LAT: Now, voting rights advocates, elections officials and political experts have zeroed in on the city as a case study of whether controversial new rules requiring ID for voting — the kind used in several states in November for the first time in a … Continue reading
Category Archives: The Voting Wars
Must-read Michael Wines NYT: After all the allegations of rampant voter fraud and claims that millions had voted illegally, the people who supervised the general election last month in states around the nation have been adding up how many credible … Continue reading
Richard Fausset for the NYT: But some here said that Republicans’ effort to hobble the incoming governor had few parallels in recent North Carolina history. “Sure, the Democrats don’t have clean hands, but this is beyond anything I’ve seen them … Continue reading
Wasting no time: The House approved Senate Bill 4 67-23, and sent it to the Senate for final approval. The Senate signed off on it in the early afternoon and sent it to the governor. Gov. Pat McCrory signed the … Continue reading
Stephen Wolf for Daily Kos. … Continue reading
I talk to Mike Pesca on Slate’s “The Gist” podcast. Listen. … Continue reading
Daniel Nichanian for Vox. … Continue reading
While many people were worried about whether there would be a court-packing plan for the NC Supreme Court (about to have a majority of Democratic members) in the special session on disaster relief that NC Governor Pat McCrory had called, … Continue reading
Important Doug Chapin. … Continue reading
You can find the 37-page opinion at this link. It concludes: At bottom, just as Congress in HAVA found it beneficial to the voting process and the public perception of the voting process to require photo IDs, and just as … Continue reading
Monday, December 12 marks the 16th anniversary of Bush v. Gore. There’s not much to celebrate. True, the lines have gotten much better, and in many places the machinery of running elections has improved. But we still have nationally embarrassing … Continue reading
Politico: Donald Trump on Friday expressed support for restricting voting rights. Stumping for Louisiana Senate candidate John Kennedy, Trump urged supporters to help elect the Republican state treasurer to the U.S. Senate, a victory that would give the GOP a … Continue reading
Law Newz: The most pressing of these, in light of various recount lawsuits and the various deadlines in play, is regarding his latest allegation of massive voter fraud. Described by Time as “eager to talk about the controversy he stirred,” Trump … Continue reading
And rightfully so. See my earlier piece at Talking Points Memo, Democrats Blame ‘Voter Suppression’ For Clinton Loss At Their Peril. … Continue reading
Important Bauer: For all the talk about weaknesses in the electoral systems–about voter fraud or hacking or machine failure, or all of the above–experience with these types of claims or concerns suggests that, as matters of general public debate, they … Continue reading
Must-read from Ned Foley: This recent tweet from Professor Larry Tribe caught my eye: “Call it what you like, but the # of voters turned away for not having required forms of ID exceeded margin of T’s victory in MI, … Continue reading
Ari Berman writes for The Nation. … Continue reading
NYT editorial: This is how voter suppression efforts start. First come the unverified tales of fraud; then come the urgent calls to tighten voter registration rules and increase “ballot security,” which translate into laws that disenfranchise tens or hundreds of … Continue reading
AJ Vicens for Mother Jones. … Continue reading
News and Observer: Larry Smith got an odd phone call last week: Someone had filed to throw out his vote, claiming he was a felon serving an active sentence. Smith, who lives in Stokes County, is no felon. But he … Continue reading
NYT: Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote is growing. She is roughly 30,000 votes behind Donald J. Trump in the key swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin — a combined gap that is narrowing. Her impassioned supporters are now … Continue reading
Important piece in News & Observer on how the state legislature could try to decide a McCrory election contest (quoting my point about how if it did so it could raise serious federal constitutional concerns heard in a federal court). … Continue reading
Quite a report from Gabriel Sherman: Hillary Clinton is being urged by a group of prominent computer scientists and election lawyers to call for a recount in three swing states won by Donald Trump, New York has learned. The group, … Continue reading
Press release from McCrory team, which is behind Cooper right now by about 6,000 votes. (A candidate can request a recount if the number < 10,000. It will be very hard to make up a 6,000 vote deficit, and so … Continue reading
