Haiti: OAS pleased with preparations for elections in Haiti | Jamaica Observer

Outgoing Assistant Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin says he has been assured by Haitian authorities that elections will be held in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country as schedule. Ramdin, who visited Port au Prince last week, said the three rounds of elections will begin on August 9 for a new parliament with more than 2,000 candidates. “The issue with the candidates who are not approved to take part in the presidential elections that is a domestic issue that is on the basis on rules and regulations which Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has insisted on and we have no say in that,” he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). Among those barred from the polls is former prime minister Laurent Lamothe, who had hoped to succeed President Michel Martelly.

Voting Blogs: SCOTUS ruling has broader impact than just redistricting | electionlineWeekly

What does this week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Arizona redistricting case mean for the world of election administration? We know it gives a green light to the use of ballot referenda and initiatives to create the kind of nonpartisan redistricting commission that Arizona and California have, and that is potentially a huge development in the world of redistricting itself. We know, too, that the jurisprudential debate between Justice Ruth Ginsburg opinion for the Court’s five-member majority (including the all-important swing vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy) and Chief Justice John Roberts for the four dissenters has the potential for overarching theoretical significance concerning the nature of appropriate judicial interpretation of the U.S. Constitution—as I’ve already touched on elsewhere. But in terms of the rules and institutions for administering the voting process itself, is this week’s decision of particular significance? Yes. For two reasons.

Voting Blogs: Voting Laws Are Disabling The Disabled: Easy Nationwide Fixes To Re-Enfranchise Voters With Disabilities | State of Elections

Laws affecting voter participation are a current hot topic in the news. Voter identification, early voting, or redistricting laws are all working their way through the legal system almost certainly on their way to the Supreme Court (if they have not reached the high court already). There are mixed opinions on what these laws do. Supporters insist that the laws protect the integrity of elections by preventing voter fraud. Opponents vehemently argue that the laws are simply pretense for stopping poor and minority voters from exercising their rights at the polls. However, one group of minority voters, voters with disabilities, are severely impacted by election administration laws regarding the accessibility of elections. Their story has been largely ignored in the sound-byte thrusts and parries of the politicos and pundits.

Illinois: Election to replace Aaron Schock could be first test for new countywide election commission | Peoria Journal Star

A yet-to-be-formed countywide election commission, approved by voters last fall, was supposed to have nearly a year before its first election. Not anymore. When Aaron Schock announced he was resigning from his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, that triggered a 120-day window for an election to replace the four-term Peoria Republican. And the first election, a primary, will likely occur earlier. Gov. Bruce Rauner must set a date for the elections within five days of Schock’s resignation, which is effective March 31. And it means Peoria County, already facing a possible budget shortfall next year, has to come up with about $150,000 to pay for the special elections.

Voting Blogs: Pennsylvania: Mediocre Student | State of Elections

A new report by Common Cause, found that Pennsylvania is having mixed results in applying the recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. Alternatively, as WITF stated, “Pennsylvania is a mediocre student when it comes to heeding the advice for improving the voting experience.” The Presidential Commission on Election Administration was established in March 2013 by Executive Order 13639 to improve the efficient administration of Federal elections and voter experience. The executive order was passed to address some of the issues of the 2012 . In fact, there were record long lines on the day of the 2012 election. In Texas and Virginia people had to wait up to four hours. The Common Cause report examined ten states that were predicted to have close gubernatorial or congressional races in the mid-term elections.

Connecticut: City Council closer to ousting Hartford’s Registrar of Voters | KPAX

Last year’s Election Day in Connecticut made national headlines, and now, months later, Hartford is getting one step closer to getting rid of its registrars of voters. Some of the polling places didn’t have a moderator, and other locations didn’t receive their printed voter lists on time. Hartford’s City Council members said they can’t sit around and let the registrars of voters, who were in charge, get away with it. On Monday night, the council approved a resolution, in an 8-1 vote, that charges the three registrars of voters with failing to do their jobs on Election Day. The resolution also proposes to remove them from office.

