All posts by Rick Hasen

“President’s Third Term Talk Defies Constitution and Tests Democracy”

April 6, 2025, 7:35 amauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

Peter Baker for the NYT: After President Trump said last year that he wanted to be a dictator for a day, he insisted that he was only joking. Now he is saying that he may try to hold onto… Continue reading

Fake Quote of the Day

April 6, 2025, 7:07 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

“That’s when I was trying to buy the election in Wisconsin. I’m an idiot. I should have just bought Wisconsin.” –“Elon Musk,” played by Mike Myers, in SNL cold opening, explaining why he came out to a White House… Continue reading

“Assessing Alaska’s Top-4 Primary and Ranked Choice Voting Electoral Reform: More Moderate Winners, More Moderate Policy”

April 6, 2025, 7:03 amalternative voting systems, political polarizationRick Hasen

Glenn Wright, Ben Reilly and David Lublin have published this article in the Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy. Here is the abstract: In recent years, ranked choice voting (RCV) has emerged as a leading electoral reform, often in… Continue reading

“‘Hands Off!’ protesters across US rally against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk”

April 5, 2025, 6:15 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

CNN: Millions of people took part in protests against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk across all 50 states and globally on Saturday, organized by a pro-democracy movement in response to what they call a “hostile takeover” and attack on… Continue reading

“Trump Weakens U.S. Cyberdefenses at a Moment of Rising Danger”

April 5, 2025, 6:12 pmchicanery, voting technologyRick Hasen

NYT: When President Trump abruptly fired the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command on Thursday, it was the latest in a series of moves that have torn away at the country’s cyberdefenses just as they are… Continue reading

“Hundreds of law firms back Perkins Coie in fight against Trump sanctions”

April 5, 2025, 6:10 pmauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

WaPo: More than 500 law firms on Friday denounced President Donald Trump’s campaign to punish individual firms, calling his actions abuses of power that endanger the rule of law. The firms said in a court filing thatTrump’s orders are… Continue reading

Quote of the Day

April 4, 2025, 5:10 pmelection subversion riskRick Hasen

“By changing the rules of the game after it’s been played to potentially disenfranchise as many as 60,000 voters, this court has gone where no court has gone before . .. Until this decision, courts facing challenges to ballots cast… Continue reading

Chenowith and Levitsky Video of Ash Center Event on Backsliding

April 4, 2025, 11:56 amauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

You can watch at this link.

Breaking: North Carolina Appeals Court, Over Strong Dissent, Sides with Judge Griffin in Election Contest, Gives Some Voters Chance to Cure Failure to Provide Certain Information to Election Officials (That Officials Did Not Demand)

April 4, 2025, 9:48 amjudicial elections, recountsRick Hasen

You can find the 2-1 opinion and dissent at this link. I’m at a meeting so no chance to read this closely right now, but it appears that the majority held that many of the ballots cast by challenged voters… Continue reading

“Pennsylvania officials plead guilty to election fraud offenses, effort to ‘steal’ election”

April 4, 2025, 7:00 amchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

ABC 27: Two Pennsylvania borough officials and one former official pled guilty to election fraud offenses after working to “steal” a local election. United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that MD Nurul Hasan, 48, MD Munsur Ali, 48, and MD… Continue reading

“Congressional Voting Rights Caucus Condemns Trump Executive Order on Elections as Unconstitutional and Illegal”

April 4, 2025, 6:47 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Release: Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) along with Congressional Voting Rights Caucus Co-Chairs Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-03), Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) and Rep. Marc Veasey (TX-33) issued a forceful rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s March 25, 2025, Executive Order entitled … Continue reading

“Wisconsin recipient of $1m from Musk was active in Republican campaigning”

April 4, 2025, 6:28 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

The Guardian: Archived social media posts from a student Republican operative, Nicholas Jacobs, who received a $1m check from Elon Musk, show that he was deeply immersed in Republican electioneering over the last year, working not only to elect … Continue reading

“US Senate confirms Trump loyalist to lead Justice Department civil rights unit”

April 3, 2025, 6:55 pmDepartment of Justice, election law bizRick Hasen

Reuters: The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed conservative lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in a 52-45 vote. One Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, voted no along with Democrats.… Continue reading

“Now Musk Is Boosting Claims Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Was ‘Stolen’

April 3, 2025, 6:46 pmfraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Daily Beast: Here we go again. After initially trying to downplay his candidate’s loss in the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race, Elon Musk has now boosted a post on his social media platform X claiming there was “overwhelming” evidence the… Continue reading