The virus is prompting questions about what would happen if a presumptive presidential nominee or a nominee becomes incapacitated in a variety of circumstances: before the primaries have ended, after that but before the conventions, or after the conventions. I… Continue reading

Over at the Lawfare Blog (which is quickly becoming a go-to site for longer than op-ed length pieces on election law and the virus), I’ve posted this essay, which addresses one particular risk of mail-in voting. If Congress or individual… Continue reading

In this Washington Post piece on how the Canadian system of elections is structured so differently from ours, I particularly enjoyed this line: Contrary to the impulse of the uber-democrat who believes that democracy means chaining each element of the… Continue reading

            In the next few days, the Democratic Party in Nevada and nationally faces an urgent and difficult choice.  In an admirable desire to expand access to the caucuses, four days of early voting for the NV caucuses are scheduled… Continue reading

By my calculation, based on the latest FEC filings, the Democratic presidential candidates have raised already nearly $250 million from small donors in this election cycle. Small donors, defined as those giving less than $200, are listed as “unitemized contributors”… Continue reading

Just in time for the start of caucus/primary season, Ray La Raja and Jonathan Rauch have this substantial essay out from Brookings. Here is the summary and table of contents for the piece: Summary Presidential-nominating contests in both major political… Continue reading

As if the Iowa caucuses were not confusing enough, the Democratic Party will report out three different measures of the result. But on top of that, the campaigns have an incentive to try to manipulate the perceptions of “the” result,… Continue reading

This change is almost certainly in response to the fact that Michael Bloomberg now appears to be fourth in the national polls, even though he is not soliciting contributions from anyone. As the DNC has recognized, keeping a candidate with… Continue reading

I mentioned in a prior post that I wanted to raise certain specific issues with the small-donor, public financing program the House Democrats currently propose as their vision of campaign-finance reform. This proposal is modeled on New York City’s small-donor… Continue reading

I’ve published what I’m sure will be a controversial essay in the Yale Law Journal Forum on the small-donor revolution in campaign financing.  Up until now, reformers have characterized this development in glowing, unqualified terms: as a way to “reclaim”… Continue reading

That’s the title of my “must read” piece of the day, written by Jonathan Rauch and Ray LaRaja and published here in The Atlantic. The subtitle is: “The major American parties have ceded unprecedented power to primary voters. It’s a… Continue reading

This Friday in D.C., former White House Counsels to Presidents Trump (Don McGahn) and Obama (Bob Bauer) will be jointly holding a public, keynote conversation as part of a George Mason Symposium titled “The Administration of Democracy.” Perhaps fittingly, the… Continue reading

In a NYT article today, John Schwartz accurately quotes me as expressing skepticism about whether various political reforms are likely to fundamentally transform the hyerpolarized politics of our era. I want to elaborate briefly on those comments, since John… Continue reading