Category Archives: chicanery

“Russian Threat ‘Is Real,’ Trump Officials Say, Vowing to Protect U.S. Elections”

August 3, 2018, 8:32 amchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

NYT: Top national security officials vowed Thursday to defend American elections against what they called real threats from Russia only weeks after President Trump seemed to accept President Vladimir V. Putin’s denials of interference during a summit meeting in Finland.… Continue reading

“Donation from prominent L.A. politician roils USC, which referred case to federal prosecutors”

August 2, 2018, 12:04 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

Quite a story in the LAT: When state Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas resigned suddenly in December, it marked an abrupt halt to a promising political career. The son of powerful Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas had enjoyed the backing of… Continue reading

“Facebook Grapples With a Maturing Adversary in Election Meddling”

August 2, 2018, 8:38 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: They covered their tracks, using software to camouflage their internet traffic. They created Facebook pages for anti-Trump culture warriors, Hispanic activists and fans of alternative medicine. And they organized protests in coordination with real-world political groups. The people behind… Continue reading

“How Fake Influence Campaigns on Facebook Lured Real People”

August 2, 2018, 8:37 amchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: Facebook has been under intense pressure since the 2016 presidential election for failing to detect foreign meddling on its platform. The company did not identify who was behind the latest influence campaign, but it said the activity mimicked the… Continue reading

“Senators: Trump ‘not paying attention’ to Russian threats in 2018”

August 2, 2018, 8:31 amchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

CNN: Two leading senators are asserting that President Donald Trump has not focused on the clear threat the Kremlin poses in the 2018 elections, with one Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee contending that Russian hackers may have already targeted… Continue reading

North Carolina Sued Over Retroactively Stripping Constitution Party Members of Access to the Ballot

July 31, 2018, 7:12 pmballot access, chicaneryRick Hasen

Progressive Pulse: The Constitution Party of North Carolina is following through on its threat to sue the state over ballot access restrictions. The Party and three of its members — James Poindexter of Surry County, Jerry Jones of Greene County… Continue reading

“Facebook Identifies an Active Political Influence Campaign Using Fake Accounts”

July 31, 2018, 7:03 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: Facebook said on Tuesday that it had identified a political influence campaign that was potentially built to disrupt the midterm elections, with the company detecting and removing 32 pages and fake accounts that had engaged in activity around divisive… Continue reading

“Wilbur Ross’s false claim to Congress that the census citizenship question was DOJ’s idea”

July 30, 2018, 8:37 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Four Pinnochios for this one. The bigger question is whether there will be consequences for Secretary Ross lying to Congress.

“Trump admin has no central strategy for election security, and no one’s in charge”

July 27, 2018, 2:55 pmchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

NBC News: After nearly two years of calling Russian election interference a hoax and its investigation a witch hunt, on Friday afternoon President Donald Trump is scheduled to preside over the first National Security Council meeting devoted to defending American… Continue reading

Is the Trump Tape Evidence of a Campaign Finance Violation?

July 25, 2018, 9:36 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

A brief exploration in seven tweets.

North Carolina General Assembly, in Another Special Session, Seeks to Change Party Designation to Help Preferred Republican Supreme Court Candidate

July 24, 2018, 1:04 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

A few weeks ago, I reported on a candidate for state Supreme Court Justice in North Carolina. He is running as a Republican even though he used to be a Democrat. Republicans suspect he’s doing this to split the R… Continue reading

In Adding Controversial Citizenship Question, Census Emails Appears to Show Department Used as Pretext DOJ Need for Data for Citizenship Data for Voting Rights Act Cases

July 24, 2018, 9:16 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Hi, @rickhasen. This the sort of thing you were talking about? Dept of Commerce, in May 2017: "We need to work with Justice to get them to request that citizenship be added back as a census question….I will arrange… Continue reading

“‘It looks kind of skeevy’: Illinois governor shamed by cash giveaway”

July 23, 2018, 3:11 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Politico: Gov. Bruce Rauner, who’s campaigning as an anti-corruption crusader, today found himself fending off attacks on his own ethics after attending an event where a political ally handed out $300,000 in cash. The cash giveaway happened after the Republican… Continue reading

NC: “Lawmakers will return to write constitutional amendment ballot descriptions”

July 23, 2018, 12:47 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

News & Observer: The state legislature will return to Raleigh on Tuesday to write short introductions to six constitutional amendments after a high-ranking House Republican voiced suspicions about a special three-member commission responsible for writing them. The legislature “must prevent… Continue reading

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