Today is my final day managing the Election Law Blog after two weeks at the helm. It’s been a privilege to highlight developments and perspectives during such an important period for our democracy. I want to extend my sincere thanks to Rick for the opportunity to help curate this vital forum, and I’m deeply grateful to the Election Law Blog community for your engagement, tips, and insights. I look forward to continuing to serve as a contributor and managing the blog in the future.
All posts by Spencer Overton
“Florida wants to post more college syllabi online. Professors fear what’s next.”
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida is considering a move that would give people a closer look at what’s being taught in its public universities — another potential flash point as conservative-led states scrutinize higher education.
University leaders in Florida want schools to post what textbooks, instructional materials and readings are required for most courses, similar to a policy recently adopted by Georgia colleges.
Supporters say the change promotes openness and accountability, helping students see what they’re signing up for and encouraging professors to stay on topic. But some faculty fear the changes could invite political pressure and harassment at a time when higher education is under an intense ideological spotlight, particularly around lessons touching on gender, race and diversity.
The proposal is the latest step in Florida’s broader effort — led by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s GOP supermajority — to reshape higher education. A far-reaching 2024 law forced a review of hundreds of general education courses across the state’s 12 universities and banned spending tied to diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Trump Announces Tariff Increase on Canada Over Reagan Ad Spat”
NYT:
President Trump doubled down on Saturday in his feud with Canada over a television ad that used audio of former President Ronald Reagan denouncing tariffs, saying he would punish the country with an additional 10 percent tariff on its goods.
Mr. Trump had already suspended monthslong trade talks with Canada, the United States’ second-largest trading partner, on Thursday night because of the ad, which had been paid for by Ontario. Though the ad faithfully reproduced Mr. Reagan’s words, just in a different order, Mr. Trump has insisted it was “fraudulent” after the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute said it had made “selective” use of the five-minute original address.
“[Indian Election Commission] sets rules for AI and deepfake content in polls”
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a fresh advisory setting out stringent norms for the disclosure and responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and synthetic content in political campaigning ahead of the Jubilee Hills Assembly Constituency bye-election.
The advisory aims to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process and curb the spread of misleading or manipulated digital material.
“Donor Who Gave $130 Million to Pay Troops Is Reclusive Heir to Mellon Fortune”
NYT:
Timothy Mellon, a reclusive billionaire and a major financial backer of President Trump, is the anonymous private donor who gave $130 million to the U.S. government to help pay troops during the shutdown, according to two people familiar with the matter.
“Justice Department Will Monitor Elections in California and New Jersey”
NYT (and DOJ Press Release here):
The Trump administration said on Friday that the Justice Department will monitor polling sites in California and New Jersey ahead of the Nov. 4 election, amid requests by Republican Party officials in those states.
Although election monitoring by the Justice Department is not uncommon, it will likely heighten tensions as voters weigh in on some of the nation’s most closely watched races. President Trump has pushed the Justice Department to pursue parts of his agenda, including going after his political enemies, which has eroded its traditional independence. Mr. Trump also blamed his 2020 election loss on rigged voting, although there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud….
Shirley Weber, California’s secretary of state, said that the Justice Department provided no justification for deploying monitors “in what is a nonfederal special election.”
“Steve Bannon says ‘there is a plan’ for Trump to be president in 2028: ‘We had longer odds in 2016 and 2024’”
Steve Bannon claims “there is a plan” for Donald Trump to secure a third term as president of the United States after the next election, scheduled for 2028.
Despite the U.S. Constitution’s 22nd Amendment, which bars candidates who have already won two terms from taking office for a third time, Bannon said the Trump administration will find a means to reinstall the Republican leader.“He’s going to get a third term. Trump is going to be president in ‘28 and people ought to just get accommodated with that,” Bannon told The Economist in a video interview.
“Why Future Federal Election Security Reports May Be Unreliable”
As the Department of Homeland Security prepares to issue reports about the integrity of state election systems in the coming months, the public should be on the lookout for familiar tactics used by election deniers to spread false or misleading narratives.
…[T]he department quietly updated its organizational chart to include a new position: deputy assistant secretary for elections integrity.
The role was filled by Heather Honey, an activist known for promoting false information about Pennsylvania elections, including the repeatedly debunked claim that the state had more votes than voters in the 2020 election. Journalists, election officials, and other experts who have scrutinized her work have found a consistent pattern of misusing data to fit predetermined narratives. Following her appointment to DHS, Honey held a call with election officials from nearly all 50 states, where she reportedly echoed false claims that there had been widespread fraud in the 2020 election and referenced a report that falsely suggested that voting machines were rigged.
….After an election website in Arizona was hacked, state officials contacted several state and federal partner agencies but did not reach out to any part of DHS because of reliability concerns. Following Honey’s appointment, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes warned of further damage to these relationships: “When the agency gives a platform to individuals who have actively worked to erode public trust, it becomes harder to view DHS as a reliable partner in election security.”
[For more, see the NYT “Trump is Putting Election Deniers in Charge of Elections”]
“Emil Bove Starts Judicial Career With a Sneer”
TPM:
…After Trump won, [Emil[ Bove became the president’s personal enforcer in the DOJ….Bove is [now] serving in the rarified role of a federal judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals….
On Friday, he went out of his way in that role to issue a 20-page order in an elections case that the court decided nearly two weeks ago. On Oct. 14, the Third Circuit denied a full-court rehearing that the RNC had requested over an August ruling. In that case, the panel upheld a lower court decision requiring Pennsylvania to count undated or incorrectly dated mail-in ballots, ruling that earlier directives to toss ballots that contained those errors violated the Constitution. These ballots are often hotly contested in Pennsylvania elections, with Republicans seeking to limit the criteria for which mail-in votes are accepted and Democrats trying to expand it.
