Election-Campaign Law

Shakespeare 2008: Thank All the Lawyers?

By Thad Hall

Delia Lithwick of Slate.com has a great piece about the role that lawyers are playing in the 2008 election wars over the rules.  Although I disagree with her premise–after all good public administration are really our best hope on election day (hey, if she can tout her profession, so can I!)–she has a really interesting idea.  As she notes:

A report issued last week by the Pew Center on the States, titled “What if We Had an Election and Everybody Came,” warns of impending Election Day mayhem: “Like the infamous Nor’easter that sank the Andrea Gail, another perfect storm may be brewing, only this one has the potential to combine a record turnout with an insufficient number of poll workers and a voting system still in flux.” Thanks to the 2002 Help America Vote Act (which currently appears to be doing nothing of the sort) Ohio Republicans were emboldened to bring a novel dispute over the eligibility of newly registered voters that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court last week. That leaves 49 states, 11 days, and thousands of quick-thinking attorneys to enjoin, protest, and litigate every other possible election claim ranging from dead men casting ballots to touch-screen voting machines with minds of their own.

Full post as published by Election Updates on October 26, 2008 (boomark / email).