Gerken and Elmendorf on Citizen Assemblies to Confront Redistricting Reform
See this post by Heather Gerken and Chris Elmendorf on the failure of redistricting measures in California and Ohio. I’ll be offering my own take on this soon.
Monthly Archives: November 2005
“State to study late vote counts”
AP offers this report, which begins: “Election boards in some Ohio counties are irate and embarrassed by vote-counting delays that held up results for hours, and state officials said Thursday they will try to find out what went wrong.… Continue reading
Prop. 77 is Over, But the Litigation Lives On!
The California Supreme Court has set December 7 as the day to hear oral argument in the Prop. 77 case, raising the question of the propriety of pre-election review of initiatives. This even though Prop. 77 went down to defeat… Continue reading
FEC General Counsel’s Draft Opinion in “Fired Up” Matter Would Treat Blog/Website as Entitled to Press Exemption for Its News and Commentaries
This draft advisory opinion, if adopted, would go a long way toward exempting a number of blogs from many campaign finance regulations. (Via Bob Bauer). The Skeptic weighs in too. In related news, bloggers Kos and Krempasky (Daily… Continue reading
Alabama Felon Disenfranchisement Case
Ed Still has filed a case attacking Alabama’s felon disenfranchisement administration. For details, see here.
Redistricting Briefing
The following announcement arrived via e-mail:
Redistricting Reform After the Ohio and California Initiatives
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
The Brookings Institution
Falk Auditorium
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
On Tuesday, November 8, voters in… Continue reading
“On Redistricting, Voters Have Spoken Up for the Status Quo”
Stuart Rothenberg offers this Roll Call column (paid subscription required).
“Supreme Court Asked to Hear Voting Rights Case”
Legal Times offers this preview of Johnson v. Bush, currently before the Supreme Court on a petition for certiorari. The case raises constitutional and section 2 of the Voting Rights Act claims against Florida’s disenfranchisement laws. My earlier coverage of… Continue reading
“Why Vote on Tuesdays?”
David Broder writes this Washington Post column.
Linda Chavez Against Section 5 Reauthorization
Linda Chavez has written this oped, which begins:
The Voting Rights Act has long been regarded as one of the nation’s most successful civil rights laws, ending decades of discrimination that disenfranchised millions of black voters in the Deep… Continue reading
“GOP reform plan needed, expert says”
The Toledo Blade offers this report.
Ewald on Felon Disenfranchisement Practices
Be sure not to miss A Crazy Quilt of Tiny Pieces: State and Local Administation of American Criminal Disenfranchisement Law by Alec Ewald for the Sentencing Project. This is a very important piece of work and should be read especially… Continue reading
Sen. Obama on Election Fraud
The following press release arrived via email:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) Tuesday introduced legislation to protect Americans from using tactics that intimidate voters and prevent them from exercising their rights on Election Day.
Obama’s legislation, the Deceptive… Continue reading
More Worries About the “New Federalism” and Section 5
See this post by Lyle Denniston on arguments in the two Georgia ADA cases argued today in the Supreme Court. For background on why I worry about these cases in terms of the Voting Rights Act, see here. My… Continue reading