[EL] about the new Presidential Commission on Election Administration
Michael P McDonald
mmcdon at gmu.edu
Thu Feb 14 10:00:57 PST 2013
I too am more optimistic than some, but maybe I am inherently so. I am puzzled by those who complain that the commission can only make recommendations. There is little that the president can do with respect to elections by executive order (among the few is updating the Current Population Survey voting and registration data collection), so I confused why people are do down on the commission.
To answer Paul's question -- you have no further to look than state constitutions. I would hazard a guess that nearly all of them have election related revisions that were brought about by constitutional convention. Often, those conventions were preceded by commissions that recommend changes. We haven't had much experience with these conventions since the 1960s reapportionment revolution forced states to revise their redistricting processes. Whether you think the current state constitutions are good or bad is another issue...
============
Dr. Michael P. McDonald
Associate Professor, George Mason University
Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Mailing address:
(o) 703-993-4191 George Mason University
(f) 703-993-1399 Dept. of Public and International Affairs
mmcdon at gmu.edu 4400 University Drive - 3F4
http://elections.gmu.edu Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Gronke <paul.gronke at GMAIL.COM>
Date: Thursday, February 14, 2013 12:41 pm
Subject: Re: [EL] about the new Presidential Commission on Election Administration
> Larry,
>
> I may be naive but I am optimistic. I have read closely the
> comments by Rick, by the League of Women's Voters, but I learn
> more toward Michael Waldmann's statement from Brennan: guardedly
> optimistic.
> Rather than being frightened, then, I'd rather be forward looking.
> It's not my impression that Ginsberg or Bauer are dummies. They
> are hard headed lawyers who were deeply integrated into highly
> competitive campaigns. I recognize that, for some, that makes
> them precisely the wrong people to head such a commission. I
> think it may make them the right people because they will be less
> likely to be swayed by millions of disparate ideas. I hope
> they'll cut through the B.S.
>
> It's also the case that, at least in the past, both Ben and Bob
> have been willing to listen to voices outside of the immediate
> community of election administrators. I've seen them productively
> interact at meetings of election lawyers and Pew sponsored
> gatherings. Scholars, NGOs, and advocacy groups can lend an
> important comparative context to the often idiosyncratic views of
> LEOs.
> Before we indict them, let's see who they appoint as staff. Let's
> see what their answers are to Doug's questions about what
> questions they'll ask and who they'll ask.
>
> I thought, as a last comment, that some of the improvements
> incorporated into HAVA stemmed directly out of the first
> Commission's work. While there may be fewer examples at the
> Federal level, I'm less certain that "no good has ever come out of
> a commission created to clean up politics, campaigns, or election
> administration." The scholar in me asks: do we have any evidence
> on this point? Are there any commissions at the state level that
> have helped to create new campaign reporting systems, non-partisan
> redistricting commissions, or otherwise helped to improve the
> political process? If anyone would know, it's the readers of this
> list.
> ---
> Paul Gronke Ph: 503-517-7393
> Reed College and Early Voting
> Information Center
>
> http://earlyvoting.net
>
> On Feb 14, 2013, at 9:00 AM, "Larry Levine"
> <larrylevine at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > Be frightened. Be very, very frightened. No good has ever come
> out of a
> > commission created to clean up politics, campaigns, or election
> > administration. They are detached from the everyday operations
> of campaigns,
> > or in this case election administration. They will hear a
> million ideas from
> > a thousand secretaries of state and local registrars of voters.
> Many will be
> > just plain stupid. And when it's over they will have no
> authority to impose
> > anything on any local or state jurisdiction. They can create
> rules and
> > standards for federal elections, but that won't mean any city
> clerk or
> > registrar anywhere will want to do what the commission says.
> Remember, the
> > hanging chads in Florida were no different than the hanging
> chads in Fresno
> > CA 20 years earlier. But no election official anywhere would
> want to admit
> > their way isn't the best way. So, they fixed the problem in CA
> and everyone
> > else just blundered along. Be hopeful if you wish. There's
> plenty that needs
> > to be done. But who's going to tell some local election official
> how many
> > voting booths he or she must have per 500 voters, or when early
> voting must
> > begin and which days it must be available and how many locations
> there must
> > be. Be frightened. Be very, very frightened.
> > Larry
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
> > [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf
> Of Doug
> > Hess
> > Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 8:36 AM
> > To: Election Law
> > Subject: [EL] about the new Presidential Commission on Election
> > Administration
> >
> > Regarding the new Presidential Commission on Election
> Administration (PCEA
> > perhaps?), in what capacity does such a body exist? Is it
> created by
> > executive order? Is it funded out of a pot of money the White
> House has for
> > special projects? Or will Congress authorize funds for it in
> some manner or
> > have any role in creating it? I assume it has no authority
> (other than over
> > some staffing and budget for research, travel, publication,
> etc.). Correct?
> >
> > Just wondering what kind of "animal" these commissions are (or
> can be).
> >
> > Douglas R. Hess, PhD
> > Washington, DC
> > ph. 202-277-6400
> > douglasrhess at gmail.com
> >
> > Starting Aug. 2013:
> > Assistant Professor
> > Department of Political Science
> > Grinnell College
> > 1210 Park Street
> > Grinnell, IA 50112-1670
> > _______________________________________________
> > Law-election mailing list
> > Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> > http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
> >
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