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November 19, 2008 Providing legal resources and election news to California election officials and the attorneys who represent them. |
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« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 » April 28, 2008 "RNC demands networks yank McCain ad""The Republican National Committee demanded Monday that television networks stop running a television ad by the Democratic Party that falsely suggests John McCain wants a 100-year war in Iraq. The announcer then says: "If all he offers is more of the same, is John McCain the right choice for America's future?" Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said the ad deliberately distorts what McCain, the likely GOP presidential nominee, said. The committee's chief counsel, Sean Cairncross, said he sent letters Monday to NBC, CNN and MSNBC insisting that they stop airing the commercial. At issue is McCain's answer, in January, to a question about Bush's theory that troops could be in Iraq for 50 years. McCain said: "Maybe 100. As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, that'd be fine with me, and I hope it would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al-Qaida is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day." Democratic Party chief Howard Dean said "there's nothing false" about the ad." The article is here Here is the ad:
Posted by Randy Riddle at 07:13 PM | Permalink. . . CNN Report on CrawfordHere is the CNN report on the Crawford decision: Posted by Randy Riddle at 05:21 PM | Permalink. . . "Supreme Court upholds photo ID law for voters in Indiana""The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can require voters to produce photo identification without violating their constitutional rights, validating Republican-inspired voter ID laws. In a splintered 6-3 ruling, the court upheld Indiana's strict photo ID requirement, which Democrats and civil rights groups said would deter poor, older and minority voters from casting ballots. Its backers said it was needed to deter fraud. It was the most important voting rights case since the Bush v. Gore dispute that sealed the 2000 election for George W. Bush mirrored. The law "is amply justified by the valid interest in protecting 'the integrity and reliability of the electoral process,'" Justice John Paul Stevens said in an opinion that was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy. Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also agreed with the outcome, but wrote separately. Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented. More than 20 states require some form of identification at the polls. Courts have upheld voter ID laws in Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, but struck down Missouri's. Tuesday's decision comes a week before Indiana's presidential primary." The article is here. The opinion can be found here. At first blush, it appears that the fact that ID cards in Indiana are free, and that Indiana permits voters without IDs to cast provisional ballots and complete affidavits after the election that would result in their ballots being counted, were significant to the Court's holding. Update: I find it s bit ironic that the only evidence of election fraud in Indiana that the Court could identify to uphold the polling place ID requirement involved fraud in the use of absentee ballots. Of course, the challenged law does nothing to address that problem. Posted by Randy Riddle at 07:29 AM | Permalink. . . Bowen: Paper ballots will remain at polls"California will be using paper ballots for the foreseeable future, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said Saturday before a Democratic fundraiser in Banning. "It's old technology, but that means the bugs have been worked out," Bowen said. "It's reliable. It's transparent." More than 200 people turned out for the Pass Democratic Club's fourth annual Unity Dinner fundraiser at the Morongo Resort Spa and Casino. Betty McMillion, the event's chair and vice president of the club, credited Bowen for the turnout. Within months of taking office last year, Bowen conducted a first-of-its kind security review of the state's electronic voting systems amid growing concerns that the machines, and therefore the vote, could be tampered. In August, she decertified the state's voting machines, but permits their conditional use to accommodate disabled voters." The article is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 06:19 AM | Permalink. . . April 16, 2008 Senator Nelson's Election Reform EffortHere is the CNN coverage of Senator's Nelson's proposal: (HT to Rick Hasen) Posted by Randy Riddle at 09:18 AM | Permalink. . . April 03, 2008 "Denham calls for probe of signature gathering""State Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, has called on authorities to investigate what he alleged was "blatant fraud" by signature gatherers involved with efforts to recall him from office. Denham's campaign spokesman Jeff Spillane today said nearly half of the paid signature gatherers who worked for the recall side to get it on the ballot live outside the 12th district and are, thus, in violation of California election laws. A spokesman with the camp of Sen. Don Perata, the Senate president from Oakland who's leading efforts to recall Denham, has denied any wrongdoing and said the accusations have "no merit." The article is here. The problem with Denham's claim is that a California Court of Appeal recently ruled that this type of circulator residency requirement is unconstitutional. Posted by Randy Riddle at 10:33 AM | Permalink. . . |
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© 2008 Randy Riddle |
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