Category Archives: campaigns

“AI chatbot got election info wrong 30 percent of time, European study finds”

December 15, 2023, 6:31 amcampaigns, election administrationDerek Muller

Washington Post: Want accurate information about elections? Don’t ask an AI chatbot, experts warn — even if it seems confident of its answers and cites seemingly trustworthy sources. New research from a pair of European nonprofits finds that Microsoft’s… Continue reading

“Deepfakes for $24 a month: how AI is disrupting Bangladesh’s election”

December 14, 2023, 6:27 amcampaignsDerek Muller

Financial Times: Policymakers around the world are worrying over how AI-generated disinformation can be harnessed to try to mislead voters and inflame divisions ahead of several big elections next year. In one country it is already happening: Bangladesh. The… Continue reading

“Michael Cohen’s lawyer in hot water after citing court cases that don’t exist”

December 13, 2023, 1:53 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, court decisionsDerek Muller

Politico: Michael Cohen’s troubles just keep coming. In the yearslong legal saga over his connection to the hush money payments from Donald Trump to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, Cohen’s lawyer filed a motion to end his supervised release… Continue reading

“‘More money, less disclosure’: N.J.’s new elections law fails a key test”

December 12, 2023, 5:44 amcampaign finance, campaignsDerek Muller

Politico: This fall, the longtime New Jersey political boss George Norcross helped a shadowy group called Jersey Freedom split Republican votes to benefit Democrats in some of the most competitive districts in the state. In ads, the organization promoted… Continue reading

“Still Annoyed at Biden, New Hampshire Democrats Gear Up to Help Him”

December 11, 2023, 1:34 pmballot access, campaignsDerek Muller

New York Times on a primary write-in campaign: New Hampshire Democrats were furious at President Biden when he shook up the party’s nominating calendar last year, diminishing their state’s political importance by pushing its primary election behind South Carolina’s. Kicking… Continue reading

“Jury trial will decide how much Giuliani must pay election workers over false election fraud claims”

December 11, 2023, 5:32 amcampaigns, election administrationDerek Muller

Associated Press.

“Kevin McCarthy uses PAC to lavish cash on high-end resorts, private jets and fine dining”

December 7, 2023, 8:52 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

LAT: Rambling above the rust-colored cliffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the Terranea Resort is known for its ocean views, world-ranked spa and villas that can command $3,000 a night or more. The property is less well known as a… Continue reading

“Regulating AI Deepfakes and Synthetic Media in the Political Arena”

December 6, 2023, 8:41 amcampaigns, cheap speechRick Hasen

New analysis from the Brennan Center, echoing many of the recommendations I made in Cheap Speech.

“Why big-money super PACs keep blowing it for their candidates”

December 6, 2023, 8:11 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Dave Weigel: It wasn’t surprising that some candidates jumped at the chance to effectively outsource their campaign to a handful of big donors, once that became a clear possibility, rather than relying on fickle small donors and exhausting grip-and-grins with… Continue reading

“Univision, the Spanish language news giant, shifts its approach to Trump”

November 14, 2023, 8:45 amcampaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: When Donald Trump ran for reelection in 2020, his campaign called Univision, the nation’s most influential Spanish-language network, “a leftist propaganda machine and a mouthpiece of the Democrat Party.” “We shall treat them accordingly,” top advisers promised. Three years… Continue reading

New York: “Two Competing City Council Campaigns in Brooklyn Paid the Same Lawyer and ConsultantsNew York: “

November 7, 2023, 7:31 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

The City: Amber Adler, a Democrat, and Igor Kazatsker, an independent on the “Team Trump” line, are theoretically running against each other — and against incumbent Republican Inna Vernikov in this month’s City Council race for South Brooklyn’s 48th District.But… Continue reading

10th Circuit upholds Wyoming’s electioneering ban within 300 feet of Election Day polling places, but remands to evaluate 45-day ban within 100 feet of absentee polling places

October 23, 2023, 8:44 amcampaigns, election law and constitutional lawDerek Muller

The decision in Frank v. Wyoming Secretary of State is here. The 10th Circuit sent the case back to the district court to factor in the 45-day temporal constraint in addition to the geographic constraint.

Resurfacing–Mississippi and LA organizing stories

October 21, 2023, 2:12 pmcampaigns, political parties, Uncategorizedgovernance, Political OrganizingTabatha Abu El-Haj

The 24-hour news cycle is brutal even on the Election Law Blog, so I want to use the relative quiet of the weekend to re-surface those articles that I “highly recommend”–to borrow Larry Solum’s phrase. “Black Voters Have New Power … Continue reading

“Trump Announces $45.5 Million Fund-Raising Haul, Tripling DeSantis”

October 5, 2023, 7:37 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: Donald J. Trump’s campaign announced on Wednesday that it had raised $45.5 million from July through September, an enormous sum that tripled what his closest rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, had revealed raising earlier in the day. The… Continue reading