“Sam Bankman-Fried will not face second trial on charges including making illegal campaign donations and bribing Chinese officials”

December 30, 2023, 7:44 amUncategorizedAlleged Campaign Finance ViolationsSpencer Overton

The Daily Mail: Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted last month of stealing from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, will not face a second trial on separate charges in the case, including campaign finance violations. In a… Continue reading

Common Ground Democracy

December 30, 2023, 7:31 amUncategorizedNed Foley

With the imminent arrival of 2024, which we all anticipate to be a challenging year for our field of election law, I’ve started a Substack journal called Common Ground Democracy. Its main focus will be to address structural issues… Continue reading

Watch Video of My Appearance with Geoff Bennett on PBS New Hour Discussing Potential Trump Disqualification in Maine and Likely SCOTUS Review

December 29, 2023, 4:37 pmballot accessRick Hasen

You can watch here. Shorter excerpt: Maine’s top election official ruled last night that Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot in 2024, citing his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.@GeoffRBennett talks… Continue reading

“New 2023 Population Estimates Show Further Changes In Congressional Apportionment”

December 29, 2023, 8:53 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

New analysis from Election Data Services: With just three years since the Census Bureau released the final 2020 Census results, the Bureau’s new population estimates that were released earlier this week (December 19. 2023) would have changed congressional apportionment in… Continue reading

“States were cooperating on election integrity. Then GOP officials quit.”

December 29, 2023, 7:40 amUncategorizedElection IntegritySpencer Overton

WaPo Editorial Board: Since 2022, nine states where Republican officials administer elections have quit a nonprofit, nonpartisan consortium that helps keep voter rolls up to date through interstate data exchange. They did so amid pressure from former president Donald … Continue reading

“2024 elections are ripe targets for foes of democracy”

December 29, 2023, 7:39 amUncategorizeddisinformationSpencer Overton

NPR: This past summer and fall, thousands of Facebook accounts started posting about U.S. politics and foreign affairs. But their posts were weird — some included what looked like Twitter handles and the term “RT,” an abbreviation for “retweet.”When… Continue reading

“Election officials see a range of threats in 2024, from hostile countries to conspiracy theorists”

December 29, 2023, 7:37 amUncategorized2024 Election CycleSpencer Overton

AP News: For election officials preparing for the 2024 presidential election, the list of security challenges just keeps growing. Many of the concerns from four years ago persist: the potential for cyberattacks targeting voter registration systems or websites… Continue reading

“Exclusive: Recordings, emails show how Trump team flew fake elector ballots to DC in final push to overturn 2020 election”

December 29, 2023, 7:36 amUncategorizedJanuary 6Spencer Overton

CNN: Two days before the January 6 insurrection, the Trump campaign’s plan to use fake electors to block President-elect Joe Biden from taking office faced a potentially crippling hiccup: The fake elector certificates from two critical battleground states… Continue reading

Thank You to the ELB Contributors and to Our Readers, and a Look to 2024

December 29, 2023, 4:47 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

As I’ve been traveling internationally over the last few weeks, I’ve had ELB contributors Derek Muller and Spencer Overton doing the major daily work that it takes to produce ELB. This should ordinarily be a sleepy time for election law… Continue reading

My 2023 Opeds and Commentaries (and Moving 2022 Commentaries to the Archives)

December 29, 2023, 4:36 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Here are the 2023 commentaries, in reverse chronological order: Terrifying Reports About Trump’s Plans for a Second Term Have One Bright Spot, Slate, November 7, 2023 The Supreme Court Needs to Make a Call on Trump’s Eligibility, The Atlantic, September… Continue reading

Maine Secretary of State, Piggybacking on the Reasoning of the Recent Colorado Supreme Court Decision, Finds Trump Disqualified and Orders Him Off Primary Ballot (But Decision Stayed for Judicial Review)–Makes SCOTUS Review of Issue More Likely

December 28, 2023, 4:12 pmballot access, election subversion riskRick Hasen

You can find the 34-page decision of the Maine Secretary of State at this link. Much of the reasoning of this decision tracks the analysis of the Colorado Supreme Court in Anderson. As Derek has suggested, the Colorado decision… Continue reading

Breaking: Federal District Court Holds that Georgia’s New Congressional Redistricting Plan Complies with Remedial Order in Voting Rights Case, Rejecting Plaintiffs’ Objections

December 28, 2023, 9:54 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can find the opinion here. The court in a footnote leaves open the possibility that plaintiffs in a new case could make an argument that the failure to create a coalition district under the Legislature’s new plan in… Continue reading

“Colorado GOP asks U.S. Supreme Court to keep Trump on the ballot”

December 28, 2023, 6:59 amUncategorizedJanuary 6, Section 3Spencer Overton

WaPo: The Colorado Republican Party on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to ensure that Donald Trump’s name can appear on the state’s primary ballot after Colorado’s high court said he had engaged in insurrection and was ineligible to… Continue reading

“Don’t blame democracy’s woes on the GOP or ‘tyranny of the minority’”

December 28, 2023, 6:58 amUncategorizedJanuary 6, The Big LieSpencer Overton

Jennifer Rubin in the WaPo: Two of the year’s best books on politics present contrasting diagnoses for what ails American democracy. Liz Cheney’s “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning” lowers the boom on the mendacious… Continue reading