Election Law @ Moritz

Opinion

Impressive Unanimity: the Historical Significance of Coleman v. Franken


Edward B. FoleyJune 30 (Edward B. Foley)

The Minnesota Supreme Court's decision in the Franken-Coleman case will begin its life as one of the most legally significant resolutions of a disputed election in U.S. history. [Read Comment]

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Edward B. Foley
Free & Fair is a collection of writings by Edward B. Foley, one of the nation's preeminent experts on election law.

About Us

Election Law @ Moritz is a web publication that covers developments in the law of election administration-- laws dealing with voter registration, voter ID, early and absentee voting, provisional balloting, poll workers and polling place procedures, recounts and election contests, and other related issues.  Our primary target audience includes lawyers and legal scholars who focus on these issues, as well as journalists in the elections field.  Through our work, we hope to help this audience better identify and understand the true issues confronting the world of election administration. 

The Election Law @ Moritz website was officially unveiled July 20, 2004, after extensive development by faculty here at Ohio State.  It consists of a number of features that have accumulated over the years, including a daily-updated chart of major pending cases, weekly to bi-weekly opinion comments, front page "What's New" items covering election law-related events, recount coverage following the biennial federal elections, a series of interactive maps that use a system of color coding to compare post-election processes (counting, recounting, and election lawsuit processes) across all 50 states, a now-archived searchable reference guide known as the e-Book on Election Law, and other materials.  In addition, the EL@M team is responsible for a number of non-website related projects, including sponsorship of various symposia and conferences and authoring various law review articles and other publications.  Publications include From Registration to Recounts: The Election Ecosystems of Five Midwestern States, a book sponsored by the Joyce Foundation that describes the election systems of Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin.  Another book is forthcoming that will describe and analyze post-election processes in all 50 American states.

Election Law @ Moritz is the product of a wealth of election law expertise at the Moritz College of Law.  The current director of EL@M, Edward Foley, is an expert in many areas of election law, including campaign finance and provisional balloting.  Daniel Tokaji, whose Equal Vote blog has focused attention on voting machine technology, examines voting rights issues especially as they concern minority and disabled voters. Peter Shane, one of the nation's leading scholars on the law of the presidency, is an expert on the Electoral College. Donald Tobin has published much-noticed articles on the relationship of tax law and campaign finance, testifying before the Federal Election Commission on this topic. Steven Huefner studies state election laws, including term limits and campaign finance, as part of his path-breaking scholarship on state legislatures.  In addition, a host of other Moritz professors address election law issues as ancillary components to research agendas that focus on other areas of law.  We are unaware of any other law school in the nation with as large a team in this field. 

Disclaimer:  Election Law @ Moritz is nonpartisan. We do not endorse, support, or oppose any candidate, campaign, or party. Opinions expressed by individuals associated with Election Law @ Moritz, either on this web site or in connection with conferences or other activities undertaken by the program, represent solely the views of the individuals offering the opinions and not the program itself. Election Law @ Moritz institutionally does not represent any clients or participate in any litigation, but individuals affiliated with the program may from time to time in their own personal capacity engage in pro bono representation of clients other than partisan candidates or organizations.