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Former Legal Colleagues Now Adversaries in Pa. Democratic Primary, but With a Common Goal
The Legal Intelligencer
April 21, 2008
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll's John P. Lavelle Jr. cut his election law teeth on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case Welker v. Clarke when he was still at Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin.The case ultimately allowed for voters who moved out of their district to vote in the district if they were still registered there.
He worked on the case with, among others, Mark Aronchick, who was -- and is -- no stranger to politics.The two worked together at Hangley Aronchick until Lavelle left for Ballard Spahr in April 2002. They both continued working on election law matters, however, in addition to their general practices.
Aronchick and Lavelle have spent the past few weeks, if not months, gearing up for Tuesday's Democratic primary race, but they find themselves on opposite sides of the political table.
Aronchick serves as the Pennsylvania co-chairman of Sen. Hillary Clinton's race for president. Lavelle signed on a little more than a month ago as the Pennsylvania state election counsel for Sen. Barack Obama's campaign.Both will spend Tuesday coordinating the ground-floor efforts of their respective campaigns when it comes to election law issues.
"There are a number of interesting or unusual aspects to Pennsylvania election law that distinguishes it from other states," Lavelle said.
He worked closely with the lawyers who have been with Obama's campaign since the beginning of the primary to create a team of attorneys across the state who will help handle issues on Tuesday and interface with different county boards of elections.
Aronchick has been doing similar work for Clinton's camp, coordinating the more than 200 attorneys who volunteered for legal-protection activities on Tuesday.
Pennsylvania lawyers Abbe F. Fletman, Steven J. Engelmyer, Cheryl A. Krause, Murray Ufberg, Lazar M. Palnick and James J. Eisenhower III are all working with Aronchick to man the legal desks around the state. He said he anticipates the day going pretty smoothly.
Lavelle said he would be in the "boiler room" of Obama's election headquarters Tuesday, taking calls from lawyers in the field and making decisions along with the legal team Obama has had in place for more than a year.
One of the biggest issues Lavelle said could arise out of Tuesday's primary is the huge number of voters who are newly registered or who recently switched party affiliations to vote in the primary. Many voters may not know where to vote, he said.
While the provisional ballots that were spawned out of the 2000 presidential election fixed one problem, Lavelle said they created another. If the names of new registrants didn't make it to the poll books, he said those voters would have to fill out provisional ballots. That can be time-consuming when long lines are already anticipated and there is a concern there might not be enough ballots, he said.
Aronchick said he anticipates a smooth election given the amount of enthusiasm that surrounds the primary. He said Democrats respect each other and each other's right to vote free of intimidation and harassment. But with a possible record turnout of up to 2.8 million voters, Aronchick said things could happen in even the best of circumstances. His camp wants to make sure there is sufficient machine capacity so voters don't have to wait in long lines.
Other possible snags might be polling places opening late, machines breaking down or electioneering too close to a poll.
While he doesn't expect it to, Aronchick said that if any of that happens, the lawyers on both sides would be prepared to deal with the problems quickly and in a civil manner.
Lavelle said there is a tremendous amount of support from local lawyers, many of whom have never volunteered for election work before.
"On both sides of this we are focused on getting all of the voters out there and allowing them to vote what their preferences are," Lavelle said.Both Lavelle and Aronchick said they would come together after the primary to support the winner of the Democratic nomination.
Aronchick said the most interesting part of the primary day is that pretty much all of the lawyers working with Clinton and Obama know one another and have worked together in the past on general elections.He said many of the attorneys working for Obama worked with Aronchick or were trained by him in election matters.
"We all know each other very, very well, and my guess is we're going to have a situation [where,] if problems arise, folks are just talking to each other and working it out rather than running around trying to score points or going to courts," he said.
Aronchick said he's ready to be the student instead of the teacher and learn how his former election colleagues set up their own systems. He said it would be particularly fun to watch Lavelle given the two have worked together on so many campaigns and election law issues. He said they know each other's thinking."I'm glad to see that he's gotten this authority and the title he has long deserved," Aronchick said. "It's my turn now to learn from him and see what innovations and improvements he's going to do on election day, so that when we all come together for the general election, we're even better."
According to Aronchick, Pennsylvania is a model for the country when it comes to election issues. He is on a national lawyers steering committee for the Democratic Party and said he gets asked all the time how Pennsylvania handles its voting day issues.
The state uses cutting-edge ideas that are supported by a sense of respect for election lawyers and a willingness of candidates to make lawyers a central part of their campaigns, Aronchick said.
Philadelphia attorneys Sherry Swirsky and Gregory Harvey really paved the way in the 1990s for legal protection programs for elections, he said. Swirsky served as the Pennsylvania counsel for former President Bill Clinton's campaigns.
The long history of election coverage in Pennsylvania means there are a number of lawyers who know the election laws and know the election supervisors. That results in quick solutions when problems arise on voting day, Aronchick said.
