Instructor: Scott Gessler

ELECTION LAW

Instructor: Scott Gessler Adjunct Professor

Meeting Times T-Th, 9:00-10:15 am Room 170

Required Reading Michael Dimon, Bradley Smith, & Michael Solimine, Voting Rights and Election Law, (2010)

Michael Dimon, Bradley Smith, & Michael Solimine, Voting Rights and Election Law 2015 Supplement, available at: http://www.lexisnexis.com/store/images/Supplements/3285 -2015Supplement.pdf

Additional readings as assigned

This course examines the rapidly evolving field of election law: the right to vote, voting procedures, redistricting, candidate selection, and campaign finance laws. It emphasizes federal law, including applicable constitutional jurisprudence. Materials include recent decisions that highlight ongoing legal issues.

A. Voting Qualifications

1. Tuesday, August 18, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 1-35

2. Thursday, August 20, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law 36-77 Supplement, 1

3. Tuesday, August 25, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law 78-100

B. Political Questions, One Person One Vote

4. Thursday, August 27 Voting Rights and Election Law, 117-159 Supplement, 2-3

5. Thursday, September 3, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 161-192 Supplement, 4

C. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and Districting by Race

1 6. Tuesday September 8, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 225-235, 272-283 Supplement, 5-15

C. Districting by Race

7. Thursday, September 10, 2015 Guest Lecturer Voting Rights and Election Law, 285-288, 321-341, 379-410

E. Political Parties

8. Tuesday, September 15, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 443-478

9. Thursday, September 17, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 478-510 Supplement, 23-24

10. Tuesday, September 22, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 510-548 Supplement, 24

11. Thursday, September 24, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 548-574 Supplement, 24

F. Political Speech

12. Tuesday, September 29, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 597-626 Supplement, 34 (starting at note 3)-36

13. Thursday, October 1, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 626-658

14. Tuesday, October 6, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 659-687 Supplement, 36-48

15. Thursday, October 8, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 688-708 Supplement, 48-49

16. Tuesday, October 13, 2015

2 Voting Rights and Election Law, 766-783 Supplement, 49-61

G. Campaign Finance

17. Thursday, October 15, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 785-821

18. Tuesday, October 20, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 821-835, 843-863

19. Thursday, October 22, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 863-880 Supplement, 62-65

20. Tuesday, October 27, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 881-886, 936-944 52 U.S.C. § 30101(9)(B)(i), 11 CFR §§100.72 and 100.132 Federal Election Commission, Advisory Op. 2004-30 (Citizen’s United) (Sep. 9, 2004) Federal Election Commission, Advisory Op. 2010-08 (Citizen’s United) (June 11, 2010) Citizens United v. Gessler, 773 F.3d 200 (10th Cir. 2014)

21. Thursday, October 29, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 887-908 State ex. rel. Two Unnamed Petitioners v. Peterson, 2015 WL 4376442 (Wis. 2015) (read *1 to *20 only) 11 CFR 119.20

22. Tuesday, November 3, 2015 No reading

23. Thursday, November 5, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 915-936, 944-958

24. Tuesday, November 10, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 958-990

25. Thursday, November 12, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 990-1014

26. Tuesday, November 17, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 1014-1053 Supplement, 65-70

3 27. Thursday, November 19, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 1053-1059, 1064-1080 Supplement, 71-82 Supplement, 83-86

H. Election Day

28 Tuesday, November 24, 2015 Voting Rights and Election Law, 1081-1112 Supplement, 87-88