Election Law

“Rather than making a clear choice between the charter or the state rules, the county clerk used both,” write Joshua Spivak and David A. Carrillo of the California Constitution Center at Berkeley Law.

“A proposal seeking to change Alameda County’s recall law, linking recall procedure to state law may create rather than solve problems, dilute the local electorate’s direct democracy powers, and cede local control to the state,” write Joshua Spivak and David Carrillo of Berkeley Law’s California Constitution Center. 

If the Michigan litigation achieves its goal, Berkeley Law Assistant Professor Emily Rong Zhang said she can envision the strategy — focusing on primary preferences instead of general election party results — being picked up by Republicans who might do better if voters of color are packed into a small number of districts. She said she’s skeptical because the Supreme Court “is working hard to say ‘we’re not going to disentangle race and party, even if they’re super intertwined.”

Emily Rong Zang, assistant professor at UC Berkeley Law School, discusses her research on voter turnout in the United States. 

“Other potential complicating factors include the fact that the episodes investigators presumably want to question Pence about — such as Trump’s efforts to influence the counting of the votes — don’t concern conventional presidential duties typically thought to be shielded by executive privilege,” said Daniel Farber, a presidential powers expert and UC Berkeley Law professor.

UC Berkeley law Professor Emily Zhang believes that many people impacted by Prop. 17 are unaware that they are newly eligible to vote. “A law changing can only do so much. There’s the second part, which is to make sure people know about the law,” Zhang said.