"Test of Fla. E-Voting Machines Postponed"

A.P. offers this report, which begins: "A public test of Palm Beach County's electronic voting machines was postponed because a computer server crashed."

"FEC May Regulate Web Activity"

A.P. offers this report.

"Pushing to Be Counted in Fla.; Groups Say that Blacks May Not Be Heard at Polls"

Don't miss this Washington Post report.

Los Angeles Times Endorses Open Primary Initiative

The Times has endorsed Proposition 62 and come out in opposition to Proposition 60. The newspaper also endorses the idea of an initiative to end partisan districting in California. Proposition 62 has also been endorsed by the Sacramento Bee and San Jose Mercury News (See here for a listing of other newspapers endorsing 62. You can find anti-62 endorsements here.) Disclosure: I am a legal consultant for the proponents of Prop. 62.

Pa. election law issues

The New York Times offers One Vote, But Five Ways to Cast It and Pa. To Give Overseas Voters More Time.

Bois and Olson on NPR's Fresh Air

You can find the links here. Thanks to Alec Ewald for the pointer.

"Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed"

See this report from Nevada. Link via Josh Marshall.

"Sinclair and Double Standards"

The Wall Street Journal offers this editorial. Thanks to Steven Sholk for the pointer.

Voter fraud in Colorado?

See here.

District Court Ruling on Missouri Provisional Polling Rules

I have posted the opinion in Hawkins v. Blunt here. Key language from the opinion (which uses Bush v. Gore as precedent, by the way) is the following: "Plaintiffs’ equal protection rights are not violated by the simple requirement that before a voter will be allowed to cast a viable provisional
ballot, the voter, provided the election official is able to determine the voter’s correct polling place, will first be directed to his proper polling place. Plaintiffs’ equal protection claim does not survive."

More cases raising this important issue are on the way in a number of jurisdictions. The best way to get up to speed on this important issue is by reading Dan Tokaji's analysis here and Ned Foley's analysis of the legislative history on this issue here.

UPDATE: Dan Tokaji notes the status of the other pending provisional ballot litigation here.

"The Reform Reporter" Notes Albuquerque Spending Limits Case Before the Supreme Court

Those in the campaign finance reform community interested in the question of overturning Buckley to allow for greater regulation should check out The Reform Reporter put out by a pro-reform group, "The Rest of Us."

The Reporter's top story is on Homans v. City of Albuquerque. A federal district court had upheld the city's spending limits law, but the Tenth Circuit reversed that determination. You can find the city's cert petition on the website of the National Voting Rights Institute (co-counsel for the city) here.

I predict that the Supreme Court won't grant the petition, but it is fairly likely grant a petition in Landell v. Sorrell, 382 F.3d 91 (2d Cir. 2004) if that case is not taken en banc by the Second Circuit. There is a procedural hurdle in Sorrell, because the case is remanded to the district court, but it essentially holds that Buckley allows for spending limits in appropriate circumstances.

Two New Books on the Initiative Process

Check out John Matsusaka, For the Many or the Few: The Initiative, Public Policy, and American Democracy (U. Chicago Press 2004) and Daniel A Smith and Caroline J. Tolbert, Educated by Initiative: The Effects of Direct Democracy on Citizens and Political Organizations in the American States (U. Mich. Press 2004).

"Voters to See Few Big Changes After Florida"

A.P. offers this report.

-- 
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