Does Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibit intentional discrimination, or only election practices that had a discriminatory effect?
The text of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, amended in 1982, contains this language:
“Pence Appears Before Grand Jury on Trump’s Efforts to Retain Power”
NYT:
Former Vice President Mike Pence appeared on Thursday before the grand jury hearing evidence about former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to cling to power after he lost the 2020 election, a person briefed on the matter said, testifying… Continue reading
“Counting Electoral Votes: How the Constitution Empowers Congress—and Not the Vice President—to Resolve Electoral Disputes”
New report from Joseph Bessette and Gary Schmitt at AEI. Highlights:
The vice president does not have “plenary” authority under the Constitution to settle disputes over Electoral College votes.
Analysis of the Constitution’s history, text, and underlying principles, along with… Continue reading
“In N.H. stop, Trump embraces woman convicted in Jan. 6 case”
WaPo:
Former president Donald Trump on Thursday praised and embraced a woman convicted of defying police orders on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Listen, you just hang in there,” Trump told the woman, Micki Larson-Olson,… Continue reading
“This is what it took for Arizona Republicans to expel an election denier”
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez for WaPo:
The story of how Republicans decided to oust Harris — marking only the fourth time in history that an Arizona state House member has been expelled — illuminates what it takes for GOP lawmakers… Continue reading
“The Jolt: Raffensperger calls disinformation top threat to democracy”
AJC:
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was in Chicago Thursday speaking to national political reporters at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. Georgia’s top election official discussed overseeing the 2020 Georgia elections, the lessons he learned and some… Continue reading
“Public tirades, recall threats as Shasta County roils from decision to dump voting machines”
LAT:
Weeks after deciding to dump Dominion Voting Systems and become the largest government entity in the U.S. to hand-count its votes, Shasta County officials are now grappling with the complex logistics of actually carrying out that approach, accurately and… Continue reading
“A second firm hired by Trump campaign found no evidence of election fraud”
WaPo:
Former president Trump’s campaign quietly commissioned a second firm to study election fraud claims in the weeks after the 2020 election, and the founder of the firm was recently questioned by the Justice Department about his work disproving the… Continue reading
11th Circuit, on 2-1 Vote Reverses District Court Order Putting Florida Back Under Federal Voting Supervision Based on Racially Discriminatory Intent; Appeals Court Also Rejects Challenge to Elimination of Ballot Drop Boxes, Most Other Challenged Florida Provisions
You can find the decision authored by Judge William Pryor, and a one-paragraph dissent from Judge Jill Pryor, at this link. (The very short dissent is quite curious.)
From the majority opinion:
This appeal involves four recently enacted provisions… Continue reading
“Trump Can’t Stop Pence From Testifying to Jan. 6 Grand Jury, Court Rules”
NYT:
A federal appeals court rejected on Wednesday night an emergency attempt by former President Donald J. Trump to stop former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying in front of a grand jury investigating Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the… Continue reading
“Roy Saltman, election expert who warned of hanging chads, dies at 90”
WaPo:
Roy G. Saltman, who as the federal government’s top expert on voting technology wrote a prescient butlittle-read report warning about hanging chads on punch-card ballots more than a decade before the issue paralyzed the nation during the 2000 presidential… Continue reading
“Federal lawsuit challenges Florida’s voter registration forms”
Tampa Bay Times:
The League of Women Voters of Florida and the NAACP filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday contending that a state voter registration application does not properly inform voters about eligibility requirements.
The lawsuit centers on felons who, under… Continue reading
“Inside a private portal from GOP campaigns to local news sites”
WaPo:
The top Republican campaigns in Illinois used a private online portal last year to request stories and shape coverage in a network of media outlets that present themselves as local newspapers, according to documents and people familiar with the… Continue reading
“Securing the 2024 Election”
New Brennan Center report with recommendations for 2024. Among them:
Priority: Combat election disinformation
State lawmakers should prohibit the spread of false information about the time, place, and manner of voting when it is shared with the intent to prevent… Continue reading