All posts by Heather Gerken

Federalism and Election Law

April 15, 2014, 1:28 pmelection law and constitutional lawelection law, federalismHeather Gerken

Those interested in the intersection between election law and federalism might want to take a look at a new Feature in the Yale Law Journal, which I blog about here. Entitled “Federalism as the New Nationalism,” it marks the… Continue reading

The EPI and Election Reform: The Early Returns Are Promising

April 10, 2014, 4:26 pmelection administration, UncategorizedDemocracy Indix, EPI, Pew, rankingsHeather Gerken

I want to offer a brief response to Rick Hasen’s post about the release of Pew’s 2012 Election Performance Index. Now that we can assess state performance across two comparable elections, he asks an excellent question: Will we see… Continue reading

Nondisclosure Disclosure: Giving Lawmakers an Excuse to Ignore the Hard Questions

April 8, 2014, 8:03 amcampaign financeBob Bauer, Campaign finance, disclosure, money and politicsHeather Gerken

Authored by Heather Gerken, Wade Gibson, and Webb Lyons On Monday, Bob Bauer offered a characteristically thoughtful and generous response to a “nondisclosure disclosure” proposal that we pitched in the Washington Post last week. The proposal was a simple one.… Continue reading

Don’t Listen to the Naysayers – This Report is Important, and It’s Going to Matter

January 22, 2014, 8:04 amPCEA (Bauer-Ginsberg Commission)Heather Gerken

The President’s Commission on Election Administration just released its report, and it offers something we don’t often see in policymaking circles these days: sanity. The report provides a knowledgeable, balanced overview of what ails our system, and its recommendations are… Continue reading

Tech, Training, and Tricks: Why We Should Expect a Good Deal More than “Nothing” from the President’s Commission

November 14, 2013, 11:29 amUncategorizedBernstein, election administration, presidential commissionHeather Gerken

Jonathan Bernstein has insisted that we should “expect nothing” from the president’s electoral administration commission, headed by Bob Bauer and Ben Ginsberg. It’s not a bad prediction for any pundit, because “nothing” is pretty much what we’ve been getting out… Continue reading

Gerken: Pew’s Election Performance Index

February 10, 2013, 9:05 pmelection administrationHeather Gerken

A few years ago, I proposed creating a “Democracy Index” that would rank states and localities based on how well they run elections. Since then, the Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonpartisan organization well known for promoting data-driven governance, has tried… Continue reading

Gerken: Deal or No Deal?

May 11, 2006, 12:59 pmvra renewal guest bloggingHeather Gerken

Deal or No Deal? – Gerken I thought I’d offer a quick follow-up on Dan Tokaji’s typically thoughtful post. As Dan correctly notes, there’s some disagreement between the civil rights community and academics about whether the deal on the… Continue reading