Electionlawblog news and commentary 4/7/06

"In Tiny Vernon, a Surge in Voters"

The LA Times has this report on the continuing bizarre saga in a small southern California city.

"527 Reform Could Boost Party Committees"

Chris Cillizza has this interesting post at his Washington Post blog.

"Finance reform measure advances"

The Palm Beach Post offers this report, which begins: "TALLAHASSEE -- Senate President Tom Lee's campaign finance reform package passed its first hurdle Thursday, but election law experts and Gov. Jeb Bush questioned the constitutionality of the measure. The proposal (SB 716) prohibits elected state officials, including Bush, and candidates from accepting any soft money and strictly regulates campaign advertisements by third parties, including 'electioneering communications organizations,' which exist solely to influence elections."

"With voting machine company now bankrupt, CEO speaks out; No vendor 'has a system that voters can trust'"

In the Electionline.org weekly newsletter (which should be posted here later today), Sean Greene has a fascinating story about comments made by Dennis Vadura, former AccuPoll CEO. Among the statements he makes is the following: "I think that [voting systems] vendors outright misrepresent the robustness, stability, and security of their systems. You just have to look at the litany of problems and it points at one thing, bad fundamental design, and not enough checks and balances. I also wonder why the other vendors were so adamant in fighting a VVPAT system requirement. They spent much more in fighting it than in implementing it."

If you are wondering how I got this story before it was posted to the web, it is because I signed up for the e-mail blast of the newsletter, which comes a day before the information gets posted to the Electionline web page.

"Campaigns begin on Voting Rights Act; Expiring provisions called vital by some, outmoded by others"

The San Francisco Chronicle offers this report.

"Lawsuit to keep on truckin' in Fresno today"

See this report on today's hearing over Padilla-related litigation in Kern County, CA.

Understanding the 527 Bill

Lots of people know the House passed 527 legislation yesterday, but few have read the actual bill in its final form. I have not read it yet. You can find the text here. Larry Gold has sent me his detailed analysis (written before the House amended the bill to add the provision on coordinated party spending), and Allison Hayward examines some of the bill's ambiguities. UPDATE: Bob Bauer explores the meaning of the bill here. David Keating of Club for Growth weighs in, concluding: "Oh, and by the way, the bill takes effect upon enactment, so there isn't even any time for the FEC to write rules to tell us what Congress meant by this stupid bill."

"DeLay's Seat to Be Filled in November"

A.P. offers this report.

Padilla v. Lever Hits Kern County

UPDATE: Here is another story on the Monterey case, written before the 9th circuit's denial of the motion.

-- 
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