Legal News

Law Blog Swing State Watch: First Stop ? Ohio

By Dan Slater

We’d love to spend all day batting around fleeting expletives (see previous bleeping LB post), but there’s also an election going on that we probably shouldn’t neglect. So throughout the day we’ll be checking in with Republican and Democratic lawyers who are involved with election-related activities in swing states across the country.

With predictions afoot that Ohio lawyers could be seeing some serious post-election litigation, we’ll begin there with Andy Clubok, a Kirkland & Ellis litigator based in D.C. Clubok (Harvard, Michigan law) was raised in Athens, Ohio. Ten years ago he managed a statewide campaign in Ohio for an attorney general candidate. In 2004, Clubok litigated against Ralph Nader’s campaign. Today, he’s shacked up in the Ohio Democratic Headquarters in Columbus.

Hi Andy. Before we talk about how voting is going in Ohio, let’s talk about coffee. Last night we were psyched to read that Starbucks would be offering free coffee to anyone who votes. But then they changed course. Now, in order to ensure compliance with election law, the offer extends to all customers who request a free coffee, regardless of whether they’ve voted.

Well, in Ohio you’re not allowed to give an inducement to anyone to vote. There was a directive issued yesterday by Jennifer Brunner, the Secretary of State. But it’s more about whether you can pass out donuts and bottled water to people in long lines. You can’t be closer than 10 feet to voters, you can’t do electioneering activities, and then there’s the rule against inducements to vote. We joke that the result is that you can stand 10 feet away and toss bottles of water to voters.

As far as Starbucks goes, they probably figured that since there are 50 different state laws about that they would just play it safe.

How’s voting going so far?

It’s incredibly well-organized, far beyond what anyone’s ever seen. I was here four years ago and it’s day and night. Luckily the problems have been small — more confusion than conspiracy. Some of the machines don’t work, so you get longer lines. But they’re doing a good job with passing out paper ballots if lines get too long, which didn’t occur four years ago.

The other small thing is that people aren’t quite understanding when someone should cast a provisional ballot versus when they should cast a regular ballot. But that comes down to hypertechnical rules. For instance, if your address changed since registration but you stayed within the precinct, then you’re allowed to cast a regular ballot. But some precincts are making them cast provisional ballots. But those are isolated errors.

Any other problems?

There are a handful of places around the state where poll workers didn’t show up on time so they opened late. So people were standing around waiting for polls to open. It’s possible that would give rise to an extension of polling hours.

How many lawyers are at the Ohio Democratic Headquarters?

My guess is about 20.

What’s the weather like? Perhaps we can glean something about what the day has in store.

It’s a beautiful day. Sunny, about 70 degrees. Very nice.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 04, 2008 (boomark / email).