News & Observer: For the second time since Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper took office, the state Supreme Court issued a ruling striking down an attempt by the Republican-led General Assembly to revamp the state elections board. In a 4-3 ruling … Continue reading
Category Archives: election administration
NPR reports. … Continue reading
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Recounts, ballot problems and a televised tiebreaker made Virginia’s 2017 election cycle a wilder ride than normal, but the General Assembly will take a slow and steady approach to figuring out legislative fixes. Republican leaders from the House … Continue reading
Gizmodo: This is started to just get sad. Prior to receiving notice from Gizmodo this morning, Kris Kobach’s office was leaking sensitive information belonging to thousands of state employees, including himself and nearly every member of the Kansas state legislature. … Continue reading
Patrick Marley: Republican state senators Tuesday denied the confirmations of the directors of Wisconsin’s ethics and elections commissions — and the leader of the state Senate said he hoped to remove two civil servants at those agencies next. Senate Majority … Continue reading
Bad news for fair and impartial elections, but entirely expected: State Senate Republicans have voted on party lines to reject confirmation of the state’s top ethics and elections officials — which Republicans said will effectively fire them, and Democrats decried … Continue reading
The UCI Cybersecurity and Research Institute is holding this event on March 13, with keynote James Carville. … Continue reading
Brennan Center: A first look at voting laws introduced in state legislatures across the country finds that voter suppression efforts continue to be a concern at the outset of a pivotal election year. The Trump administration is promoting a similar … Continue reading
WaPo: President Donald Trump’s election fraud commission asked every state and the District for detailed voter registration data, but in Texas’s case it took an additional step: it asked to see Texas records that identify all voters with Hispanic surnames, … Continue reading
Potentially big news in Texas: Dallas County Republicans have filed a lawsuit to have 128 Democrats kicked off the March 6 primary ballot. The lawsuit, filed in Dallas County late Friday, contends that Dallas County Democratic Party Chairman Carol Donovan didn’t … Continue reading
Patrick Marley: As Republican state senators prepare to oust the state’s ethics and elections chiefs, GOP Gov. Scott Walker won’t say if he agrees the pair should go. Three times on Friday, Walker sidestepped questions about whether he thought the Senate … Continue reading
TPM: A federal judge didn’t buy the Justice Department’s argument that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach couldn’t speak to what was being done with the data collected by the now-defunct voter fraud commission he led. The judge ordered that Kobach or … Continue reading
McPherson Sentinel: Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office will postpone the initial uploading of voter registration data from other states to the Kansas-based Interstate Crosscheck System while it reviews the program’s cybersecurity, a state official said Wednesday. Bryan Caskey, director … Continue reading
Release: Michael Haas, interim administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, has written to members of the Wisconsin Senate, asking them to hold a public hearing prior to the confirmation vote scheduled for January 23. “In the event that I am … Continue reading
22 states plus DC now working together through @ericstates_info to keep their voter lists up-to-date and accurate, improving the integrity of elections! Special credit goes to @JayAshcroftMO and @SecretaryReagan for leading MO and AZ as ERIC's 2 newest members. https://t.co/FhV8Z3c7JE … Continue reading
Michael McDonald USA Today oped: I propose a national identification card to be issued by the government to all citizens of the United States when they turn 16. This identification would serve not only as required voter identification when someone … Continue reading
Pam Fessler for NPR: President Trump has shown little interest in fighting the threat of Russians hacking U.S. elections. He’s shown a lot of interest in fighting voter fraud, something he insists — without evidence — is widespread. Parts of … Continue reading
David Becker: So again, Justice Breyer’s question reflects what states have been going through with regard to list maintenance. Despite the false choice often presented by partisans, states don’t want a list maintenance procedure that’s overbroad, leading to false positives … Continue reading
WaPo: The White House’s new filing came as Dunlap urged the court to order the commission to preserve all records pending compliance with the judge’s order. Government attorneys asked the judge to toss out her order, saying it was moot … Continue reading
It is posted here. … Continue reading
Nina Totenberg curtain raiser on Husted. … Continue reading
HuffPost: A White House official told a federal judge Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s now-defunct voter fraud commission plans to delete the voter data it collected from about 20 states and contradicted the administration’s public statements saying the Department of Homeland Security … Continue reading
As I expected, a federal district court has ended a consent decree in place since 1981 against the Republican National Committee against so-called “ballot security” measures which seemed aimed at suppressing minority voter turnout. I recently explained in Slate why … Continue reading