Connecticut: Registrar of voters revamp proposal pleases some | The Bulletin

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s proposal to revamp the registrars of voters office pleases at least one community. Despite the chilly reception Merrill’s proposed legislation has gotten throughout the state, Windham residents familiar with elections applaud the effort to get a conversation going, even if they don’t think this bill will get approved. “It’s an excellent bill to start dialogue,” said Bunny Lescoe, Democratic registrar in Windham. “But it’s not a bill that should be voted on and passed this year. There are good things in it, but not everything in that bill should happen.”

Hawaii: Senate passes bill for chief elections officer evaluations | Associated Press

The state’s chief elections officer would have to undergo a performance evaluation after each general election under a plan approved by the state Senate. The bill, SB 622, requires the Elections Commission to provide the written performance evaluation to the Legislature. It was introduced after problems during the 2014 elections that included 800 ballots that were missing in Maui and voters in storm-damaged parts of the Big Island who couldn’t get to the polls. The Senate approved the bill Thursday. It now goes to the House. Democratic Sen. Russell Ruderman, who represents some of the Big Island voters, called the bill a “baby step when a giant step is needed. I think we have serious problems in the way the Election Commission does nothing in the face of election problems,” Ruderman said. “I watched them do it before my eyes. I watched them do nothing in the face of a disaster in my community.”

National: House Democrats Express Concerns About Outdated Voting Machines | Baltimore Citybizlist

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Baltimore, joined other House Democrats in a letter Wednesday urging the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the status of voting machine technology and the potential problems posed by using outdated equipment. The members asked the GAO to review challenges state and local jurisdictions face with aging voting systems, the impact of federal standards on developing new voting systems and benefits and challenges of policies in place regarding voter turnout. The letter cites a report by the Presidential Commission on Election Administration issued in January 2014, which lists its findings and recommendations to President Barack Obama. Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 as an attempt to modernize voting technology, including optical scanning and touch screen voting devices.

Voting Blogs: Friday at 6pm: Another Example of Changes in Ohio’s Election Regulation | State of Elections

Ohio is no stranger to changes in election administration and regulation. The Supreme Court determined the constitutionality of Ohio’s voter ID laws. The Sixth Circuit recently permanently enjoined the enforcement of Ohio’s campaign fair practice law that prohibited making false statements in campaigns. Ohio was highlighted in the 2004 election for extraordinarily long lines at its polls, and just eleven days before the 2014 midterm, the Sixth Circuit reversed the Southern District of Ohio, denying the right to vote to persons incarcerated but not yet convicted. Upon conviction of a felony in Ohio, convicted persons lose their right to vote while incarcerated; however, people who are in jail at the time of the election but not yet convicted of a crime are still allowed to vote. The State Board of Elections accomplishes this by sending two representatives, one Democrat and one Republican, to the jail with absentee ballots. The incarcerated individual then fills out an absentee ballot and the team from the State Board delivers the ballot.

Connecticut: Merrill Proposes Registrar Reforms; Critics Skeptical | Hartford Courant

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill Wednesday proposed scrapping the state’s system of having two elected registrars, a Democrat and a Republican, run elections in each of the state’s 169 municipalities, saying she would replace them with a single registrar appointed by officials in each city or town. “Connecticut is the only state in the country that leaves election administration to two partisan locally elected officials,” Merrill, the state’s chief elections official, said at a Capitol press conference at which she proposed that legislators pass a bill to reform the system.

Georgia: Bill To Shorten Early Voting Period Advances In Georgia Legislature | Huffington Post

An extra day of voting access at some Georgia polls in 2014 may have inadvertently backfired, as Republican state legislators push a bill to reduce the number of early voting days from 21 to 12. When, for the first time, the state’s most populous counties decided to open some polling places on the Sunday ahead of the November midterms, GOP lawmakers argued that the early voting sites were chosen to maximize votes for Democratic candidates. Fears that Sunday voting would lead to Democratic victories were unfounded in the highest-profile races, however, as U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Nunn and gubernatorial challenger Jason Carter lost their races by about 8 percentage points each.

