"A Surge in Democratic Spending"

The NY Times offers this report.

Alaska Supreme Court, Relying in Part on the Democracy Canon, Orders Election Officials to Provide a List of Write-in Candidate Names to Voters Who Request the List

The court's order is here (see especially paragraph 4 in terms of the paramount importance of voter intent and an effective voter franchise). See also this report from the Anchorage Daily News. Unlike the interim order of the Alaska Supreme Court, the Court has now ordered no segregation of the ballots. Whether the change in Alaska law creates any federal constitutional issues remains to be seen.

"Lay Off Sandra Day O'Connor"

Bert Brandenburg has written this important piece for Slate.

"Arpaio splits with illegal-immigration group"

An important follow-up to my post yesterday severely criticizing Maricopa County (AZ) Sheriff Joe Arpaio for an email suggesting that illegal aliens would steal the election in Arizona. According to AP:

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's name was mistakenly signed onto a fundraising e-mail by a group that warned that illegal immigrants were compromising the upcoming election.

Ban Amnesty Now President Sean McCaffrey said Friday that his group mocked up the e-mail in Arpaio's name, but never sought the sheriff's approval and that it was sent to 1 percent to 2 percent of the 1.3 million people on its distribution list."

This is very good to hear.

The Undead Undead Voter Claim

[Note: Justin here, with thanks for another generous offer to guest post.]

Halloween isn't just a time for scary political ads. It's also the favorite season for reports that the dead are walking--straight to the voting booth.

Back in 2006, I wrote about the flaws in many of these undead-voter claims, which are often based on careless attempts to match voter rolls to Social Security Administration lists. In 2007, I wrote about them again. In 2008, I wrote about them again.

It turns out that unwarranted claims of fraud by dead voters are ghoulishly difficult to kill. This year, "Saw" isn't the only retread that's been resurrected for late October.

Amidst the general buzz about voter fraud, the dead-voter stories are back. Yesterday, in Kansas, a candidate for Secretary of State held a press conference bemoaning (again) the state of the voter rolls and calling (again) for photo ID rules at the polls. He said, "When you look at the voter rolls, you will find many people on the voter rolls who, if they were still alive today, they would be 104, 106, 110 years old . . . . Let me just give you one example."

The claim then got specific, which is unusual ... in part because specificity creates the opportunity for verification. The candidate cited Alfred K. Brewer as having died ... and then voted. To be fair, he then hedged his claim, stating that though he had not wholly confirmed the fraud, "it certainly seems like a very real possibility."

A little research quickly undermined the certainty. The voting Alfred K. Brewer is very much alive (when called to inquire about his journey back from the grave, he was raking leaves). A death entry for his father, who passed away some time ago -- and was also named Alfred K. Brewer -- had triggered the false alert.

Such "false positives" -- improper assumptions that two people with the same listed information are actually the same person -- are far more statistically common than most people think, even when the matching exercise isn't sloppy. But conclusions from a "match" aren't the only issue. Sometimes the "dead voter" isn't dead. Sometimes she didn't vote. Follow-through on wild claims, it appears, is an even more effective way to whittle down the zombie voter hordes than a shotgun.

(Indeed, the research underlying the Kansas press conference claims was substantially more thorough in its follow-through -- and the number of undead suspects dropped accordingly. Unsupported claims are bigger, and much more exciting.)

To this end, a few years ago, I put together a short "investigator's guide" for claims of voter fraud, to help people -- before hosting the press conference -- sort the unsupported claims from those with merit. The guide is based on my experience that behind most reports of dead voters, scary as they may seem, there's a whole lot more truth left to unearth.

Overton: Maryland MOVE Act Decision Significant Victory for Voters

See here.

"Coal Industry Increases Spending to Sway Next Congress"

NYT reports.

"Campaigns and states prepare for post-election battles"

The LA Times reports.

"New PACs sprout in final days of 2010 campaign"

WaPo offers this report.

Another Bopp Loss at the Supreme Court on a Request for Emergency Relief

There are so many of these i was not even aware of this one. SCOTUSBlog has the details on this unanimous Supreme Court order denying an injunction pending appeal. You can read the emergency application here.

"Alaska Supreme Court weighs write-in list"

AP offers this report.

"Fresno County Ballots Use Wrong Language for Prop. 23"

See here.

-- 
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