Monthly Archives: October 2020

“Beyond the Adjustment Wars: Dealing with Uncertainty and Bias in Redistricting Data”

October 20, 2020, 9:04 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Jeff Zalesin at Yale Law Journal Forum. Abstract: The Constitution requires legislative redistricting plans to have approximately equal populations in each district. But no one knows exactly how many people live in any district, because census data are never fully… Continue reading

“The Big Role That Big Donors Still Play, Quietly, for Joe Biden; The Biden campaign has trumpeted its success with small donations, but in the last six months it has raised almost $200 million from donors who gave at least $100,000. As sums have grown, transparency has diminished.”

October 20, 2020, 7:58 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

NYT reports.

“Republican Voters Take a Radical Conspiracy Theory Mainstream; QAnon, with encouragement from the president himself, has moved from online message boards to political rallies and congressional campaigns.”

October 20, 2020, 7:57 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

NYT reports.

“Here’s Why Concerns About Absentee Ballot Fraud Are Overhyped; We analyzed a conservative foundation’s catalog of absentee ballot fraud and found no credible threat to the 2020 election.” (Heritage database)

October 20, 2020, 7:54 amfraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Frontline dives into the Heritage Foundation Database: eila and Gary Blake didn’t want to miss elk hunting season. It was 2000, and the election conflicted with their plans, so the Wyoming couple requested absentee ballots.But the Blakes had moved… Continue reading

“No mask, no problem. In California, maskless voters can cast ballots on election day”

October 20, 2020, 7:48 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

LA Times reports.

“‘It’s Going to Be Hell’: How Pennsylvania Is on Track for Election Chaos

October 20, 2020, 7:36 amElection MeltdownRick Hasen

AJ Vicens for Mother Jones: Perhaps nowhere worries experts more than Pennsylvania. As a perennial presidential battleground, its 20 electoral college votes—decided by just 44,292 votes in 2016—always attract the spotlight. But this year, the state is grappling with… Continue reading

Sixth Circuit Panel Unanimously Rejects Tennessee Attempt to Stay Easing of Pandemic Voting Restrictions for First-Time Voters, Citing Time and Reliance Interests of Voters (Tea Leaves on SCOTUS in PA?)

October 20, 2020, 7:25 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Order here: Here, the strength of the final three factors of the stay analysis outweigh any probability of defendants’ success on the merits. Partly from defendants’ own doing, the electoral calendar works against their request for a stay of… Continue reading

“How should the media cover Election Night?”

October 20, 2020, 6:58 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Event today at USC: The 2020 Presidential Election is unprecedented in many ways: Record numbers of mail-in ballots. Potentially epic post-election legal battles. Voter preferences for in-person voting that fall starkly along party lines. These are just a few of… Continue reading

“Free Our Vote: Using Data Activism and Crowdsourcing to Restore Voting Rights for Former Felons in Florida”

October 20, 2020, 6:56 amfelon votingRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Neel U. Sukhatme, Associate Professor, Georgetown University Law Center, and Co-Founder, Free Our Vote: As readers of this blog might know, nearly 65% of voters in Florida supported a ballot initiative… Continue reading

“Cities brace for Election Day chaos”

October 20, 2020, 6:51 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Axios reports.

“The scary part of the Supreme Court ruling on Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballots”

October 20, 2020, 6:49 amabsentee ballots, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

New Josh Douglas at CNN.

Video of My Appearance Yesterday on AC360/CNN Talking About Supreme Court’s Pennsylvania Voting Ruling

October 20, 2020, 6:30 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

You can watch here:

Think You’ve Exhausted Worrying Through all the Nightmare Scenarios for the Election? Try This One —

October 20, 2020, 6:11 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

“Neil deGrasse Tyson warns asteroid could hit Earth the day before the election”

“In a 4-4 Split, the Supreme Court Lets Pennsylvania Make Voting Easier—For Now; The decision signals that Amy Coney Barrett will cast the deciding vote in any upcoming election disputes.”

October 19, 2020, 5:11 pmElection Meltdown, Supreme Court, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: After a very long delay in an emergency election case, the shorthanded United States Supreme Court came to a 4-4 tie in an election law case out of Pennsylvania on Monday… Continue reading

Election Law Blog

The law of politics and the politics of law