Election Administration Posts
The Perils of Voting by Mail
Bladen County, North Carolina, provides the latest object lesson for anyone genuinely interested in improving American elections. Each day this past week brought a new revelation about apparent absentee ballot fraud there, fraud that appears increasingly likely to lead North Carolina authorities (or the U.S. House of Representatives) to call for a new election for the state’s 9th Congressional District. But whether or not that entire congressional race must be rerun, the story that has emerged from Bladen County already makes clear the need for all states to be vigilant in how they manage their absentee voting processes.
What Can Florida Do To Improve Its Voting System Before 2020?
Florida’s voting system was called into question again after several high-profile recounts in the midterm elections. Florida will undoubtedly be a battleground in the 2020 presidential election, and the state will have work to do to improve the way it handles voting.
What Happens When An Election Is Too Close to Call?
Anticipation over several high-stakes midterm elections across the country has been thick in the air in a handful of states where tight races have gone into overtime. Results have been delayed due to a variety of factors including absentee/provisional ballot counting, technical issues, and calls for a recount.
Updated Principles of the Law, Election Administration Now Available
The American Law Institute is making the updated text for the forthcoming Election Administration Principles available now, in time for the midterm elections.
U.S. Supreme Court to decide legality of Ohio’s process for removing inactive voters from rolls
Sixty-one-year-old Portage County resident Larry Harmon showed up to vote in 2015 only learn his registration was canceled.
Harmon hadn’t cast a ballot since the 2008 presidential election because he saw abstention as a way to express his dismay with politics. But the Navy veteran who works as a computer consultant didn’t realize infrequent voting would trigger Ohio’s process to remove him from the voting rolls. And he wasn’t happy.
Election Administration Principles Approved
Approval of the Draft marks the completion of this Principles project.
ALI Council Approves Project Drafts
At its January 2017 meeting, the Council took several actions concerning project drafts.
A Look at Virginia’s Presidential Recount Procedures: Part II
From a U.S. Senate election in 1978 to a gubernatorial election in 1989 to two recent Attorney General elections, one in 2005 and another in 2013, Virginia has managed to reach closure of these disputed elections with relative dispatch—by mid-December in all four instances—and without contentious or protracted litigation.
A Look at Virginia’s Presidential Recount Procedures: Part I
The idea of expedited procedures is hardly foreign to American law. Indeed, its application to elections—and specifically recounts—is not without precedent. It is perhaps surprising that more states have not adopted specific procedural mechanisms for the expedited adjudication of disputes over the counting of ballots in a presidential election.
Election Law Procedures, Early and Absentee Voting and Resolution of a Disputed Presidential Election, Now Available
The American Law Institute has released its updated Principles of the Law, Election Administration: Non-Precinct Voting and Resolution of Ballot-Counting Disputes, Part I: Principles of Non-Precinct Voting: Early In-Person Voting and Absentee Voting and Part III: Procedures for the Resolution of a Disputed Presidential Election. ALI is making these Principles available to be downloaded now on its website.