| Subject: news of the day 9/29/04 |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 9/29/2004, 10:43 AM |
| To: election-law |
See this
Columbus Dispatch report,
which begins: "Under fire from voting-rights advocates, Ohio Secretary
of State J. Kenneth Blackwell retreated yesterday from a directive that
critics said would slow voter-registration efforts and even block some
people from casting a ballot Nov. 2."
The New York Times offers this
report. See also this
A.P. report.
SCOTUSblog reports here
that Justice Breyer would have granted the stay. UPDATE: A.P.
offers this
report.
There are a number of election stories now coming out of Ohio. A key battleground state, Ohio is---in my view--the most likely candidate for election day problems and therefore post-election challenges should the election be very close again.
Among the most important issues are (1) a dispute over whether Ohio will accept voter registration cards not printed on card stock [The A.P. story is here; Brian Leiter comments here] and (2) Democrats' challenging the Secretary of State's directive providing that provisional ballots cast in the "wrong" precinct won't be counted [Dan Tokaji has the details here].
Ned Foley laments here
that Ohio's Secretary of State will not allow international observers
for Ohio's election.
-- 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 http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html http://electionlawblog.org