“High Turnover with Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States”

June 24, 2025, 1:18 pmvotinglocal elections, turnover, voter turnoutJustin Levitt

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”

June 24, 2025, 1:16 pmlegislation and legislatures, political parties, redistrictingpartisan gerrymanderJustin Levitt

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”

June 24, 2025, 8:55 amballot access, political partiesFusion, state constitutionsTabatha Abu El-Haj

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

June 24, 2025, 5:52 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

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”

June 24, 2025, 5:50 amprimariesNYC Mayoral Primary 2025Tabatha Abu El-Haj

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

June 23, 2025, 12:45 pmalternative voting systems, primariesballot design, ranked-choice votingJustin Levitt

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

June 23, 2025, 12:43 pmcampaigns, cheap speech, First Amendment theorydemocratic backsliding, political advertisingJustin Levitt

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)

June 23, 2025, 12:41 pmSupreme Courtfelony disenfranchisementJustin Levitt

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

“Bachenberg agrees to pay $500,000 to settle voting machine audit lawsuit”

June 23, 2025, 12:40 pmchicanery2020 Election Conspiracies, The Big LieJustin Levitt

Armchair Lehigh Valley and The Morning Call have a report on some of the latest in 2020 fallout: A prominent Lehigh Valley Republican and major supporter of President Trump has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a federal lawsuit that… Continue reading

“Arizona budget proposes millions for Maricopa County recorder as he clashes with supervisors”

June 23, 2025, 12:36 pmelection administration, election law bizJustin Levitt

Votebeat continues to be on top of the expanding fight between Maricopa’s (Republican) recorder and Maricopa’s (Republican) board of supervisors, both of which exercise control over different parts of the electoral ecosystem and are at odds about who should have… Continue reading

“Survey shows Californians want ballots in more languages”

June 23, 2025, 12:35 pmVoting Rights Actlanguage accessJustin Levitt

The LA Times reports, as we near the 50th anniversary in August of the expansion of language protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.

“Colorado has been expanding some of its privacy protections, but how do they work, and who qualifies?”

June 23, 2025, 12:35 pmcampaign finance, voter registrationpolitical violenceJustin Levitt

Colorado Public Radio has a story on privacy protections (and concerns) with respect to the voter rolls, the state’s campaign finance database, and beyond.

A Few Points about the Structure of NYC’s Democratic Primary for Mayor

June 23, 2025, 7:40 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

Proponents of ranked-choice voting often say the system will lead to more moderate candidates being elected. I don’t think that’s correct or the right way to put things. RCV makes it more likely that candidates who are the preference of… Continue reading

“Minnesota assassination prompts many lawmakers to wonder: Is service worth the danger?”

June 22, 2025, 5:18 pmlegislation and legislatures, political polarizationdemocratic backsliding, political violenceJustin Levitt

From the Alabama Reflector, with the subhead based on a Brennan Center report: Nearly 9 in 10 state lawmakers reported facing insults and 4 in 10 facing harassment and threats. And these threats aren’t evenly distributed: Women were… Continue reading