Category Archives: chicanery

“W.Va. Secretary of State: Russians Meddled in Social Media, Not Voting Machines”

July 14, 2019, 11:04 amchicanery, voting technologyJustin Levitt

Mac Warner’s point is absolutely right: in 2016, the most meaningful system hacked was us. Humans were the most vulnerable link. And as for securing the non-human component, election officials know that there’s been an enormous amount of work done.

Citizenship and the Census: it’s all about Obama

July 13, 2019, 12:10 pmcensus litigation, chicaneryJustin Levitt

Fact check on the notion that Obama took a citizenship question off of the census. Spoiler: nope.

Hofeller’s files in North Carolina

July 13, 2019, 12:09 pmchicanery, political parties, redistrictingJustin Levitt

The files from Tom Hofeller that Rick keeps mentioning in the context of the census case were given to advocates in North Carolina primarily for use in a redistricting case in state court (i.e., not affected by the SCOTUS ruling… Continue reading

“Prosecutors unlikely to charge Trump Org executives, sources say”

July 13, 2019, 12:05 pmcampaign finance, chicaneryJustin Levitt

Reports from CNN and The Hill on potential campaign-finance charges against executives in the Trump Organization. FWIW, I fully believe that the sources are being accurately quoted, but I’m always pretty skeptical about underlying representations of whether prosecutions are or… Continue reading

New Yorker on the Hofeller Files and More: “A Father, A Daughter, and the Attempt to Change the Census”

July 12, 2019, 3:34 pmcensus litigation, chicanery, redistrictingRick Hasen

Fascinating read.

Trump’s Executive Order on the Census

July 12, 2019, 10:59 amcensus litigation, chicaneryJustin Levitt

Hi. Please don’t consider this a preview for the coming week: most of the posts will be a lot shorter. I promise. Until yesterday, the official government reason for getting citizenship information in connection with the decennial census was the… Continue reading

“F.E.C. Allows Security Company to Help 2020 Candidates Defend Campaigns”

July 12, 2019, 8:04 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicanery, federal election commissionRick Hasen

NYT: The Federal Election Commission said on Thursday that a Silicon Valley security company could immediately start helping 2020 presidential candidates defend their campaigns from the kinds of malicious email attacks that Russian hackers exploited in the 2016 election.The… Continue reading

“Trump officials warn of ‘active threats’ to US elections”

July 11, 2019, 9:10 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

AP: The Trump administration warned of unspecified “active threats” to U.S. elections as top security officials briefed Congress Wednesday on steps the government has taken to improve election security in the wake of Russian interference in 2016.Director of National… Continue reading

“Dems clash with Republicans over election security”

July 10, 2019, 5:14 pmchicanery, election administration, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

Politico: House Democrats and Senate Republicans may have attended similar classified briefings on election security Wednesday, but they left with opposite conclusions.House Democrats expressed deep concerns about the White House’s ability to protect voting systems in 2020, drawing fresh… Continue reading

“The Shocking Final Count in the Queens District Attorney Race: What Happened”

July 5, 2019, 7:09 amchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: Almost immediately after the news broke of Ms. Katz’s breakthrough, people began speculating about more nefarious explanations.In particular, Ms. Cabán’s supporters have accused the Queens County Democratic Party, whose leaders supported Ms. Katz, of engineering the disqualification of… Continue reading

“The U.S. isn’t prepared to fend off foreign meddling in 2020. We need a national strategy”

July 2, 2019, 8:47 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Casey Corcoran, Bo Julie Crowley and Raina Davis LAT oped.

“‘Hide the evidence’: New Texas law may help GOP keep secrets about its redistricting strategy”

July 1, 2019, 10:39 amchicanery, redistrictingRick Hasen

Dallas Morning News: Texas has passed a new law that lets lawmakers conceal their emails and other communications from public scrutiny, as they prepare to redraw the state’s voting maps.The law’s Republican authors, North Texas’ Rep. Charlie Geren and… Continue reading

President Jimmy Carter, Without Adequate Evidence, Troublingly Claims Russian Interference Changed 2016 Election Outcome to Favor Trump, Calls Trump “Illegitimate President”

June 30, 2019, 12:42 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

Politico: Former President Jimmy Carter questioned the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s presidency on Thursday, saying he would likely not be in the White House if the Russians did not interfere in the 2016 presidential election.“I think a full investigation… Continue reading