Election Law @ Moritz

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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.

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Recent News & Analysis

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

9/17/09
Decision in League of Women Voters v. Rokita

The Indiana Court of Appeals has issued an opinion (9/17) reversing the trial court's dismissal of the League of Women Voters amended complaint for declaratory judgment, which sought a judicial declaration that Indiana's Voter ID law violates the Indiana constitution.  The court of appeals further remanded the case to the trial court with instructions to enter an order declaring the Voter ID law void. [See EL@M case page for additional information, along with local reactions from the Indianapolis Star.]

11/4/08
No New News on Indiana Voter Registration Suit

No new filings have occurred in Brown v. Rokita, a case attempting to force Indiana election officials to process voter registrations that were submitted on obsolete forms.  Officials have claimed that the law prohibits them from processing registrations that are submitted on old forms that were issued by the state for prior elections.

11/4/08
New Voter Suit in Indiana

A new lawsuit in Indiana was filed yesterday (11/4) challenging a decision by the Marion County Board of Elections to reject voter registrations that were submitted on "old forms" and allegedly did not contain currently required information.  [Read the Complaint].  See EL@M case page for more information and court documents.

11/3/08
Indiana SCt Permits Absentees to be Challenged

The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld a lower court preliminary injunction that prevents Marion County (Indianapolis) election officials from commingling absentee ballots before they can be challenged.  The Supreme Court will now hear the case on its merits.

11/3/08
Indiana court bars challenges based on foreclosures and evictions

An Indiana court today issued an order barring challenges based on foreclosure and eviction notices.  A Republican official had indicated a possible intention to make voters on foreclosure lists vote provisionally.  See the news story here.  This case is similar to one brought in Michigan last month.  In that case, the two parties agreed not to use foreclosure lists for challenges. [Read More]

Recent Commentary

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

5/6/08
Judicial Review of Electoral Mechanics After Crawford

Last December, I published an article that advanced two descriptive claims about nature of the Supreme Court’s Storer-Burdick (or “electoral mechanics”) jurisprudence. The first claim, which I thought perhaps so obviously true as to be uninteresting, was that in spite of the Court’s nominal rejection of “litmus paper tests” in favor of open-ended balancing in this area, the Court’s decisions actually manifest a strong preference for simple, formal threshold tests by which challenged requirements may be sorted into the twin categories of presumptively permissible and presumptively impermissible (and subjected to lax review or strict scrutiny accordingly). My second claim, which I thought more provocative, was that Burdick misleads where it indicates that that scrutiny levels are to vary with the severity of the burden on the plaintiff’s rights of political participation.

4/29/08
Crawford and the Amicus Court: Further Support for a Non-Partisan Advisory Tribunal

What does Crawford tell us about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ability to resolve highly contentious election law cases? The answer depends upon one’s psychological disposition towards optimism or pessimism, because Crawford is a glass that easily can be described as either half full or half empty. It’s a glass that will look better, however, if it helps prompt the creation of an “Amicus Court” to assist the Supreme Court, as described below, in improving its appearance of impartiality in future election disputes.

4/29/08
Crawford: It Could Have Been Worse

That's about the best that can be said about yesterday's opinions in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board. Following the precedent set by LULAC v. Perry and Randall v. Sorrell in 2006, the Court issued a splintered decision in an important constitutional election law case. The lack of a majority opinion, and the narrowness of Justice Stevens' lead opinion (joined only by the Chief Justice and Justice Kennedy), will probably limit the harm done by the Court's decision to uphold what is probably the strictest and most exclusionary voter ID law in the country.

1/8/08
The Amicus Briefs in the Indiana Voter Identification Case: I read... so you don't have to

Tomorrow the U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral argument in the much-discussed Indiana voter identification case, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board. EL@M's director, Edward B. Foley, has written a preview of the case for the Election Law Journal. In addition, we have asked Mike Pitts, who teaches at the University of Indiana School of Law in Indianapolis, to share his perspective on the case. He has chosen to perform the extremely helpful service of reviewing all the amicus briefs in the case, to determine what they add to the arguments already made by the parties.

UPDATE: EL@M Director Edward Foley's initial impressions of Crawford after attending oral argument on January 9.

Recent News Stories

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

11/3/09
Voter ID still required, despite court ruling

Secretary of State Todd Rokita says Indiana residents voting in upcoming special elections will still be subject to the state's Voter ID law despite a recent court ruling.

10/16/09
State voter ID law could go before Supreme Court

The question of whether Indiana can require voters to show government-issued ID could be headed to the state Supreme Court.

9/25/09
Indiana voter ID law still stands for November election

Although the state Court of Appeals recently struck down an Indiana law requiring government-issued photo identification for voters, the law remains in effect for the Nov. 3 special election in St. Joseph County, said Linda Silcott, a member of the county’s voter registration board.

9/21/09
After ruling, make voter ID law better

OPINION: If the Indiana Supreme Court acts quickly, as the state requests, to reverse a ruling last week by a three-judge appellate court striking down the state's tough voter identification law, it could deny Hoosiers a needed opportunity to improve its law.

9/20/09
Daniels blasts court on voter ID decision

Gov. Mitch Daniels drew attention last week when he blasted an Indiana Court of Appeals ruling — and the judge who wrote the decision — that the state's voter identification law violates the state constitution.

Current Litigation

Below are the Indiana Active Cases. See All Indiana Current and Archived Cases