Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post has this interesting article about the probable effects of California’s new redistricting process, in relation to U.S. House elections. The column expects that some incumbents will lose their seats. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog for the link.

On January 12, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Dlott ruled that Hamilton County Board of Elections must count 149 provisional ballots that were cast in November 2010. The case is Hunter v Hamilton County Board of Elections, southern district, 1:10cv820. Counting these votes will determine who won a very close election for Juvenile Court Judge, but of course if the votes are counted, that will increase the vote totals for all candidates in all races in the November 2010 election. Here is the 10-page order.

Generally, provisional ballots in Ohio that were cast in the wrong precinct cannot be counted. But in this instance, the evidence establishes that the voters appeared at the correct physical location to vote. There were several precincts contained within one physical space. Polling place officials mistakenly sent some voters to the wrong polling stations within that physical space. The federal court order says that because Hamilton County had already decided to count some other provisional ballots in which the voter was not at fault, therefore the County must count all such provisional ballots in which the voter was not at fault. The U.S. Supreme Court decision of December 12, 2000, in Bush v Gore, is the basis for the order, because Bush v Gore ruled that the U.S. Constitution requires that all voters be treated equally.

This case is dramatic, because the outgoing Secretary of State had directed that these ballots be counted, but the incoming new Secretary of State had reversed that directive. Also the State Supreme Court had ruled previously that such ballots should not be counted. See this story. Thanks to Carter Momberger for the link.