Election-Campaign Law

Florida: 11th Circuit reverses injunction on new registration law

Posted on April 04, 2008
In Florida State Conference of the NAACP v. Browning, the 11th Circuit has reversed the injunction against Florida's voter registration law. Here is the opening paragraph of the decision: This is an appeal of a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of...

Indiana: Terre Haute mayoral election approved even though winning candidate was violating Hatch Act

Posted on April 04, 2008
The Tribune Star reports: The battle for Terre Haute City Hall continues with the latest shots coming from Mayor Duke Bennett’s legal team. Lawyers for Bennett filed a new appeal with the Indiana Court of Appeals this week asking the...

Cherokee Nation: CBC threatens housing funding over exclusion of Freedmen

Posted on April 04, 2008
The Hill reports: Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have promised Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. that they will try to block a Native American housing assistance bill if the measure does not include language that prevents the Cherokee...

What we lost 40 years ago

Posted on April 04, 2008
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1964, (Picture credit: Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons)...

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Alabama: Siegelman released pending appeal

Posted on March 27, 2008
The Birmingham News reports: A federal appellate court today ordered former Gov. Don Siegelman released from prison while he appeals his 2006 conviction, but denied co-defendant Richard Scrushy s request to be released. Siegelman attorney Vince Kilborn said Siegelman would...

Puerto Rico: Governor indicted for campaign-finance violations

Posted on March 27, 2008
AP reports: Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila indignantly denied wrongdoing Thursday and gave no sign he would abandon his re-election effort after being charged with campaign finance violations that carry a penalty of 20 years in prison. Acevedo, a...

Scotland: Salmond proposes preferential-voting referendum on independence, more powers, or status quo

Posted on March 26, 2008
The Scotsman reports: SCOTLAND could become independent with less than 50 per cent of people backing that as their first choice for the country, under plans unveiled by Alex Salmond yesterday. The First Minister delivered a bombshell announcement that the...

Alabama: Supreme Court hears arguments in Riley v. Kennedy

Posted on March 25, 2008
AP reports: Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism Monday about the federal government s authority to block the governor of Alabama s appointment of a fellow Republican to a vacant county commission seat representing a mostly black and heavily Democratic district...

Alabama: Supreme Court argument transcript in Riley v. Kennedy

Posted on March 25, 2008
Here is the transcript of Monday's argument in 07-77.pdf , Riley v. Kennedy....

"Follow the Money"

Posted on March 23, 2008
Left In Alabama reports: Now it's easier to keep your elected representatives honest -- or at least keep an eye on them. Follow the Money has a nifty new tool that lets you look at contributions to entire legislative committees....

California: man arrested for voter registration fraud

Posted on March 22, 2008
CBS 13 in Sacramento reports: A man suspected of state voter registration fraud was arrested on Sac State's campus. Accused of signing up fake people to vote! Why would there be a manhunt by the election fraud unit of the...

Alabama: voters who object to voting appeal to get quick overturn approving the vote

Posted on March 22, 2008
The Birmingham News reports: Three Jefferson County residents asked the Alabama Supreme Court Thursday to quickly overturn a Circuit Court judge's ruling that William Bell is entitled to be the District 1 county commissioner. Lawyers for Patricia Working, Rick Erdemir...

Alabama: Jefferson County special election upheld, judge rules

Posted on March 22, 2008
The Birmingham News reports: William Bell is entitled to be the District 1 representative on the Jefferson County Commission, Circuit Court Judge Scott Vowell ruled Tuesday. The case will next go to the Alabama Supreme Court. The state's high court...

Alabama: Gov. Riley appeals Jefferson County case to U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on March 22, 2008
Governor Riley has filed a long-winded notice of appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court from the Judgment in Plump v. Riley....

Colorado: paper-ballots plan abandoned

Posted on March 21, 2008
The New York Times reports: A plan to use only paper ballots in Colorado in this November’s election, which was announced with bipartisan hoopla in January to replace the state’s troubled electronic voting machine system, died quietly in a state...

Alabama: preview of Riley v. Kennedy argument

Posted on March 20, 2008
Thomas Haymore, one the Stanford Law School students who did such great work on our brief, has written this summary of the case for ScotusWiki....

