Election-Campaign Law

Florida: suit filed against write-in candidate "loophole"

Posted on July 01, 2008
The Tampa Tribune reports: Two registered voters have filed a lawsuit in Pasco County challenging the write-in candidate "loophole" in state election law. They say the provision unfairly closed the Aug. 26 primary election in a county commission race, effectively...

UK: proposal to strip Scottish MPs of vote on English bills

Posted on July 01, 2008
The Scotsman reports: THE Conservatives' long-awaited response to the discrepancy between English and Scottish MPs' voting rights will be laid bare today, when Kenneth Clarke, the former chancellor, launches his Democracy Taskforce report. Mr Clarke is to propose stripping Scots...

Alabama: city elections just got more expensive

Posted on July 01, 2008
The Birmingham News reports: With qualifying beginning today for municipal elections, cities are finding out they have an unexpected expense - at least $50 a day for city clerks to handle absentee ballots. In 2006, the Alabama Legislature passed a...

Alabama: state supreme courts backs gubernatorial appointment -- at least till November

Posted on June 30, 2008
The Alabama Supreme Court decided today that it was completely legal for Gov. Riley to make an appointment to fill a vacancy on the Jefferson County Commission. Thus, Commissioner George Bowman will serve until his successor is elected in November....

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Alabama: State AG on Fox News about voter fraud investigations

Posted on June 30, 2008
News Hound reports and has a video: FOX News, right on schedule, has started the reports of voter fraud by the Democratic Party. Eric Shawn interviewed the Alabama Attorney General, Troy King, who claimed people have been selling their votes....

Massachusetts: Attention, shoppers -- voting in Aisle One

Posted on June 30, 2008
The Worcester Telegram reports: After last year’s elections, the Election Commission developed criteria to evaluate the city’s polling locations, and based on those evaluations, it found that a number of sites had problems or deficiencies that need to be addressed...

Alabama: "History is a gift from man who lived it"

Posted on June 30, 2008
The Montgomery Advertiser reports: It isn't often that young people have an opportunity to learn history from someone who actually lived it. That's what Montgomery youngsters got Friday afternoon at the Lowndes County Interpretive Center where civil rights lessons are...

Alabama: judicial candidates sues after disqualification

Posted on June 30, 2008
The local NPR station reports that Ray Bryan has sued the Republican Party to keep the Party from decertifying his primary win. The latest story in the Anniston Star is behind a subscription firewall, but the Star reported a week...

Alabama: GOP sues to get its candidate on the Jefferson County ballot

Posted on June 29, 2008
Alabama Politics in Doc's Political Parlor reports: There is a confusing story in Jefferson County that is turning into a pitched battle between county Democrats and Republicans. Seems that about 18 months ago, Republican Andy Smith was appointed by Gov...

Millionaire's Amendment struck down

Posted on June 29, 2008
The New York Times reported on Thursday (note to self: don't take a vacation during the last week of the Supreme Court Term): The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law meant to level the financial playing field when...

Forget 527's, use cheap viral advertising via YouTube

Posted on June 29, 2008
The New York Times reports: The video blasted across the Internet, drawing political blood from Senator John McCain within a matter of days. Produced here in a cluttered former motel behind the Sony Pictures lot, it juxtaposed harsh statements about....

Democratic National Committee sues FEC over McCain's withdrawal from public financing

Posted on June 24, 2008
From a DNC press release: The Democratic National Committee today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in D.C. to compel the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate John McCain's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the FEC's matching funds program...

Florida: Internet evangelist will sue IRS over political/religious speech

Posted on June 24, 2008
The Caucus blog of the NY Times reports: Bill Keller, an evangelist based in Florida, runs “Liveprayer.com,” an Internet call-in program. Because he receives a government tax exemption, he is prohibited by law from endorsing or opposing candidates for public...

Florida: AG criticizes redistricting initiative

Posted on June 24, 2008
Legal Newsline reports: Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has voiced concern over a proposed constitutional amendment that would change how lawmakers draw legislative boundaries. In a letter to the state Supreme Court, the Republican attorney general said Friday that a...

Alabama: State AG blames DOJ over Perry election investigation

Posted on June 24, 2008
The Birmingham News reports: Alabama Attorney General Troy King said Monday that U.S. Justice Department officials have refused to help his office investigate possible election violations in Perry County. King said federal officials, despite requests, have not sent his office...