The appeals court said when it issued its opinion that Bove would file his own dissent at a later date. On Friday, it came. It offers a look at the start of Bove’s newfound career as an appellate judge….
[Josh Gerstein of POLITICO on the dissent: “Judge Emil Bove’s dissent to 3rd Cir denying en banc in case striking PA mail-in ballot dating rule. Bove mocks impact: ‘For a voter with a functioning pen, sufficient ink & average hand dexterity, this should take less than five seconds.’ “
“The passage of time”
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky in SCOTUSBlog:
When is it ever appropriate for the Supreme Court to decide that a federal law is unconstitutional because it is no longer needed?
This question arose during the oral arguments on Oct. 15 in Louisiana v. Callais, involving the constitutionality of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act….. But it is not obvious why it is the court’s job to decide when a problem is over, and it is even less clear how the court should go about making such an inquiry….
But if the court rejects such deference to Congress, then there must be a basis for the justices deciding the level of racial discrimination in voting sufficient to justify the provisions in the federal law and also for its determining whether that threshold is met. The problem, though, is that the justices seem to be relying on their own sense of race discrimination in voting rather than actual evidence. There is not a factual record in this case as to the current extent of race discrimination in voting, leaving the justices to rely on their own intuition (and biases) about whether there continues to be a problem and if so, its severity.
It always should be troubling for the court to decide empirical questions without actual evidence. But it should be especially disturbing for the court to strike down or narrow a vital civil rights statute based on a group of justices’ intuition that race discrimination in voting is largely a thing of the past.
“Protester Who Played ‘Star Wars’ Song Sues After Arrest in Washington”
NYT:
A Washington, D.C., resident who protested while playing the “Imperial March” theme from “Star Wars” sued members of the National Guard and the city’s police force in federal court on Thursday, arguing that he was wrongfully arrested during a demonstration against President Trump’s deployment of troops in the nation’s capital.
Sam O’Hara, 35, was protesting by filming National Guard troops at a distance and playing what is also known as the theme song for Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers. By the time of Mr. O’Hara’s arrest, his protest had gone viral — with videos being seen by millions on TikTok.
On Sept. 11, Mr. O’Hara, 35, played the song as several guardsmen, including Sgt. Devon Beck of the Ohio National Guard, were patrolling in a Washington neighborhood. Sergeant Beck threatened to call the police to “handle” Mr. O’Hara if he continued. He did, and Sergeant Beck then called in members of the Metropolitan Police Department, who put Mr. O’Hara in handcuffs to prevent him from continuing his protest, according to the lawsuit. The police eventually released Mr. O’Hara without charging him with a crime.
“Virginia Democrats Plan to Redraw House Maps in Redistricting Push”
NYT:
The next front in the nation’s pitched battle over mid-decade congressional redistricting is opening in Virginia, where Democrats are planning the first step toward redrawing congressional maps, a move that could give their party two or three more seats.
The surprise development, which was announced by legislators on Thursday, would make Virginia the second state, after California, in which Democrats try to counter a wave of Republican moves demanded by President Trump to redistrict states to their advantage before the 2026 midterm elections. No other Democratic state has begun redistricting proceedings, while several Republican states have drawn new maps or are deliberating doing so.
“Judge sides with disenfranchised voters in challenge to Virginia’s felony voting laws”
RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — A judge ruled in favor of a pair of disenfranchised voters Thursday who argued Virginia’s felony voting law violates a 150-year-old federal statute.
U.S. District Judge John Gibney ruled from the bench to grant summary judgment. He also certified a class that includes all Virginians who are currently or will be disqualified from voting due to convictions for crimes that were not considered felonies at common law in 1870…..
The plaintiffs, Tati King and Toni Johnson, who the state disenfranchised after drug- and child-neglect-related felonies, claim that Virginia’s felony disenfranchisement scheme violates the Virginia Readmission Act of 1870, which restored federal representation for the Confederate commonwealth after the Civil War. The 1870 law prohibited Virginia from amending the constitution to increase voting disenfranchisement, which was a political tool Southern states used during Reconstruction to strangle the nascent voting power of the formerly enslaved.
However, Virginia has amended its constitution twice, most recently in 1971, and today, a person convicted of any felony is stripped of their voting rights, which can be restored only by the governor. As a result, more than 300,000 Virginians cannot vote, including King and Johnson.
“Ahead of Mayor Race, Noncitizen New Yorkers Grapple with a Voting Policy Failure to Launch”
….A DACA recipient who arrived in New York City in 2005 as a child from Mexico, [Antonio] Alarcón has been a longtime vocal immigration and community advocate and organizer. But he’s also part of a chunk of the population that is mostly excluded from the electoral conversation—despite representing about a seventh of the adult population—for the simple reason that they are noncitizens.
….Shortly after the last mayoral election, the city council passed a law to allow noncitizens with some type of work authorization to participate in local elections for mayor, council, and some other municipal positions. The reform would have affected permanent residents, work visa holders, people with Temporary Protected Status, DACA, and residents with some other types of legal status, with the idea that they should be able to weigh in on the local political matters that affected them most directly.
The law was meant to apply this year, massively expanding New York City’s electorate. But opponents of the law sued, and it was struck down by courts repeatedly, finally losing at the state’s highest court earlier this year and leaving a large group of would-have-been voters shut out once more….
City estimates put the number of noncitizens who’d have been affected by the reforms somewhere in the ballpark of 800,000 people, or roughly the entire population of San Francisco. They’re in every census tract in the city, with some neighborhoods like Corona in Queens or Sunset Park in Brooklyn featuring tracts that are 50 percent or more noncitizen…