New video: On Wednesday, September 30, the Georgetown University Humanities Initiative and Georgetown University Press cosponsored a panel discussion on how we vote in the United States. Participants included How We Vote authors Kathleen Hale and Mitchell Brown and Georgetown … Continue reading
Rick Hasen
From the ruling: It is now settled law that off-site drop boxes are neither prohibited nor compelled in Ohio.Yesterday, October 5, the Secretary issued Directive 2020-22. In his latest Directive, the Secretary authorized any board to deploy its staff to … Continue reading
Michael Latner blogs. … Continue reading
Notable that this story is at Fox News: More than two million Ohio residents requested mail-in ballot applications prior to the start of early voting on Tuesday, doubling the count at the same time in 2016 and 2012. Ballots in … Continue reading
Job announcement: The 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission is seeking a Chief Counsel with min. 10 yrs. law experience. The Chief Counsel will advise the Commission on all aspects of the redistricting process and government affairs. The ideal candidate will … Continue reading
This order does not bode well for the Trump campaign’s federal claims (such as that Pa. court allowing drop boxes somehow creates a federal constitutional problem): ORDER vacating 462 amended scheduling order. Upon careful consideration of the parties’ cross-motions for … Continue reading
Here’s the reply brief. Update: Here‘s the other reply brief. … Continue reading
CNN: It’s illegal in all 50 states to engage in militia activity. Still, militia members will almost certainly appear at some polling places this election cycle.To prepare voters for potential voter intimidation, Georgetown University Law Center created fact sheets for all 50 … Continue reading
Politico: Florida extended the deadline for voter registration after the state’s online portal crashed under the weight of heavy traffic hours before the Oct. 5 deadline.Registration will be open for an additional seven hours, from noon to 7 p.m. on … Continue reading
Another example of a district court case favorable to voting rights gorups getting reversed on appeal. … Continue reading
Marshall Cohen for CNN: After a string of early legal victories in voting rights cases, Democrats are now fighting on more challenging terrain in federal appeals courts across the country, and have seen some of their hard-fought victories wiped off … Continue reading
CAP: The United States’ electoral culture demands instant gratification when it comes to election results. Members of the public, candidates, and journalists have come to expect that they will know the winners and losers of electoral races within hours of polls … Continue reading
Interesting twist on the perennial problem of offering inducements for voting. … Continue reading
Sherman Smith for the States Newsroom. … Continue reading
ABC News: A whirlwind of competing lawsuits and legal actions has thousands of ballots in North Carolina in limbo.With just a few weeks left until the Oct. 27 deadline to request absentee ballots, the North Carolina State Board of Elections … Continue reading
I have written this piece for CNN Opinion. It begins: With coronavirus infections raging through the White House and the state of the President’s health unclear, it’s time to face up to an unsettling reality. We need to start thinking … Continue reading
Big news: BREAKING: A federal judge has extended Arizona's voter registration deadline until 5 pm Oct 23The deadline was todayThe judge's order: https://t.co/m0w4vUQYNg pic.twitter.com/6vtxkXQkSd— Andrew Oxford (@andrewboxford) October 6, 2020 I expect this will be quickly appealed and could end … Continue reading
I wrote earlier today at Slate about the important case coming out of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Here’s part of what I wrote: The final argument that Republicans are advancing is the boldest and perhaps most dangerous one. The argument … Continue reading
Ariane de Vogue for CNN. … Continue reading
Politico: Florida’s online voter portal crashed on the final day of registration, prompting Democrats to accuse Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican state officials of trying to suppress the vote less than a month before Election Day.Details: Secretary of State … Continue reading
Watch this archived video: University of California Office of the President Hear directly from the experts on what Californians need to know as they get ready to vote. UC Irvine Professor Rick Hasen (BA, UC Berkeley; MA, JD, PhD, UCLA), … Continue reading
Josh Gerstein on the Purcell Principle in Politico. … Continue reading
Will see if these allegations pan out better than the allegations of ballots in a ditch in Wisconsin. Especially concerning is the original source. … Continue reading
You can find the order here. As I explained today in Slate, “In South Carolina, a federal district court held that a requirement that those voting by mail obtain a witness signature unconstitutionally burdened voters’ rights during the pandemic, given … Continue reading
