2020 Election Litigation Tracker

The 2020 Election Litigation Tracker is a Joint Project of Election Law at Ohio State and SCOTUSblog. During the 2020 Election Season, they will provide up-to-date Information on Major Election Law Cases as they make their way through every Level of the Court System.

Their Goal is to serve as a Resource on Election Law and Administration for: the General Public; Lawyers; Educators; Journalists; and Policymakers.

Election Law Principles:

- The Purcell Principle: A Presumption against Last-Minute Changes to Election Procedures.

- The Anderson-Burdick Doctrine: Balancing the Benefits and Burdens of Voting Restrictions.

- Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act: Vote Dilution and Vote Deprivation.

- Shelby County v. Holder: Less Federal Supervision of Changes to Voting Laws.

- Bush v. Gore and Equal Protection.

- Due Process and Election Administration.

- The Democracy Canon: A Preference-Eliciting Mechanism. As a Clear Statement Rule, the Canon requires the Legislature to take Affirmative Steps to Express its Intent to Limit Voter Enfranchisement only when Justified by other Important Interests.

Supreme Court Procedure:

- The Certiorari Process: Seeking Supreme Court Review.

- Emergency Appeals: Stay Requests.

- Rule of Four: The Rule of Four is a Supreme Court of the United States Practice that Permits Four of the Nine Justices to Grant a Writ-of-Certiorari. This is done specifically to Prevent a Majority of the Court from Controlling the Court's Docket. The Rule of Four is Not Required by the Constitution, any Law, or even the Supreme Court's own Published Rules.

- Swing Justices - Three Justices who could reasonably be seen as “swing” Votes of one kind or another: Roberts, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch.

Election Cases We’re Watching:

- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas: Texas Democratic Party v. Abbott, Whether a Texas Law Requiring Voters under the age of 65 to provide an Excuse in order to Vote-by-Mail Violates the 26th Amendment or the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

- U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit: Raysor v. Desantis, Whether Florida's Statutory Requirement that Prior Felons Pay All Court Costs and Fees before Regaining the Right to Register and vote is an Unconstitutional Poll Tax under the 24th Amendment.

- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Donald J. Trump for President v. Murphy, Whether an Executive Order by the Governor of New Jersey, in light of the Coronavirus Pandemic that Requires Mail-in-Ballots to be Sent to All Registered Voters in the State, and Extends the Deadline for Submitting them, Violates Federal Election Law and the Constitution.

- U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, Donald J. Trump for President v. Cegavske, Whether Recent Changes by the State Legislature to Nevada's Voting Procedures including, among other things, the Expansion of Voting-by-Mail and a Requirement that Officials Count Ballots received up to Three days after Election Day, Violate Federal Election Law and the Fourteenth Amendment.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker