| Subject: Electionlawblog news and commentary 7/26/06 |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 7/26/2006, 8:51 AM |
| To: election-law |
My Loyola colleague Lauren Willis has written this
very interesting oped.
See here.
Ned Foley has written this
weekly comment
at the OSU site. It raises interesting questions about public
confidence in election results, which I think Ned suggests is a
function not only of the closeness of the election, but also---when it
comes to claims of intentional vote rigging by election officials--- a
function of the extent to which the public believes election officials
have the ability to manipulate large numbers of votes.
The Christian Science Monitor offers this
editorial about New Hampshire's treatment of small political
parties. Thanks to Richard Winger for the link, who also notes this
story
in the New York Law Journal (subscription required), which begins:
"ALBANY - A Northern District judge yesterday shot down on First
Amendment grounds a state elections law provision that barred political
parties from promoting candidates during primaries." This is a federal
district court case coming a few days after a similar state appellate
case.
Roll Call offers this
report,
paid subscriiption required, which begins: "With the Democratic
National Committee financially hamstrung, Senate Democrats flooded key
state parties with a total of $4.6 million in the past three months to
help fund air and ground wars in more than a dozen competitive races.
It was the latest evidence that House and Senate campaign strategists
are not relying on the national party to build the infrastructure
needed to pick up seats in battleground states."
Roll Call offers this
fascinating report
(paid subscription required), which begins: "Justice Department
investigators have begun a review of Senate Rules and Administration
Committee records relating to negotiations over the Help America Vote
Act, involving then-Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and former House
Administration Chairman Bob Ney (R-Ohio), as they wrap up their
investigation into Ney's connections to disgraced lobbyist Jack
Abramoff, Senate sources said Tuesday.Senate aides familiar with the
review said Justice officials indicated the inquiry was not focused on
Dodd, who now serves as the committee’s ranking member, and the type
of information investigators were seeking--while not specific enough to
indicate they were looking for a smoking gun --appear to point directly
at Ney." Unfortunately, the article doesn't get any more specific about
what the investigators might be looking for. This could turn out to be
a very interesting story.
The Washington Post offers this
report on this
13-page report from the National Academies of Sciences (latter link
via Election
Updates).
AP offers this
report on a disturbing court development in Minnesota.
-- Rick Hasen William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law Loyola Law School 919 South Albany Street Los Angeles, CA 90015-0019 (213)736-1466 - voice (213)380-3769 - fax rick.hasen@lls.edu http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html http://electionlawblog.org