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Election Law @ Moritz

Election Law @ Moritz


Litigation

 

Obama for America v. Husted

Case Information

Date Filed: July 17, 2012
State: Ohio
Issue: Early Voting
Current Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Case 2:12cv00636)

Issue:

Whether Ohio's current election law, which restricts early voting in the three days prior to an election on certain voters, violates 42 USCA 1983 and/or the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Status:

Complaint filed 7/17/12. Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed 7/17/12. Motion to Intervene Granted 8/6/12. Hearing on Motion for Preliminary Injunction held 8/15/12. Opinion and Order Granting Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed 8/31/12. Notice of Appeal of Preliminary Injunction filed 9/4/12. Motion to Enforce Court's Order filed 9/5/12. Hearing on Motion set for 9/13/12. Hearing set for 9/13/12 vacated. Appellants' brief filed 9/10/12. Appellees' brief filed 9/17/12. Reply Brief filed 9/21/12. Opinion affirming district court filed 10/5/12. Application for stay filed in Supreme Court 10/9/12. Reply Brief filed 10/13/12. Stay denied 10/16/12. Answer filed 12/3/12.

District Court Documents

Court of Appeals Documents

Supreme Court Documents

 

 

Commentary

Donald B. Tobin

FAQ on social welfare organizations

Donald B. Tobin

The Frank E. and Virginia H. Bazler Designated Professor in Business Law and a senior fellow at Election Law @ Moritz explains the nuances of social welfare organizations and federal regulations related to them.

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In the News

Donald B. Tobin

How Did The IRS Get The Job Of Vetting Political Activity?

Professor Donald Tobin was interviewed by the Boston NPR station on its show Here & Now about the Internal Revenue Service's investigation into groups classified as social welfare organizations (marked by the 501(c)(4) tax classification). The IRS was in search of groups that are not focusing primarly on the social welfare of the country, but have a strong political advocacy facet. Political advocacy groups might want to be classified as 501(c)(4) organizations because under that classification they do not have to disclose their donors.

"The key is if you going to be engaged in candidate-type advocacy, and if you're going to intervene in elections and engage in election advocacy, we want disclosure of who your donors are," Tobin said.

“What groups are trying to do here is avoid having to disclose,” Tobin continued. “By earning the classification of social welfare, they’re avoiding the campaign disclosure that’s required for political organizations. So that’s really the underpinning of why we have this mess of the IRS having to get in and investigate and figure out whether an organization is political or not.”

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Info & Analysis

Ohio House Committee Recommends Upholding Landis' Election Victory

Yesterday, an Ohio House of Representatives committee recommended 5-4 that the Ohio House uphold the election victory of Republican State Representative Al Landis over Democratic challenger Josh O'Farrell. In February, the Ohio Supreme Court sent the O'Farrell v. Landis record to the House for consideration. According to an article in the Canton Repository, committee chairman and State Representative Matt Huffman said he expects a vote by the full House later this month.

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