| Subject: [EL] Electionlawblog news and commentary 10/27/10 |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 10/26/2010, 9:27 PM |
| To: Election Law |
The NY Times offers this
report.
The NY Times offers this
report.
AP:
"Don't count on a quick resolution to the drama on Election
Night. If the race turns out to be as tight as polling suggests,
write-in and absentee ballots could come into play. That could
put off a final tally -- and the determination of the winner --
for weeks."
In what should be considered my proudest moment as an election
law scholar in 2008, I was responsible
for calling attention to a promotion of Ben and Jerry's which
was going to offer free ice cream to anyone who voted in the
presidential election. Noting that payments for turnout are
illegal when federal candidates are on the ballot, I suggested
that Ben & Jerry's needed to make its ice cream free to
non-voters (including kids) so as not to run afoul of the law.
The company caved
to the delight of those too young to vote.
I bring this up because of the recent allegations
from the Angle campaign in Nevada that Democrats are
offering free food or Starbucks cards to anyone who has voted. I
have seen no proof yet of the truth of these allegations or
further allegations of gifts being offered in exchange for a
vote for Reid. But I was struck by a sentence in this
letter from the Nevada Secretary of State. Among the list
of things supposedly allowed is: "throwing a post-election party
which offers free food to anyone who has voted,
irrespective of how and for whom they voted" (original
emphasis). I believe this would still be payment for turnout,
and not allowed in an election in which a federal candidate is
on the ballot.
CT
Now: ""Over the past few days, there have been several
media reports suggesting that this office issued a directive to
local election officials that voters who wear ... WWE T-shirts,
hats or other apparel to the polls should be turned away from
the polls...These reports misstate the law and misconstrue the
statements from this office."
Politico offers this
report. See also Corporate
campaign ads haven't followed Supreme Court's prediction (LA
Times) and Democrats
Retain Edge in Spending on Campaigns (NY Times).
Bloomberg reports.
Key passage: "Mika Marquart, a spokeswoman for the Arizona
attorney general's office, said the state will seek
reconsideration of the ruling by a larger panel of judges.
Because the voter registration period for next week’s election
has passed, the ruling will have little or no practical effect
on the Nov. 2 vote, Marquart said in an e-mailed statement." So
at least we won't have any emergency stays in this case just
before the election. We actually had that in an earlier stage of
this case back
in 2006.
See also this
press release from MALDEF.
Minn Post reports.
"The Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced today that it
has charged -- or will charge -- 47 cases of felon voting and
double-counting, significantly less than the number of alleged
cases brought to the prosecutor's office by the Minnesota
Majority, a conservative watchdog group."
Meredith McGehee blogs.
See this
press release.
The New Haven Register reports.
This
item appears on a Fox News political blog.
This
looks like a great event at Brooklyn Law on November 19
with a great line up.
The NY Times offers this
report.