In 2007, Project Vote tracked 485 election bills in 24 states, some of them appearing to promise a consequential impact on voting rights. Bills ranged from good-Election Day Registration and felon voting rights restoration, to bad-voter ID, and everything in between. Few of the bills, however, made it beyond one chamber, making the 2007 legislative year an uneventful one. But it was a preview of what we can expect from the 2008 legislative sessions: an abundance of election bills expanding (or restricting) voter access in a presidential election year.
Searching for trends and predictors in the results of odd-year ballot measures is often an exercise in futility. These campaigns are largely consigned to a single state, are pushed for the policy goal rather that an attempt to influence a larger electoral map, and rarely have bearing on the future movement of the issue around the country.
However, the 2007 crop of statewide ballot measures offer us a handful of bellwether issues that could set a precedent to advance or stymie larger ballot battles as soon as 2008. A few of the most important are profiled here.
>>Read our Post-Election Report for all the results, plus BISC's analysis of the high-profile ballot fights.
>>Read the Congressional Quarterly article on the results, where I do battle with Grover Norquist for election analysis supremacy!
And read on for recaps of the big 2007 battles in Utah, Oregon, and New Jersey...
I always wanted to find an excuse to use breaking in a diary title.
This will be a brief diary, that I may add to as the evening progresses, but Roll Call is reporting that Dennis Hastert will announce his resignation (effective "later this year") tomorrow, Thursday, setting up a special election here in IL-14.
I haven't spoken to John Laesch this evening yet, but just gave this news to our campaign manager.
