news of the day 3/12/05

"L.A. city clerk's decision to re-ink ballots in mayor's race criticized"

A.P. offers this troubling report, which begins: "The city clerk defended his decision to have election workers use blue highlighter pens to re-ink thousands of ballots cast in Tuesday's mayoral election after the action drew criticism from elections experts and some of the candidates." I have previously expressed concern about the Inkavote system used in the election, and worry that such corrections may put too much discretion into the hands of election officials.
I should note that optical scan ballots were "corrected" in a similar manner in the controversial San Diego mayor's race. If someone put an x rather than completely filled in the bubble next to a candidate's name, the registrar filled in the bubble. This was said to fulfill the voter's intent. However, if someone wrote in the name "Frye" on the write-in line but failed to fill in the bubble next to the write in line, the registrar did not count that ballot even during a hand recount, despite the fact that the voter's intent there was clear. This raises serious equal protection issues that will soon be addressed by a Court of Appeal in California.

A Call for Mandatory Voting in a Surprising Place

Alison Hayward writes Vote or Else in the Weekly Standard. Nonsubscribers get only the beginning of the article, so I can't tell if this is meant to be tongue in cheek or not. One clue that it might be: the subhead calls it a "modest proposal."

More Coverage of Orlando Mayor Indictment

See here and here.

Newspaper Editorializes Against Renewing Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act

See this Mobile Register editorial. I believe this is the first editorial I have seen taking a position against renewing Section 5. It is sure not to be the last. I expect a vigorous debate over this issue in the next two years before preclearance expires unless it is renewed.

Bauer-Potter 527 Debate Now Online

You can find audio links here.

"Get Coffee, Not Cash"

Forbes.com offers this report, which begins:

That's the lesson from two little-noticed settlements last month with the Federal Election Commission. Harrah's Entertainment and Mirage Casino Resorts agreed to pay a combined $93,000 in fines because an executive at each had asked an assistant to help collect contributions and coordinate invitations and catering for political fundraisers aiding Republican senatorial hopeful William Gormley of New Jersey. The events raised a total of $65,000. Such activity, the FEC concluded, violates a regulation prohibiting the "use of corporate resources to facilitate contributions."

The MUR in question is here. Thanks to a reader for passing this along, who writes in response to this Bush-Cheney FAQ (see here): "The correct answer to the Bush-Cheney '04 FAQ "Can I use my executive assistant to help with my fundraising activities?" is 'Only if you pay your company in advance for the fair market value of the time your executive assistant spends assisting you in your fundraising activities.' 11 C.F.R. 114.2(f)(2)(i)(A). How many Pioneers/Rangers/Mavericks do you think did that?" Thanks for writing!

Election Law News from New Hampshire

The Union Leader offers GOP Phone Jammer Sentenced. Thanks for a reader for sending this along, along with links to this and this.

"Orlando Mayor Surrenders in Ballot Investigation"

A.P. offers this report, which begins: - Mayor Buddy Dyer, a judge and two campaign workers surrendered Friday on a felony charge of paying for the collection of absentee ballots before last year's election."

-- 
Professor Rick Hasen
Loyola Law School
919 South Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA  90015-0019
(213)736-1466 - voice
(213)380-3769 - fax
rick.hasen@lls.edu
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org