“With $25 Million, Pro-Cuomo Super PAC Shatters Outside Spending Records”
The NYT reports on the largest super PAC in a NYC mayoral election. (So far.)
“Running a low-turnout Georgia runoff election could cost $100 per vote”
The AP’s lede:
Miller County Election Supervisor Jerry Calhoun says he’s not sure anyone will vote in an upcoming Democratic primary runoff.
After all, the southwest Georgia county only recorded one vote in the June 17 Democratic primary for… Continue reading
“North Carolina to send mailers to some 200,000 voters asking for missing registration info”
The AP has the report, following on the DOJ’s case I’ve been blogging.
This report has a piece of info that’s new to me, though:
About half of the 200,000 affected voters would be limited to casting provisional… Continue reading
“Republican majorities named to North Carolina’s 100 local election boards”
The News & Observer reports that the State Auditor has appointed a new slate of county election officials, after North Carolina shifted responsibility for those assignments from the Democratic Governor to the Republican State Auditor.
The law making that change… Continue reading
“Voters beware: 25 states restrict AI in elections. SC is in the other half.”
As the Daily Gazette points out, though 25 states have either bans or rules about disclosures for AI in campaign materials, the current draft of the “Big Beautiful Bill” has a 10-year moratorium on state AI regulations that would likely… Continue reading
“Interviewing FEC Filings with llm-fecfile”
Data journalist Derek Willis has an interesting new tool:
Today I’m releasing a new Python command-line library that allows users to ask questions of federal campaign finance filings by leveraging large language models, with some built-in help. This project,… Continue reading
“High Turnover with Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States”
An intriguing new paper by Vladimir Kogan, Stéphane Lavertu, and Zachary Peskowitz:
We analyze the most comprehensive dataset on U.S. school board elections. We find that nearly half of races go uncontested and that incumbents are reelected more than 80… Continue reading
“Recovering from Rucho: How States Can Create National Partisan Fairness”
Jamie Piltch and Aaron Goldzimer have a new piece in the Wash. U. L. Rev. Online:
Rucho v. Common Cause and the failure to pass H.R. 1 have left national gerrymandering reform on life support. At present, however, states committed… Continue reading
“NJ Moderate Party and Voters Ask State Supreme Court to Take Fusion Voting Case”
Insider NJ reports that the New Jersey Moderate Party and voters today filed briefs with the NJ Supreme Court asking it to review the constitutionality of New Jersey’s anti-fusion laws. The party argues that the fusion ban violates its right… Continue reading
The Supreme Court, The Political Parties, and the SuperPacs
This post is co-written with Bob Bauer, NYU Professor of Practice who formerly represented in private practice national and state Democratic Party committees:
Later this week, the Supreme Court will consider hearing a case next Term on whether the First… Continue reading
“Nearly a quarter of NYC’s early voters were new Democratic primary participants”
The Gothamist offers fascinating data on early primary turnout this year. It is not just that early turnout is up; it is radically up. Moreover, the uptick is among voters who, while they may have voted before in general elections,… Continue reading
New York City’s ranked-choice primary
With the hotly-contested ranked choice primary in NYC on Tuesday, voters in NYC (and well beyond) are getting a lot of publicity about how ranked-choice voting works.
The New Republic offers praise for what it calls the “generally friendly, policy-focused”… Continue reading
FTC ad placement consent decree with a … very unusual provision
The FTC announced its approval today of a consent agreement governing the acquisition by Omnicrom of The Interpublic Group – both offer (inter alia) media buying services. The agreement allows the purchase but prohibits Omnicrom from directing ad spending to… Continue reading
SCOTUS denies cert. on felony disenfranchisement case (allowing case to proceed)
Back in December, I flagged an important 4th Circuit opinion rejecting Virginia’s claims that it was immune from suit under the Virginia Readmission Act, which plaintiffs’ assert prevents the Commonwealth from disenfranchising citizens for convictions that wouldn’t have been common… Continue reading