Monthly Archives: August 2021

“Former U.S. attorney in Atlanta says Trump wanted to fire him for not backing election fraud claims”

August 11, 2021, 2:47 pmDepartment of JusticeDerek Muller

Kate Benner at the New York Times: Byung J. Pak, a former U.S. attorney in Atlanta, told congressional investigators on Wednesday that his abrupt resignation in January had been prompted by Justice Department officials’ warning that President Donald J.… Continue reading

“Giuliani told agents it was okay to ‘throw a fake’ during political campaign”

August 11, 2021, 2:45 pmcampaignsDerek Muller

Washington Post: Rudolph W. Giuliani’s promise of a “big surprise” to help Donald Trump’s election in October 2016 led to Democratic accusations the FBI was feeding him secrets about an investigation of Hillary Clinton.But a newly obtained transcript shows… Continue reading

“Detroit reports ‘huge improvement’ in balancing election ballots counted, cast”

August 11, 2021, 11:02 amelection administrationDerek Muller

Significant improvement from a rough 2016 baseline, reported in the Detroit Free Press: In almost every precinct in Detroit, the number of ballots from the city’s most recent election matched the number of ballots recorded as cast in the poll… Continue reading

“John Roberts and the Supreme Court might block anything Democrats do on voting rights”

August 11, 2021, 11:01 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActDerek Muller

Tierney Sneed at CNN: A key piece of congressional Democrats’ voting rights push faces not only a near-impossible odds of becoming law, but also a daunting court battle in front of a conservative judiciary if it does.The legislation, known… Continue reading

Don’t Conflate Competitiveness and Partisan Fairness

August 11, 2021, 7:40 amUncategorizedNicholas Stephanopoulos

Rick Pildes and Ned Foley have recently posted about making districts more competitive in the next round of redistricting. Competition is plainly an appealing value. As Philip Edward Jones has shown, voters are better informed when races are more… Continue reading

“Senate Republicans block effort by Democrats to advance voting and election bill”

August 11, 2021, 7:26 amThe Voting WarsRick Hasen

CNN: Senate Republicans blocked an attempt by Democrats to advance their signature voting and elections overhaul bill in the early hours of Wednesday morning.This was an effort by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats in the chamber to… Continue reading

ELB Book Corner: Kurt Lash (Post 3 of 3): The Fight for Black Suffrage: Documenting the History of the Fifteenth Amendment

August 11, 2021, 7:00 amELB Book CornerRick Hasen

I’m delighted to welcome my friend and former colleague Kurt Lash to the ELB Book Corner, for the third of three guest posts on his exceedingly important collection, The Reconstruction Amendments: Essential Documents. Here’s Kurt: In my last two… Continue reading

“Bolsonaro Discredits Electronic Voting, Prompting Fears of a Power Grab”

August 11, 2021, 4:36 amelection administrationDerek Muller

New York Times: Facing the prospect of a crushing defeat at the polls next year, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil is rousing supporters for an existential battle — against voting machines.Beleaguered by the devastating toll of the coronavirus, a… Continue reading

“Abundance of Jan. 6 Evidence Collides With Suspects’ Right to Speedy Trials”

August 11, 2021, 4:35 amelection subversion riskDerek Muller

Alan Feuer at the New York Times: As the case of Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a suspect in the Jan. 6 riot, was poised in late July to drag into its seventh month without much progress, the presiding judge lost patience… Continue reading

“Trump asked his AG about legal strategy to overturn election, Rosen tells senators”

August 10, 2021, 12:38 pmDepartment of Justice, electoral collegeDerek Muller

More details on Jeffrey Rosen’s testimony, as linked earlier, this time at Politico: Donald Trump asked the country’s top legal official in late December about a conspiratorial draft complaint aimed at overturning the 2020 election results, according to… Continue reading

“Dominion Sues Newsmax, One America News Network, Others Over Election Claims”

August 10, 2021, 12:37 pmelection administration, voting technologyDerek Muller

Wall Street Journal on the latest Dominion lawsuit: One of the largest voting-machine companies in the U.S. on Tuesday sued two conservative media networks and a businessman it said had defamed it by spreading accusations that it rigged the 2020… Continue reading

“Claims of voter suppression in newly enacted state laws don’t all hold up under closer review”

August 10, 2021, 12:36 pmelection administration, legislation and legislatures, votingDerek Muller

Last month here at ELB, I expressed some skepticism about efforts to label some laws as “suppression,” voting restrictions, and the like. I continue that over at The Conversation, here.

“Pay People to Vote”

August 10, 2021, 7:53 amUncategorizedNicholas Stephanopoulos

Jon Gould and I wrote this column in the Atlantic about election reforms that Congress could pursue through budget reconciliation. This is definitely a Plan B compared to enacting the For the People Act and the John Lewis VRA through… Continue reading

Colorado Redistricting & Competitiveness

August 10, 2021, 7:26 amredistrictingNed Foley

I’m circling back to a post that Rick Pildes did on the role of competitiveness in the drawing of new congressional maps for Colorado. Here’s one more point along the same lines, based on the numerical analysis that Election Law… Continue reading