Category Archives: campaigns

“American voters worry they can’t spot misleading information, poll finds”

January 23, 2020, 8:17 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

PBS: The new survey from PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist Poll found that 59 percent of Americans say it is hard to identify false information — intentionally misleading and inaccurate stories portrayed as truth — on social media. Another… Continue reading

“Tech Companies Volunteer to Beef Up Presidential Campaigns’ Cybersecurity”

January 23, 2020, 8:15 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

WSJ: Nearly a dozen technology companies said they will provide free or reduced-cost cybersecurity services to presidential campaigns, which experts and intelligence officials have warned are ripe targets for intrusion and disinformation.They join a growing number of firms … Continue reading

Citizens United and “Corporate Spending” on Elections

January 22, 2020, 8:44 amcampaigns, Plutocrats United, UncategorizedRichard Pildes

One of the important findings from yesterday’s major CFI Report on campaign finance that has gone unnoticed so far is that Citizens United did not lead to a significant increase in election spending by publicly-traded corporations. As the introduction to… Continue reading

“Trump is attracting a new crop of big donors, including many who have never given before”

January 22, 2020, 7:59 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: Trump’s vaunted political money machine is helping drive record sums to the Republican National Committee, and not just from the same donors who supported him in 2016. Enticed by exclusive gatherings and ecstatic about the president’s tax cuts, an… Continue reading

“Some Democrats don’t want corporate money. That’s not stopping corporations.”

January 16, 2020, 12:45 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Marketplace reports.

Breaking: SCOTUS Grants Cert in Political Robocall Case

January 10, 2020, 5:05 pmcampaignsDan Tokaji

Here is the order list showing the grant in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants. The question presented in the cert petition (minus citations): The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA), Pub. L. No. 102-243, 105 Stat.… Continue reading

What to do with campaign funds after retiring or passing away

January 7, 2020, 3:01 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, federal election commissionJustin Levitt

Two stories today about campaign funds active longer than their campaigners. One focuses on FEC requests for explanation from retired officeholders still spending from campaign accounts. The other describes the plans that Rep. Cummings had for his unspent campaign money… Continue reading

“The Other Swing Voter”

January 7, 2020, 2:59 pmcampaignsJustin Levitt

Ibram Kendi with a thoughtful piece on the terminology of “swing voters”: some “swing” from candidate to candidate or party to party, and some swing between voting and not voting.

Informational Incentives for Campaign Mobilization

January 6, 2020, 2:06 pmcampaigns, political equality, political partiesJustin Levitt

Bertrall Ross and Doug Spencer have a new paper out in the Northwestern Law Review: “Passive Voter Suppression: Campaign Mobilization and the Effective Disfranchisement of the Poor.” The abstract: A recent spate of election laws tightened registration rules,… Continue reading

‘Diminished’ NRA at crossroads ahead of 2020 election

January 6, 2020, 2:04 pmcampaigns, lobbyingJustin Levitt

Speaking of mobilization, the Washington Times has questions: The National Rifle Association, after shedding its president and top lobbyist this year amid a string of internal disputes and legal battles, finds itself at a crossroads with Republican politicos wondering… Continue reading

Campaign finance compliance hits the WWE with steel-chair-like force

January 6, 2020, 2:03 pmcampaign finance, campaignsJustin Levitt

Former WWE star Rhino was a 2016 candidate for Congress … and seems to think that the rigors of campaign finance compliance may have impacted his last run in the WWE.

“Fresh Cambridge Analytica leak ‘shows global manipulation is out of control’”

January 5, 2020, 1:05 pmcampaigns, Election MeltdownJustin Levitt

From The Guardian: An explosive leak of tens of thousands of documents from the defunct data firm Cambridge Analytica is set to expose the inner workings of the company that collapsed after the Observer revealed it had misappropriated 87… Continue reading

“Give nonvoters a reason to participate in elections”

January 5, 2020, 12:51 pmcampaigns, election law bizJustin Levitt

Algernon D’Ammassa offers an intriguing critique of the “running a race” frame of American elections, tied to both news coverage and the “Campaigns, Inc.” influence of consultants.

“News coverage gets geo-fragmented”

January 4, 2020, 9:45 amcampaigns, Election MeltdownJustin Levitt

Madelyn Sanfilippo and Yafit Lev-Aretz reflect in NiemanLab on the impact of the structure of the news media market, and innovations in the delivery of news, on coverage of the 2020 elections. The lede: Coverage of the 2020 U.S. presidential… Continue reading