All posts by Rick Hasen

“NY state Senate candidate allegedly paid homeless people to lie about donations to net matching funds: report”

August 16, 2025, 12:03 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

NY Post: An upstate GOP state senate candidate’s campaign allegedly paid homeless people to claim they made donations to him, allowing him to net matching taxpayer funds, a report says. Several homeless men in Auburn told the Albany Times… Continue reading

“Democrats’ Proposed New California Map Puts Five GOP Seats in Danger”

August 16, 2025, 11:55 amdirect democracy, redistrictingRick Hasen

Cook Political Report: As Texas Republicans appear poised to thwart Democrats’ brief quorum break and pass a brutal new gerrymander, California Democrats’ plans to retaliate with their own aggressive map are coming into view. Democrats’ California proposal is a… Continue reading

“Missouri Republicans appear headed to congressional redistricting special session”

August 15, 2025, 11:55 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

St. Louis Public Radio reports.

“Texas Democrats say they will return to state once session ends, California unveils retaliatory map”

August 14, 2025, 5:46 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Texas Tribune: Texas House Democrats who left the state in protest of proposed congressional redistricting said Thursday they will return to the state after the Legislature adjourns Friday and California’s state lawmakers introduce a retaliatory redistricting map in their… Continue reading

“Justice Department presses Texas for list of registered voters, and the officials who check it”

August 14, 2025, 5:44 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

Votebeat.

Annals of Authoritarianism: Trump’s Military Agents Appear Outside California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Press Conference on Redistricting Reform

August 14, 2025, 3:02 pmauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

Truly frightening stuff: As Gov. Gavin Newsom prepared to announce that he would take on President Trump’s redistricting plans on behalf of California, scores of federal immigration agents massed outside the venue Thursday. Newsom was set to speak at… Continue reading

“The Dangers of America’s Gerrymandering Problem—And How to Fix It”

August 14, 2025, 2:59 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Benjamin Schneer and Maxwell Palmer in TIME: Instead, we believe it is possible to make reforms that keep the current electoral system while also overcoming some of its flaws. We’ve developed a process-based solution that has a number of… Continue reading

NVRA Case Against Virginia Voter Purge Purportedly to Remove Non-Citizens Survives Motion to Dismiss

August 14, 2025, 1:01 pmNVRA (motor voter), voter registrationRick Hasen

See this press release from the Lawyers’ Committee about this ruling from a federal district court partially denying the state’s motion to dismiss.

“The Racial Gap in Trust in Elections (and How to Close It)”

August 14, 2025, 12:56 pmelection administrationRick Hasen

Laura Uribe, Kailen Aldridge, Thad Kousser, Kyshan Nichols-Smith, and Tye Rush have written this article in Political Science Quarterly (also a version here without a subscription). Here is the abstract: While the contemporary conversation about trust in U.S. elections focuses… Continue reading

Fifth Circuit Affirms Lower Court Ruling that Louisiana STATE Legislative Maps Violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act

August 14, 2025, 10:26 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Per curiam opinion here (with one judge concurring in the judgment). At the end of the opinion, the court rejects a constitutional challenge to Section 2. The Louisiana v. Callais case currently before the Supreme Court concerns Louisiana’s congressional maps.

“Poll: California voters back independent congressional maps, complicating Gavin Newsom’s redistricting push”

August 14, 2025, 7:54 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Politico: California Gov. Gavin Newsom faces a major hurdle in his quest to revamp his state’s congressional lines, according to a new poll: Californians’ deep support for its current independent redistricting commission. By nearly a two-to-one margin, voters prefer… Continue reading

“A strange GOP divide is forming over Trump’s gerrymandering plans”

August 14, 2025, 7:50 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Politico: President Donald Trump’s aggressive redistricting push is sparking public concern from an unusual mix of Republicans. Resistance to mid-decade redraws is running the ideological gamut and cutting across levels of government. While many are backing Trump’s gambit to protect… Continue reading

“Trump Isn’t the Only One to Blame for the Gerrymander Mess”

August 14, 2025, 7:44 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

David Daley NYT oped: President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Texas Republicans have reignited the gerrymandering wars. The brazen power grab in Texas pushed Democrats to start their own efforts to unravel independent commissions established by voters, and now… Continue reading

“Hispanic Democratic Officials in Texas Plead Not Guilty to Voter Fraud”

August 13, 2025, 1:49 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: Nine Latino Democratic officials and political operatives pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in South Texas to charges of criminal voter fraud, accusations that their defenders called blatant voter suppression and political intimidation by the state’s Republican attorney general. Gerry… Continue reading

Election Law Blog

The law of politics and the politics of law