MEDIATION AND POST-ELECTION LITIGATION
ADR is featured explicitly in several state and federal statutes. 6 One
example is the Federal Election Commission (FEC) ADR Program. 7 In 2000,
the FEC established the program, which employs ADR techniques to resolve
selected federal campaign finance disclosure disputes. While the FEC's ADR
Program has never formally mediated a case, the program uses problem
solving facilitative mediation techniques to settle select campaign finance
complaints. According to program director Lynn Fraser, the use of interestbased negotiation has greatly enhanced the efficiency with which such
referrals are processed. 8
The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) provides another example of an
explicit statutory ADR requirement in elections. To be eligible for funding
under HAVA, section 15512 requires states to incorporate ADR procedures
to help individuals resolve specified claims involving discrimination or lack
of access to the polls should the administrative complaint process take too
long.9 Following HAVA's mandate, states have begun to adopt ADR
procedures. For example, New York's Election Law section 3-105 sets out an
administrative complaint procedure that provides a process for recourse for
an individual who believes that there has been a violation of Title Ill of
HAVA.Io The New York statute provides that if a panel of the State Board of
Elections fails to resolve a formal complaint within ninety days, the
6 For a review of some examples, see Butcher-Lyden, supra note 4, at 571-72.
7 See ADR Program, FEC, http://www.fec.gov/em/adr.shtml (revised Feb. 20 10).
This program tracks general federal support for the increased use of ADR, embodied in
the enactment of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996, 5 U.S.C. § 574(a),
(b) (LexisNexis 2011) (authorizing federal agencies to use ADR in disputes, exempting
mediation from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, and requiring agencies
to adopt ADR policies) and the ADR Act of 1998, 28 U.S.C. § 651 (requiring each
federal district court to develop ADR procedures).
8 Telephone Interview with Lynn Fraser, Director, Federal Election Commission
ADR Program (May 25, 2011 ). For a discussion of the politics surrounding the passage
of the ADRA, see Lawrence E. Susskind et al., When ADR Becomes the Law: A Review
of Federal Practice, 9 NEGOTIATION J. 59 (1993). Since its passage, federal agencies
have increasingly incorporated ADR dispute resolution techniques to curtail litigation and
other administrative inefficiencies. See David Seibel, To Enhance the Operation of
Government: Reauthorizing the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act, I HARV. NEGOT.
L. REv. 239 (1996).
9 See 42 U.S.C. §15512(a)(2)(I) ("If the State fails to meet the deadline applicable
under subparagraph (H), the complaint shall be resolved within 60 days under ADR
procedures established for purposes of this section. The record and other materials from
any proceedings conducted under the complaint procedures established under this section
shall be made available for use under the ADR procedures." (emphasis added)).
10 N.Y. ELEC. LAW§ 3-105(1) (Consol. 2011).
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