Election Law @ Moritz

Recent Opinion Articles

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

State-by-State Coverage (National)

Recent News & Analysis

Below are the most recent National News & Analysis posts. See All National News & Analysis

1/1/09
A Visible Reason that Precludes a Victory Lap
[Read More]

11/5/08
Significant Unresolved Elections

Election Law @ Moritz, as it did two years ago with its Recount Roundup feature, will monitor developments this year concerning noteworthy elections that remain "too close to call."  Today, we are already looking into the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota, as our Director Edward Foley discusses in some preliminary observations.  We will similarly investigate the U.S. Senate races in Oregon and Alaska, as well as the few states (including North Carolina) whose Electoral College votes remain unresolved.  We will post information and analysis on these unresolved elections as circumstances warrant. [Read More]

11/4/08
New map launched to track extension of polling hours

See this map for info on states where polling hours have been extended.  We will be updating it all through the evening.

So far, North Carolina has extended hours and Election Protection is considering suing Virginia officials to extend hours if the State Board of Elections does not act on its own to extend them.

10/31/08
Absentee ballots emerging as a trouble area nationwide

It is becoming clear that the verification and counting of absentee ballots are emerging as top issues in this year’s historic election.  Absentee ballots are being used more this year because several states began allowing “no-fault” absentee voting, meaning any voter can vote early in-person or by mail without an excuse.  High interest in this presidential election and fear among voters of the long lines they saw in 2004 have also contributed to the vastly expanded use of absentee ballots.

As we enter the final weekend before the election, here are some of the reported problems we are seeing with absentee ballots... [Read More]

10/31/08
Litigation Status Report

Overview-- Despite the flurry of election litigation activity that has been occurring in the last two to three weeks, today (Friday, October 31) things are actually pretty quiet on the litigation front. This has happened for two reasons. First, activists and political parties have dropped, settled, or put off until a later time important suits in states like Colorado (voter purges), Michigan (polling place challenges), Ohio (suits over ID and challenges to absentee ballots), and Virginia (general election day preparedness). Second, courts have moved with great speed to decide the remaining disputes that have not gone away on their own: Pennsylvania (a suit against ACORN and one demanding additional paper emergency ballots), Ohio (a suit about both HAVA matching and a disputed 5-day window in which voters could both register and vote in one trip), Wisconsin (a suit about matching, although an appeal is expected), and Georgia (matching). The few suits that are still outstanding, or have been resolved extremely recently, are digested in this article. . . . [Read More]

Recent Commentary

Below are the most recent National Commentaries. See All National Commentaries

11/5/09
Uncounted Ballots: A Measure of Vulnerability

Guess what? Ohio ranks especially vulnerable.

10/20/09
Election Commissions and Supreme Courts

Today's news from Afghanistan prompts some thinking on the institutional uncertainty that exists in the U.S. in the event of a disputed presidential election.   Do we want our Supreme Court to have the last word, or would we prefer a special-purpose Electoral Commission structured to be politically neutral between the competing candidates and parties?

9/9/09
Line-drawing after Overruling Austin

The overruling of Austin would not automatically signal the end of congressional limits on electioneering by business corporations. Instead, it would just mean that the fight over the legitimate scope of those limits is about to get underway. 

1/15/09
Electoral Reforms Must Include New Endgame

11/26/08
New Bush v. Gore Precedent

A unanimous 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has released an important opinion in a case I’ve been watching closely for several years. This new precedent could have major implications going forward.  Arguably, it is now the most significant appellate court reliance on Bush v. Gore.

Recent News Stories

Below are the most recent National News Stories. See All National News Stories

11/3/09
Political Foes Team Up To Improve Voter Registration

In this lull between major elections, advisers from recent Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns have joined together to try to come up with a better way to register voters.

11/3/09
E-voting system lets voters verify their ballots are counted

A new electronic voting system being used today for the first time in a government election in the U.S. will allow voters and elections auditors in Takoma Park, Md. to go online and verify whether votes have been correctly recorded.

11/2/09
Justice Department to Monitor Elections in Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania

Under the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department is authorized to ask the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send federal observers to areas that are certified by the Attorney General or by a federal court order.

10/30/09
Recent Push for Bipartisan Voter Reform Measures

Recent efforts to reform and modernize the voter system have received bipartisan support. The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, which would allow overseas troops and American citizens to access voter information online, passed Congress last week with bipartisan support from legislators who "decried an antiquated voting system that left as many as one out of four overseas ballots uncounted," according to Roll Call.

10/30/09
Same Day Voter Registration Re-Introduced

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) are reintroducing legislation to "make it easier for Americans" to register to vote by allowing same day registration at polling places for all federal elections. 

Current Litigation

There are no active cases on National that Election Law @ Moritz is covering at this time. See All Archived Cases on National