[EL] obscure question

[Justin Levitt]

I don't doubt that it happens ... and these sorts of rejections are 
likely unlawful under the materiality provision 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1971> of the Civil Rights Act 
of 1964.

Also, decisions based on technicalities, like the ones that both Richard 
and Estelle raise, are in some ways the product of attempts to squeeze 
the discretion <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=37605> out of election 
administration.  Careful what you wish for.

Self-promotion alert: in a forthcoming article 
<http://ssrn.com/abstract=1477663>, I discuss both issues -- the 
materiality provision of the Civil Rights Act, and reorienting 
discretion in election law toward a materiality principle more generally.

Justin

On 7/30/2012 7:33 PM, Estelle Rogers wrote:
> I don't know about petition signatures specifically, but I can tell 
> you that voter registration applications have been rejected en masse 
> for similar technical and non-germane infirmities--e.g., filling it 
> out in pencil.
>
> Estelle H. Rogers, Esq.
> Legislative Director
> Project Vote
> 202-546-4173, ext. 310
>
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>
>
>
>
> On Jul 30, 2012, at 10:05 PM, Richard Winger wrote:
>
> Today the Libertarian Party submitted 42,000 signatures to be on the 
> ballot in Pennsylvania.  The Elections office immediately examined all 
> the signatures and lined out all the signatures in which the signer 
> had not put "2012" in the date column.  In other words, one-third of 
> the signers (14,000) just put the month and day, but not the year.
>
> However, the state-printed form says at the bottom "Revised Jan. 
> 2012", and Pennsylvania law did not permit the petition to circulate 
> until February 2012.
>
> Does anyone happen to be aware of any precedents on whether signatures 
> on petitions are invalid, just because the form asks for the date and 
> the signer puts only the month and day but not the year?
>
> Pennsylvania requires 20,601 valid signatures this year.
>
> Richard Winger
> 415-922-9779
> PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
>
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-- 
Justin Levitt
Associate Professor of Law
Loyola Law School | Los Angeles
919 Albany St.
Los Angeles, CA  90015
213-736-7417
justin.levitt at lls.edu
ssrn.com/author=698321

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