Electionlawblog news and commentary 12/12/05

"Putting a chill on the initiative process; An appeals court ruling that requires petitions to be multilingual in certain areas could short-circuit propositions and recalls"

The Los Angeles Times has published my oped this morning. It begins: "A LITTLE-NOTICED ruling from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last month threatens to throw a monkey wrench into California's initiative process, and it has already been used by City Council members in Rosemead to block a recall election. The court should reconsider the case, and in the meantime indicate that its ruling does not apply to recall and initiative petitions already in circulation at the time of the court's decision in late November."

More on Judge Alito and Voting Rights

Ken Starr and Ronald Cass write Alito's Sticky Thicket in the Boston Globe. The Dallas Morning News editorializes on the same topic.

"Let's Shift Gears in Voting-Rights Enforcement"

Heather Gerken offers this Roll Call commentary (paid subscription required). It concludes: "As I have written elsewhere, it would be easy to tweak the preclearance process in light of these cutting-edge administrative law models, providing greater accountability, more flexibility, and broader community involvement in Section 5's administration. Administrative law should supply the new paradigm for voting-rights enforcement. While we might lose a bit in terms of rhetoric--the grandeur of rights discourse is hard to beat--we would gain a set of practical regulatory tools that will do a better job of protecting minority voters in the long run."

"Conference Urges Fixes to Presidential Financing"

Roll Call offers this report (paid subscription required). A snippet: "Political observers believe its increasingly likely that, if the system is left untouched, no one will participate in it at all in 2008."

"PERSPECTIVE: Only certainty under voter ID is longer lines, more confusion"

A.P. offers this analysis. See also this Toledo Blade report.

Stephen E. Hershkowitz to Sandler, Reiff & Young

So reports the Washington Post.

"Campaign cash kept after the fact; It's legal for lawmakers to keep leftovers, but some say it shouldn't be"

A.P. offers this report from North Carolina.

Overton on the DNC Primary Schedule

See here.

"Playing with the process?"

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram offers this editorial on the DOJ Texas redistricting controversy.

"Court rejects Democrat's argument in contested AG's race"

A.P. offers this report from Virginia. It begins: "RICHMOND, Va. -- A court ruled on Friday that more than 500,000 ballots in the contested attorney general's race will not be rerun through vote tabulators in the upcoming recount." Link via the Southwest Virginia Law Blog.

"Justice Department appointees favored power over law in redistricting"

The Houston Chronicle offers this editorial.

-- 
Rick Hasen
William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola Law School
919 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
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