Sometimes a conversation really clicks. That’s my sense of the discussion I was fortunate to have on the Dispatch podcast, with host Sarah Isgur and Nick Troiano, executive director of Unite America. Sarah asks great questions, and does so… Continue reading

There will be occasion to write much more about what when wrong, and why, with the effort at redistricting reform in Ohio for this decennial cycle. But all of us who work in the field of election law should take… Continue reading

I’ve written this essay for Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. It starts and ends with Odysseus and the song of the sirens. In the middle is an analysis of why Congress should constrain itself to accepting whatever results the… Continue reading

Election Law at Ohio State is pleased to host this webinar. Here’s the description: In our current highly polarized political environment, the system of party primaries in most states risks eliminating consensus candidates from the general election. These consensus… Continue reading

This paper, entitled Requiring Majority Winners for Congressional Elections: Harnessing Federalism to Combat Extremism, is now in page proofs: 26 Lewis & Clark Law Review 365 (2022). Here’s the abstract: “Congress should enact a law requiring a candidate for… Continue reading

Yasha Mounk has a new piece in The Atlantic that highlights a study by the Carnegie Endowment led by Jennifer McCoy. Here’s a key passage of Mounk’s piece towards the end: “One approach that could alleviate polarization in the U.S.… Continue reading

The Washington Post reports “after three weeks of early voting ahead of Tuesday’s primary, record-breaking turnout is undercutting predictions that the Georgia Election Integrity Act of 2021 would lead to a falloff in voting.” The story, which has lots of… Continue reading

I’ve written this column for the Washington Post. Building upon ELB posts I’ve written recently on this topic, it argues in part: Duverger’s law does not work in party primaries. Political science has not settled on why; one theory… Continue reading

At 6am ET, Oz leads McCormick by 2672 votes, as reported by both the New York Times and the Washington Post. The tightness of the race at this hour prompts these observations: First, this preliminary tally is yet another… Continue reading

Following upon on my previous post A Rational Two-Party System?, which was prompted by a N.Y. Times story on one of Ohio’s GOP primaries last week, this post is prompted by a N.Y. Times account of Nebraska’s upcoming GOP… Continue reading

It is often argued that the prevailing system of partisan primaries followed by a plurality-winner general election is a sensible way for an electorate to make a clear policy choice between one left-of-center option and one right-of-center alternative. But one… Continue reading

With about three-quarters of the vote from the Republican primary for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat in (a little before 10pm ET), it looks like the top three vote-getters will be Vance, Mandel, and Dolan. If one adds to these three… Continue reading