First Impressions, the online version of the Michigan Law Review, has 7 articles on the electoral college. They are “An Unsafe Harbor: Recounts, Contests, and the Electoral College” by Dan Tokaji; “Reforming the Electoral College One State at a Time”, by Thomas Hiltachk; “Awarding Presidential Electors by Congressional District: Wrong for California, Wrong for the Nation”, by Sam Hirsch; “Equal Voice by Half Measures” by Ethan J. Leib and Eli J. Mark; “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Three Proposals to Introduce the Nationwide Popular Vote in U.S. Presidential Elections”, by Alexander Belenky; and “Ideological Endowment: The Staying Power of the Electoral College and the Weaknesses of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact”, by Daniel Rathbun.

Ralph Nader will be a guest on Wolf Blitzer’s CNN “Late Edition” TV show. It runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. eastern time. Of course he won’t be on all two hours.

On January 31, a New Jersey Superior Court ruled that absentee voters who voted before that date may ask to have their first ballot withdrawn, and then they may vote again. This appears to be the first time any court has permitted early absentee voters to do this, anywhere in the nation. The case is Block v Milgram, C34-08, Ocean County Superior Court.

The lawsuit was filed by the Ocean County Elections Department, and applies statewide. Voters who already voted who want to cast a new ballot must apply by February 4 (Monday). The rationale for the decision is that Rudy Giuliani and John Edwards dropped out somewhat unexpectedly on January 30, after approximately 25,000 New Jersey voters had voted absentee. Presumably many of these voted for one of the candidates who dropped out and would like to vote again.

In 1990, the Republican candidate for Minnesota Governor dropped out of the race in late October. Minnesota reprinted all its ballots, only a week before the election, to list the replacement Republican nominee. However, early absentee voters who had already voted for the now-replaced Republican nominee did not have a similar opportunity to vote again. The official election returns dutifully listed 10,941 votes for Jon Grunseth, the original Republican nominee. Since the new Republican nominee won the election by 59,770 votes, the Grunseth votes didn’t matter anyway.