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Last Updated: September 10, 2010 at 1:39 PM

White v. Reed

Case Information

Date Filed / Ended: July 14, 2009 / November 6, 2009
State: Washington
Issues: Ballot Design, Voting Technology
Courts that Heard this Case: Washington Supreme Court (Case 833427)

Issue:

Whether requirings voters to vote on ballots containing unique bar code identifiers that can be used to identify the voters violates the State Constitution’s guarantee of "absolute secrecy" of the ballot and other state laws.

Status:

Petition for mandamus filed on 7/14/09. Decision terminating Supreme Court review, 11/6/09.

Supreme Court Documents

Petition (filed 7/14/09)
Answer to Motion (filed 8/19/09)
Answer to Motion (filed 8/20/09)
Reply to Response (filed 8/25/09)
Response (filed 9/25/09)
Supplemental Pleadings (filed 9/28/09)
Response (filed 9/28/09)
Motion to Strike (filed 9/28/09)
Answer to Motion (filed 10/5/09)
Response (filed 10/5/09)
Reply (filed 10/9/09)
Decision Terminating Supreme Court Review (entered 11/6/09)

Commentary

A Poster Child for Dysfunctional Districting

Daniel P. Tokaji

Fifty years ago next month, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Baker v. Carr (1962), inaugurating the “reapportionment revolution” which led to the redrawing of legislative districts across the country. This milestone provides the opportunity to reflect not only on what has been accomplished, but also on what still needs to be done.

more commentary...

In the News

This week: Bama voting rights case in DC courtroom on Thursday

Professor Daniel Tokaji, a senior fellow at Election Law @ Moritz, was quoted by The Birmingham News in an article about a local county's crusade to end 47 years of federal government oversight of its election returns.

Shelby County is hoping a federal appeals court will agree that the county no longer needs the U.S. Justice Department to approve changes in the ways elections are conducted because the area has progressed from its discriminatory past. It is unclear whether the case would be the vehicle with which justices of the U.S. Supreme Court would review the constitutionality of Section 5.

"I am reasonably confident they're going to take up the question of Section 5 constitutionality within the next few years," Tokaji said. "It could be Shelby County, it could be South Carolina, or some other."

more EL@M in the news...

Info & Analysis

Federal Court Finds Equal Protection Violation

In the Hunter case, involving provisional ballots in a local Ohio election from 2010, the federal district court has ordered that ballots must be counted if they are otherwise eligible if they were miscast because of poll worker error.

more info & analysis...

Major Pending Cases

more litigation...

Election Law @ Moritz | The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law | electionlaw@osu.edu

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