Author’s Note to the First Edition This book grew out of a series of seminars that were presented in Monrovia, Liberia, in late July, 2005. In the seminars, United States state court decisions were used to illustrate the legal principles involved in election dispute adjudication (Liberia’s law is based on U.S. law and precedents). Those court decisions comprise the core of this book. The text emphasizes the facts of the cases, borrowing extensively from the courts’ descriptions, and demonstrates how the legal principles that were applied by the courts flowed logically from the facts, quoting liberally from the judges’ opinions. Most of the cases illustrate more than one of the legal principles used in the resolution of election disputes, so most of the cases are discussed in more than one place in the book. When that happens, the narrative indicates the other places in the book where the cases are discussed. The book is intended to be used as a reference book for election administrators, a source book for lawyers and an instruction book for teachers. Accordingly, the book may be read as a whole, or chapters of the book may be read independently (each chapter refers to corresponding information in other chapters). Barry H. Weinberg Washington, D.C., May 2006 Author’s Note to the Second Edition I was delighted when I received a call from IFES earlier this year asking me to write a second edition of The Resolution of Election Disputes. Since the publication of the first edition, I have continued to travel and speak in the United States and internationally about election disputes. The many contacts I have had with election administrators, election lawyers and judges during this time reinforced my belief that the legal principles set out in this book are universal. The second edition of this book gives me a chance to expand the discussion of some of the legal principles and to give examples of how those principles apply to other election procedures. It also gives me an opportunity, in a separate section, to highlight the concept of substantial compliance with the law and show how that concept affects the outcome of election dispute cases. Finally, because there is no other source for the information contained in this book and all the copies of the first edition have been sold, it is gratifying to know that The Resolution of Election Disputes will continue to be available to let people know about these important legal principles that govern election dispute resolution. Barry H. Weinberg Washington, D.C., September 2008 xi