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September 09, 2010 Providing legal resources and election news to California election officials and the attorneys who represent them. |
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« July 2008 | Main | September 2008 » August 29, 2008 Court: SOS Electronic Voting Conditions Subject to APAHere is the summary of the holding from the Court of Appeal's decision: "As part of a program intended to ensure the integrity of California elections, Debra Bowen, in her official capacity as the California Secretary of State (the Secretary), decertified and then immediately recertified a number of voting systems in use throughout the state. As a condition of recertification, the Secretary imposed a comprehensive system of postelection manual ballot tallying on local elections officials. In this appeal, we consider a challenge raised by plaintiffs County of San Diego and Deborah Seiler, in her official capacity as Registrar of Voters for the County of San Diego, and interveners the counties of Kern, Riverside and San Bernardino (collectively, the Counties) to these requirements. The Counties contend that the Secretary does not ave the authority to impose the tallying requirements and that even if the Secretary does possess such authority, she was required, but failed, to act pursuant to the mandates of the Administrative Procedures Act (the APA)." As we explain below, we disagree with the Counties on the question of the Secretary's authority to issue the ballot tallying requirements. We agree, however that the Secretary's issuance of the requirements was subject to the APA. Consequently, regardless of the wisdom of, or necessity for, the postelection manual ballot tallying requirements, they are void under California law due to the Secretary's failure to adhere to the procedures set forth in the APA." Posted by Randy Riddle at 4:30 PM | Permalink. . . August 8, 2008 Judge rejects challenge to AG summary of gay marriage ban measureFrom the San Jose Mercury News: "A Sacramento judge on Friday said state officials do not have to rewrite the ballot summary describing Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban voters will consider in November. The ruling is a setback for the initiative's supporters, who say the title and summary written by Attorney General Jerry Brown are argumentative and could prejudice voters. They say Brown should have written a more neutral statement. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley disagreed. In his 8-page ruling, the judge said the title and summary is an "accurate statement" of the proposition by saying it would eliminate the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry. "The court is not willing to fashion a rule that would require the Attorney General to engage in useless nominalization," Frawley wrote. Posted by Randy Riddle at 11:54 AM | Permalink. . . Ninth Circuit Upholds VA Prohibition on Voter RegistrationThe opinion is here. The court reversed the district court's holding that the plaintiff lacked standing, but concluded that the challenged VA regulation did not violate the First Amendment. The court held that the building in question -- which provides skilled nursing care for VA residents -- was a nonpublic forum, and that the regulation satisfied the test for restrictions on speech in a nonpublic forum. Posted by Randy Riddle at 11:45 AM | Permalink. . . Ohio Secretary of State sues Diebold company"Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner wants Premier Election Solutions to pay for voting machine problems in 11 of 44 counties that use the company's equipment. In a filing in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday, Brunner said malfunctions with Premier equipment caused votes to be dropped in the March primary, although they were later recovered and counted by election workers. Premier, a division of Diebold Inc., has attributed the problem to a conflict between its election management software and an anti-virus program, and the company has been advising election officials on how to cope with it, a company spokesman said. The company also is seeking a long-term fix." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 9:44 AM | Permalink. . . |
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