Pennsylvania: redistricting reform on the slow track

Posted on June 23, 2008
PolitickerPA.com reports: One reliable source in the state house has confirmed any redistricting reform is unlikely to happen this year, and if it were to happen at all, next year would be the most likely scenario. The problem is, any...

Outer space: absentee ballots via NASA

Posted on June 23, 2008
NPR's Morning Edition reports: For astronauts from Houston, who are unable to vote by absentee ballot, NASA has made it possible to cast their votes from a space shuttle or the International Space Station. NASA created special software that allows...

Alabama: too many absentee ballots?

Posted on June 23, 2008
The Birmingham News reports: Disproportionate numbers of absentee ballots in some counties have caught the attention of state elections and law enforcement officials, and the attorney general's office has seized voting records in Perry, Lowndes and Bullock counties...

California: groups challenge anti-same-sex marriage initiative

Posted on June 21, 2008
AP reports: Gay rights advocates asked California s highest court Friday to keep off the November ballot a citizens initiative that would again ban same-sex marriage. Lawyers for Equality California filed a petition arguing that the proposed amendment to the...

Alabama: DOJ asks for more information on redistricting, city ponders how to hold elections without preclearance

Posted on June 21, 2008
Baldwin County Now.com reports: A letter from the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division concerning Foley’s recently submitted redistricting plan has raised questions for now about the upcoming municipal election slated for Aug. 26. Indeed, who would run the...

Alaska: native groups sue for Yup'ik-language voting materials

Posted on June 20, 2008
Indian Country Today reports: Plenty of attention has been paid to the importance of the Native vote this election season, but less scrutiny has focused on whether American Indians - especially those who are largely proficient in their tribal languages...

Indiana: LWV challenges voter I.D. under state constitution

Posted on June 20, 2008
The Indiana Lawyer Daily reports: The League of Women Voters of Indiana filed a lawsuit today in Marion County challenging the state s three-year-old voter identification statute recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. At 2 p.m. today, the organization...

Obama's rejection of public funds threatens system

Posted on June 20, 2008
The New York Times reports: From the moment that the public financing system was created in the wake of the Watergate crisis, it was viewed as an imperfect way to rid politics of the excesses of special-interest money. But now,...

Alabama: SOS wants online voting for military by 2010

Posted on June 20, 2008
The Montgomery Advertiser reports: Online voting is inevitable, Alabama s Secretary of State Beth Chapman says. ... On Thursday, Chapman hosted the third meeting of the recently created task force on military and overseas voting. Chapman chairs the group founded...

Obama will run without public funding

Posted on June 19, 2008
strong>The Washington Post reports: Sen. Barack Obama has switched course on general-election funding, announcing this morning that he would reject public financing and raise every dime for the fall campaign on his own. The announcement was widely expected...

Alabama makes the "Dirty Dozen" for gerrymandering

Posted on June 19, 2008
George Skelton writes in the Los Angeles Times: Here's an indication of how rotten Democratic-led gerrymandering is in California: A national Democratic organization is branding us one of a "Dirty Dozen" states that has rigged elections and significantly suppressed voter...

Naturalization agency rejecting many on "dubious grounds"

Posted on June 18, 2008
The New York Sun reports: As the federal citizenship agency and the FBI say they are picking up the pace to eliminate a backlog of citizenship applications, immigrants anticipating decisions on petitions they filed months, and in many cases years,...

Environmental group "goofed" and violated electioneering rules

Posted on June 18, 2008
The New York Sun reports: An environmental group has filed federal disclosure reports on almost $710,000 worth of advertisements lobbying lawmakers in advance of a key vote on climate change legislation. However, the Environmental Defense Action Fund is not disclosing...

DNC will file FEC complaint against McCain, again

Posted on June 17, 2008
CNNPolitics.com reports: The Democratic National Committee said Tuesday it plans to file a lawsuit next week to try to force a federal investigation over whether John McCain’s withdrawal from the public financing system violated the law – the latest move...

McCain-affiliated Reform Institute may have broken tax laws

Posted on June 17, 2008
The Chicago Tribune reports: Allies of Sen. John McCain opened a Washington think tank in 2001 to promote transparency and accountability in government, a signature issue for the Arizona Republican after his presidential primary loss to George W. Bush...

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