"Has Presidential Tax Funding of Elections Been a Success?"

Brad Smith has this new post.

"English-only ballots -- for now"

The Daytona Beach News-Journal offers this report.

"Casting a vote for election integrity"

The East Valley Tribune offers this editorial on Arizona's voter i.d. requirements.

"The E-Voting Write-In Test"

See this interesting post on Election Updates about voting in the Texas CD 22, the former Tom DeLay district. Concludes Thad Hall: "I was the discussant of a paper on electronic voting at a confrence this spring in Chicago that examined the ease of doing write-in voting using a DRE and generally it is not easy. It can take up to 5 minutes to figure it out, which could also affect machine wait times at precincts with heavy Republican turnout."

"2006 Election Reform Agenda"

Demos has posted this ambitious reform agenda. Meanwhile, the organization has signed an affiliation agreement with the National Voting Rights Institute.

"Ray Martinez, Former Vice Chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Joins Overseas Vote Foundation Executive Board"

The following press release arrived via email:

August 21, 2006, Washington, D.C. Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF), http://www.overseasvotefoundation.org, today announced that Ray Martinez will join the OVF organization as a member of the Executive Board, effective immediately. August 19, 2006 was Mr. Martinez' last day as Vice Chairman and Commissioner at the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a bipartisan, independent federal agency, responsible for assisting state and local governments improve their federal election administration processes. Mr. Martinez' capability in the area of election administration has served the cause of enfranchisement and reform throughout his public career.

Among several planned post-EAC activities, Mr. Martinez will launch the Martinez Consulting Group, a Texas-based firm specializing in government relations, public affairs and policy implementation for both public and private sector clients, including consulting for state and local governments on implementation of HAVA and NVRA.

Mr. Martinez intends to maintain a national voice and presence in the arena of election reform. Mr. Martinez states that, "Overseas Vote Foundation is on the cutting edge of UOCAVA innovation and their mission is one that I support. The organization's proven nonpartisanship in the area of UOCAVA voter registration is in the best interest of the American public."

"We are truly honored to have Mr. Martinez join our board. With close elections occurring around the country, UOCAVA enfranchisement issues continue to gain attention. Mr. Martinez’ experience in election reform will allow him to lead our technical initiatives for active-duty military and overseas citizen voter enfranchisement," stated James Brenner, Chair of Overseas Vote Foundation.

Direct Links to Overseas Vote Foundation's Suite of Nonpartisan Voter Services:
- RAVA Voter Registration: www.ovf-rava.org – online, secure, nonpartisan
- Voter Help Desk: www.ovf-vhd.org – fast, friendly answers to voter questions
- Election Official Directory: www.ovf-eod.org –online lookup service

"Donation limits bypassed; Loopholes allow candidates to reap record campaign contributions"

The Baltimore Sun offers this report.

"USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics; 2006-2007 Participatory Democracy Workshop Series"

The following schedule arrived via email:

Specific room locations are to be determined. Please contact Betsey Hawkins (bhawkins@law.usc.edu; (213)740-7737) if you have any questions about the workshops or to arrange parking.

Tuesday October 10th, 2006
Professor Luis Fraga
Professor of Political Science, Stanford University
4:00-5:30pm
Location: USC Gould School of Law

Thursday November 16th, 2006
Dean Guy-Uriel Charles
Dean and Russell M. and Elizabeth M. Bennett Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
4:00-5:30pm
Location: USC Gould School of Law

Tuesday January 30th, 2007
Dr. Nathaniel Persily
Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School
4:00-5:30pm
Location: USC Gould School of Law

Tuesday March 27th, 2007
Professor Ellen Katz
Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
4:00-5:30pm
Location: USC Gould School of Law

"Block the Vote; Abusing Election Laws to Prevent Competition"

Brad Smith has written this Washington Post oped.

-- 
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