Voting Rights ActThis category will include postings on the VRA extension and various court decisions interpreting the Voting Rights Act. Texas Congressional Clout DeLayed Tom DeLay’s scorched earth Texas gerrymander has left a sad legacy in the Lone Star State. The power grab also remains Exhibit A for why we need redistricting reform before the next round of gerrymanders commences after the 2010 census. And the 2008 Winner of the Ken Blackwell Most Partisan Elections Administrator Is….. In 2008, Ohio’s Ken Blackwell has departed, but the Secretary of State from neighboring Indiana, Todd Rokita, appears headed toward a win in the 2008 Ken Blackwell most partisan elections administrator award. Campaign Justice? Time is running out on AG Mukasey and other officials to make clear that the partisan abuses at DOJ that marked their 2004 and 2006 activities around Election Day are over. Their failure to issue any public statement that they will aggressively investigate and prosecute voter intimidation and vote suppression schemes that surface around the upcoming election is deeply disappointing. Election Protection 2008 Still Seeking Volunteers for November 4th Attorneys, law students and paralegals are still needed to protect the rights of voters on Election Day. The nonpartisan Election Protection 2008 coalition is seeking legal volunteers to staff Election Protection Hotlines and to work as mobile volunteers on the ground across the country. On GOP Plans and Denials to Challenge Foreclosed Voters The “lose your house, lose your vote” stories out of two battleground states, Michigan and Ohio, have begun to remind me of my days at the Justice Department. When I worked for DOJ, investigations of vote caging and vote suppression schemes usually started out with an admission of some specific practice, followed by a denial of any such plan, followed by a decision to retain legal counsel. VOTING RIGHT: Chesterfield Needs Federal Supervision on Election Day Record numbers of new voters and unprepared election officials could spell disaster on Election Day. A massive breakdown of the voting process during the primaries in Chesterfield County, Virginia offers an example of what could go wrong. It will also provide a glimpse of whether the U.S. Department of Justice will take action to ensure things go smoothly at the polls. Campaign & Election Law Litigation Update, August 2008 It remains a busy time in campaign finance and election law, with a growing number of cases on court dockets around the country, particularly those challenging existing campaign finance laws. With many new developments, we have updated our “Cases of Interest,” providing a brief summary of pertinent cases and the Campaign Legal Center’s involvement. Rattling the Vote Cage - Part II Despite a litany of shameful examples of voter intimidation, the Department of Justice seems to have brought only two cases ever under the anti-intimidation provisions of the Voting Rights Act. In the second entry of a series on the rights of voters to bring such cases, the Campaign Legal Center details one of the two cases from North Carolina involving the Jesse Helms Committee from 1990, questions the dearth of prosecutions, and encourages DOJ to dust off the statute for the coming election. Rattling the Vote Cage - Part I In the first entry of a series on the rights of voters to bring cases under the anti-intimidation statute of the Voting Rights Act, the Campaign Legal Center examines the relevant legislative history of the statute and the legal standard for bringing cases. Redistricting Must Be Fixed Before Census Partisan abuse of redistricting is one of Congress’ dirtiest little secrets. The outrage over partisan gerrymanders fades well before the next census rolls around, and this travesty of our democracy never gets addressed. |
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