Reuters: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s election security unit has no immediate plans to probe allegations of electoral fraud, despite President Donald Trump’s announcement this week he was giving the issue to the agency, according to administration officials…. Multiple … Continue reading
Great reporting by Kira Lerner, showing what Kobach’s illusion of a voter fraud epidemic looks like up close: For the past few years, Que J. Fullmer has split his time between Kansas and Colorado. He owns a cattle company and … Continue reading
AP: The long-running fight for control of the Virginia House of Delegates isn’t over. A federal judge is set to hear arguments Friday in a federal lawsuit challenging the results of a House race after numerous voters were assigned to … Continue reading
WTOP: A Virginia commonwealth’s attorney has warned prosecutors statewide Wednesday against prosecuting certain voter registration fraud cases, due to concerns raised by Virginia registrars. In an email obtained by WTOP through a Freedom of Information Act request, Chuck Slemp, commonwealth’s … Continue reading
Good timing: The Perils and Possibilities of Election Commissions January 17, 2018 12:00 PM – 02:00 PM Event Location: The National Press Club National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, Floor 13, Washington DC, DC 20016 Details: The Perils … Continue reading
Karen Hobert Flynn WaPo oped: Nearly 63 million Americans voted for Donald Trump in 2016, and nearly 66 million cast ballots for Hillary Clinton. But the votes for Trump and Clinton fell well short of the number cast for no … Continue reading
Charles Stewart for The Monkey Cage. … Continue reading
Greg Stohr for Bloomberg. … Continue reading
Steven Mazie for the Economist on the upcoming Husted case, and the Sam Bagenstos brief I flagged here. … Continue reading
Must-read NYT: A request by the Justice Department to ask people about their citizenship status in the 2020 census is stirring a broad backlash from census experts and others who say the move could wreck chances for an accurate count … Continue reading
AP: The case has taken on added importance because the parties have squared off over ballot access across the country. Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to suppress votes from minorities and poorer people who tend to vote for Democrats. … Continue reading
Evan Osnos for the New Yorker. … Continue reading
Two posts from Charles: Much ado about nothing in Alabama “fraud” charges Small blue shift in Alabama canvass … Continue reading
U.S. News: Merrill said Moore has a few options left, such as offering to pay for a recount within 48 hours. That’s incorrect. … Continue reading
Fun Trip Gabriel piece in the NYT. … Continue reading
AL.com: Doug Jones’ win over Roy Moore is expected to be made official today when the state canvassing board meets to certify the results of the Dec. 12 special election for the U.S. Senate, despite a lawsuit by Moore seeking … Continue reading
Trip Gabriel for the NYT. More on the decision to delay the drawing from James Alcorn. … Continue reading
WaPo: Lawyers for a Democrat locked in a tied Virginia House of Delegates race were preparing a lawsuit Tuesday, hoping to head off a name-drawing scheduled for Wednesday that will decide not only that race, but also which party controls the chamber. In … Continue reading
DC Circuit opinion: On an interlocutory basis, EPIC appeals the denial of a preliminary injunction. See 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1). We agree with the district court that EPIC is unlikely to succeed on its APA claims. But we reach that … Continue reading
Letter begins: I am writing to express my concern regarding public statements each of you have made regarding my work on the staff of the Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.) and as Interim Administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Specifically, each … Continue reading
Daily Press: “In runoffs you see a drastic reduction in turnout,” said Samuel Issacharoff, a law professor at New York University with a special interest in election law. “It tends to favor the wealthier candidate,” he said. Drawing lots, instead … Continue reading
Important NYT read: But research, particularly of voter ID laws in Texas, Wisconsin and other states, provides an imprecise picture of how much similar laws suppress turnout. And Eitan Hersh, a Tufts University political scientist who contributed to the analysis … Continue reading
Michael Kang and Joanna Shepherd have posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming Vanderbilt Law Review). Here is the abstract: How much does law matter in election cases where the partisan stakes are high? At first glance, election cases may seem the … Continue reading
WaPo: Stafford County Chief Circuit Court Judge Overton Harris, who oversaw the recount court in the 28th District matchup between Thomas and Cole, initially barred media from Thursday’s proceedings. But after an appeal by an attorney for the The Washington … Continue reading
Release: Lawmakers in the Senate introduced legislation today that would help states prevent cyberattacks on election infrastructure and enhance confidence in vote totals from electronic voting machines. The bill comes amid ongoing revelations about Russia’s unprecedented attempts to interfere in … Continue reading
Announcement via email: When: Wednesday, January, 10, 2018, 09:00 AM – 03:30 PM Where: The National Press Club Holeman Lounge 529 14th Street, NW, 13th Floor Washington, DC 20045 Details: Ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) will host … Continue reading
Trip Gabriel for the NYT: The Democratic wave that rose on Election Day in Virginia last month delivered a final crash on the sand Tuesday when a Democratic challenger defeated a Republican incumbent by a single vote, leaving the Virginia … Continue reading