Alabama: Hale County ex-clerk indicted in absentee vote fraud

Posted on March 19, 2008
The Birmingham News reports: Former Hale County Circuit Court Clerk Gay Nell Tinker has been indicted on multiple vote fraud-related charges. A Hale County grand jury issued a 13-count indictment against Tinker after receiving evidence from the Attorney General s...

Dept. of Veterans Affairs still blocking voter registration

Posted on March 18, 2008
Steven Rosenfeld writes on AlterNet: For at least four years, since the 2004 presidential election, when a veteran, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was the Democratic Party nominee, the Department of Veterans Affairs has blocked efforts to help U.S. soldiers register...

North Carolina: Supreme Court will decide on influence districts

Posted on March 18, 2008
AP reports: The U.S. Supreme Court said yesterday that it will consider whether legislative and congressional districts designed to help minority candidates win office must do so by containing a majority of minority voters. The case could decide the fate...

Michigan: do-over bill pending in legislature

Posted on March 18, 2008
AP reports: Legislative leaders reviewed a measure Monday that would set up a do-over June 3 Democratic presidential primary in Michigan. The draft legislation included language that would set up a public fund to collect private donations for the election,...

Florida: Democratic Party decides against re-vote

Posted on March 18, 2008
AP reports: Facing strong opposition, Florida Democrats on Monday abandoned plans to hold a do-over presidential primary with a mail-in vote and threw the delegate dispute into the lap of the national party. ... Members of Florida's congressional delegation had...

New Hampshire: Tobin acquitted of phone-jamming; US appeals

Posted on March 18, 2008
The Union Leader reports: The U.S. Department of Justice is appealing the acquittal last month of former national Republican Party official James Tobin on telephone harassment charges stemming from the illegal GOP phone-jamming operation of Election Day, 2002...

Citizenship agency promises to process dozens, maybe even thousands, in time for voter registration

Posted on March 15, 2008
The New York Times reports: Immigration officials said on Friday that they expected to complete about 930,000 citizenship applications in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, reducing a huge backlog in a time frame that would allow many new citizens...

Alabama: congressional candidate spent state campaign funds on federal election

Posted on March 14, 2008
AP reports: Alabama state Sen. Harri Anne Smith spent nearly $20,000 from her state campaign account last year on polling and political consulting in her bid for federal office to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Terry Everett, a violation of federal...

9th Circuit: vote-swapping is legal

Posted on March 14, 2008
The National Law Journal reports: Third-party candidates take note for the upcoming presidential election: The First Amendment protects vote-swapping arrangements. The short-circuited campaign in 2000 to arrange vote trading between supporters of presidential candidates Al Gore and Ralph Nader died...

NRCC treasurer may have faked the books to steal

Posted on March 14, 2008
The New York Times reports: The former treasurer of a Republican Congressional fund-raising committee may have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars by submitting elaborately forged audit reports for five years using the letterhead of a legitimate auditing firm, a...

EAC's Inspector General clears commission of "politics" on the Voter I.D. study

Posted on March 12, 2008
The Election Assistance Commission's Inspector General has issued his report on the allegations of improper handling of the report on voter fraud. The PDF of the document is locked so that I cannot easily copy the synopsis. So, here is...

Florida: deal or no deal on a mail-in primary do-over?

Posted on March 12, 2008
The New York Times reports: Democratic Party officials here are close to completing a draft plan for a new mail-in primary that would take place by early June, a proposal that seeks to give Florida delegates a role in the...

Alabama: Gov. Riley files reply brief in Riley v. Kennedy

Posted on March 11, 2008
Gov. Riley has filed his reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Riley v. Kennedy. This is the Section 5 case that will be argued on 24 March. Disclosure: I am one of the attorneys for Dr. Kennedy...

Michigan: Levin wants a mail-in re-do primary

Posted on March 10, 2008
The Detroit Free Press reports: An all-mail revote may be the solution for Michigan Democrats who want their presidential primary votes to count. U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, who has been fighting for years to break the dominant role that Iowa...

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