WTVD reports. Given that the Fourth Circuit ordered this provision restored, hard to me to see that this complaint is about anything other than trying to stir up more doubts about the election. … Continue reading
Peter St. Onge for Charlotte Observer: So what’s the misinformation? The New York Times wrote Saturday, and Slate repeated Monday, that N.C. law not only allows the General Assembly to declare a winner in the governor’s race, but that the … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
Via Ryan Reilly Kobach memo: "Draft Amendments to National Voter…." https://t.co/pmB28YeHF1 (CC: @rickhasen) — Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) November 21, 2016 … Continue reading
Texas Tribune: Months after a federal appeals court ruled that Texas lawmakers discriminated against African-American and Latino voters in passing a strict voter identification law, the Obama administration and civil rights groups are asking a judge to go a step … Continue reading
Ari Berman NYT oped: Mr. Trump’s Justice Department will also present a severe threat to voting rights. It could choose not to vigorously enforce the Voting Rights Act, instead pressing states to take more aggressive action to combat alleged voter … Continue reading
NYT: Democrats and Republicans in this fiercely contested political battleground have regularly resorted to creative legal maneuvers and election-law changes in their efforts to wring every last vote from the state’s nearly seven million voters. But even by that standard, … Continue reading
News and Observer: Uncertainty over how many as-yet uncounted votes will be added to the results of last week’s election is not likely to be resolved by Friday’s deadline, delaying the outcome of close races for governor and other offices. … Continue reading
The Texas Tribune reports. … Continue reading
San Diego Union-Tribune: Rep. Darrell Issa said in a fundraising appeal Wednesday that he is mounting an effort to challenge the legality of some ballots still being counted in his tight re-election race . Issa said that he leads Democrat … Continue reading
News and Observer: A protest has been filed in Bladen County alleging that a handful of people may have improperly submitted hundreds of absentee ballots, while also getting paid for get-out-the-vote efforts by a community group funded by the N.C. … Continue reading
Wisconsin State Journal. … Continue reading
Texas Tribune: One example? Voter ID. Texas lawmakers are under a court order to fix the state’s tough voter ID law when they meet again in January in Austin. The likelihood that the fix is “not going to be overturned … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. … Continue reading
NLJ reports. … Continue reading
At the time of this writing, Rep. Darrell Issa leads challenger Doug Applegate for California’s 49th congressional district by about 3,700 votes. But there are still an unknown number of provisional and other ballots left to be counted. On Friday … Continue reading
The News and Observer reports. … Continue reading
Sun Sentinel: Fuming Broward voters — Republicans and Democrats alike — are complaining that they were shut out of the high-stakes presidential election. They say their mail-in ballots never arrived. … Continue reading
WRAL: It may be an outside possibility, but the ghosts of a contested election for school superintendent in 2004 could haunt this year’s gubernatorial race, allowing the Republican-led legislature to settle the contest between Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and Democrat … Continue reading
Michael Wines for the NYT: Some scholars and election analysts questioned this week whether a better run and less politically influenced voting process might have changed the outcome in some close races and made the presidential contest even closer. The … Continue reading
Liz Kennedy for CAP. … Continue reading
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. … Continue reading
AP: Fourteen states had new voting or registration restrictions in place for the 2016 presidential election, raising concerns that minority voters in particular would have a harder time accessing the ballot box. Voting experts believe the laws had some effect … Continue reading
Wow: Both Kang and Hasen said whether the Shelby decision tipped the election is less important than whether it unnecessarily disenfranchised any number of voters, even if it was less than a substantial amount. We put the same question to … Continue reading
Let me start by getting a few important points out of the way, so it is clear what I’m saying. Yes, Republican legislatures have passed a series of laws making it harder to register and vote. It is not just … Continue reading
Must-read Ari Berman: How many people were turned away from the polls? How many others didn’t bother to show up in the first place? These are questions we need to take far more seriously. In 2014, a study by Rice University … Continue reading