| Subject: Electionlawblog news and commentary 8/17/06 |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 8/17/2006, 7:54 AM |
| To: election-law |
Roll Call offers this
breaking news report,
which begins: "In a rare show of bipartisan unity, and with an eye on
what may be a very close race in Pennsylvania this November, the Senate
Democratic and Republican campaign committees are asking the Federal
Election Commission to clarify the rules covering recounts." If the
Santorum-Casey race is this close, it is no wonder that Republicans
have aided the effort of the Green party senate candidate to get on the
ballot and Democrats have resisted such efforts.
The LA Times offers this
report,
which begins: "SACRAMENTO-- A day after lawmakers said they had
abandoned the issue for this year, the state Senate moved -- perhaps
symbolically -- to ask voters to take away the Legislature's authority
to draw voting districts. Wednesday's vote to surrender redistricting
authority was unprecedented in the California Legislature, but voters
won't decide the issue until at least 2008 and the odds are long for
such a measure even on that year's ballot."
I
received a media advisory via email this morning. It begins: "A
coalition on Thursday will announce the formation of a new 527
committee charged with implementing a long-term strategy to help
Democrats devise redistricting strategies in states across the country
to counter orchestrated Republican efforts to gerrymander congressional
districts for partisan political advantage."
You can find it here.
See also this
press release.
The State offers this
report. This is a very odd report, noting the litigation in
Virginia and Mississippi. As I understand Tashjian and California
Democratic Party v. Jones,
if a party objects to the form of a primary (e.g., open v. closed), it
gets the last word on choosing the form of the primary (except it
cannot choose a system over the objection of other parties that invites
voters registered with other parties to vote in that primary---Clingman
v. Beaver).
Bottom line: if the South Carolina legislature doesn't change the
system for Republicans to close the Republican primary, the Republicans
should be able to force that change through litigation.
It really is
time
for the Ninth Circuit to end the uncertainty created by Padilla v.
Lever and decide the case en banc. Apparently for Judge Ware in the
Monterey county cases, it was not enough that the Ninth Circuit vacated
the three-judge panel opinion. What a mess.
-- 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