McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission
This chapter examines McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, inspired by Margaret McIntyre's refusal to pay a $100 fine for distributing “anonymous” fliers outside a school board meeting in the midst of a campaign over a school tax levy, and in violation of the state's electoral code requiring that election materials contain the name and business address of the party responsible for the literature. While the state defended its provision as necessary to police fraud, to facilitate libel prosecutions, and to serve the public interest in disclosure during political campaigns, the Court considered her case in light of a long and storied tradition of anonymous political discourse in Western society and issued a ruling with potentially vast implications for multiple constitutional domains. In its essence,McIntyre involved the intersection—or clash—of individual privacy and autonomy claims and the state's (and/or public's) interests in having “sunlight” serve as a deterrent for scurrilous speech.
Keywords: political campaigning, electoral code, election materials, free speech, privacy, autonomy
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