[EL] Virginia Voter Purge Case

Sat Oct 19 18:16:25 PDT 2013

Your emails do seem to be getting through to the list, Marc.  If you're 
not getting your own posts (and also for anyone else with similar 
list-management questions), there's a link down at the bottom of this 
page here 
<http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election> -- at 
the very bottom of the page, you'll see an "Unsubscribe or edit options" 
button: once you log in, you can change listserv options (including 
whether you receive your own posts or not).

On the substance: Judge Hilton wouldn't be the first to presume (and 
therefore overstate) the reliability of the provisional ballot process. 
/See, e.g./, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board ("The severity of 
that burden is, of course, mitigated by the fact that, if eligible, 
voters without photo identification may cast provisional ballots that 
will ultimately be counted.").

But to the extent that problems with provisionals do arise, questions 
about what errors or omissions in the provisional process are material 
are fodder not only for state law, but for federal law as well.  The 
Civil Rights Act of 1964 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1971>prohibits refusing to 
count a ballot (among other voting-related acts) based on an immaterial 
error or omission on any paper or record relating to voting.  It's an 
underappreciated safeguard for the process, which I've written about at 
length here <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1477663>.

Justin

On 10/19/2013 4:44 AM, Legal Works of Marc Greidinger wrote:
>
> I observed the hearing before Judge Hilton in this case brought by the 
> Virginia Democratic Party yesterday.
>
> .
>
> Among the several reasons Judge Hilton denied the Motion for a 
> Preliminary Injunction was that he bought the State Board of Elections 
> argument that provisional ballots cast by persons who were wrongfully 
> dropped from the rolls would be counted.
>
> Unfortunately, we know that this cannot be taken for granted. Here in 
> Fairfax County, Virginia, for example, a significant number of 
> provisional votes were not counted for reasons completely immaterial 
> to questions about the identity and qualifications of the voter. For 
> example, I am told that over 20 ballots were rejected because election 
> officers in the precincts forgot to sign the outside of the absentee 
> ballot envelope. Others were rejected for lack of a full or partial 
> social security number -- a violation of section 7 of the Privacy Act
>
> The Fairfax County Democrats continue to sue the State Board of 
> Elections in state court over questions about what is a material 
> omission from the absentee ballot envelope. But if every vote enjoys 
> constitutional protection because it is "preservative of all other 
> rights" the voter purge means that significant numbers of people's 
> constitutional rights will be violated, and the provisional balloting 
> process will provide no cure.
>
> Irreparable harm is likely, and IMHO, Judge Hilton got this one wrong.
>
> By the way, I almost never see my own posts on this list-serve. I 
> would appreciate it if one of you on the list serve could write back, 
> just to confirm you got this.
>
> Best,
>
> Marc Greidinger
>
> Outside Counsel, Fairfax County Democratic Committee
>
> (703) 626-1363
>
> *From:*law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu 
> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] *On Behalf Of 
> *Rick Hasen
> *Sent:* Friday, October 18, 2013 11:22 PM
> *To:* law-election at UCI.edu
> *Subject:* [EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/19/13
>
>
>     "Judge denies injunction in voter lawsuit brought by Democrats"
>     <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56084>
>
> Posted on October 18, 2013 10:56 am 
> <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56084>by Rick Hasen 
> <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> Times-Dispatch 
> <http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/judge-denies-injunction-in-voter-lawsuit-brought-by-democrats/article_c78b1904-380e-11e3-9a05-0019bb30f31a.html>: 
> "A federal judge has rejected a request from Virginia Democrats who 
> want the State Board of Elections to reinstate nearly 40,000 voters 
> who were recently purged from the voter rolls."
>
> Share 
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D56084&title=%E2%80%9CJudge%20denies%20injunction%20in%20voter%20lawsuit%20brought%20by%20Democrats%E2%80%9D&description=>
>
> Posted inelection administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
> The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter 
> registration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>
>
> -- 
> Rick Hasen
> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
> 949.824.3072 - office
> 949.824.0495 - fax
> rhasen at law.uci.edu  <mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
> http://electionlawblog.org
>
>
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