Archive for category: Voting and Elections

  • Time to Start Swimming

    Time to Start Swimming

    By Alex Trepp, Voting and Elections January 7, 2012 10:52 am

    Just four months ago, D.C. District Court Judge John Bates reaffirmed that §5 of the Voting Rights Act is constitutional. Though many advocates celebrated the thorough opinion—and called particular attention to its source, a Bush II appointee—all recognized that the Supreme Court would inevitably weigh in. No appeal has yet [...]

     
  • Orwellian Acrobatics and Collapsing Coordination Constraints

    Orwellian Acrobatics and Collapsing Coordination Constraints

    By Alex Trepp, Voting and Elections November 16, 2011 11:58 pm

    In October, the Nebraska State Democratic Party ran this advertisement. Seemingly innocuous, it closes with Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson registering his intent to oppose any attempts to weaken Social Security or Medicare. Senator Nelson’s appearance is what makes the advertisement exceptional. His decision to work directly with an outside group [...]

     
  • The Problem Isn’t Partisanship, It’s Redistricting

    The Problem Isn’t Partisanship, It’s Redistricting

    By Noah Kaplan, Issue Areas, Voting and Elections November 6, 2011 1:46 pm

    Arizona was back in the news last week with Governor Jan Brewer’s highly controversial move removing the chairwoman of the state’s “independent” redistricting committee. Seeing the process now corrupted by an ideologically aligned governor and legislature, what can the voters in Arizona to make the process more independent and more immune from partisan influence?

     
  • Online Voting? Unlikely.

    Online Voting? Unlikely.

    By Alex Trepp, Issue Areas, Voting and Elections November 3, 2011 8:35 am

    In a succinct and persuasive paper entitled “If I can shop and bank online, why can’t I vote online?“ David Jefferson explains why online voting is unrealistic. A computer scientist by trade—and chair of Verified Voting’s board of directors—Jefferson elaborates technical differences between purchasing textbooks on Amazon.com and registering your vote [...]

     
  • The Many Problems of Personhood

    The Many Problems of Personhood

    On Tuesday, Mississippi voters will decide whether to amend their state constitution to define a person as “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.”  The ballot initiative is the result of efforts by the anti-choice movement to ban abortion in the state and [...]

     
  • A Different Disclosure Debate

    A Different Disclosure Debate

    By Alex Trepp, Issue Areas, Voting and Elections October 25, 2011 1:52 pm

    The proliferation of super PACs and their organizational push for 501(c)(4) support has generated debate about disclosure. Last week, however, the debate shifted back to another familiar disclosure question: whether the government may disclose the identity of those petitioning for a ballot issue. The question had risen through the Ninth [...]

     
  • Republican Presidential Candidates Question Virtues of Judicial Independence

    Republican Presidential Candidates Question Virtues of Judicial Independence

    Fueled by the lingering (and largely erroneous) perception of a liberal judiciary, Republican presidential candidates are calling for new legislation to curb the power of federal judges.  As the Washington Post reports, a majority of the Republican field is calling for some sort of judicial reform, including the abolition of [...]

     
  • Wanna Vote in Tennessee? I’m Gonna Need to See Some ID…

    Wanna Vote in Tennessee? I’m Gonna Need to See Some ID…

    When 96-year-old Dorothy Cooper was born, women were legally barred from voting.  With the passage of Tennessee’s new voter identification law, women’s access to the polls is once again in jeopardy. As of last year, Tennessee law requires voters to present a valid, government-issued ID before casting a vote in [...]