Category Archives: Election Meltdown

Would President George W. Bush Speak Up If Trump Loses But Refuses to Concede?

October 16, 2020, 10:54 amElection MeltdownRick Hasen

The Atlantic: With less than three weeks until the election, Bush—as the only living former Republican president—would be in a position to stand up for American democracy if Trump loses but refuses to concede, as he has threatened to… Continue reading

Veteran Election Lawyer Ben Ginsberg Sees a Less Than 1 Percent Risk of an Election Meltdown

October 14, 2020, 7:46 amElection MeltdownRick Hasen

Bloomberg: Benjamin Ginsberg, a longtime Republican election lawyer, puts the odds of the 2020 presidential election ending up in an all-out legal brawl that lasts into January at less than 1%.Democrat Joe Biden has widened his lead over President… Continue reading

Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Some Republicans Say Trump’s Best Bet For a Second Term is To Prematurely Declare Victory Before Mail-In Ballots Are Counted and Hope Courts Can Hand Him a Victory

October 12, 2020, 11:39 amElection MeltdownRick Hasen

Just wow: Some Trump allies say their best bet is to hope that the results look close election night, before some of the mail-in ballots are counted, allowing Trump to declare victory and have the results thrown to the courts.… Continue reading

Joe Biden Quickly Walks Back Comments: “The only way we lose this is by the chicanery going on with regard to polling places.”; Trump Doubles Down on Delegitimizing Rhetoric

October 11, 2020, 9:43 pmElection MeltdownRick Hasen

After I and others called out these comments as potentially delegitimizing the election, Biden quickly issued the following clarification: https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1315061619702009860?s=20 Trump of course has made dozens of comments delegitimizing the election, such as saying that the only way… Continue reading

“Trump is making the 2020 election a recipe for chaos. How Philly is preparing.”

October 11, 2020, 9:31 pmElection MeltdownRick Hasen

Philadelphia Inquirer: What if in-person votes suggestPresident Donald Trump is winning Pennsylvania after the polls close, but the slow counting of mail ballotsin Philadelphia flips the tally in favor of Democratic nomineeJoe Biden in the days after? And… Continue reading

“Specter of election chaos raises questions on military role”

October 10, 2020, 2:18 pmElection MeltdownRick Hasen

AP: It’s a question Americans are unaccustomed to considering in a presidential election campaign: Could voting, vote-counting or the post-vote reaction become so chaotic that the U.S. military would intervene?The answer is yes, but only in an extreme case. There… Continue reading

“Both parties prepare for possibility of contested election as chaotic White House race hurtles to a close”

October 8, 2020, 7:56 pmElection Meltdown, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

WaPo deep dive: Even as a coronavirus outbreak has upended the White House, Democrats and Republicans have been gaming out another potential crisis that experts agree could plunge the country into unprecedented turmoil — a contested election in the weeks… Continue reading

“Facebook Widens Ban on Political Ads as Alarm Rises Over Election”

October 8, 2020, 7:33 amcheap speech, Election MeltdownRick Hasen

NYT: Over the past few weeks, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, and his lieutenants have watched the presidential race with an increasing sense of alarm.Executives have held meetings to discuss President Trump’s evasive comments about whether he would accept a … Continue reading

“6 Reasons Not to Panic About the Election”

October 6, 2020, 8:23 pmElection MeltdownRick Hasen

Michael Waldman and Wendy Weiser in Politico: Every day we work on the policies and law underpinning our elections. We regularly point out the flaws in our electoral system. They are real. But when it comes to stealing a national… Continue reading

The list of COVID-19 election cases hits 275

October 6, 2020, 1:49 pmelection administration, election law and constitutional law, Election MeltdownJustin Levitt

Justin here. I’m tracking the litigation over election issues related to COVID-19 … and the list of cases just hit 275. (The Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project also has a really useful sortable database of these cases, with more info.)… Continue reading

“This Will Be a Critical Week for Pandemic Voting Cases at the Supreme Court”

October 5, 2020, 1:05 pmElection Meltdown, Supreme Court, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: While the nation’s attention has been focused on the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis and the ensuing questions surrounding that, it’s important to remember there will still be an election in one month.… Continue reading

Fortier and Ornstein: How Faithless Elector Laws and COVID-19 Could Undermine Our Presidential Election

October 5, 2020, 10:41 amElection Meltdown, electoral collegeRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from John Fortier and Norm Ornstein: After 9/11, in the course of our work on continuity of government, we wrote a piece in the Election Law Journal, “If Terrorists Attacked our Presidential… Continue reading

“UCI Podcast: What could cause an election meltdown?”

October 5, 2020, 10:33 amElection MeltdownRick Hasen

Listen here.

“Online Symposium: Richard L. Hasen, Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy”

October 5, 2020, 7:56 amElection MeltdownRick Hasen

Honored that the Boston University Law Review has published this online symposium on my book, Election Meltdown: With the 2020 election now less than one month away, the Boston University Law Review is pleased to present this symposium on Richard L.… Continue reading