We get the election mechanics we pay for. … Continue reading
Category Archives: election law biz
The National Law Journal reviews the law firms behind the presidential contenders. … Continue reading
Former election professor Thad Hall is practicing what he preaches, moving to become the Director of Elections in Coconino County, Arizona, from a similar gig in Richland County, South Carolina. Among other attributes, Coconino is “the second largest geographic county … Continue reading
Here’s my yearly roundup of election law academic hires, promotions moves, visits, accolades: Yasmin Dawood was named a Member of the Royal Society of Canada College. Derek Muller was promoted to full professor and will be visiting at Notre Dame … Continue reading
The Dallas Morning News reports. … Continue reading
Austin-American Statesman: Shortly before the Senate’s closing gavel ended his term as Texas secretary of state, David Whitley delivered his letter of resignation, “effective immediately,” to Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday afternoon.Whitley needed Senate confirmation by the end of the … Continue reading
AP: Texas’ embattled elections chief who wrongly questioned the U.S. citizenship of tens of thousands of voters was on the brink of losing his job Sunday, while Republican lawmakers prepared to head home hoping to save their own in 2020.Secretary … Continue reading
I am very sad to report that Notre Dame law professor John Nagle passed away after a brief illness. John wrote primarily in the area of environmental law, but he wrote occasionally in the field of election law and legislation. … Continue reading
WRAL: The state’s new Democratically controlled Board of Elections will move to oust its longtime executive director, a Republican appointee, next week.Kim Strach, originally appointed by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in 2013, has technically been on borrowed time since the new … Continue reading
Dallas Morning News: Acting Secretary of State David Whitley, whose confirmation has been stalled in the Texas Senate after a bungled advisory from his office questioned the citizenship of nearly 100,000 voters, has asked to meet with Senate Democrats following … Continue reading
Guy Charles: As some may have heard, Judge Damon J.Keith, who was a federal judge on the 6th Circuit & prior to that a district court judge, has died. Judge Keith was a civil rights icon. I clerked for Judge … Continue reading
I’ve linked earlier to a Politico story about Mike Roman, The mysterious oppo researcher working in the White House lawyer’s office. It wasn’t clear what the opposition researcher was doing in the White House working for Don McGahn. (On Roman’s … Continue reading
Politico: The Trump campaign has hired its own in-house attorney for its 2020 reelection bid — shifting future business away from Jones Day, the law firm, that has represented Trump since his first run for president.Campaign officials and advisers cast … Continue reading
Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. So well deserved. … Continue reading
What a story from NPR: Emmet Jopling Bondurant II knew about the civil rights movement when he was a student at the University of Georgia in the 1950s, but he didn’t join it.“I was trying to get through college,” the … Continue reading
I’m off to College Park this afternoon for the Big Ten Strategic Partnership for Applied Redistricting Knowledge (SPARK) Conference Monday and Tuesday, hosted by the University of Maryland. … Continue reading
Sad news: Dennis Richardson, the Oregon secretary of state and first Republican elected to the position in three decades, died of brain cancer Tuesday night at age 69. Richardson was a respected and well-liked statesman, although at times a divisive … Continue reading
McClatchy reports. … Continue reading
CNN reports. … Continue reading
The Wichita Eagle reports. … Continue reading
Salt Lake Tribune: After nearly 40 years teaching political science at Brigham Young University, David Magleby taught his last class just before Christmas break…. Gehrke: “Peering into the crystal ball, what do you see the future to hold? Can you … Continue reading
CNN: New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, an ardent defender of his state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary status, narrowly held off a challenger Wednesday to win re-election to the post he’s held since 1976. Gardner defeated Colin Van Ostern, a … Continue reading
Vox: Brenda Snipes — the controversial Broward County, Florida, elections supervisor who oversaw recent recounts for governor and Senate — resigned from her position on November 19, saying that she was “ready to pass the torch” and would leave her job on … Continue reading
Politico: Secretary of State Bill Gardner has had a decades-long run as the legendary, hard-nosed guardian of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary. But he may not make it through the Trump era. Gardner, a fixture in presidential politics after more than … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
Sun Sentinel: Just hours after finishing a tumultuous election recount, Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes submitted her resignation, ending a 15-year tenure full of botched elections, legal disputes and blistering criticism. “It is true. She did send it,” said … Continue reading
