An Attempt to Moot the Georgia Voter ID Litigation?

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: "Georgia lawmakers convened their 2006 session Monday and quickly pushed forward a new voter identification bill, rekindling last year's fiery debate over voting rights and fraud at the polls. House Republican leaders' revised proposal would still require photo identification for voters, but it would make free ID cards available through all 159 county voter registration offices." Watch for the motion to dismiss the Eleventh Circuit appeal after this bill becomes law.

Is the Lonely Centrist a Centrist?

The anonymous blogger Centerman, who knows a great deal about campaign finance law and blogs here is interviewed by Matt Johnston here. Centerman often has interesting perspectives on election law issues, though I've thought it incorrect for him to label himself a centrist. His reaction in the interview: " Some people, like Richard Hasen, have argued that I am really a conservative. I suppose that is fair enough - I voted for GWB twice. But I don't feel terribly at home in the GOP. I voted for Gerry Ford in 1976, but didn't vote Republican again until 1992 (in retrospect, a mistake at least twice). I think of myself as a moderate, at least by disposition, and my approach to politics, if not my ultimate position on any given issue, is moderate."

Munger on BCRA

Michael Munger (Political Science, Duke) has written a commentary, Unintended Consequences 1, Good Intentions 0 for "The Library of Economics and Liberty." A snippet:

BCRA has been a failure even for supporters of spending restrictions, like Rep. Meeks and dozens of other members of Congress. BCRA has achieved three things, all bad:

1. It actually enhances the power of narrowly focused, highly organized and well-funded special interests.
2. It reduces the accountability of those interests by encouraging those groups to disguise their identities.
3. It raises a nearly impenetrable financial force field of protection around incumbents.

"Echoes of Bush v. Gore: Courts Are Not Always the Right Forum for Election Contests"

Steven Huefner has written this interesting commentary for the OSU election law website.

More on the Political Scientists' Brief in the Texas Redistricting Case

Andrew Gelman, one of the authors of this brief offers these additional thoughts on his blog, Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science.

"Lawmakers delay vote on elections plan for New Orleans"

Nola.com offers this report.

"Ehrlich commission backs vetoes of 4 election reform bills"

The Baltimore Sun offers this report.

-- 
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
http://electionlawblog.org