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Last Updated: January 4, 2012 at 12:26 PM

Texas Democratic Party v. Dallas County

Case Information

Date Filed: December 1, 2008
State: Texas
Issues: Voting Rights Act, Voting Technology, Recount Resources
Courts that Heard this Case: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Case 3:08-cv-02117); U.S. Supreme Court (Case 10-1183)

Issue:

Whether problems with voting machine technology will trigger a manual recount under Texas election law.

Status:

Final Judgment entered 1/7/11.  Notice of Appeal to U.S. Supreme Court filed 1/24/11.  Letter Assigning U.S. Supreme Court Case No. 10-1183 entered 4/4/11. SCOTUS Vacated judgment and remanded to District Court on 10/3/11.

District Court Documents

Supreme Court Documents

  • Statement as to Jurisdiction (filed 3/25/2011)
  • Waiver of Right of Appellee Texas Democratic Party to respond (filed 4/27/11)
  • Distributed for Conference of May 26, 2011 (entered 5/10/11)
  • Response Requested (entered 5/21/11)
  • Motion to Dismiss or Affirm by Appellee Texas Democratic Party (filed 6/22/2011)
  • Distributed for Conference of September 26, 2011 (entered 7/6/11)
  • Judgment Vacated and Remanded to US District Court for the Northern District of Texas (entered 10/3/11)

 

Commentary

Dale A. Oesterle

Silence of the Lambs

Dale A. Oesterle

With the election of 2012 now well over and past the second inauguration of the incumbent President, the historical analysis of the events has begun and will last as long as written human history lasts. An interesting tidbit may already be lost to the majesty of the moment.

The voters of three very different states, Alaska, New Hampshire, and Ohio, all had an opportunity to call state constitutional conventions. In each state the voters turned the opportunity down by very similar votes, 68%, 64% and 68% respectively against.

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In the News

Daniel P. Tokaji

EXCLUSIVE: Voter fraud, or just errors?

Professor Dan Tokaji was quoted in a Cincinnati Enquirer article about whether citizens who cast two ballots in elections have committed voter fraud. Some citizens under investigation say they were confused about the process or worried their original votes, often sent via absentee ballot, wouldn't count. Tokaji said there is often a valid reason someone would cast an absentee ballot and then a provisional one at a voting location.

“It’s certainly not a crime or intentional double voting,” he said. “Officials are not supposed to count provisional ballots if an absentee ballot has been cast.”

Submitting both “doesn’t come close to voting fraud,” he said. “The burden is on the board of elections to make sure two votes don’t count.”

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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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Major Pending Cases

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