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
Category Archives: election law biz
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
Congrats to Jeff Wice! Release: Albany, NY — The Rockefeller Institute is pleased to announce that Jeffrey M. Wice, nationally renowned expert on elections and redistricting, is joining the Institute as a research fellow. Wice brings more than 35 years of experience … Continue reading
TPM: On Tuesday, several Republican congressional leaders touted to reporters that Trump’s immigration proposal had been endorsed by the League of United Latin America Citizens (LULAC)—a Latino civil rights group that for years has advocated for a path to citizenship … Continue reading
Great news: At Democracy Fund, we believe that Americans deserve modern, voter-centric elections as a part of a responsive political system. As a grantmaker, this means investing in other organizations, projects, and platforms that support the spread of good information and foster … Continue reading
LA Times obituary. … Continue reading
Richard Winger recaps his connection to election law. Condolences to his family and friends. … Continue reading
Franita Tolson: I am happy to inform you that the AALS Section on Election Law has selected Gerrymandering and the Constitutional Norm Against Government Partisanship by Michael Kang (Emory) as the Best Election Law Paper of 2017. We received a lot of … Continue reading
Great news for plaintiffs. Paul is one of the very best. (The original arguing attorney had to drop out for medical reasons). … Continue reading
Politico: The Trump administration is leaning toward naming Thomas Brunell, a Texas professor with no government experience, to the top operational job at the U.S. Census Bureau, according to two people who have been briefed on the Bureau’s plans. Brunell, … Continue reading
Announcement here. Still waiting for the Institute to denounce President Trump’s incessant attacks on the free press. So far, I’ve not seen anything (and when I call them out on it, I’m labeled a “speech suppressor” who does not have … Continue reading
AP: Election law expert Jocelyn Benson announced Tuesday that she is running for Michigan secretary of state, saying no one should have to wait more than 30 minutes to renew a driver’s license, register a vehicle or vote. It is … Continue reading
Condolences to his family and friends on this untimely death. … Continue reading
…is now available at this link. … Continue reading
Announcement via email: We are very pleased to announce that Professor David T. Canon, University of Wisconsin, Madison, has been appointed to assume the role of Editor-in-Chief of Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy beginning September 1, 2017. Professor … Continue reading
Pam’s work has been so important, and with new threats the work of Verified Voting is more important than every. … Continue reading
Politico: White House counsel Don McGahn has largely stepped back from managing Donald Trump’s response to the expanding Russia investigation, but that hasn’t stopped the president from lashing out at him about it anyway. Trump started the week by giving … Continue reading
Here’s my yearly roundup of election law academic hires, promotions moves, visits, accolades: Benjamin Plener Cover will be starting as Associate Professor of Law at the University of Idaho College of Law. Josh Douglas of Kentucky Law was a Visiting … Continue reading
Must-listen Nina Totenberg at NPR. … Continue reading
Pro Publica: Mike Roman, a longtime Republican opposition researcher who worked for billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch before joining the Trump campaign, is now the White House’s director of special projects and research. He is one of a half-dozen … Continue reading
Release: Common Cause announced today that Stephen Spaulding will be returning to Common Cause in May as Chief of Strategy and External Relations. He departs the Federal Election Commission (FEC) this week after serving as Special Counsel to FEC Commissioner … Continue reading
Great news! … Continue reading
Peter Overby for NPR. … Continue reading