[EL] Voter turnout

Thu Apr 10 13:53:14 PDT 2014

Some people see the mere act of voting, without regard to how you vote or even whether you turn in a blank ballot, as an endorsement of the legitimacy of the government. That raises a compelled speech issue. Some religious groups take that view, I think. Some also think that this kind of participation with the government is a rejection of the authority of God in favor of the authority of human beings (and that it would be wrongful even if done privately so that nothing is expressed to anyone else, which complicates the analysis).

There may also be a compelling interest in requiring people to serve in the military (or perform appropriate alternative service) when drafted; it's hard to argue that there is a compelling governmental interest in forcing people to vote.

Can a juror be held in contempt for refusing to participate in deliberations? Or is the juror who refuses simply replaced?

Mark

Mark S. Scarberry
Professor of Law
Pepperdine Univ. School of Law

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Bill Maurer
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:24 PM
To: 'Rick Hasen'; larrylevine at earthlink.net; law-election at UCI.EDU
Subject: Re: [EL] Voter turnout

Professor Hasen,

Thanks for the response.  I would argue that there is separate constitutional authority for the draft and a long-standing common law tradition of jury service.  Given how unpopular being drafted and serving jury duty is proves your third point, though-an elected official promoting mandatory voting would probably come close to seeing his dream realized when practically everyone turns out to vote him out of office.

From: Rick Hasen [mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu]
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 9:55 AM
To: Bill Maurer; larrylevine at earthlink.net<mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net>; law-election at UCI.EDU<mailto:law-election at UCI.EDU>
Subject: Re: [EL] Voter turnout

We do all the time---jury duty, conscription to the army in times of war.
Nor do I think there is a First Amendment problem.  No one has to cast a vote for anyone. One may cast a blank ballot.
That said, I believe the issue is a non-starter in the United States, where there is a widespread libertarian-type resistance to compulsory voting.
Here' my analysis:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1314963
On 4/10/2014 9:21 AM, Bill Maurer wrote:
This may be a dumb question, and I am perfectly willing to admit that I know less than nothing about this topic, but wouldn't there be 13th Amendment problems with compulsory voting?  Can the government force someone to take affirmative action not involving the paying of taxes?

Bill

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Hasen
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2014 9:35 PM
To: larrylevine at earthlink.net<mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net>; law-election at UCI.EDU<mailto:law-election at UCI.EDU>
Subject: Re: [EL] Voter turnout

Compulsory voting?
On 4/9/14, 9:30 PM, Larry Levine wrote:
I have been appointed as a member of the Los Angeles City Advisory Commission on Political Reform. I am a member of the sub-committee on research. The main charge of the commission is to look into actions that might increase turnout in municipal elections. Can anyone on the list provide some recent research on this subject? Nothing is off limits - change of election dates, consolidation with other elections, early voting, expanded number of voting dates, etc.
Thanks,
Larry

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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>

hhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/

http://electionlawblog.org

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