Lesotho: Ramaphosa happy as Lesotho election nears | Times LIVE

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was happy with preparations ahead of Lesotho’s elections scheduled for February 28, his spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said on his return to South Africa on Saturday. Ramaphosa was visiting in his capacity as SA Development Community-appointed facilitator after an attempted coup in August which led to prime minister Tom Thabane fleeing for South Africa. Mamoepa said the latest visit included meetings with King Letsie III, representatives of the coalition government namely Thabane of the All Basuthu Convention (ABC), deputy prime minister Mothejoa Metsing of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and minister of gender and youth, sports and recreation Thesele Maseribane of the Basutho Nationa Party . Besides the coalition partners, he also met representatives of the non-governmental organisation sector, church leaders, and chiefs of security agencies the Lesotho Defence Force and the Lesotho Mounted Police Service.

Connecticut: Hartford Drafts Resolution to Remove Registrars of Voters | NBC

The Hartford City Council has drafted a resolution seeking to remove the city’s three registrars of voters over problems at the polls in November that “resulted in the lack of an accurate vote count, which persists to this day,” according to the draft. Attorney Ross Garber, of Shipman & Goodwin, one of two firms selected to advise city’s investigation into what went wrong Nov. 4, submitted his findings to the city council this week. “The Report of the Committee of Inquiry identified multiple, serious errors, which plagued the administration of the 2014 General Election Hartford and resulted in the disenfranchisement of Hartford voters and the lack of an accurate vote count,” the resolution states. Read the full draft of the resolution

Illinois: Lawmaker: Close East St. Louis Election Board | St. Louis Public Radio

There’s a new effort underway to shut down the East St. Louis Election Board. Illinois State Rep. Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon) is sponsoring a bill to close it. Kay’s district includes portions of Madison and St. Clair County, but not East St. Louis. If the bill passes, the St. Clair County Clerk will take over responsibility for elections in East St. Louis. “Illinois is sort of at a brink here when it comes to its finances,” Kay said. “And I think we are doing ourselves a disfavor by continuing to fund two separate offices when it comes to counting ballots and doing the work of the county clerk when he could be doing the work himself.” Kay said that closing the election board could save East St. Louis more than $400,000 a year.

Ghana: Electoral Commission acts on reforms | Africa Report

Ghana’s Electoral Commission has set up a 10-member working group to scrutinise raft of proposals submitted to it for electoral reforms aimed at amending existing laws, administrative procedures and arrangements ahead of the 2016 general elections. Following the 2012 presidential election dispute culminating in a petition to the country’s Supreme Court, there was a clamour for electoral reforms from political parties, civil society organisations, individuals and technical staff of the commission. This public outcry, coupled with the Supreme Court’s recommendations, forced the West African country’s elections body to initiate a roadmap for the process. The committee, made up of representatives of the commission’s members, political parties and civil society organisations is, therefore, tasked to examine those proposals for the reform.

Connecticut: Hartford Council Looks To Remove Registrars of Voters | Hartford Courant

Citing Election Day problems, city council members said Tuesday that they will seek to remove the city’s three registrars of voters. Council members said they will file a resolution Wednesday that, if approved, would begin the removal process for the registrars — Democrat Olga Vazquez; Urania Petit, a Working Families Party member; and Republican Sheila Hall. Council President Shawn Wooden said a vote on the plan is expected Monday. The council can remove elected officials with a supermajority vote, meaning that seven of the nine members would have to vote in favor of the proposal. The registrars’ office could face additional reforms as well; the council’s operations, management, budget and legislative affairs committee is developing a set of recommendations for change. “The council believes that the conduct reported by the committee may constitute ‘dereliction of official duty, or incompetence’ by the Hartford Registrars of Voters,” the resolution, sponsored by Wooden and four other council members, says.

Connecticut: As City Council Plans to Remove Her, Hartford’s Democratic Registrar Plans to Fight | WNPR

As Hartford’s City Council is seeking to remove all three of its registrars because of a disastrous Election Day 2014, at least one of them — Democrat Olga Vazquez — is planning a strong defense. “She does not disagree with the fact that there were some serious snafus,” said Leon Rosenblatt, Vazquez’s attorney. “But the registrars weren’t the cause of it. And the report that was written is very one-sided and incomplete.” Rosenblatt said that a “perfect storm” caused the problems, chief among them being the “internecine warfare” between the registrars and the town clerk, and the leaderless structure of the three-headed office.

