Public Policy Polling, in Poll for U.S. Senate Race, Misleads Missouri Respondents

Posted on by August 30, 2012
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On August 30, Public Policy Polling released the results of a poll in the U.S. Senate race in Missouri. Three candidates are on the ballot: Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill, Republican nominee Todd Akin, and Libertarian nominee Jonathan Dine. However, the poll question is “The candidates for Senate this fall are Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Todd Akin. If the election was today, who would you vote for?” To see this, scroll down to Question Six.

Also the poll results do not even show a result for “someone else.” Instead, the pollster says the results are: McCaskill 45%, Akin 44%, “undecided” 11%. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.

Oklahoma Claims it Will Start Printing Ballots on September 4, Two Days Before Democrats Nominate for President and Vice-President

Posted on by August 30, 2012
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According to this news story, Oklahoma election officials say they will start printing some ballots on Tuesday, September 4, even though the Democratic National Convention will not have chosen the Democratic ticket until September 6.

New Hampshire, Delaware, and Rhode Island won’t hold their congressional primaries until September 11.

Two Important Texas Election Laws Invalidated This Week

Posted on by August 30, 2012
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Two separate opinions this week have resulted in defeats for Texas election laws. On August 28, one 3-judge U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., invalidated the state’s congressional and legislative district boundaries. And on August 30, another 3-judge U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., invalidated the Texas law on government photo-ID at the polls.

The redistricting decision doesn’t affect the districts in use this year. The districts in use this year were not drawn by the legislature, but by a 3-judge U.S. District Court in Texas. The redistricting decision is State of Texas v U.S.A., 11-cv-1303. ElectionLawBlog has commentary and a link to the opinion here.

The decision on photo government-ID for voters at the polls is State of Texas v Holder, 12-cv-128. Read more about it, and see a link to the decision, here at ElectionLawBlog. Both decisions are based on the Voting Rights Act.