NYT Editorial Page Endorses Regional
Primaries, But Only Grudgingly Acknowledges Source of Idea
See here.
The source is the Carter-Baker commission report.
Tokaji on Election Reform
Dan Tokaji has posted Early
Returns on Election Reform (forthcoming George Washington Law
Review) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The United States was fortunate to avoid another protracted
post-election fight in 2004. Although the Help America Vote Act of 2002
(HAVA) promised substantial changes in the way that elections are
conducted in the United States, these changes in federal law did not
prevent serious problems from occurring in Ohio and other states. The
only reason that these problems did not lead to another contested
election is because the margin of victory exceeded the margin of
litigation. This Article examines how the changes commonly referred to
as election reform contributed to the difficulties that emerged in
2004, focusing especially on Ohio's experience with respect to voting
equipment, voter registration, provisional voting, ID requirements,
challenges to voter eligibility, and polling place operations. The
article then considers what should be done to deal with the problems
that the 2004 election revealed, drawing five lessons for the future:
(1) while HAVA's changes with respect to voting equipment have had a
beneficial effect, there is a continuing need for improvement in those
states that have not yet upgraded their technology; (2) pre-election
litigation challenging election administration practices should be
brought as far in advance of election day as practicable; (3) courts
should act swiftly in issuing injunctive relief where it is
appropriate; (4) states should prescribe clear rules governing the
administration of elections, as far in advance of election day as
possible; and (5) courts should take a skeptical view of election
administration rules that are promulgated unilaterally by partisan
election officials, as opposed to those enacted by the legislature or
by some other bipartisan or nonpartisan body.
"Rell Calls Legislators Into Special Session"
A.P. offers this
report from Connecticut, which begins: "Gov. M. Jodi Rell is
calling state legislators back to the Capitol next month to vote on a
plan for reforming Connecticut's campaign financing system." Thanks to
Dewey Dow for the pointer.
Richie on Competitiveness of California Legislative
Districts Under Prop. 77
Responding to the Rose Institute report, Rob Richie offers these
thoughts on the election law listserv. He suggests that we would
see much less competitiveness than suggested by the report.
"GOP Files Complaint Against Nunez, Dems"
John Myers has this post
on Capital Notes, which begins: "The state Republican Party has accused
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-LA) and five other Democrats of
breaking campaign finance rules, by shifting large sums of money from
candidate controlled committees to a ballot measure committees."