Padilla v. Lever Hits Kern County

The Bakersfield Californian offers Sludge Initiative on Hold, talking about the latest California jurisdiction hit with a lawsuit to remove an already qualified voter initiative from the ballot for ostensible failure to comply with section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. A snippet:

The men's civil rights were violated, the suit alleges, because the sludge petition used last year during the signature-gathering process was printed only in English.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday in Fresno.

The argument fueling the lawsuit was born in November in Orange County. That is: Petitions, like ballots at the voting booth, must be printed in multiple languages in certain geographic areas.

Since November, Padilla versus Lever -- or just Padilla, as legal folks refer to the case -- has derailed initiatives in Monterey and San Bernardino counties. Officials in Orange County are currently questioning a second petition.

And now there's Kern.

"Padilla opened up this Pandora's box," said Richard Hasen, a professor specializing in elections law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "These are going to continue until the (U.S.) 9th Circuit Court of Appeals does something."

Two Stories on the DOJ and Voting Rights

NPR offers Ohio City Investigated for Voting Discrimination. The web description of the audio report: "The Justice Department is planning to file a voting rights suit against a city in Ohio. The last time the department brought a lawsuit alleging a pattern of discrimination against black voters was in 2001." USA Today offers Voting Rights Act pointed in a new direction. A snippet: "The Justice Department has launched a landmark lawsuit against Brown --the first time the federal government has used the 1965 Voting Rights Act to allege racial discrimination against whites."

"Workers accused of fudging '04 recount"

The Cleveland Plain Dealer offers this very interesting front-page report, which begins: "After the 2004 presidential election, Cuyahoga County election workers secretly skirted rules designed to make sure all votes were counted correctly, a special prosecutor charges. While there is no evidence of vote fraud, the prosecutor said their efforts were aimed at avoiding an expensive - and very public - hand recount of all votes cast. Three top county elections officials have been indicted, and Erie County Prosecutor Kevin Baxter says more indictments are possible."

"Campaign Finance Measure Approved; House Bill Would Cap '527' Donations, Used Largely by Democrats"

The Washington Post offers this report. See also this NY Times report, this AP report, this BNA report (paid subscription required), this Roll Call report (paid subscription required), and this report in The Hill. The focus on 527s should not obscure the importance of the changes in the party coordination provisions. As the article in The Hill explains:

House Republican leaders have struck a deal with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to eliminate restrictions on coordination between national parties and federal candidates, a change in the law that would be of great benefit to the winner of the 2008 GOP presidential primary, according to congressional sources.

Republican and Democratic campaign-finance experts alike believe the change would be a boon to McCain's campaign, if he wins his party's nomination in three years, an outcome that political handicappers are beginning to view as a real possibility

Terry Smith on Race and Election Law Scholarship

Terry Smith offers this post on Blackprof.com. A snippet:

When the authors of the two leading texts in the election law area systematically omitted citation to all but one or two African-American scholars in the area, the proper question for them was not whether they had a racial motive, but rather, how can anyone purport to be a true scholar if they overlook a relevant body of scholarship--in a textbook, no less? And the question for all minority scholars when faced with a glaring oversight (or slight) such as this is whether we demur or flinch.

When I saw that these texts had favored student notes and white authors with placements in secondary journals to the work of minority scholars, I advised a white mentor that I would pen a joint letter, signed by other minority scholars, to the authors regarding their egregious omissions. The mentor-whom I believe to possess good intentions, though that is never dispositive for me-counseled me not to write such a letter because it would impede my ability to move to a higher-ranked law school. Wrong person. Although I could not gain a consensus regarding the joint letter, I have made it my business to point out when publications and symposia-especially those that directly implicate minority interests-neglect the contributions of scholars of color.

As one of the authors of those casebooks, I'll let others judge the fairness of these charges.

"Blackwell reports embarrassing buy of Diebold stock"

The Cleveland Plain Dealer offers this report, which begins: "Secretary of State Ken Blackwell made an embarrassing announcement Monday: He accidentally bought stock in Diebold Inc., a voting machine maker that benefited from decisions made by his office. In a required filing with the Ohio Ethics Commission, the GOP gubernatorial hopeful said his hefty portfolio included 178 shares of Diebold stock, which sold for a loss." Dan Tokaji comments.

"Voters' Ed"

John B. Anderson of Fairvote and US EAC Commissioner Ray Martinez III have written this NY Times oped, which calls for, among other things, automatic voter registration by the government of graduating high school seniors. It is a terrific idea, not only for the reasons mentioned in the article, but also because government-conducted voter registraion (rather than the use of private bounty hunters) makes registration fraud less likely.

-- 
Rick Hasen 
William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola Law School 
919 Albany Street 
Los Angeles, CA  90015-1211 
(213)736-1466 - voice 
(213)380-3769 - fax 
rick.hasen@lls.edu 
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html 
http://electionlawblog.org