjoy support from Republican leaders. In … Continue reading
The Boston Globe has this report on Citizen United‘s possible benefits for liberal nonprofits, freeing them up to solicit corporate and union money. … Continue reading
The Richmond Times-Dispatch has this story and UPI this one on today’s proceedings in McCain-Palin 2008 v. Cunningham. U.S. District Judge Richard Williams reportedly ruled that late-arriving overseas ballots don’t have to be counted because the election has been certified, … Continue reading
Politico has this report on concerns regarding the link between the Obama transition and the Center for American Progress, many of whose donors aren’t disclosed. … Continue reading
The Boston Globe reports here on Romney’s “Free and Strong America” PAC. … Continue reading
David Schleicher has this post on the Volokh Conspiracy, the first in a series growing out of this paper. … Continue reading
The AP reports here on Franken’s withdrawal of 425 more ballot challenges. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has the margin at 192 votes, with around 5000 challenges still outstanding. … Continue reading
David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has written this brief report. It finds black turnout reached a historic high, approaching 67% of eligible voters and representing 13% of all ballots cast. … Continue reading
BNA has this report (subscription required), reporting on the FEC’s dismissal of enforcement cases involving the McCain, Clinton, and Giuliani campaigns. It also notes: With less than a month left in 2008, the FEC has posted on its website actions … Continue reading
Mary Anastasia O’Grady has this WSJ op-ed on public financing in Canada, drawing a comparison between “how Canada’s Conservatives finance their campaigns and how U.S. President-elect Barack Obama did it.” … Continue reading
See here. The stay application in the case, Donofrio v. Wells, had been referred by Justice Thomas to the full Court. Update: AP has this report and WaPo this one. … Continue reading
Richard Winger offers these thoughts. … Continue reading
You can find it here, complete with the “I’m John McCain and I approve this message” taglline, even though McCain reportedly refused to authorize the ad. … Continue reading
The Columbus Dispatch has this story on Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy’s 2311 vote victory over Republican Steve Stivers in Ohio’s 15th Congressional District. Kilroy was behind by over 500 votes before Franklin County provisional ballots were counted, and won despite … Continue reading
From this evening through Wednesday, a summit on the 2008 election will take place at the Newseum in Washington, DC. The symposium is sponsored by Make Voting Work, a project of the Pew Center on the States in parternship with … Continue reading
Today’s Akron Beacon-Journal has this op-ed decrying post-election litigation, focusing on Friday’s ruling from the Ohio Supreme Court that roughly 1000 provisional ballots shouldn’t be counted. … Continue reading
The AP has this profile of the lead lawyers for Franken and Coleman in the still-unresolved Minnesota senatorial race. … Continue reading
Brad Smith thinks not, responding to Christine Pelosi’s selection of John Grisham’s The Appeal as the best political book she’s read this year. … Continue reading
Politico reports here that “the Mason-Dixon Line has emerged as a key fault line in the race for the Republican National Committee chairmanship.” … Continue reading
David Savage has this rundown of the cases challenging Obama’s eligibility to serve as President. … Continue reading
The NYT reports here on Anh Cao’s victory over William Jefferson. The AP bio of Cao available here notes that the Saigon-born Republican will be the first Vietnamese American member of Congress. … Continue reading
Politico reports here and the Hill here on former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell’s quest to become the next RNC chair. You can find Blackwell’s letter to RNC members here. Among the qualifications Blackwell touts are that he “prevented … Continue reading
The NYT’s politics blog has this report. … Continue reading
The agenda for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s meeting this Monday, December 8 may be found here. The agenda includes a report on 2008 election day activity, this year’s Election Day Survey, and voting system performance. The EAC will also … Continue reading
The DC Republican Party has challenged the recent election of an at-large member of the City Council, Michael Brown, on the ground that he’s not really an “independent” as he claims. The WaPo reports here that the City Charter prohibits … Continue reading
The AP reports here and the Columbus Dispatch here on yesterday’s decision from the Ohio Supreme Court that approximately 1000 provisional ballots in Franklin County shouldn’t be counted. … Continue reading
The AP reports here. … Continue reading
The Ohio Supreme Court has issued this opinion, upholding a challenge to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s ruling that provisional ballots should be counted where they don’t include both the voter’s printed name and signature, and where one or both … Continue reading
Politico reports here on the exchange between McCain campaign attorney Trevor Potter and Obama campaign attorney Bob Bauer, at yesterday’s Making Elections Work event in Washington, DC. Bauer offers further thoughts here. … Continue reading
Politico reports here that Rep. Charles Rangel steered almost $80,000 in campaign funds to an internet company run by his son — apparently legally, but much more than any other member of the House paid for comparable services during the … Continue reading
Pew has released this must-read report. From its news release: Good data is the basis of good policymaking. In the elections field, a lack of data has often left policy makers and election officials without the tools necessary to assess … Continue reading
With 99% of precincts and ballots recounted, Senator Coleman still leads by an estimated 251 votes. The Star-Tribune reports here that there are 133 missing ballots in Minneapolis, as well as thousands of outstanding ballot challenges. For more on the … Continue reading
USA Today reports here. “Ugly Betty” star America Ferrera is helping, as is the President-Elect. … Continue reading
The LA Times blog has this story on the Donofrio v. Wells case, while the Chicago Tribune has this report discussing other cases raising the issue of Obama and McCain’s eligiblity to serve. … Continue reading
The NYT has this report. According to the Chicago Tribune, it’s more than $1 billion if other election-related efforts (including the convention, transition, and inauguration) are included. … Continue reading
From Crossing Wall Street (pointer courtesy of Brad Smith): Total Democratic Presidential Votes Since 1932: 745,407,082 Total Republican Presidential Votes Since 1932: 745,297,123 Total Third-Party Presidential Votes Since 1932: 66,061,486 How’s that for parity? That’s a difference of 109,959 votes … Continue reading
Campaign Finance Institute Executive Director Michael Malbin offers these comments in response to criticism of its recent report finding that Obama received about the same amount from small donors as did Bush in 2004. … Continue reading
The New Republic has this story on election administration problems that mostly went under-the-radar on Election Day. A snippet: In fact, the 2008 election was rife with the same problems that have bedeviled others in recent years. It was only … Continue reading
Countering the conventional wisdom, FairVote argues in this press release that “2008 marked a record low in the number of competitive states since 1960 and a record high in the number of completely non-competitive states.” … Continue reading
Hans von Spakovsky offers this perspective on the Virginia Board of Elections’ failure to comply with UOCAVA. Without pretending to speak for the “liberal political establishment,” I’m inclined to agree with him. … Continue reading
John Lott offers these observations. … Continue reading
Karl Rove has this op-ed in today’s WSJ. Bob Bauer responds here. … Continue reading