Connecticut: Report Cites Numerous Failures By Hartford Registrars | Hartford Courant

City council members are considering what changes to make to the registrars of voters’ office — including removing one or more of the registrars — following a report Friday that highlighted numerous failures by the office during and after Election Day. A committee formed to investigate mishaps that caused polls to open late on Nov. 4 issued a report of its findings, which include a failure of elections officials to provide the secretary of the state with information about polling place moderators; a failure to file final registry books with the town and city clerk by Oct. 29; a failure to prepare and deliver final registry books to moderators by 8 p.m. the night before the election, as required by state law; and a failure to correct discrepancies in the vote tallies. A committee formed to investigate mishaps that caused polls to open late on Nov. 4 issued a report of its findings, which include a failure of elections officials to provide the secretary of the state with information about polling place moderators; a failure to file final registry books with the town and city clerk by Oct. 29; a failure to prepare and deliver final registry books to moderators by 8 p.m. the night before the election, as required by state law; and a failure to correct discrepancies in the vote tallies reported by the head moderator. Council President Shawn Wooden called the situation “outrageous.”

PDF: Committee’s Report On Election Day In Hartford

Wisconsin: League of Women Voters recommends lawmakers make it less difficult to register |Wisconsin Gazette

The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, in a report released on Jan. 6, recommends the state Legislature make voter registration less difficult and allocate increased funding for the training of local election officials. The league, working with organizations such as the Wisconsin Election Protection coalition, recruited, trained and placed 250 volunteer election observers to monitor 493 polling places in cities, towns and villages across the state in the November 2014 midterm elections. The league’s report says the observers noted significant improvements in election administration and polling place management since the league began monitoring elections in 2010. The league attributes the improvements to: enhanced training of local officials by the state Government Accountability Board.

California: Padilla has long to-do list as California’s election boss | The Sacramento Bee

When he is sworn in Monday as California secretary of state, Alex Padilla, a former two-term state senator and possible candidate for higher office, will assume one of the most-maligned posts in state government. The secretary of state’s campaign-finance disclosure system is old and confusing, businesses complain about filing delays and a federally required computerized voter registration list is years behind schedule, contributing to a national survey recently ranking California second-to-last in election administration. Padilla, a Democrat from Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, said fixing all three will be early priorities after he takes office. “Coming in, I know there’s a lot that I want to help get accomplished and pushed forward. That’s the approach, the urgency I will bring,” said Padilla, who recently completed two terms in the state Senate and is regularly mentioned as a possible future contender for governor or U.S. Senate.

Voting Blogs: You Won’t Believe What Happens When a Partisan Operative Writes About Hand Recounts | Election Academy

I write a lot on this blog about the trouble that litigants and partisans cause for elections officials. That probably has something to do with the fact that I’m trained as a lawyer; because I speak the language of courts, it’s easier to spot how and when litigation (or the threat thereof) is preparing to affect election administration. You can imagine my concern, then, when DailyKos (a well-known Democratic blog) recently had a post by contributor Dante Atkins with the aggressively-clickable headline “You won’t believe what happens in a manual recount.” Normally I resist the siren song of clickability, but a few people I know and trust on Twitter had shared it so I took the plunge. Know what? It’s a terrific piece. Here are the key parts (though it’s worth reading the whole thing):

I’m a relatively seasoned campaign professional, and I’ve been lucky enough (unlucky, perhaps?) to have already been part of two manual recounts in California. And while election and recount laws vary from state to state (hint: they really shouldn’t), the process is instructive, and provides insights into how we could make our entire voting systems better serve the people they’re intended to: the actual voters.

Pennsylvania: Lawmakers propose ways to modernize voter registration | PA Independent

In the age of Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, Pennsylvania is stuck in the past century when it comes to voter registration. Prospective voters can download the necessary form online, but can’t submit it digitally. Instead, they have to mail it or personally deliver it to their county voter registration office. That’s among the voting procedures some members of the General Assembly want to change. It’s early in the new legislative session, but several proposals to modernize voting protocol are already circulating among state lawmakers. One piece of legislation would provide for electronic voter registration and another would allow citizens to register the same day as an election and then vote, which proponents say could increase turnout. “In this day and age, I do truly believe that we should be doing everything we can to make voting easier and as accessible as possible to all eligible voters,” said state Rep. Kevin Schreiber, D-York, who has joined state Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, D-Erie, in sponsoring same-day registration legislation.

