Monthly Archives: August 2020

“Voting in Person in the 2020 Elections”

August 28, 2020, 11:51 amelection administrationRick Hasen

Humphrey School event Sept. 1: Vote-by-Mail is dominating news headlines, but tens of millions of Americans will vote in person out of habit and to ensure that their ballot is counted. But in-person voting poses daunting challenges for election officials.… Continue reading

BPC Event Monday: “Socially Distanced Voting: How We Can Vote at the Polls This November”

August 28, 2020, 11:49 amelection administrationRick Hasen

Details: More than 50 million Americans are expected to cast their November ballots in person this election. The debate over expanding by-mail voting options has overshadowed the fact that state and local election officials must also adapt to provide socially… Continue reading

“Fearing Delays and Chaos, Swing States Weigh Early Counting of Mail-In Ballots”

August 28, 2020, 11:48 amabsentee ballots, election administration, Election MeltdownRick Hasen

AP: The cumbersome and sometimes slow counting of an expected record number of mail-in ballots — especially in some crucial swing states — could delay results and open the door to challenges in this year’s elections.In 13 states and… Continue reading

“A new lawsuit against Trump’s Section 230 executive order argues it chills speech about voting”

August 28, 2020, 7:17 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Protocol: A coalition of voting rights and watchdog groups is suing the Trump administration over its recent executive order, which aims to curb liability protections for tech platforms under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. They argue… Continue reading

“What if Facebook Is the Real ‘Silent Majority’?”

August 28, 2020, 7:15 amcampaigns, cheap speechRick Hasen

Kevin Roose for the NYT: Listen, liberals. If you don’t think Donald Trump can get re-elected in November, you need to spend more time on Facebook.Since the 2016 election, I’ve been obsessively tracking how partisan political content is performing on… Continue reading

“How to Run An Election – the ABA Way”

August 28, 2020, 7:09 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Sept. 2 webinar: In August 2020, the American Bar Association passed updated Election Administration Guidelines that we encourage election officials to adopt. The panelists will discuss several of the guidelines, including voting during emergencies, absentee ballots, and voter purging.… Continue reading

“Viral pro-Trump tweets came from fake African American spam accounts, Twitter says; Disinformation experts are anticipating that social media platforms will continue to be central to foreign and domestic efforts to mislead voters.”

August 27, 2020, 8:50 pmcampaigns, cheap speech, chicaneryRick Hasen

NBC News: Twitter has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about Black people abandoning the Democratic Party.The company removed two fake accounts and deleted the account of a San Diego man who… Continue reading

“Elections officials push back on voter fraud claims; It comes as President Trump has alleged widespread voter fraud”

August 27, 2020, 8:38 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

ABC News: ABC News reached out to elections authorities in all 50 states for their assessment of Trump’s claims. Of the nearly 30 secretaries of state and elections board offices who provided on-the-record responses in July none expressed doubts… Continue reading

“Wolf, Republicans at odds over Pennsylvania election law”

August 27, 2020, 8:32 pmelection administrationRick Hasen

AP: Gov. Tom Wolf and Republican state lawmakers remained at odds Thursday over how to update Pennsylvania’s voting laws to handle an expected avalanche of mail-in ballots in November’s presidential election in the battleground state, even as Philadelphia moved… Continue reading

Involved in and Have a Memory of Bush v. Gore? The Florida Supreme Court Library Wants to Hear from You

August 27, 2020, 8:19 pmBush v. Gore reflectionsRick Hasen

Check out the Election 2000 Memory Project.

“Kanye West Is Breaking Campaign Finance Law and Keeping His GOP Backers a Secret”

August 27, 2020, 8:10 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

Vice News: Kanye West’s presidential campaign continues to push to get him on the ballot in states across the country. But it’s now a full week late with its campaign finance filings, a move that’s allowing the shadowy organization to… Continue reading

“Judge voids 50,000 absentee ballot requests in Iowa county”

August 27, 2020, 8:06 pmabsentee ballotsRick Hasen

AP: A judge ordered an Iowa county Thursday to invalidate 50,000 requests for absentee ballots, agreeing with President Donald Trump’s campaign that its elections commissioner overstepped his authority by pre-filling them with voters’ personal information.Judge Ian Thornhill issued a… Continue reading

WaPo Podcast: “Trump suggested sending law enforcement to the polls. Can he do that?”

August 27, 2020, 5:09 pmThe Voting WarsRick Hasen

WaPo: In this episode Faith in the U.S. electoral system is one of the most important fundamentals of this country’s democracy.And this year, it’s being tested in unprecedented ways.Some of those challenges are emerging from the rhetoric of the… Continue reading

Georgia: “State Investigation Finds Failures In Fulton County’s Absentee Process”

August 27, 2020, 5:06 pmabsentee ballotsRick Hasen

GPB: A Georgia State Election Board investigation Thursday found that Fulton County’s absentee ballot request process failed in the run-up to the June 9 primary, leaving hundreds of voters without the ballots they requested and contributing to long lines… Continue reading

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The law of politics and the politics of law