[EL] The Federalist Papers and Anonymity

[Douglas Carver]

Sadly, in New Mexico, votes, at least, have been bought pretty cheaply:

"The affidavit states that Panas told the investigator that Sanchez
drove him to City Hall— where early voting was taking place— and that
Sanchez helped him vote and then paid him $15.  Another woman told
investigators she was offered a six-pack of beer to vote by a man she
later identified as Sanchez. She agreed, and Sanchez helped her vote
and then brought her a six-pack of Budweiser, the affidavit states."
(from a 2006 news story:
http://www.abqjournal.com/north/500795north_news10-12-06.htm)

I should add Rick's standard note, that this does not seem to be the
kind of voter fraud an ID would prevent...

Douglas Carver
Albuquerque, NM




On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 6:46 PM, Robbin Stewart <gtbear at gmail.com> wrote:
> A statute prohibiting anonymous letters to the editor would probably be
> upheld in Kentucky. I have a half-written draft of a law review article in
> search of a co-author, on the Kentucky exception to the right to anonymous
> political speech. See also NOM v McKee, (1st cir. 2011), and CFIF v Tenant
> (w.d.wv 2012.) While you would expect that Supreme Court cases setting out a
> right to anonymous speech (Talley, McIntyre, ACLF, Watchtower) would be
> followed by lower courts, this has not been the case, at least in Kentucky.
>
> I have collected cases on disclaimers and anonymous speech at
> http://shaffercase.blogspot.com/2012/04/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html
>
> On Saturday I met a man who was once prosecuted for selling mixtapes which
> did not have the name and address of the publisher on the label, as required
> by Indiana statute. I would like to find him counsel to seek a declaratory
> judgment that that statute is void. Andy Berry's situation is really pretty
> much the same as Peter Zenger's. Zenger was prosecuted for anonymously
> printing two books critical of the government, but a jury refused to
> convict. The First and 7th amendments are probably the result of the Zenger
> case.
>
> On the subject of low thresholds for disclosure, the Indiana statutes are
> fairly clear that a person has to raise or spend $100 before disclosure
> reporting kicks in, but I have been fined a few thousand dollars by the
> Indiana Election Commission re my 2010 race for the legislature, in which I
> did not raise or spend any money. I'm seeking counsel if that case, if
> anybody can help.
>
> For some of my previous work about disclaimers, compare and contrast Stewart
> v Taylor (s.d. ind 1997) with Majors v Abell (7th Cir. 2004).
>
> On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 3:40 PM, Scarberry, Mark
> <Mark.Scarberry at pepperdine.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I also would like to put my question out once again:
>>
>>
>>
>> Do we all agree that a law prohibiting anonymous letters to the editor, or
>> prohibiting newspapers from printing anonymous letters would violate the
>> First Amendment?
>>
>>
>
>
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-- 
Dilexi iustitiam et odivi iniquitatem, propterea morior in exilio.

(I have loved justice and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile.)

    -- the last words of Saint Pope Gregory VII (d. 1085)