AP: When Donald Trump’s campaign took issue with a new rule on processing some votes in North Carolina, it didn’t just complain to the Board of Elections and file a lawsuit. It wrote to some of the state’s 100 local … Continue reading
AP: A judge blocked Iowa’s secretary of state Monday from enforcing an order that barred counties from sending absentee ballot applications to voters with their personal information already filled in.Judge Robert Hanson sided with Democratic Party groups, who contended that … Continue reading
New from the Prison Policy Initiative. … Continue reading
AP: An Alaska court judge on Monday ruled enforcement of witness requirements for absentee ballots during a pandemic “impermissibly burdens the right to vote” but did not immediately put into effect an order eliminating the requirement for the general election.Superior … Continue reading
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: While the nation’s attention has been focused on the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis and the ensuing questions surrounding that, it’s important to remember there will still be an election in one month. … Continue reading
Cleveland.com on LaRose splitting the baby: Ohio counties will be allowed to offer extra options to collect completed absentee ballots, but still only at a single site per county, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Monday.LaRose said counties can … Continue reading
He’s off to a terrible start. … Continue reading
I have written this piece for New York. It begins: When Judge Amy Coney Barrett sits for questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee in mid-October, no doubt Democrats will pepper her with questions about whether she would recuse herself in any Trump v. Biden election lawsuit to come … Continue reading
Can’t wait to dive into this Britta Lokting and Sam Adler-Bell piece in Jewish Currents. … Continue reading
The following is a guest post from John Fortier and Norm Ornstein: After 9/11, in the course of our work on continuity of government, we wrote a piece in the Election Law Journal, “If Terrorists Attacked our Presidential Election.” A … Continue reading
Listen here. … Continue reading
Ned Foley WaPo oped: In other words, although voters might be under the impression that they get to choose the president, in fact, the Constitution does not mandate that role. Ordinary voters have a say in the process only as … Continue reading
Honored that the Boston University Law Review has published this online symposium on my book, Election Meltdown: With the 2020 election now less than one month away, the Boston University Law Review is pleased to present this symposium on Richard L. Hasen’s … Continue reading
NYT: President Trump’s national security adviser said on Sunday that he had warned his Russian counterpart last week that “there would be absolutely no tolerance for any interference” in the November election, but did not mention that American intelligence officials … Continue reading
WaPo: There are signs that younger Americans, who have historically turned out at the polls at lower rates than older voters, are more energized about voting this November than they have been in decades. Yet the pandemic has created thorny … Continue reading
Philly Inquirer: The first line of the Republican lawsuit makes clear its motivations: “Bad things are happening in Philadelphia.” That’s not a legal argument, and it’s unlikely to sway a judge in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas.But that’s not the … Continue reading
Zoe Tillman for Buzzfeed. … Continue reading
John Koza on the Open Mind podcast. … Continue reading
Philly Inquirer: Pennsylvania’s online system for registering to vote and applying for and tracking mail ballots crashed over the weekend, triggering an outage that stretched for more than 24 hours and prompted frustration from voters weeks before critical election deadlines.As … Continue reading
Lisa Lerer for the NYT. … Continue reading
WaPo: A federal judge could rule as early as today in a legal fight that might upend how Georgia runs November’s election. The dispute centers on a last-minute software update that Georgia officials ordered on voting machines across the state. The … Continue reading
KVUE: A group of top aides for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking federal law enforcement to investigate their boss, the state’s top lawyer, for possible crimes that include bribery and abuse of office, KVUE News and the Austin American-Statesman have learned. A letter … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
Politifact reports. … Continue reading
Richard Wolf for USA Today. … Continue reading
Amy Howe for SCOTUSBlog: The justices start their new term on Monday, at a time when the Supreme Court is at the center of a bitter battle over President Donald Trump’s nominee to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died … Continue reading