Category Archives: voting

“Introducing Future Voter Scorecards: OC Edition”

September 9, 2021, 11:05 amvotingRick Hasen

Civics Center: One of the biggest obstacles to improving youth voter registration is the lack of data. Most statistics about youth voting lump everyone together from ages 18-24 or, even worse, ages 18-29. Most reports about increases or decreases… Continue reading

“Some Good News on State Voting Rights Bills”

August 25, 2021, 9:21 amvoting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

New from SightLine.

Pa. ends ‘prison gerrymandering’ with closely divided committee vote

August 24, 2021, 12:10 pmfelon voting, redistricting, votingTabatha Abu El-Haj

From WHYY in Philadelphia: “The commission in charge of redrawing Pennsylvania’s House and Senate maps has voted 3-2 to make a major change to the redistricting process: It will no longer count many state prisoners as residents of the districts… Continue reading

What new census data tell us about Pa.’s politics: More influence for Philly and Latinos, and a shrinking white vote

August 16, 2021, 11:11 amprimaries, redistricting, votingTabatha Abu El-Haj

From Jonathan Tamari and Jonathan Lai at the Philadelphia Inquirer: An interesting in-depth analysis of the potential political consequences of demographic changes in Pennsylvania—sadly, behind a firewall. Two key points beyond the headline: “Philadelphia and suburban Bucks, Chester, Delaware,… Continue reading

“Compton city councilman charged with election rigging, bribery in race decided by one vote”

August 13, 2021, 4:26 pmvotingDerek Muller

Stories like this show how rare fraud is–and how hard it is to get away with even on the very smallest of scales. It’s also a low turnout, narrow margin (i.e., 1), local election, where the risk of fraud is… Continue reading

“Claims of voter suppression in newly enacted state laws don’t all hold up under closer review”

August 10, 2021, 12:36 pmelection administration, legislation and legislatures, votingDerek Muller

Last month here at ELB, I expressed some skepticism about efforts to label some laws as “suppression,” voting restrictions, and the like. I continue that over at The Conversation, here.

“One Year After Executive Order Restored Voting Rights To Iowans With Felony Convictions, Most Haven’t Registered To Vote”

August 5, 2021, 2:16 pmfelon voting, voter registration, votingDerek Muller

Katarina Sostaric at Iowa Public Radio: One year after Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an executive order restoring voting rights to an estimated 35,000 to 45,000 Iowans with past felony convictions, about 5,000 of the newly eligible individuals have… Continue reading

Manchin “can’t imagine” a filibuster exception for voting rights

August 1, 2021, 8:02 amvotingNed Foley

The Hill reports on Manchin’s conversation on CNN. I haven’t had a chance to watch the video yet, but when I do I’ll look to see if the separate idea of a “talking filibuster” came up.

Dems Attempt to Jumpstart S1

July 29, 2021, 7:00 pmelection administration, redistricting, votingNed Foley

NY Times: Meeting at the White House, maybe. “Democrats are close to finalizing a scaled-back bill that activists hope could be a battering ram in the fight over the filibuster.” I still wonder whether the better filibuster strategy is… Continue reading

S1 v2: Senate revisits electoral reform

July 28, 2021, 11:55 amelection administration, political polarization, redistricting, voting, Voting Rights ActNed Foley

Washington Post reports on today’s meeting among Senate Democrats to bring forward new version of S1, the For the People Act, building upon Senator Manchin’s compromise proposal. There’s also the possibility of new provisions aimed at election subversion. But there’s… Continue reading

Eloquence

July 27, 2021, 7:28 pmvoting, Voting Rights ActNed Foley

On voting rights from Norman Lear.

NFRPP Discussion of S1/HR1

July 26, 2021, 3:53 pmelection subversion risk, redistricting, votingNed Foley

The Network for Responsible Public Policy last week hosted a discussion on the current status, and future prospects, of the For the People Act, still pending in the Senate as S1 (having been enacted by the House as HR1). Dan… Continue reading

Panic setting in over new voting rules

July 26, 2021, 10:46 amThe Voting Wars, voter id, voter registration, votingNed Foley

Politico reports on the fear among Democrats and voting rights activists that getting out the vote (GOTV) will be much harder in light of the new more restrictive voting laws being adopted in states like Georgia. The article is useful… Continue reading

Political Conduct and the First Amendment

July 26, 2021, 7:43 amelection law and constitutional law, First Amendment theory, social media and social protests, Supreme Court, The Voting Wars, votingFirst Amendment, Protests, Right of Assembly, voting rightsTabatha Abu El-Haj

Now that I have finished a draft of a new Article, Political Conduct and the First Amendment, I am eager to join the conversation on the ELB. I couldn’t be more thankful to Rick for including me as part… Continue reading