The fight in Pennsylvania continues. … Continue reading
Justin Levitt
Ari Berman adds his voice to discussion of the potential ahead. … Continue reading
Demographers weigh in on alternatives to a direct count. (Note: this is an update of a piece published in 2016. Apparently, the issue is still of some interest.) … Continue reading
A would-be movement to amend state constitutions to provide that only U.S. citizens may lawfully vote in state elections. Of course, all state constitutions have currently been interpreted to provide that only U.S. citizens may lawfully vote in state elections. … Continue reading
A letter in the WSJ claims that Eric Holder helped to lead the charge in Bethune-Hill, after approving Virginia districts in 2011. Consider me skeptical. The letter appears to conflate preclearance approval (which focused on two particular legal standards; every … Continue reading
New data analysis in The Upshot. … Continue reading
Provisional or affidavit ballots are counted even when there’s not a recount. But there’s a whole lot more attention on them when the recount comes to town. … Continue reading
The Civics Center has been particularly active in encouraging eligible high school students to register and vote. A post today discusses the path forward after legislation failed in Maryland, following on a post a few weeks ago discussing a pending … Continue reading
After a vote on a tax treaty with Japan, Vermont’s only Democratic Senator ever is now one of four Senators in history to reach the 16,000-vote plateau. … Continue reading
Elbridge Gerry. … Continue reading
The motion was filed in the SDNY case, mostly directed at Commerce officials. With 428 pp. of receipts. UPDATE: HuffPost has coverage. … Continue reading
Hansi with the scoop: https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1151169448457441282 UPDATE: Here’s the final signed order itself. … Continue reading
San Juan County, Utah, has had a long history of trouble, over several decades, with respect to providing equal opportunities for the Navajo community, including in voting. Today, the 10th Circuit affirmed a lower court opinion redrawing the district lines … Continue reading
Well, that’s an interesting strategy: You’ve got to spend money to make money. But that’s not the way Texas, and a handful of other states, are looking at the 2020 census. Officials in Texas have decided not to spend any … Continue reading
The candidates weigh in on using citizenship data in the redistricting process. … Continue reading
A reminder that we’re not out of the woods yet. I wonder if this will come up in the Senate hearing on the Census in an hour. … Continue reading
Trial has started up in Florida over the law automatically placing candidates of the governor’s party in the first position of the ballot. I’ve been watching this case pretty closely; it’s a really interesting test of the prevailing constitutional doctrine … Continue reading
A reminder of a significant population often overlooked when summary stats are compiled. In 2018, 14.3 million people with disabilities cast ballots, more than the 11.7 million Latino voters that year and nearly as many as the 15.2 million African-American … Continue reading
An important story in Washington State about the integration of county registration systems into a newer statewide system. It’s not important because it’s particularly new or surprising (it’s neither), but just as a reminder of the details to be ironed … Continue reading
The Hill reports on Sen. Ron Wyden’s questions of the EAC. Senator Wyden took to the floor yesterday to speak about the issue as well. … Continue reading
An interesting summary in Forbes of the bills on the table. … Continue reading
A new paper about Seattle’s campaign finance voucher program, from Brian McCabe and Jennifer Heerwig. I’m looking forward to reading this one. The abstract: In this paper, we evaluate whether an innovative new campaign finance program in Seattle, Washington shifted … Continue reading
The Trump takeover of the GOP is reflected in the recent campaign finance disclosures. The subhead of the piece: “Some of the same donors who bankrolled anti-Trump efforts in 2016 are at the center of the president’s reelection.” … Continue reading
The National Law Journal reviews the law firms behind the presidential contenders. … Continue reading
Former election professor Thad Hall is practicing what he preaches, moving to become the Director of Elections in Coconino County, Arizona, from a similar gig in Richland County, South Carolina. Among other attributes, Coconino is “the second largest geographic county … Continue reading
The power of brand leadership in encouraging participation. Relatedly, Electionday.org has a running project encouraging companies to give their employees the day off on Election Day. I’m a fan. … Continue reading
The History Channel has an explainer. … Continue reading
Harvard undergrads weigh in on HR 1. … Continue reading
As a Jersey native, this one caught my eye pretty quickly: an impressive group of scholars and advocates published a report recommending reforms to New Jersey’s redistricting system. … Continue reading
San Francisco puts a measure on the November ballot aimed at disclosing the top funders of committees, rather than just the committee name itself. … Continue reading
A report from the opening days of the state court’s partisan gerrymandering trial in North Carolina. … Continue reading
Video from a Netroots Nation panel with Adam Bonin, Eric Holder, Alex Padilla, Denise Merrill, and Vanita Gupta. Man, last Thursday seems like a long time ago. … Continue reading
Gene Nichol, in the News & Observer, with a local’s view on Rucho (feat. Shelby County). … Continue reading
Herman Schwartz blogs at Balkinization on the legislative cutbacks to Florida’s Amendment 4 for people with convictions who still owe fines or fees. And The Intercept has a piece on some prosecutors’ attempts to reduce the fines and fees, in … Continue reading
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board discusses the consequences when redistricting counts people temporarily incarcerated at a place far from home. … Continue reading
Morning Edition on Common Cause v. Lewis, the North Carolina partisan gerrymandering case in state court, heading into trial today. … Continue reading
TPM dives in on the citizenship-data Paperwork Reduction Act filing spotted over the weekend. And Reuters reviews the legal battles that might result. … Continue reading
Sean Parnell, over at The Hill, notes some concerns about the National Popular Vote compact. Some of these concerns have to do with the fact that different states have different rules for administering elections. I’ve got mixed emotions about NPV … Continue reading
Advocates say they’ve got the signatures. An extra note of significance: If certified for the ballot, it would be the first time since The Great Depression that Colorado voters would decide whether to repeal or reaffirm a law approved by … Continue reading
Chock full of election-law goodies. Among other pieces: Elizabeth Warren, Foreword (on corruption and faith in government)Jeffrey Clements, “But It Will Happen”: A Constitutional Amendment to Secure Political Equality in Election Spending and RepresentationViki Harrison, How One State Legislature Grappled … Continue reading
Here’s last week’s roundup of the latest at the FEC. Includes, among other things, an advisory opinion allowing a vendor to offer cybersecurity services to campaigns at low- to no-cost, and an advisory opinion allowing a congressional campaign to distribute … Continue reading
A nice summary here of some of the various reasons why campaign accounts may stay open long after the campaigners are out of office. … Continue reading
And a nice summary here of some of the various reasons for seeking grassroots contributions. … Continue reading
Protect Democracy has a new white paper with suggestions for what to do when the call is coming from inside the house. … Continue reading
The latest polling numbers in the fight for representation for DC residents. That’s consistent with past polls … which have also showed a majority favoring full voting rights for DC. … Continue reading
Commentary on the impact of the demise of straight-ticket voting options in Texas. … Continue reading
Arizona law invalidates any signatures collected for a citizens’ initiative, referedum, or recall by a particular circulator, if the circulator is paid or from out of state, and if that circulator is subpoenaed in a challenge and can’t appear in … Continue reading
Rebecca Spang with a Bastille Day connection to unabashed partisan redistricting. … Continue reading
The WaPo sees a through-line in debates about race and the census. Janai Nelson has a deeper look in the Columbia Law Review. … Continue reading
The Nation picks up the redistricting thread. … Continue reading