Monthly Archives: July 2018

“Prophylactic Redistricting? Congress’s Section 5 Power and the New Equal Protection Right to Vote”

July 25, 2018, 7:50 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Michael Morley has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, William & Mary L. Rev.). Here is the abstract: The Voting Rights Act (VRA) has been an important mechanism for increasing participation by racial minorities in the electoral system. In… Continue reading

Now Available: 2018 Supplement to Election Law–Cases and Materials (6th ed. 2017) by Lowenstein, Hasen, Tokaji, and Stephanopoulos

July 25, 2018, 7:45 ampedagogyRick Hasen

You can now find the 2018 Supplement posted at this link. This 2018 Supplement is up-to-date through the end of the Supreme Court’s October 2017 term. The new material includes coverage of cases on partisan gerrymandering, voter purges, political apparel… Continue reading

North Carolina General Assembly, in Another Special Session, Seeks to Change Party Designation to Help Preferred Republican Supreme Court Candidate

July 24, 2018, 1:04 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

A few weeks ago, I reported on a candidate for state Supreme Court Justice in North Carolina. He is running as a Republican even though he used to be a Democrat. Republicans suspect he’s doing this to split the R… Continue reading

‘Civil Rights Groups Sue Secretary of State for Voting Rights Violations Affecting People with Disabilities, Low-Income Californians’

July 24, 2018, 12:56 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

The ACLU of Northern California has issued this press release.

“Montana Governor Sues I.R.S., Warning of ‘Foreign Money’ in Elections”

July 24, 2018, 12:22 pmcampaign finance, tax law and election lawRick Hasen

NYT: Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, a Democrat who has crusaded against the loosening of campaign finance rules, is suing the Trump administration to block it from eliminating a mandate that politically active nonprofit groups disclose the identities of their… Continue reading

“What You Need to Know About Florida’s Voting Rights”

July 24, 2018, 11:23 amfelon votingRick Hasen

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for Shondaland.

New Series from TPM on Voting Rights Opens with Josh Marshall’s “The Battle For The Right To Vote Has Never Been Won”

July 24, 2018, 11:20 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can read Josh’s opening at this link.

“Commerce Secretary Grew Impatient Over Census Citizenship Question, Emails Reveal”

July 24, 2018, 11:16 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Hansi Lo Wang for NPR: A few months after he started leading the Commerce Department, Secretary Wilbur Ross became impatient. As a powerful decider for the U.S. census, he had a keen interest in adding a citizenship question to the… Continue reading

Breaking: Federal District Court Preliminarily Blocks Florida SOS Ruling Barring College Campus Locations as Early Voting Sites

July 24, 2018, 11:12 amelection administrationRick Hasen

A very thoughtful opinion granting a preliminary injunction in League of Women Voters v. Detzner. In addition to applying the Anderson-Burdick balancing test for equal protection claims, the court also applied a Twenty-Sixth Amendment analysis, finding that the Secretary of… Continue reading

“A Shadow Across Our Democracy”

July 24, 2018, 9:24 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Charles Fried for the HLR Blog: There is a clear constitutional warrant. As long ago as 1986, the Court recognized that partisan gerrymanders manifestly offend the Fourteenth Amendment’s constitutional guarantee of equal protection. They are also contrary to the… Continue reading

In Adding Controversial Citizenship Question, Census Emails Appears to Show Department Used as Pretext DOJ Need for Data for Citizenship Data for Voting Rights Act Cases

July 24, 2018, 9:16 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Hi, @rickhasen. This the sort of thing you were talking about? Dept of Commerce, in May 2017: "We need to work with Justice to get them to request that citizenship be added back as a census question….I will arrange… Continue reading

“Protecting Election Integrity: Why Poll Books Matter”

July 24, 2018, 9:11 amelection administrationRick Hasen

This post appears at Protect Democracy.

Watch for Juicy Stories Tuesday on the Census Department Adding Citizenship Question to 2020 Census

July 24, 2018, 12:41 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

With the release of a mountain of emails and documents in discovery over the citizenship question on the census, expect to see a lot more like this: https://twitter.com/JesseLehrich/status/1021621371200331777 Ross claimed the citizenship question was added to the #Census due… Continue reading

“Nevada tightens election security in years after targeting of 2016 Democratic data”

July 24, 2018, 12:38 amelection administrationRick Hasen

The Las Vegas Sun reports.

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