“The November Election That Still Hasn’t Been Certified; North Carolinians voted in a state-supreme-court election four months ago. What’s going on?”

March 7, 2025, 6:46 amelection subversion risk, judicial electionsRick Hasen

David Graham for The Atlantic: Yesterday marked four months since Election Day, but North Carolinians somehow still don’t know who will fill a key seat on the state supreme court. The problem is not that no one knows who won.… Continue reading

“Pennsylvania Election Code needs fixes, Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt says”

March 7, 2025, 6:44 amelection administrationRick Hasen

Votebeat: Pennsylvania lawmakers need to update the century-old Election Code to fix the most labor-intensive processes and make the voting experience as uniform as possible, the state’s top election official said. Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schimdt made the comments… Continue reading

“Despite Musk, progressives are winning the ad war in Wisconsin”

March 7, 2025, 6:32 amcampaign finance, campaigns, judicial electionsRick Hasen

The Downballot: Despite Elon Musk’s multi-million dollar spending spree, progressives retain an advantage on the airwaves in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race—and now they’re making an issue of Musk’s involvement, too. At the same time, a rare poll shows liberal Judge… Continue reading

“Darker Blue: How Small Donors Drive Congressional Polarization”

March 7, 2025, 5:42 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

At Good Authority, the political scientist John Sides has a good summary of the findings in this important new study that’s received a lot of attention. The study, by Stanford’s Chenoa Yorgason, has the title above. Here is from Sides’… Continue reading

Watch Archived Video of Safeguarding Democracy Project Event, “What Do Documentary Proof of Citizenship Laws Accomplish?” (with Adrian Fontes, Walter Olson, & Nina Perales)

March 6, 2025, 4:26 pmelection administration, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

You can watch this discussion, which took place on March 4, 2025 at UCLA Law, at this link:

“Trump expands clash with law firms with order against Perkins Coie”

March 6, 2025, 3:24 pmauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

Reuters with this chilling story: U..S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would strip Perkins Coie employees of federal security clearances over the law firm’s diversity practices and political activities, as he launched a probe into other legal firms.… Continue reading

“‘People Are Going Silent’: Fearing Retribution, Trump Critics Muzzle Themselves”

March 6, 2025, 11:37 amauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

NYT: The silence grows louder every day. Fired federal workers who are worried about losing their homes ask not to be quoted by name. University presidents fearing that millions of dollars in federal funding could disappear are holding their fire.… Continue reading

Unanimous Washington Supreme Court rejects state constitutional challenge to absentee ballot signature matching practices

March 6, 2025, 9:05 amcourt decisions, election administrationDerek Muller

Vet Voice Foundation v. Hobbs: This case concerns some of the most fundamental building blocks of our representative democracy: the right to vote, the legislature’s power and obligation to ensure that voters can freely exercise that right, and the… Continue reading

“A test for judicial independence in Wisconsin; Elon Musk is spending big on the state’s Supreme Court race while expressing contempt for independent courts. That’s a worrisome combination.”

March 6, 2025, 7:20 amcampaign finance, judicial electionsRick Hasen

Rob Yablon for The Contrarian.

“ActBlue, the Democratic Fund-Raising Powerhouse, Faces Internal Chaos”

March 6, 2025, 6:55 amcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: ActBlue, the online fund-raising organization that powers Democratic candidates, has plunged into turmoil, with at least seven senior officials resigning late last month and a remaining lawyer suggesting he faced internal retaliation. The departures from ActBlue, which helps raise… Continue reading

“Voting Rights Act Enforcement Increases Turnout”

March 6, 2025, 6:46 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

New Brennan Center report: Inequities are a persistent feature of U.S. elections. As our colleagues have documented, the gap in voter participation between white and Black Americans has increased since the Supreme Court, through its 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision,… Continue reading

Morgan Kousser: “A New Coverage Scheme for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act”

March 6, 2025, 6:42 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The great Morgan Kousser has written this article for ELJ. Here is the abstract: Ever since the coverage scheme for Section 5, the preclearance section of the Voting Rights Act, was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the… Continue reading

“Drawing Representation from Taxation: A Tax-Based Approach to Redistricting”

March 6, 2025, 6:40 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Jacob Hooper has written this student note for the George Mason Law Review. Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court’s 2023 Allen v. Milligan decision upheld Thornburg v. Gingles from 1986. Gingles established preconditions creating majority-minority districts to protect a… Continue reading

“Alabama’s Racial Turnout Gap Hit a 16-Year High in 2024”

March 5, 2025, 1:22 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

Brennan Center: Sixty years ago, civil rights activists seeking to peacefully march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand equal access to the ballot were brutally assaulted by police. The events of what became known as Bloody Sunday were a… Continue reading