Connecticut: New panel to review problems reported in local election | Associated Press

A bipartisan committee has been appointed by the Board of Selectmen to review the recent election process, which was marred by long delays in reporting results, incorrect ballots and a vote-scanner breakdown. The review, First Selectman Michael Tetreau said at last week’s board meeting, “is not a witch hunt. This is about the process.” The registrars of voters, Republican Roger Autuori and Democrat Matthew Waggner, who by state law oversee elections in town, have been at odds for several years and work in separate offices in old Town Hall. Autuori was charged with breach of peace after the two had a dispute while preparing for the 2013 election, and Waggner told police Autuori had slapped him. Later, Autuori reported Waggner to police for ripping down signs directing the public to Autuori’s new second-floor office. “This is not a witch hunt,” agreed Selectman Kevin Kiley. “We’re just trying to raise awareness and maintain the integrity” of the election process.

National: With no money to replace them, can we count on old voting machines? | The Kansas City Star

Election authorities in Kansas and Missouri are growing nervous. Their touch-screen and optical-scan election machines that voters poked and punched just a few weeks ago are growing old. Some devices now exceed their expected life cycle and need to be replaced. But the enormous cost of buying new election equipment has left legislators and budget officers with little appetite for the job. Replacing all the voting machines in just Jackson and Johnson counties would cost between $10 million and $20 million, according to some estimates, far more than lawmakers have set aside for such purchases. As a result, election officials say, voters in the 2016 presidential election may confront old, unreliable machines — and the potential for another Bush vs. Gore debacle. “We’re just really concerned,” said Bob Nichols, the Democratic election director for Jackson County. “Going into a presidential election year with old equipment — we don’t want to be another Florida.” The Presidential Commission on Election Administration warned of a voting machine crisis in a report it issued nearly a year ago. “This impending crisis arises from the widespread wearing out of voting machines purchased a decade ago,” it wrote. “Jurisdictions do not have the money to purchase new machines, and legal and market constraints prevent the development of machines they would want even if they had the funds.”

Illinois: Danville election official, criticized over absentee ballots, opts for retirement | News-Gazette

Almost three weeks after local Republicans called for the firing of Danville Election Commission Director Barbara Dreher for counting absentee ballots early, she has decided to retire. Dreher said Monday that she was planning to retire next year or the year after, but the election commission board members decided they couldn’t support her any more. She said she’s over the age of 60 and has more than 22 years of employment with Vermilion County, including the last 10 leading the election commission, so she will retire effective Dec. 1. But her last day will be today as she has vacation and personal time to use, she said. “I don’t need this,” said Dreher, adding that this election was very stressful with all the changes in voting times, policies and procedures. Barb Bailey, who is chairman of the three commissioners who oversee the election commission office, said Monday that she and the other two commissioners, Tom Mellen and Charles Bostic, knew this was coming. Bailey did not confirm whether the commissioners asked Dreher to resign but said that they felt Dreher’s leaving “was best.”

National: The Epic 2014 Frenzy Voters Never Saw | National Journal

It’s Oct. 17, three days before early voting commences in Texas, and about 20 election judges—the folks who oversee polling sites—are spread out around an oblong training room in the Travis County clerk’s building in Austin, listening to an hour-long, rapid-fire lecture by a trainer named Alexa Buxkemper. The walls are lined with paraphernalia that most Americans see just once every two or four years—stacks of ballots, voting machines, old-model laptops that still process voter information. “Pick the correct voter,” Buxkemper says, rattling off the basics. “Collect 100 percent of statements of residence. Fill out all the forms completely, legibly. Give every voter the right ballot style.” And then, more pointedly: “Always follow the steps in the manual—don’t wing it. I hate to say, ‘Don’t think, just follow the manual,’ but we have sat around and done the thinking. So follow these steps.” The election judges nod solemnly and scribble notes. Most are over 60, and they’ve been through similar trainings before. They’ve run the polls during tough elections before, too. But they are nervous. Finally, interrupting the trainer’s staccato marching orders, a woman raises her hand and asks what’s on everyone’s mind: “Can they change the law on us again after we start?”  “Don’t even ask that question!” Buxkemper says, only half-joking. “I would just say be ready for anything.” This fall, “be ready for anything” has become the credo of local election offices in Texas and several states like it, where legal challenges to new voting laws have resulted in a steady stream of court rulings that have confused voters and forced elections administrators to invent new procedures on the fly. In recent weeks, as the election judges know, Texas’s voter-ID law was ruled discriminatory and unconstitutional by a federal District judge—and then abruptly reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. With fewer than 72 hours before polls open, the Supreme Court still hasn’t made a final call. The steps the election judges are being instructed to follow still could change by the time voters show up.

