Election Law | School of Law | University of Pittsburgh

School of Law

Course Catalog Number:

5170

Course Credits:

3

Course Type:

Lecture

Course Priority:

General Enrollment Course

Full Year Course:

No

Course Description

Election law is a hot topic in the U.S. today. Opinions about what our federal, state and local election laws require -- and should require -- are sharply divided. This course introduces key issues in U.S. election law in historical, political and (to a limited extent) international contexts. Topics include voting qualifications and limits on voting (e.g., residency requirements, poll taxes and age qualifications), how race, gender and property have shaped voting rights and participation, the highly decentralized and diverse structures of U.S. election administration, how concerns and claims of fraud shape election law, districting and the concept of vote dilution, partisan gerrymandering, and limits on campaign spending and speech. We will look at some of the dramatic legal conflicts that emerged around the 2020 presidential election over election structures like voting by mail, extended voting time periods, and ballot counting procedures, and over the power of state legislatures, state courts and federal courts to shape voting structures and ratify or undermine election results. And we will consider how current concerns about election integrity and restricted voting access at once raise new legal issues and connect with longstanding legal and political schisms. This is an introductory course that surveys a wide range of election law issues and structures. We will do one in-depth case study, however, of laws that ban voting based on criminal conviction. Felony voting bans highlight the sharp differences in voting rights among different states, offer a telling example of the way U.S. voting qualifications interact with racial inequality, and reveal how election law on the books does not entirely define election administration or the bounds of political participation.

Course Offerings 2024-2025

Term	Class #
Fall Term 2024-2025		Professor Jessie Allen	More >