NYT profile of Marc Elias: Mr. Elias is perhaps best known for his role in helping to deliver a handful of previous recounts to Democrats, including in the bitterly fought two-month battle over a Minnesota Senate election in 2008 that brought victory … Continue reading
NPR: It’s been a tough couple of years for the business of voting. There’s the state that discovered a Russian oligarch now finances the company that hosts its voting data. Then there’s the company that manufactures and services voter registration … Continue reading
…is now available at this link. … Continue reading
I ran my own study last week, but here’s Brian Leiter’s today, reaching essentially the same results. … Continue reading
The Hill: For more than four decades, when Republicans needed strategic advice drawing political boundaries, the party turned to a small cadre of expert cartographers, trained in the rare art of redistricting. At the heart of that group was Tom Hofeller. … Continue reading
The latest Sisk et al study of scholarly impact and the work of Brian Leiter on scholarly rankings considers the scholarly impact of law school faculty based upon citations in law reviews. (I recently wrote about how my young law school, UCI … Continue reading
Doug announces: Seven years ago, I joined the University of Minnesota to help build and launch the Humphrey School’s election work – and over that time, we’ve built a master’s- and undergraduate-level Certificate in Election Administration program that’s reaching students, election officials … Continue reading
Sad news from Philadelphia. … Continue reading
Here’s my yearly roundup of election law academic hires, promotions moves, visits, accolades: Ellen Aprill has been given the Outstanding Academic Award for 2018 for distinguished academic achievement in the nonprofit section by the Nonprofit Organizations Committee of the American Bar Association’s Business … Continue reading
I’ll post updates on my Twitter account (@Title52law) while Rick is out this week. And don’t worry, I almost never use it for anything else. … Continue reading
In an earlier post, I linked to a story and posted a picture of an endorsement letter in a South Dakota AG’s race where former FEC Commissioner Lee Goodman is identified as the “Chairman” of the FEC. Former Commissioner Goodman … Continue reading
McClatchy: The nation’s largest voting equipment vendor has for at least nine years coaxed state and local elections officials to serve on an “advisory board” that gathers twice annually for company-sponsored conferences, including one last year at a ritzy Las … Continue reading
Every work day I rely on the excellent work of Ken Doyle. So I find this notice in today’s report very distressing: Notice to Subscribers Bloomberg BNA will cease publishing Money & Politics Report with the issue dated June 29, … Continue reading
Congrats to Fred Wertheimer, celebrating 50 years of advocacy! I received the following release from Common Cause about an event tonight: One of Washington’s most well-known advocates, Fred Wertheimer, will be celebrated by friends, media, and members of Congress Thursday … Continue reading
WaPo: David Koch, one of the two billionaire brothers at the helm of the powerful conservative political network, is retiring from his family’s conglomerate, Koch Industries, and stepping down as chairman of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. His brother, Charles … Continue reading
SacBee: The head of California’s campaign watchdog agency resigned her position on Tuesday. Jodi Remke, who Gov. Jerry Brown appointed in 2014, stepped down as the chair of the Fair Political Practices Commission amid ongoing turmoil. She often verbally sparred … Continue reading
Another one: The Republican-endorsed candidate for North Dakota secretary of state is out of the race just two days after The Forum reported on his 2006 window-peeping incident on the North Dakota State University campus. Will Gardner made the announcement … Continue reading
Law.com reports. … Continue reading
Whoa: NEW … END OF AN ERA … BOB BAUER, long-time top Democratic political law expert, is leaving Perkins Coie. He has been with the law firm for more than 35 years. The former White House Counsel to President Barack Obama … Continue reading
The Denver Post reports. … Continue reading
Big and exciting news in the election law biz, combining two very important organizations collecting and analyzing campaign finance data: The National Institute on Money in State Politics (National Institute) and the Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) jointly announced today that … Continue reading
Tribute to Joaquin Avila by Marcus Breton in the Sacramento Bee, including these comments from Morgan Kousser: CVRA simplified winning voting-rights cases,” Kousser said. “In federal law, there are great many factors you need to prove before filing a voter … Continue reading
I am very sad to report that Joaquin Avila, one of the country’s leading voting rights attorneys and activists, has died. Avila, a MacArthur genius award winner, was known as the father of the California Voting Rights Act. In coming … Continue reading
AP: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is urging his state’s top elections officer to step down after the man was accused of sexually harassing an employee. The Democratic governor said Wednesday that Republican Secretary of State Tom Schedler “should immediately … Continue reading