election-law_gl-digest   Thursday, February 28 2002   Volume 01 : Number 151




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 09:53:44 -0800
From: Rick Hasen <rick.hasen@lls.edu>
Subject: California Supreme Court to consider ban on write-in votes

The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Edelstein v.
Fado. (The Court of Appeals decision can be found at 93 Cal. App. 4th
460 (2001).) Seven years before the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in
Burdick v. Takushi (upholding Hawaii's ban on write in votes), the
California Supreme Court had ruled that a ban on write-in votes violates
both the federal and state constitutions. In Edelstein, the city of San
Francisco argued that Burdick effectively overruled the old California
authority. The intermediate appellate court agreed as to the federal
constitution, but said the ban still violates the state constitution.
The court invited the California Supreme Court to revisit the issue
under state law, and the California Supreme Court agreed to hear the
case.

- --
Rick Hasen
Professor of Law and William M. Rains Fellow
Loyola Law School
919 South Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA  90015-1211
(213)736-1466 - voice
(213)380-3769 - fax
rick.hasen@lls.edu
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html

------------------------------

End of election-law_gl-digest V1 #151
*************************************