All posts by Derek Muller

No private right of action to enforce list maintenance, voter registration provisions of HAVA, federal court holds

October 18, 2024, 6:10 amcourt decisions, election law and constitutional lawDerek Muller

Continuing a recent tranche of lower court debates over whether certain election-related provisions permit a private right of action, including Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and Election Day date provisions of federal law, a federal judge in North… Continue reading

Democratic, Republican fundraising for election litigation tops $113 million in 18 months for 2024 election cycle

October 16, 2024, 11:14 amcampaign finance, campaignsDerek Muller

I’ve been chronicling the increase in spending on election litigation. Since 2015, election donors may contribute to “election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings,” above and beyond individual candidate campaign contribution limits. Perhaps surprisingly, the pace of fundraising actually… Continue reading

Arizona Supreme Court approves rules for “priority adjudication of post-general election judicial proceedings”

October 15, 2024, 11:37 amcourt decisionsDerek Muller

On the heels of the proposed rules in Colorado and the rules in Pennsylvania, here are new rules in Arizona to expedite election disputes. These rules continue to show that state courts are taking the deadlines of the Electoral… Continue reading

Politico, MSNBC, USA Today press implausible scenarios for purported weaknesses of the Electoral Count Reform Act

October 15, 2024, 6:06 amUncategorizedDerek Muller

Continuing a theme from an earlier post, more disaster scenarios have been promulgated in unrealistic scenarios, often highlighting purported weaknesses of the Electoral Count Reform Act. Of course, these scenarios invented in the last few weeks were hardly uncontemplated… Continue reading

The hand counted ballot crisis narrowly averted for 2024

October 13, 2024, 4:13 pmrecountsDerek Muller

A few weeks ago, a USA Today story entitled “Democrats propose voting rights bill to counter Georgia’s election changes and others” was essentially a press release. It offered no engagement with the text of the proposed bill, labeled the “Voter… Continue reading

“Colorado Supreme Court committee advances election-related change”

October 2, 2024, 7:08 amelectoral collegeDerek Muller

In the immediate aftermath of passage of the Electoral Count Reform Act, I noted that state legislatures should look to update their laws surrounding the timing of elections and litigation disputes. And last year, I highlighted some states that have … Continue reading

Ninth Circuit tosses part of Arizona voter registration election case in broad standing decision, citing FDA v. AHM

September 29, 2024, 9:03 amelection law and constitutional law, voter registrationDerek Muller

In June, I noted that the Supreme Court’s decision in FDA v. AHM might result in an uptick in election law cases where plaintiffs would lose cases for lack of standing for plaintiffs who claimed a “diversion of resources” theory… Continue reading

Unanimous DC Circuit panel finds no standing to enforce Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment

September 25, 2024, 7:29 amelection law and constitutional lawDerek Muller

Judge Wilkins, joined by Chief Judge Srinivasian and Judge Childs, in Citizens for Constitutional Integrity v. Census Bureau: Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which specifies that seats in the House of Representatives “shall be apportioned among the several… Continue reading

“And then what?” should accompany hypotheticals surrounding January 6, 2025 disaster scenarios

September 19, 2024, 6:01 pmelection administration, electoral collegeDerek Muller

Continuing in the spirit of my recent blog post, I want to visit this Politico piece Rick H. posted earlier this week. It offers four specific disaster scenarios surrounding the counting of electoral votes, with no better sourcing… Continue reading

Doomcasting continues to overstate the case for a presidential election going to the House of Representatives

September 19, 2024, 3:49 pmelection administration, electoral college, Supreme CourtDerek Muller

Justin Levitt‘s excellent piece earlier this election season, “Get Ready for the Scourge of Election Season: Electoral-Process Porn,” is well worth another read. That’s because a new round of paranoia about the 2024 election continues to spread. There are… Continue reading

General Services Administration updates guidance for 2024 presidential transition

September 16, 2024, 1:16 pmelectoral collegeDerek Muller

The Electoral Count Reform Act was only a part of the reforms a bipartisan Senate working group developed in relation to presidential elections. Another was the Presidential Transition Improvement Act to help facilitate a new administration’s ability to hit the… Continue reading

Divided Michigan Supreme Court reverses Court of Appeals, orders RFK back on ballot

September 9, 2024, 2:02 pmballot accessDerek Muller

Order here. The order avoids the legal question of whether Kennedy could remove his name from the ballot, and instead argues that Kennedy wrongly sought mandamus (i.e., there’s no clear legal duty for the Secretary of State to remove… Continue reading

“No, local election officials can’t block certification of results – there are plenty of legal safeguards”

September 4, 2024, 5:52 amelection administrationDerek Muller

I have this piece in The Conversation. It begins: Some local election officials have refused to certify election results in the past few years. Georgia has new administrative rules that invite election officials to investigate results before certifying. And… Continue reading

The other Bush v. Gore issue in Pennsylvania

August 30, 2024, 12:40 pmelection administrationDerek Muller

Rick H. links to the recent Pennsylvania court decision and notes that there could be a Legislature Thereof Clause-style challenge to it, a la Chief Justice Rehnquist’s opinion in Bush v. Gore as ratified in some form in Moore v.… Continue reading

Election Law Blog

The law of politics and the politics of law