Category Archives: chicanery

David Levine: “Countering the Distortion of Election Administrator Errors”

September 13, 2023, 3:30 pmchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from David Levine: On September 1, Harris County, Texas’ two-year-old elections department was eliminated after the Texas Legislature passed legislation earlier this year abolishing it and the State Supreme Court refused to stop the… Continue reading

Sounds Like Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Gableman’s Testimony at John Eastman’s California Disbarment Trial Did Not Go Well

September 13, 2023, 3:27 pmchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

LA Times: Cross-examining Gableman last week in Eastman’s trial, Duncan Carling, an attorney representing the California State Bar, asked Gableman if there had been any successful legal challenges to the CTCL grants. “Not yet,” Gableman replied. Was he aware of… Continue reading

North Carolina: “Mark Harris, center of 2018 ballot scandal, announces new congressional campaign”

September 13, 2023, 7:15 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Charlotte Observer: Mark Harris, whose 2018 congressional campaign was at the center of a ballot-harvesting scandal ending in a new election and felony indictments for an operative who worked for him, announced his campaign for Congress on Tuesday. Harris’s own… Continue reading

“What Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo wrought: How a justice’s wife and a key activist started a movement”

September 10, 2023, 2:42 pmcampaign finance, chicanery, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Very deep dive by Politico’s Heidi Pryzybyla: At the time, the Citizens United ruling was widely expected, as the court had already signaled its intentions. When it came, it upended nearly 100 years of campaign spending restrictions. The conservative legal movement seized… Continue reading

“Trump trials: What counts as protected free speech?”

August 29, 2023, 6:45 amchicanery, First Amendment theoryRick Hasen

Christian Science Monitor: “There’s nothing more protected under the First Amendment than political speech,” Mr. Lauro said. Many legal analysts are skeptical this approach will work in a courtroom. There is no First Amendment right to engage in a… Continue reading

“Shaker Heights attorney who supported Trump jailed for felony voter fraud”

August 23, 2023, 8:14 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Cleveland.com: A Shaker Heights attorney who donated to ex-President Donald Trump’s campaign was convicted Tuesday of election fraud for voting twice in the last two general elections. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Andrew Santoli ordered sheriff’s deputies to take … Continue reading

“What the Heck Happened in Coffee County, Georgia?; A detailed look back at the computer intrusion that features prominently in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s election interference indictment”

August 16, 2023, 7:25 amchicanery, election subversion risk, voting technologyRick Hasen

Lawfare deep dive by Anna Bower: Days before the forensics team sets foot in Douglas, which is about 130 miles southwest of Savannah, voters had arrived at the elections office to mark their ballots in the state’s runoff election for… Continue reading

My New One at Slate: “Why the Fulton County Indictment Is Different From Jack Smith’s Case”

August 15, 2023, 7:45 amchicanery, election subversion riskRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: If the recent federal indictment of Donald Trump on charges related to his attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election was a streamlined surgical strike aimed at assuring a clean case… Continue reading

The UK Electoral Commission Reports Serious Cyber Hack, Disclosure of Voter Information

August 8, 2023, 8:55 amchicanery, voting technologyRick Hasen

This looks most unfortunate.

“Secure ballots or boondoggle? Arizona county tailors project to politically connected firm”

August 7, 2023, 5:28 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

Votebeat: As an Arizona county prepares to spend up to $1 million in state money to test anti-counterfeit features on ballots, it appears the project was tailored for one company in particular that has pushed the idea with the… Continue reading

“Michigan trio indicted in voting machine breaches. Clerks and experts say it’s a warning for others.”

August 4, 2023, 2:01 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

VoteBeat: This week’s indictments of three Michigan allies of former President Donald Trump on claims of illegally seizing voting machines demonstrate that the rules and laws governing the security of Michigan’s election systems worked, say experts and local clerks, and… Continue reading

“Michigan prosecutors charge Trump allies in felonies involving voting machines, illegal ‘testing'”

August 1, 2023, 1:23 pmchicanery, election subversion risk, voting technologyRick Hasen

Politico: A former Republican attorney general candidate and another supporter of former President Donald Trump have been criminally charged in Michigan in connection with accessing and tampering with voting machines after the 2020 election, according to court records. Matthew DePerno,… Continue reading

“The Michigan false electors, facing felony charges, are participating in a fundraising pool party in Oakland County this week.”

July 31, 2023, 8:28 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Can’t make this up:

“The ‘Johnny Appleseed of election fraud’ wants to upend voting in America. Why he’s focused on California”

July 31, 2023, 7:48 amchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

LA Times: Frank is convinced that American elections need saving and believes that to do so, people must take back the ballot box one county at a time. And though his allegations have been disproved and dismissed by election experts… Continue reading

Election Law Blog

The law of politics and the politics of law