As readers of this site know, voters in six states are considering legal-reform initiatives on today’s ballot. At my other website, the Manhattan Institute’s PointOfLaw.com, I’m planning to post regularly updated live coverage tonight of election returns on the measures, with special attention to any instances where the vote totals prove to be close. (I might also post the odd comment on other races of interest.)
The ballot measures are: Florida’s Amendment 3 (limiting lawyers’ med-mal fees), lawyer-sponsored Amendment 7 (removes confidentiality of medical peer review) and Amendment 8 (strips licenses of doctors who lose three malpractice verdicts); Wyoming’s Amendments C and D (authorizes legislative limits on med-mal awards); Oregon’s Measure 35 (limits med-mal awards); Nevada’s Question Three (limits med-mal awards) and lawyer-sponsored Questions Four (undercuts med-mal reform) and Five (forbids legislative reductions of liability); Colorado’s lawyer-sponsored Amendment 34 (expands right to sue over alleged construction defects), and California’s Proposition 64 (narrows scope of s. 17200 “unfair competition” law).
The timing: Florida polls close at 8 pm EST, Colorado and Wyoming at 9 pm, Nevada at 10 pm, and California and Oregon at 11 pm. I’m in the Eastern time zone, and intend to stay up until 2 am (11 pm Pacific) if that’s needed to follow any still-unresolved contests.
How readers can help: I’ll have access to standard online sources that cover these sorts of votes (big-city papers, Secretary of State websites) but in the past those sources have sometimes been slow to post totals, especially on “down-ballot” issues. I won’t have much access to local broadcast sources, for the most part. If you’ve got fresh news on your state to report, such as a local news organization’s calling a ballot contest one way or the other, email me at editor (at) pointoflaw – dotcom.
Once again, the liveblogging tonight will be going on at Point of Law, not here. [cross-posted from Point of Law, with slight changes][bumped 2:30 pm]
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Welcome visitors…
…sent by Virginia Postrel at Dynamist, David Bernstein at the Volokh Conspiracy, Michael DeBow at Southern Appeal, and of course yours truly at Overlawyered, all of which have linked to this liveblogging effort….