Posts Tagged ‘Election Law’
ELECT Blog Archives
The Ballot Selfie
Earlier this month, a federal court in New Hampshire struck down a 2014 enacted New Hampshire law that prohibited voters from taking and disclosing photographs of their completed ballots to let others know how they voted. The law was challenged on the grounds it infringed upon the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights. The Judge agreed and […]
ELECT Blog Archives
I Learned Something Today
Earlier this week, my “Word for the Day” was psephology. Dictionary.com frequently posts a word in its Word for the Day, and this is one that I am not familiar. However, psephology is a word that I figured I might have seen somewhere, but I cannot make such a statement with certainty. It is a […]
ELECT Blog Archives
The Meaning of “One Person, One Vote” to be Decided by the Supreme Court (Finally)
Attached is an interesting blog post by Lyle Denniston[1] about two redistricting cases the United States Supreme Court will hear in its Fall Term.[2] One case, arising out of Texas, will answer what population measure should be used—total population, total citizen voting age, total registered voters in a state—to ensure “one person, one vote” principle […]
ELECT Blog Archives
Where Did All the Voters Go?
Based on a recent report by the U.S. Elections Project,[1] Americans had the lowest voter turnout rate since 1942. Interestingly, the top two reasons given to the U.S. Census Bureau why people did not vote were: (1) too busy, and (2) not interested. Clearly, stopping this trend and engaging more persons to vote in future […]
Firm News, ELECT Blog Archives
Do We Live in a Healthy Democracy?
Recently, the Center for American Progress Action Fund (“Center”) issued a report entitled, The Health of State Democracies.[1] The Center essentially is a think tank that has policy teams in major issues areas and issues reports on these various topics to attempt to shape the debate.[2] The report “aims to take a broader approach to […]
ELECT Blog Archives
Florida Supreme Court: Redistricting Map Violates Florida Constitution
In League of Women Voters v. Detzner, No. SC14-1905, 2015 WL 4130852 (Fla. July 9, 2015), plaintiffs challenged the Florida legislature’s 2012 congressional redistricting plan, alleging that it violated the Florida Constitution. Specifically, in 2010, the Florida Constitution was amended by the Fair Districts Amendment (“FDA”), which prohibited the Florida legislature from drawing a redistricting […]
ELECT Blog Archives
Redistricting 101: Suing the Correct Parties – Eleventh Amendment
A key issue in a redistricting case is whether the plaintiff has sued the correct parties. This was an issue in a recent Fourth Circuit case, Wright v. North Carolina, 787 F.3d 256 (4th Cir. 2015). In Wright, plaintiffs, a group of thirteen North Carolina residents, brought a section 1983 action against the state and […]