A new report surveys the impact of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) on state and local election administration in five Midwestern states — Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio. From Registration to Recounts: The Election Ecosystems of Five Midwestern States was written by Ohio State University Law election law scholars Edward Foley, Steven Huefner and Dan Tokaji. In addition to advocating specific policies for each of the five states, the authors make the following broader observations and recommendations:

A joint Campaign Finance Institute-Public Citizen study of over 2,000 individuals raising contributions for the 2008 presidential candidates finds that these donations were dominated by just three sectors: law, finance, and real estate .

The Hill and the Washington Post report that Democrats on the House Special Task Force on Ethics Enforcement support the creation of an independent panel to review ethics complaints and make recommendations to the House ethics committee. The "Office of Congressional Ethics" would consist of six members jointly appointed by the speaker and minority leader who would serve four-year terms and be served by a nonpartisan professional staff. Current lawmakers and lobbyists would not be able to be on the panel.

A federal judge in Florida granted an injunction on Tuesday to stop enforcement of the state's "no match, no vote" voter registration law. The law requires the name of a registrant be matched with a Social Security number or driver's license number. The suit was filed by the Florida branch of the NAACP, the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project.