“Low Turnout in Mexico’s Far-Reaching Judicial Election Fuels Legitimacy Concerns”

June 3, 2025, 3:33 amcomparative election lawDerek Muller

New York Times: Mexico’s sweeping reorganization of its judicial system got off to a rocky start. The nationwide election of thousands of judges over the weekend was marked by an exceptionally high level of abstention, with nearly 90 percent… Continue reading

New Iowa law allows poll workers to challenge voters on the basis of citizenship, bans ranked choice voting, and changes major party status rules

June 3, 2025, 3:32 amalternative voting systems, ballot access, election administrationDerek Muller

Tom Barton for the Cedar Rapids Gazette: House File 954 addresses elections laws regarding voter registration, citizenship and major party status. It also bans ranked choice voting in Iowa. It adds citizenship status to age and residency under which… Continue reading

“An Initial Assessment of Proportional Ranked-Choice Voting in Portland, Oregon”

June 2, 2025, 1:21 pmalternative voting systemsDerek Muller

New report from AEI by Kevin Kosar, Jaehun Lee, and Jack Santucci: Our core findings are as follows: Voter Choices. There were more candidates overall in 2024 than in past elections, although each voter could choose only among the candidates… Continue reading

UK: “Speaker’s Conference reports on abuse and intimidation of MPs and election candidates”

June 2, 2025, 1:21 pmcomparative election lawDerek Muller

Report from Parliament: An interim report from the Conference has found that threats and abuse are dissuading candidates from standing and making it harder for MPs and candidates to engage with the public. This has worsened over the last… Continue reading

“DOJ’s New Top Voting Lawyer Worked for Leading Anti-Voting Law Firm”

June 2, 2025, 11:48 amDepartment of Justice, election law biz, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Democracy Docket: The new top voting lawyer at the Department of Justice was until recently an attorney and activist for a leading anti-voting legal group that has worked for years to spread fear about illegal voting and press election officials… Continue reading

“Trump Court Pick Once Called For Bringing Back Literacy Tests For Voters”

June 2, 2025, 11:22 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Jennifer Bendery for HuffPost: One of President Donald Trump’s nominees to a federal judgeship, Josh Divine, argued in a college opinion piece that people should be required to take literacy tests in order to vote — despite such tests being… Continue reading

“Should SC lead off or bat clean-up in the Dem primary order? What Clyburn thinks”

June 2, 2025, 8:10 amprimariesDerek Muller

From South Carolina’s The State: When the Democratic National Committee decides its presidential nominating contest order, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Santee, said all he wants is for South Carolina to be in the early primary window. Clyburn told reporters… Continue reading

“CNN Poll: A record share of Americans want the government to get more done. Few trust either party to do it”

June 2, 2025, 8:09 ampolitical parties, political polarizationDerek Muller

Sobering polling as detailed by Ariel Edwards-Levy.

“Mike Lindell’s defamation trial begins Monday”

June 2, 2025, 8:09 amcampaignsDerek Muller

Denver Gazette: Former MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell will not be sleeping through his defamation trial. Lindell has decided to take the stand in his own defense in what the staunch MAGA supporter has coined “the trial of the century.”… Continue reading

Supreme Court grants certiorari in Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections on standing to challenge rules relating to the time receiving absentee ballots

June 2, 2025, 7:06 amelection administration, Elections Clause, Supreme CourtDerek Muller

From SCOTUSblog and the question presented: Federal law sets the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the federal Election Day. 2 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 7; and 3 U.S.C. § 1. Several states, including Illinois, have enacted… Continue reading

Minnesota exempt from NVRA voter roll disclosure, “equal sovereignty” does not require all states to be subject to same disclosure rule, federal court finds

June 2, 2025, 3:59 amcourt decisions, Elections ClauseDerek Muller

I missed this ruling back in March in PILF v. Simon in the District of Minnesota. It’s on appeal to the Eighth Circuit, and it’s a case to watch. “Equal sovereignty” after Shelby County v. Holder has not had… Continue reading

Social media and democracy

June 2, 2025, 3:59 amFirst Amendment theoryDerek Muller

Some reflections from Senator Todd Young over at Politico: As I talk about this topic with regular citizens — that is, those who don’t own major social media companies or work at Washington, D.C., think tanks — there is… Continue reading

Election updates from Mexico, Poland, South Korea

June 2, 2025, 3:57 amcomparative election lawDerek Muller

One more story on Mexico’s judicial elections, from the Wall Street Journal: Weak requirements for candidates risk elevating underqualified magistrates. Drug cartels could try to influence elections for judges who work at high-security prisons where top criminals are locked… Continue reading

Good night, and good luck

June 1, 2025, 4:45 pmelection law bizJustin Levitt

As always, when Rick loans the blog for a bit, I’m inevitably surprised by how much work it can entail, and humbled by the fact that he’s at the helm day in and day out. So I’ll close my guest… Continue reading

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The law of politics and the politics of law