On a non-partisan basis, election officials are angry for the increasing burdens that are being placed on them.  Typical was the reaction yesterday from local election officials in Virginia:

In an interview with National Law Journal, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg responded to a question in the following damming way about Justice Sotomayor.

Local election officials in Fairfax County, Virginia have referred seventeen cases of suspected double-voting to the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney. These individuals are suspected of having voted in both Maryland and in Fairfax County, Virginia in the 2012 General Election. Some individuals are suspected of having double-voted in Maryland and Virginia in multiple elections. Click here for the press release from the Fairfax County Electoral Board.

Recently, Obama’s Presidential Commission on Election Administration came out in favor of programs such as the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC to help fight vote fraud and improve registration.  While the commission was co-chaired by Obama’s own lawyer, Bob Bauer, many Democrats and liberals in the election field have fought implementation of ERIC despite its wide bipartisan support.

To hear the vote fraud deniers like Justin Levitt and Al Sharpton talk Voter ID does nothing to stop vote fraud because it only stops impersonation.  In other words, someone pretending to be you or someone else they are not.  Maybe in their vain worlds that is their biggest concern: someone trying to be them.  The reality is Voter ID does much more than that.

The NY Post has an interesting piece today about Ruben Wills, a NY City Councilman who is pushing legislation in the City Council to require the city Department of Corrections to “publicize the right of prisoners — awaiting trial or convicted of misdemeanors — to vote.” This is, at best, a questionable use of limited government resources. More interestingly, the Councilman is under indictment for “allegedly swiping government funds from a nonprofit that he once ran”

Yesterday, Virginia saw its first election with the newly enacted Photo ID requirements implemented as a result of legislation passed in 2013. A Special Town Election held in Farmville in Central Virginia was administered with the Photo ID requirements and we are hearing it went quite smoothly. Virginia State Board of Elections Chairman Charlie Judd was on hand to observe the first election under the new law and commented that things went smoothly and that “voters were aware and came prepared.” Judd described the conduct of the election as “flawless” and even got to see a voter apply for and receive a free photo ID on the spot in the General Registrar’s office. So much for the liberal alarmist claims of disenfranchisement and voter suppression.

While some media focus has been given to the obstruction and possible\likely willful destruction of materials over at the IRS, the fact that this is a large systematic issue of the Obama administration has been ignored.  Recently 47 Inspectors General from a wide variety of agencies wrote an extraordinary letter to Congress complaining:

The indictment by a Grand Jury in Texas of Governor Rick Perry should send alarm bells to members of both parties.  This is the worst kind of prosecutorial overreach that even has left leaning political publications describing as “thin at best.”

The recently concluded RNLA Election Law conference held in Las Vegas had many highlights. Notable speakers included Georgia governor Nathan Deal and FEC Chairman Lee E. Goodman. Presenters discussed a wide range of issues important not only to election lawyers but to Republican lawyers of any practice. Panels included salient topics such as the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, Supreme Court cases, and recounts.