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The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law

Author: Matt Cooper

Posted by on October 05, 2020.

See below for details on significant filings this week. Arizona The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for writ of certiorari in Arizona Republican Party v. Democratic National Committee, a case involving “wrong precinct” voting and the ballot collection practice referred to as “ballot harvesting.” The Court will likely not consider this case until after the November election. See further coverage at SCOTUSblog. Georgia In New Georgia Project v. Raffensperger, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals stayed an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross, which had extended Georgia’s absentee ballot...

Posted by on September 26, 2020.

See below for the details of significant filings this week. Maine An opinion by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in Jones v. Secretary of State solidified that voters will use the ranked-choice method for November’s Presidential election. Maine’s Secretary of State determined that certain signatures gathered for a referendum on the state’s ranked-choice voting law were invalid, making the number of signatures insufficient to place the issue on the ballot. A lower court vacated the Secretary’s determination, but the Supreme Judicial Court reversed that court’s ruling, finding that the Secretary had not...

Posted by on September 19, 2020.

It was another week filled with significant developments in election litigation. See below for details on significant filings. Michigan In Michigan Alliance for Retired Americans v. Benson, Judge Cynthia Stephens of the Michigan Court of Claims granted the plaintiffs’ request for preliminary relief, permitting third party assistance in collecting absentee ballots. Under the judge’s ruling this assistance can happen from the weekend before Election Day through Election Day. Judge Stephens also ordered that absentee ballots postmarked by the day prior to Election Day and received within 14 days are eligible to be...

Posted by on September 14, 2020.

The Democracy Canon The “democracy canon” is a term coined in a 2009 law review article by UC Irvine election law scholar, Richard Hasen, to describe the principle that courts should liberally interpret election statutes in favor of enfranchising more voters and maximizing voter choice --  particularly when legislative language that limits the right to vote is ambiguous or unclear. The underlying idea is that the right to vote is so fundamental to a democracy that courts should avoid overly narrow interpretations of legislation that result in restricting this right. Hasen...

Posted by on September 12, 2020.

There have been many developments in election litigation this week, the first week after Labor Day and the beginning of the election season in earnest. See below for details on significant filings. Arizona In Arizona Democratic Party v. Hobbs, the district court granted plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, requiring the state to extend the time for voters to provide missing signatures on their mail-in ballots. Florida In Jones v. DeSantis, a divided 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the state of Florida in a dispute over felon voting rights. Georgia In Black...