cert granted in election law case/news of the day 9/28/04

Subject: cert granted in election law case/news of the day 9/28/04

From: Rick Hasen

Date: 9/28/2004, 7:56 AM

To: election-law

Breaking News: Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Another Case Involving Party Primaries and Associational Rights

This morning the Supreme Court granted cert (order here) in Clingman v. Beaver, No. 04-37. The case below is Beaver v. Clingman, 363 F.3d 1048 (10th Cir. 2004). Here is how the 10th Circuit opinion phrased the question before it:

After finding that the LPO had standing, and following the leading Supreme Court cases of Tashjian and California Democratic Party v. Jones, the Tenth Circuit had concluded that the burden on LPO was severe, and rejected four interests put forward by Oklahoma to justify its statute:

(1) protecting the LPO from "swamping" and "raiding"; (2) preventing voter confusion; (3) minimizing administrative difficulties; and (4) promoting and protecting "the integrity of the election process," which includes "preserving the political parties as viable and identifiable interest groups, insuring that the results of a primary election ... accurately reflect the voting of the party members, and prevention of confusion or misleading of the general electorate to the extent that the voting public often relies on party labels to make their choice.
Assuming the Court reaches the merits and does not get hung up on standing, this should be an interesting case, particularly because it involves the associational rights of a third party against the two major parties, an issue not presented in the earlier Tashjian and Jones cases.

California Enacts Laws Requiring Paper Trail for Touch Screen Ballots, Moves Primary Back to June

See this Sacramento Bee report.

"Watchdogs Demand Recusal By Smith in 527 Case"

Roll Call offers this report. You can find my earlier coverage (along with a link to the motion) here and Bob Bauer weighs in here.

"Group Wants Ballot Distribution Stopped"

A.P. offers this report, which begins: "Backers of an initiative to change the way U.S. Senate vacancies are filled in Alaska on Monday asked a judge to block printing and distribution of the Nov. 2 ballots, contending the state's summary of the measure is misleading."

"Flood of New Voters Signing Up"

A.P. offers this report.

Whatever Happened to the Florida Felon Disenfranchisement Controversy?

See here.

"Nader Dispute Lands at Supreme Court"

See this A.P. report.

Two Appellate Cases on Election Law Issued Today

The Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion reversing a federal court's decision to abstain in a case challenging Florida's touch screen voting system. The Sixth Circuit issued an opinion on the timing of special elections. Thanks to How Appealing for pointers to both opinions. UPDATE: You can find some commentary on the Sixth Circuit decision here.

Campaign Finance Reform Groups Up the Ante in Battle with FEC Chair Brad Smith

Democracy 21, the Camaign Legal Center, and the Center for Responsive politics have called on FEC Chair Brad Smith to recuse himself from hearing their complaint regarding the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" advertisements. You can find the press release and links to other documents here.

-- 
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
(213)380-3769 - fax
rick.hasen@lls.edu
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http://electionlawblog.org