Editorials: Elections benefit from states’ use of technology | David Becker/Boston Herald

One thing this election cycle has taught us is that although recent court battles and political arguments over voter identification laws, gerrymandering, and the Voting Rights Act tend to grab the headlines, election officials across the political spectrum are improving how well elections actually work by implementing some of the technological improvements the private sector has been using for years. Consumers — in this case, voters — want the convenience, accessibility, and mobility offered by new technologies. This has led to a quiet revolution in red and blue states alike that has made the voting process more accurate, cost-effective, and efficient. After all, we’re accustomed to using our smartphones and laptops to pay bills, book flights, and scan the news. So why not use them to register to vote or find out where to cast a ballot? A great example of this approach is online voter registration. Four years ago, citizens in only eight states, representing 12 percent of eligible voters nationwide, could register online. But as of the end of September 2014 — with registration deadlines rapidly approaching — almost 110 million of the approximately 225 million eligible U.S. voters were living in the 20 states that now offer online registration. This innovation was driven not by political partisans but by professional election administrators; pioneered by Republican election officials in Arizona and then Washington, online voter registration is now offered by states as red as Kansas and Georgia, and as blue as California and Maryland.

Texas: Rice team sets sights on better voting machine | Phys.org

At the urging of county election officials in Austin, Texas, a group of Rice University engineers and social scientists has pulled together a team of U.S. experts to head off a little-known yet looming crisis facing elections officials nationwide. According to a January report from the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, U.S. elections officials are facing an “impending crisis” as they look to replace the aging voting systems they purchased after Florida’s flawed 2000 election. The commission concluded that elections officials “do not have the money to purchase new machines, and legal and market constraints prevent the development of machines they would want even if they had the funds.” But a STAR (Secure, Transparent, Auditable and Reliable) voting system is on the horizon.

Editorials: The Supreme Court and voting rights: Silent treatment | The Economist

The supreme Court’s weirdly busy October brings to mind an old Cadillac commercial showing a sedan gliding silently down the highway, driver calm and confident in a hermetic, leather-appointed cabin, while the announcer intones, “quietly doing things very well.” Whether the justices are doing their jobs well depends on your point of view. But there is no disputing that they have been doing their most consequential work in uncharacteristic silence in recent weeks. The justices’ moves on gay marriage, abortion and voting rights have been delivered all but wordlessly, as Dahlia Lithwick of Slate recounts. The notable exception to the rule is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the justice who refused to hold her tongue over the weekend, when six of her colleagues permitted Texas to enforce its new photo identification law in the November elections. The Court’s announcement came down at the ungodly hour of 5am on Saturday. It followed a federal district court decision on October 9th that the Texas law was discriminatory in both intent and effect and “constitutes a poll tax”—a ruling that was stayed by the Fifth Circuit Court on October 11th. The stay prompted an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court via Antonin Scalia, the justice assigned to the Fifth Circuit. The six justices who denied the request to lift the stay before dawn on October 18th were mum as to why; they released no reasoning for the decision, which effectively gives Texas’s questionable voter law a pass. But Justice Ginsburg and her clerks apparently ordered pizza and downed some Red Bull on Friday evening, pulling an all-nighter to compose a six-page dissent, which Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined. (Rick Hasen asks why Justice Stephen Breyer, the fourth liberal justice, did not sign on to the dissent; one strong possibility is that he was asleep.)