“Mitch McConnell warns GOP senators they’ll face ‘incoming’ if they back Hawley bill to limit corporate giving in campaigns”

November 1, 2023, 9:30 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

CNN: Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell bluntly warned Republican senators in a private meeting not to sign on to a bill from Sen. Josh Hawley aimed at limiting corporate money bankrolling high-powered outside groups, telling them that many of them… Continue reading

“Republicans legislators claw back control of elections in key states”

November 1, 2023, 8:31 amelection administration, election subversion riskRick Hasen

Politico: Republican officials in key battleground states are moving to assert more control over elections ahead of 2024 — efforts that could disrupt preparations already underway for the presidential contest. Unlike prior pushes that have focused on poll access and… Continue reading

Federalist Society Lawyers are “Squishes” Too Committed to the Rule of Law for a Second Trump Term

November 1, 2023, 7:37 amelection subversion riskRick Hasen

From a must-read NYT report: In many ways, the Federalist Society has become synonymous with the Republican establishment, and its members’ most common interests — including pushing an originalist interpretation of the Constitution and federal statutes — can be… Continue reading

“How Federalism Plus Polarization Create Distrust in American Elections (and Experimental Evidence for a Potential Solution)”

November 1, 2023, 7:21 amelection administrationRick Hasen

New paper from Jennifer Gaudette (UC San Diego), Seth J. Hill (UC San Diego), Thad Kousser (UC San Diego), Mackenzie Lockhart (Yale University), Mindy Romero (USC), Laura Uribe (UC San Diego) . Abstract: The Constitution grants power over election administration… Continue reading

“Show Me the Ballots! To combat rampant disinformation and public distrust in elections, a bipartisan group of politicians is advocating for a radical form of transparency: post all cast ballots online.”

November 1, 2023, 7:19 amvoting technologyRick Hasen

Steven Rosenfeld for Washington Monthly.

“N.Y.’s congressional map must remain: The state’s top court should turned down a redistricting case”

November 1, 2023, 7:08 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Joe Burns NYDN oped: More than a year ago, after extensive legal jousting, the state Court of Appeals invalidated New York’s congressional redistricting plan as drawn by the Democratic Legislature and signed by Gov. Hochul because it violated the… Continue reading

“Prosecutors are focused on a rural Georgia county in Trump’s 2020 election case. Here’s why”

November 1, 2023, 7:06 amchicanery, election subversion risk, voting technologyRick Hasen

LA Times: They were running out of time and needed a Hail Mary. Joe Biden had won the electoral college vote in the 2020 presidential election. And with less than three weeks before Congress was set to certify the results… Continue reading

“Cochise County officials who refused to certify election now under investigation by Arizona attorney general” [Corrected link]

October 31, 2023, 9:31 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Votebeat reports.

“Communicating with Voters to Build Trust in the U.S. Election System: Best Practices and New Areas of Research”

October 31, 2023, 8:30 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

New piece from OLIVIER BERGERON-BOUTIN • KATHERINE CLAYTON • THAD KOUSSER • BRENDAN NYHAN • LAUREN PRATHER. Summary: The stability of democracy depends in part on public belief in the legitimacy of elections, which has been called into question in… Continue reading

“Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Equality, Proportionality, and Our Abridged Voting Rights Regime”

October 31, 2023, 8:25 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

New from Michael Latner. Abstract: What constraints should the protection of political equality place on the design of electoral systems? With the exception of requiring approximate population equality across a jurisdiction’s districts, the U.S. voting rights regime accepts substantial disproportionality… Continue reading

Watch Archived Video of Safeguarding Democracy Project Conference: “The Law and Politics of Potentially Disqualifying Donald Trump from Running for President”

October 30, 2023, 5:01 pmballot access, election subversion riskRick Hasen

This virtual conference took place October 20. It was a great set of discussions with Julia Azari, Guy Charles, Edward B. Foley, Mark Graber, Rebecca Green, Gretchen Helmke, Sherrilyn Ifill, Sam Issacharoff, Kurt Lash, Lisa Manheim, Derek Muller, and Daniel… Continue reading

ELB Podcast 5:3: The Trump Prosecutions, the First Amendment, and Election Interference (Genevieve Lakier and Eugene Volokh)

October 30, 2023, 2:00 pmELB Podcast, election subversion risk, ethics investigations, First Amendment theoryRick Hasen

New ELB Podcast: Do gag orders against presidential candidate Donald Trump in his civil or criminal trials violate the First Amendment? What should we make of Trump’s claims that his actions to overturn the results of the 2020 elections are… Continue reading

“Pence joins Republicans eviscerated by contradicting Trump’s election lies”

October 30, 2023, 9:44 amelection subversion riskRick Hasen

CNN: The rise of Rep. Mike Johnson in the House, coupled with the fall of former Vice President Mike Pence and the dominance of ex-President Donald Trump, shows that 2020 election denialism is a prerequisite for winning Republican power.… Continue reading

“Youngkin ‘purge’ removed nearly 3,400 legal Virginia voters from rolls”

October 30, 2023, 9:35 amfelon votingRick Hasen

WaPo: Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s elections team has admitted in the run-up to pivotal General Assembly elections that it removed nearly 3,400 qualified voters from the state’s rolls, far higher than the administration’s previous estimate of 270. Elections officials under Youngkin… Continue reading

Election Law Blog

The law of politics and the politics of law