[EL] Electionlawblog news and commentary 11/2/10

Federal District Court, in Rejecting Tea Party-Requested Restraining Order, Finds that Polling Place is a Limited Public Forum for First Amendment Purposes

See this article about this decision issued late last week. Thanks to Michael Solimine for passing these along.

"High campaign spending during midterm elections could affect 2012 race"

Two from NPR's Morning Edition

Tracking the Money Spent on Campaign Ads (Peter Overby) and For Voters Who Need Help, Sites and Apps Aplenty (Pam Fessler).

Posted by Rick Hasen at 09:11 AM

"Recount Bait: Six Tight Races"

Politico reports.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 09:06 AM

Using FOIA for Recount Purposes

Scroll down here to the entry beginning: "The Alexi Giannoulias campaign..."

Posted by Rick Hasen at 09:03 AM

"Sleepy judge vote a focal point of Iowa election"

AP offers this report.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 09:00 AM

"The Law of Politics: Elections, Parties and Money in Australia"

Graeme Orr has just written this book for Federation Press in Australia. The book is described as "the first dedicated monograph on the law on democratic politics in Australia. It synthesises the law on elections, with a central focus on political parties, parliamentary elections and referenda at Federal and State levels."
I look forward to reading this book. I am a huge fan of Graeme's earlier work, and found it very helpful as I tried to understand both Australian election administration issues and campaign finance issues. Highly recommended!

Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:54 AM

"The Real Prize in Tuesday's Elections"

Mother Jones on redistricting.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:50 AM

"As Fewer Vote, The Fringe Dominate"

DeWayne Wickham has written this USA Today column.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:47 AM

"Why the 'voter fraud' myth won't die"

This item appears on the "Facing South" blog.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:44 AM

"Election Day 2010 Voting Problems Expected; Call Centers Are Open"

Dan Froomkin reports at HuffPo.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:40 AM

"'Lizard People': Election recounts lawyered up, ready

Joel Connelly has written this column for the Seattle PI.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 09:51 PM

WWE Cancels Giveaway After DOJ Warning

Following up on this post, see here.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:52 PM

Patience in Alaska Count

Election officials don't even have plans to try to count all the ballots Tuesday.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:37 PM

"Parties Deploy Lawyers With Recounts in Mind"

CQ-Roll Call offers this report.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:32 PM

"No Doubt About This: Record Spending"

CQ-Roll Call offers this report.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:28 PM

"Supreme Court won't hear new campaign finance challenge"

WaPo offers this report.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:23 PM

More Hysteria

Washington Times editorial: Watch for voter fraud "epidemic" tomorrow. It would be sad if the effect of this were not so pernicious.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 05:14 PM

Another One

Jacksonville (Fla): Brown campaign offers free meals for early voters. Wonder if a letter will be coming from DOJ?

Posted by Rick Hasen at 05:08 PM

Payment for Voting Issue Gets More Serious with DOJ Letter to WWE

I've been blogging a lot about this question, from tacos to ice cream: federal law is clear that you cannot offer any incentive for people to turn out to vote, in elections when federal candidates are on the ballot. So I praised WWE (associated with Conn. Republican Senate candidate McMahon) when they announced free giveaways near polling places on a "first come, first served" basis, without proof of voting. So I was surprised when DOJ sent this warning letter to WWE. I wonder whether others have gotten such a letter. In any case, WWE has affirmed that one need not vote to get the gear, and that should end the matter. If this was targeted only at WWE and not sent to other entities similarly situated, I'd find that troubling.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 05:03 PM

November 02, 2010