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Election Law @ Moritz Home Page

Election Law @ Moritz

Election Law @ Moritz


Information & Analysis

Recent Postings

Below are postings from the past 30 days. (See Archives)

Supreme Court: NVRA Pre-empts Arizona's Proof of Citizenship Law

June 17 - In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the NVRA preempts an Arizona law requiring documentation of citizenship to accompany voter registration forms. The case is Arizona v. The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.

Wisconsin Appeals Court Reverses Lower Court in Voter ID Case

May 30 - In an opinion released today in League of Women Voters of Wisconsin v. Walker, a three-judge panel of Wisconsin's 4th District Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the lower court, which issued a permanent injunction last year blocking the state's voter ID law from taking effect. Contrary to the lower court's decision, the court of appeals determined that the plaintiffs had not met their burden of proving that the voter ID law violated their rights under the Wisconsin Constitution. Wisconsin's 2nd District Court of Appeals has yet to rule on the same issue in Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP v. Walker. Two cases involving federal constitutional issues are also pending in U.S. District Courts: Frank v. Walker and Jones v. Deininger.

Ohio Secretary of State Releases Report on Voter Fraud

May 23 - Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted released a report today on voter fraud in Ohio during the 2012 general election. In a press release, Husted stated that while voter fraud does exist in Ohio, "it is not an epidemic." According to the report, 135 voter fraud cases have been referred to law enforcement for possible prosecution. Twenty of these cases involved voters attempting to vote in Ohio and another state. The report shows that 115 cases were referred to local Ohio county prosecutors. According to Husted as quoted in the Columbus Dispatch, most of these cases involved voters attempting to vote twice within the state, and in a "majority" of instances, only one vote was counted.

Commentary

Justin   Levitt

Arizona: Voter Registration and the Road Ahead

Justin Levitt

 

June arrived with two election law cases at the Supreme Court. One is still pending: a highly anticipated decision on section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The other, more frequently overlooked, was decided yesterday. And there are some quirks of the opinion that seem to depart from the swiftly congealing conventional wisdom that the states might actually have "won," and now need only run out the clock.

more commentary...

In the News

Michelle  Alexander

Johnson: Disenfranchising felons hits minorities hardest

Professor Michelle Alexander was quoted in an Athens Banner-Herald article from her book "The New Jim Crow." The article focuses on the disenfranchisement of felons in states like Virginia, where more than seven percent of the adult population cannot vote due to felony charges. In Virginia, Gov. Robert McDonnell is taking steps to restore the right to vote to nonviolent felons.

Alexander's book calls on the idea that disenfranchising felons affects minorities most. She calls voting-rights restoration processes a “bureaucratic maze” that is “cumbersome, confusing and onerous.”

more EL@M in the news...

Info & Analysis

Supreme Court: NVRA Pre-empts Arizona's Proof of Citizenship Law

In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the NVRA preempts an Arizona law requiring documentation of citizenship to accompany voter registration forms. The case is Arizona v. The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.

more info & analysis...