All posts by Ned Foley

January 6 Select Committee Gets Started

July 27, 2021, 9:37 amelection subversion riskNed Foley

As the committee’s hearings begin with riveting testimony of the horrific violence at the Capitol on January 6, and with much discussion about the need for the committee to figure out what caused the breach of the Capitol that day… Continue reading

Breaking round-robin ties

July 27, 2021, 8:53 amalternative voting systems, theoryranked choice votingNed Foley

The USA women’s soccer team is advancing out of the preliminary round-robin stage of competition based on a “goal differential” tiebreaker used to differentiate teams with the same win-loss records. “The United States finished second in Group G on the… Continue reading

The GOP & the VRA: Frenemies?

July 26, 2021, 7:08 pmDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActNed Foley

A reader of the blog sent along a link to this article: How to Win a “Long Game”: The Voting Rights Act, the Republican Party, and the Politics of Counter‐Enforcement. Here’s the abstract: ADRIENNE JONES and ANDREW POLSKY examine… Continue reading

Preview of select committee’s hearing

July 26, 2021, 6:23 pmelection subversion riskJanuary 6, The Big LieNed Foley

Some emphasize the division between Republicans, others the attempt by Democrats to enlist Cheney and Kinzinger in establishing a responsibly bipartisan investigation: The Hill, Politico, Washington Post, NY Times, WSJ

NFRPP Discussion of S1/HR1

July 26, 2021, 3:53 pmelection subversion risk, redistricting, votingNed Foley

The Network for Responsible Public Policy last week hosted a discussion on the current status, and future prospects, of the For the People Act, still pending in the Senate as S1 (having been enacted by the House as HR1). Dan… Continue reading

Panic setting in over new voting rules

July 26, 2021, 10:46 amThe Voting Wars, voter id, voter registration, votingNed Foley

Politico reports on the fear among Democrats and voting rights activists that getting out the vote (GOTV) will be much harder in light of the new more restrictive voting laws being adopted in states like Georgia. The article is useful… Continue reading

Latest on Arizona’s pseudo-audit

July 26, 2021, 6:16 amelection subversion riskNed Foley

Newsweek reports on internal divisions among participants, apparently because preliminary figures tracked officially certified results (thus confirming Biden’s victory).

Could you withstand the pressure?

July 25, 2021, 7:17 pmalternative voting systems, election subversion risk, primaries, theoryNed Foley

Two articles, one in The Atlantic and the other in The New York Times, discuss how first-term Representative Nancy Mace–a Republican from South Carolina–initially condemned Trump for causing the January 6 insurrection, only to backtrack since then.… Continue reading

The Big Lie and January 6

July 25, 2021, 6:04 pmDepartment of Justice, election subversion risk, First Amendment theoryNed Foley

The Washington Post has an overview of where things currently stand with the House’s select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. The Post says this committee’s investigation is supposed to be the “ultimate arbiter” of what happened that day. Maybe,… Continue reading

State-Districts Competitiveness Gap

July 25, 2021, 3:52 pmredistrictingNed Foley

Axios has a report on a data project that Election Law at Ohio State (ELOSU) is pursuing. The idea is to compare how competitive the House districts in a state are as a group versus the competitiveness of the state… Continue reading

Electoral McCarthyism on display

July 25, 2021, 6:41 amelection subversion riskNed Foley

Politico reports on Trump’s Arizona rally. The 1950s Red Scare lasted as long as it did, from my understanding of the history, because the public was willing to be duped by the mendacity of Joe McCarthy and there wasn’t sufficient… Continue reading

“Accelerating Election Science”

July 23, 2021, 1:53 pmelection administrationNed Foley

Election Updates has the details of this important new report.

House hearing on election subversion

July 23, 2021, 1:49 pmelection subversion riskNed Foley

Scheduled for July 28, noon ET.

Trump’s efforts to “primary” Cheney

July 23, 2021, 6:42 amalternative voting systems, election subversion risk, primariesranked choice votingNed Foley

Politico goes deep into the details of former president Trump’s concerted plans to oust Rep. Liz Cheney as revenge for her commitment to honest vote-counting. Particularly interesting are the efforts to change the rules to make it more difficult for… Continue reading