Expert Comment on Potential Balloting Problems in the 2004 Presidential Election

from the University of Pennsylvania Law School

Oct. 19, 2004

Nathaniel Persily, a law and political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has researched and written widely about election law and voting rights.

Professor Persily can talk about the use of various balloting systems, including punch card ballots and electronic voting machines.  Also, he can discuss issues of fraud, potential problems with absentee ballots and the chances for voter and election worker error in using new and unfamiliar election technology.

Professor Persily was a consultant to New York, California, Maryland and Georgia in redrawing congressional districts.  He filed an amicus brief in the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court case Utah v. Evans on behalf of the government in the challenge of the Census Bureau's counting method.

He filed Supreme Court amicus briefs in Bush v. Gore in the 2000 presidential election case, and California Democratic Party v. Jones, and he was one of the lawyers representing Sen. John McCain in his successful challenge to the 2000 New York Republican presidential primary ballot access laws.

Professor Persily has testified before the House Subcommittee on the Constitution regarding the States Choice of Voting Systems Act, a bill to allow states to use multi-member congressional districts.  He argued that states should have the right to choose the forms of representation they prefer.