Enlivening Election Law

Election law cases are often lengthy and include complex discussion of constitutional doctrines. Moreover, there is rarely a clear-cut answer to a tricky election law question. The field is full of balancing tests, competing interests to weigh, and ever-shifting standards. A challenge for Election Law teachers, then, is to ensure that the long judicial opinions and difficult constitutional doctrines undergirding the field of election law do not bury the vibrancy of the topic. One way to keep an Election Law course student-friendly is to make frequent use of electronic media. Election law is well-suited to the adoption of images, videos, audio clips, and other media to bring relevance to the cases and doctrines. Today's students are Internet-savvy and technological learners; using multimedia in all facets of an Election Law course can help to electrify the material, improve class discussion, and enhance overall learning.