news of the day 12/1/04

"Court Halts Mayor Vote Certification"

The San Diego Union-Tribune offers this report, which begins: "A state appeals court blocked the certification of the vote in the San Diego mayor's race yesterday, breathing new life into a suit contesting the legality of the election. The ruling came just before the county registrar of voters was due to finalize the count in Mayor Dick Murphy's apparent re-election and added more uncertainty to a race with no clear winner four weeks after the polls closed. And in another volley in the litigation over the Nov. 2 election, a federal judge in San Diego declined to issue a court order in a separate suit seeking to nullify the election." The Los Angeles Times that the federal judge's decision was based on laches.

The Expected Pitched Battle Over Confirming a New Supreme Court Justice

The Hill offers this report.

No Celebrating Cert Denial in Baum Write-In Case

The San Francisco Examiner reports (fourth item):

Green Party congressional candidate Terry Baum lost legal battles in state court to have her name placed on the ballot, and ran as a write-in in the general election. "This isn't a case where we applaud the outcome," said Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for the City Attorney. "Terry Baum was a very effective advocate for why state policymakers may want to consider reforming California election law."

"If It Helps Lawmakers, It Will Pass"

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnists Spivak and Bice offer this column on changes Congress is considering to McCain-Feingold to allow federal officeholders to use certain funds in state races.

"Timeout for Term Limits":

The Los Angeles Times offers this editorial, with the following subhead: "The first real academic study of the effect of term limits on California confirms the obvious: Term limits made the Legislature worse, not better." The study the editorial refers to is Bruce E. Cain and Thad Kousser, Adapting to Term Limits: Recent Experiences and New Directions.

"Surprise Shift in Prop. 72 Vote Tally"

The Los Angeles Times offers this report, with the following subhead: "Late ballots appear to make measure requiring health insurance coverage a winner. But a clerical error may be responsible, officials say."

"Judge Tosses Challenge to Nev. Bush Win"

A.P. offers this report.

"Kerry Team Seeks to Join Fight to Get Ohio County to Recount"

The Washington Post offers this report.

Election Reform Conference

I received the following invitation via e-mail:

December 7, 2004

The Century Foundation, Common Cause, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights invite you to bring your questions and concerns regarding the November 2 elections to an event entitled “Voting in 2004: A Report to the Nation on America’s Election Process.” RSVP for this important event now by clicking on the following link.

www.commoncause.org/RSVPVotingin2004

The event is open to the public, the press, Members of Congress and their staff and the academic community. Statements will be made by Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD), http://www.hoyer.house.gov) Representative Bob Ney (R-OH) (http://ney.house.gov/) and Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) (http://holt.house.gov/)

We will begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue to 4:30 p.m. in Washington, DC in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Room G50. We will hear testimony from experts who were on the ground on November 2. Expert panels will explore issues and problems that occurred in the following areas.

* Absentee Ballots, Military and Overseas Voting
* Provisional Ballots
* Polling Place Operations and Poll Workers
* Voting Machines
* Voter Registration
* Voter Suppression and Intimidation

All panels will be followed by question and answer sessions.

Let us know right away if you plan on coming to the event by filling out the aforementioned RSVP form:

www.commoncause.org/RSVPVotingin2004.

Invited and participating individuals and organizations include:

People for the American Way, The Brennan Center for Justice, Rock the Vote, Demos, the National Association of Secretaries of State, election officials, Verified Voting, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Electionline.org, the American Civil Liberties Union, American Families United, The Advancement Project, and experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, George Washington University School of Law, American University and Johns Hopkins University.

"Voting Errors Tallied Nationwide"

The Boston Globe offers this extensive report. Here is a snippet: "In the month since the election, serious instances of voting machine problems or human errors in ballot counts have been documented in at least a dozen states, each involving from scores of ballots to as many as 12,000 votes, as in a North Carolina county. On Election Day, or in later reconciling tallies of ballots and voters, local officials discovered problems and corrected final counts. In some cases, the changes altered the outcomes of local races. But in North Carolina, the problems were so serious that the state may hold a rare second vote, redoing a contest for state agriculture commissioner decided by fewer votes than the number of ballots lost."

-- 
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