Election Administration
News & Commentary | Archive After the 2000 elections, election administration become a leading item on the agenda of election law reform. Congress enacted the Help America Vote Act: the implementation of that Act, scheduled in phases, presents a continuing series of issues such as voter eligibility, access and voting technology. The role of elected officials in the administration of elections has given rise to calls for the professionalization—and depoliticization—of state and local election administration. Ballots and the Problem of Intelligent DesignThe Brennan Center has published a superb report on the problems with ballot design, and it has produced recommendations for addressing them. The Center maintains, correctly, that these problems have not been given the attention they deserve; and what they have offered here is a major step forward in guidance to states and local jurisidictions, and to nonprofit and other organizations, in identifying ballot design issues before it is too late--that is, before the ballots have been cast. (7/22/08) Read More Shadow Institutions and the Question of Guidance on What is "Reasonable" : A Reply by Gerken and Bauer to ElmendorfHeather Gerken and I have posted this further set of comments on "shadow institutions" and their potential contribution, focusing again on where Carter-Baker fell short. It is a reply to views previously provided by Chris Elmendorf.
(6/4/08) Read More More on the Politics of ID, the Politics of Carter-BakerHeather Gerken and I have commented on Bob Pastor’s recent defense of the Carter-Baker Commission’s work, particularly its endorsement of voter ID as a measure linked to enhanced state voter registration programs. We suggest that political compromise may have its virtues in a host of contexts, but in this instance, on the ID issue, political bargaining did not serve the public well.
(6/2/08) Read More Voter ID Politics as “Force”Bob Pastor of American University, who served as Executive Director of the Carter Baker Commission, had an explanation for the New York Times for Missouri’s proposed constitutional amendment requiring proof of voter citizenship. “Election verification” was a “force,” he said, and it is now converging with the other “forces” of immigration and national security to produce proposals like the one now pending in Missouri.
(5/13/08) Read More Presidential Public Funding Reform: Letting Go of "Watergate"At the Center for Competitive Politics, Michael Schrimpf questions whether any Presidential public funding system could ever be based on any rationale other than "corruption." It is further suggested that this Presidential election, demonstrating the power of small donor Internet fundraising, may have sapped all support that the next President might expect to gather for a reform of the current system.
(3/13/08) Read More Also...What To Do—or, as Some Would Have It, NOT To Do—about Election Day Issues 3/6/08 A Difference an Election Makes, in Election Law 2/12/08 Voter Protection and Its Sources 2/7/08 Voter ID: Op-Eds and Their Uses 2/5/08 Carter and Baker, Marketing Nonpartisanship on Voter ID 2/4/08 Politics and First Principles in Voter ID Argument 1/9/08 Voter ID: "much ado about nothing"? 1/8/08 Impersonation Fraud: The Real Thing 1/7/08 Incumbents on the Loose, in Virginia, and One Judge’s Constitutional and Political Complaint 1/3/08 Elections Ahead: And Some Good Thinking About How to Make Them Much, Much Better 12/28/07 |