Category Archives: campaigns

“New Alabama-based Political Action Committee spends millions to support Doug Jones, draws fire”

December 7, 2017, 3:10 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WHNT: A new Alabama-based political action committee, Highway 31, is taking an active role in the Alabama special election for a U.S. Senate seat, and it’s drawn criticism for avoiding disclosure of its donors. The group was formed in early… Continue reading

Unanimous 9th Circuit Panel, in Opinion by Judge Bybee, Upholds Montana Law Barring Judicial Candidates from Seeking, Accepting, or Using Political Party Endorsements

December 7, 2017, 7:51 amcampaigns, judicial electionsRick Hasen

From the opinion: Montanans select their judges through nonpartisan popular elections. In an effort to keep those elections nonpartisan, Montana has restricted judicial-campaign speech. One of those restrictions is before us—a rule that prohibits candidates from seeking, accepting, or… Continue reading

“RNC to support Roy Moore in Senate race in Alabama, weeks after cutting ties with his campaign”

December 4, 2017, 8:08 pmcampaigns, political partiesRick Hasen

WaPo reports.

Alabama Voters Will Be Able to Vote “Republican” Rather than “Moore” and It Will Count as a Vote for Roy Moore

December 3, 2017, 4:10 pmcampaigns, election administrationRick Hasen

This straight ticket option on a ballot with one candidate race will allow voters to not have to say they voted for Moore while still voting for Moore (via BAN).

“Senate GOP campaign arm stole donor data from House Republican”

November 30, 2017, 7:11 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Politico: Staffers for Senate Republicans’ campaign arm seized information on more than 200,000 donors from the House GOP campaign committee over several months this year by breaking into its computer system, three sources with knowledge of the breach told POLITICO.… Continue reading

“FBI gave heads-up to fraction of Russian hackers’ US targets”

November 26, 2017, 3:48 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

AP: The FBI failed to notify scores of U.S. officials that Russian hackers were trying to break into their personal Gmail accounts despite having evidence for at least a year that the targets were in the Kremlin’s crosshairs, The Associated… Continue reading

Much Russian Activity Meddling in 2016 Elections Likely Didn’t Violate Federal Law, Wouldn’t Be Covered by Proposed “Honest Ads Act,” and May Be Beyond (Conservative Justices’ Views of) Constitution to Limit

November 20, 2017, 7:20 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

I’ve already hinted at some of these things in this Politico piece, but I’ve now fleshed it out in the latest draft of my forthcoming First Amendment Law Review article, Cheap Speech and What It Has Done (to American Democracy… Continue reading

“Bipartisan Harvard panel recommends hacking safeguards for elections”

November 20, 2017, 6:59 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Reuters: A bipartisan Harvard University project aimed at protecting elections from hacking and propaganda will release its first set of recommendations today on how U.S. elections can be defended from hacking attacks. The 27-page guidebook shown to Reuters ahead of… Continue reading

“Mitch McConnell’s latest idea to redo the Alabama special election is likely unconstitutional”

November 19, 2017, 4:03 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

Jen Kirby for Vox.

Big Package of Money in Politics Stories from Center for Public Integrity

November 15, 2017, 7:35 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Kochs key among small group quietly funding legal assault on campaign finance regulation How slamming campaign finance laws helped Greg Gianforte get elected A modern history of campaign finance: from Watergate to ‘Citizens United’ The players who have shaped … Continue reading

Must read: “Russian Twitter Trolls Stoked Voter Fraud Fear Before Election”

November 14, 2017, 8:02 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NBC News: Russian trolls used Twitter to challenge the validity of the U.S. presidential election months before it took place, according to new NBC News analysis. In apparent expectation of a Trump loss, the trolls began sowing seeds of doubt… Continue reading

Wikileaks Urged Trump Not to Concede If He Lost

November 13, 2017, 3:37 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

From blockbuster Atlantic report on emails between Donald Trump Jr. and Wikileaks, comes the following nugget: WikiLeaks didn’t write again until Election Day, November 8, 2016. “Hi Don if your father ‘loses’ we think it is much more interesting if… Continue reading