All posts by Ned Foley

“Time to start over on voting rights and election security”

January 16, 2022, 11:41 amUncategorizedNed Foley

Doyle McManus in L.A. Times. Also, I missed El Kilgore’s Intelligencer column from a few days ago, A Plan to Fix the Electoral Count Act Is Taking Shape, which quoted this ELB post. The Washington Post today… Continue reading

“The Case for Reforming the Electoral Count Act”

January 14, 2022, 9:10 amUncategorizedNed Foley

The National Constitution Center, as part of its “We the People Podcast” hosted this discussion moderated by Jeff Rosen, NCC president, with Brad Smith and me. The discussion built on the Washington Post op-ed that Brad and I co-wrote with… Continue reading

“Chairperson Lofgren Releases Staff Report On The Electoral Count Act”

January 13, 2022, 3:52 pmelection subversion riskNed Foley

Press release & link to the report. Given today’s filibuster-related news, is it possible now that discussions will more forward in Congress on seeking bipartisan ECA (and potentially closely related) reform, tailored specifically to protections for vote-counting and… Continue reading

How to guarantee the right to cast a ballot?

January 12, 2022, 4:05 pmelection subversion risk, NVRA (motor voter), provisional ballots, voter registration, votingNed Foley

I have seen a lot a skepticism lately about relying on courts to protect the equal right of eligible voters to participate in an election by casting a ballot and having it counted accurately. But unless Congress is going to… Continue reading

ECA reform & Article II

January 12, 2022, 7:04 amelection subversion riskNed Foley

Nick has posted Larry Lessig’s Slate piece arguing that it’s necessary to put the brakes on ECA reform because of the risk that the Supreme Court will embrace the so-called “independent state legislature doctrine” to authorize state legislatures to appoint… Continue reading

WaPo “Factchecker” on “Jim Crow 2.0” Senate debate

January 11, 2022, 3:18 amDepartment of Justice, voting, Voting Rights ActNed Foley

Accurately describing itself as a “reader service,” this new Fact Checker analysis carefully details the arguments on both sides and the relevant provisions of the new laws in key states (like Georgia and Texas), including the DOJ and other lawsuits… Continue reading

ECA reform must be bipartisan

January 10, 2022, 6:58 pmelection subversion riskElectoral Count ActNed Foley

The ACS Expert Forum has posted my essay Reforming the Electoral Count Act requires bipartisan buy-in—Democrats can’t do it alone even with filibuster reform. I won’t repeat what I wrote there, but here are some points: First, in my… Continue reading

How to tell if an election result is valid?

January 9, 2022, 1:03 pmpolitical polarization, theoryNed Foley

In advance of the 2020 election, I devoted a significant portion of my scholarship to this issue: given an official announcement (or certification) of an election’s result, how are citizens, journalists, judges–all of us–to determine whether the result should be… Continue reading

“Democracy is on the brink of disaster. For voters, it’s politics as usual.”

January 9, 2022, 6:14 amalternative voting systems, election subversion risk, political polarizationNed Foley

Rick P, in the previous blog post, was right to highlight Karen Tumulty’s column. The Washington Post today also has a piece presenting a rather depressing counterargument, by Colgate political scientist Sam Rosenfeld. The conclusion (although it’s… Continue reading

Renewing America Series: The Growing Divide—Polarization in the United States

January 7, 2022, 11:49 amelection subversion risk, political polarizationNed Foley

I was honored to be part of this Council of Foreign Relations conversation yesterday (video and transcript now available), moderated by Amy Davidson Sorkin of The New Yorker, with Barton Gellman of The Atlantic and Lilliana Mason of Johns Hopkins.… Continue reading

“The Daily” podcast on democracy

January 7, 2022, 6:55 amelection subversion riskNed Foley

Today’s episode, assessing the current conditions of American democracy, is a very thoughtful discussion and very much worth a listen. (I’m sure the previous episodes in this multi-part series are as well, but I haven’t had a chance to… Continue reading

David Brooks’s new column

January 6, 2022, 7:32 pmelection subversion riskNed Foley

Adding his voice to the those who argue that the urgent focus of electoral reform should be the risk of election subversion. He makes a number of specific points on the way to his conclusion: “When your house is on… Continue reading

Karl Rove’s thought experiment

January 6, 2022, 5:37 pmelection subversion riskNed Foley

Karl Rove’s column yesterday is noteworthy for its strong condemnation of his fellow Republicans who refuse to condemn the attempt at election subversion perpetrated last January 6. It is especially valuable for its invocation of a device that is essential… Continue reading

“Can one political party defend American democracy on its own?”

January 6, 2022, 2:07 pmelection subversion riskNed Foley

That is the question Ron Brownstein asks at the beginning of his new piece in The Atlantic today. The answer he gives at the end of the piece, by quoting Ian Bassin of Protect Democracy, is “no”–at least not in… Continue reading