All posts by Justin Levitt

Breaking: New FEC Rules

October 9, 2014, 11:44 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionJustin Levitt

BNA reports. Looks like new rules to implement Citizens United passed 4-2, but without (for the moment) a decision to move forward on disclosure. The FEC also approved (again, 4-2) the DNC/RNC request for an advisory opinion permitting the… Continue reading

Theory to Practice: The Democracy Facts Label Goes Live

October 9, 2014, 2:56 amcampaign financeJustin Levitt

Yesterday, Rick linked to a press release from the San Francisco Ethics Commission, announcing the launch of a great new campaign finance dashboard. The site has a few different tools to get campaign finance information, and more important, to… Continue reading

10/9 FEC Meeting: Citizens United, McCutcheon & More

October 9, 2014, 2:49 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionJustin Levitt

Late Wednesday, the FEC posted several drafts of rules to be considered at a meeting Thursday. One of the drafts implements the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, removing prohibitions on labor and corporate spending on independent political activity; it… Continue reading

On Party Fundraising for 2016 Conventions

October 9, 2014, 2:48 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionJustin Levitt

About those AOs up later today: the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 have opinions. Bauer does too, highlighting that the conventions are about more than just the nominee. As every bar in the host city can confirm.

“Rules for Provisional Ballots All Over the Map”

October 9, 2014, 2:46 amprovisional ballotsJustin Levitt

Pam Fessler tries to make sense of the provisional ballot landscape for NPR.

Right Questions, Wrong Answers in Voter ID Decision

October 9, 2014, 2:46 amelection law and constitutional law, voter id, Voting Rights ActJustin Levitt

Prof. Chris Elmendorf, over at the Election Law @ Moritz site, dives deep on the 7th Circuit’s WI voter ID decision. It begins: Earlier this week Rick Hasen blasted Judge Easterbook’s opinion upholding Wisconsin’s voter ID requirement as… Continue reading

Roundup on the GAO Report on Voter ID

October 9, 2014, 2:44 amThe Voting Wars, voter idJustin Levitt

Politico, Natl Journal, the Wall St. Journal, and the Washington Times discuss the GAO report; Sec. Kobach responds.

Redistricting Made Simple

October 9, 2014, 2:43 amredistrictingJustin Levitt

Change IL has a great new animated digital tool explaining how redistricting works. Even those who don’t like redistricting commissions have 18 slides to love.

“Dark Money Still a Bit Player”

October 9, 2014, 2:43 amcampaign financeJustin Levitt

CCP in The Hill: What would you call an election in which over 95 percent of campaign spending is funded by groups that publicly disclose the names and addresses of their donors to the Federal Election Commission, along with… Continue reading

“How Campaign Finance Laws Make Florida Governor’s Race Unique”

October 9, 2014, 2:42 amcampaign financeJustin Levitt

On Miami public radio. According to the Campaign for Public Integrity, the campaigns of Charlie Crist and Rick Scott are responsible for about 3 percent of the spending in the race.

Breaking News: SCOTUS issues NC order, restrictions back in effect

October 8, 2014, 4:19 pmelection law and constitutional law, provisional ballots, Supreme Court, The Voting Wars, voter registrationJustin Levitt

Sure, just after Rick leaves. Late Wednesday, the Supreme Court stayed the 4th Circuit’s earlier opinion blocking North Carolina’s rollback of same-day registration and its decision to no longer count ballots cast out-of-precinct. Free of the double negatives: the full… Continue reading

The Virginia redistricting decision

October 7, 2014, 3:59 pmelection law and constitutional law, redistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActJustin Levitt

Rick mentioned the Virginia congressional redistricting decision earlier today. I’ve already seen some confusion about this: the decision doesn’t depend on Shelby County. Indeed, as I read it, the decision would have been exactly the the same if Shelby County… Continue reading

The 7th Circuit denominator

October 7, 2014, 3:42 pmThe Voting Wars, voter id, Voting Rights ActJustin Levitt

No time like the present to start “easing in,” I guess. Others have already said quite a bit about yesterday’s 7th Circuit voter ID decision. I’ve written many times about the ID-on-a-plane fallacy (it’s both irrelevant and wrong), about… Continue reading

Voter registration, domicile, and the location of your pillow

October 3, 2014, 5:32 pmresidency, voter registrationJustin Levitt

As we get into the “silly season” of election administration frenzy, it’s worth connecting two stories hours apart — the piece on Romney’s mistaken registration address to the story about GOP scouring of voter rolls in Illinois. The Romney… Continue reading