As ELB readers know, I have been looking for a more sustainable model for the Election Law Blog, which I began back in 2003. It’s a labor of love, but labor it is, and it gets very intense especially in the period before the elections. As I’ve contemplated the site’s future, we conducted a survey of ELB readers and got a very strong response rate: readers are happy with the mix of news and commentary; want to see more coverage of the voting wars, redistricting, and campaign finance; and want more diversity of opinions and authorship. Readers also found the site setup and navigation to be outdated and cumbersome; one survey respondent said it looked like a “Geo-cities 1995” website.
So here are the changes that are coming to ELB July 1:
New contributors, and a blogging rotation. I’m thrilled to announce the addition of five new ELB contributors: Tabatha Abu El-Haj (Drexel), Guy Charles (Harvard, beginning July 1); Ned Foley (Ohio State), Derek Muller (Iowa), and Franita Tolson (USC). They join Sam Bagenstos (Michigan), Bruce Cain (Stanford), Heather Gerken (Yale), Abbe Gluck (Yale), Anita Krishnakumar (Georgetown, beginning July 1), Justin Levitt (Loyola LA), Spencer Overton (GW), Nate Persily (Stanford), Rick Pildes (NYU), Nick Stephanapoulos (Harvard), and Dan Tokaji (Wisconsin). Sam, Abbe, and Justin are on leave from the blog as they are in public service. Most ELB contributors will each be doing the regular daily blogging for 1 to 2 weeks per year, giving me some respite from the daily grind of coverage. I’ll still cover breaking news and we each can post whenever we like on relevant topics. Daily ELB News and Commentary emails will be sent automatically each day there are posts between 8 and 9 am PT.
More guest content, including “ELB Book Corner.” I have long included guest bloggers on a variety of topics—the most recent was Yasmin Dawood‘s post on an interesting Canadian campaign finance opinion). These will continue. I have also had authors who have written election law books do some guest posts on their works—the most recent was Ciara Torres-Spelliscy on “Political Brands.” The “ELB Book Corner” will be come a new regular feature, and we will have upcoming posts from Ned Foley, Kurth Lash, David Primo & Jeff Milyo, and Jesse Wegman.
New interface, look, and navigation; faster site. The ELB website will get a complete redesign, and housing on a new server. It will be easier to find content, things will look much more appealing, and resources will be easier to use. It has taken a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes by UCI Law’s IT department and our web designer Kristine McGuire. You are going to like what you see.
The rollout may cause a few days of intermittent service as we move things over, but I am so excited to reveal the new design.
ELB, always free; views are those of each contributor. UCI Law hosts and provides IT support for the site, which accepts no advertising. Views expressed on the blog are the views of the author, and not that of UCI Law. Contributors are asked to disclose any interest or role they have in the litigation or topic about which they are writing.
See you all soon with the all new ELB!