Was Mamdani the “Condorcet Winner” in NYC mayoral primary?

June 25, 2025, 7:43 amUncategorizedNed Foley

We will need to wait to see the cast vote records from the primary (they were available last time, so presumably—and hopefully—they will be again this time), but it’s conceivable that Mamdani was not the Condorcet Winner. In an election… Continue reading

A little bit of patience in NYC

June 24, 2025, 1:25 pmabsentee ballots, alternative voting systems, election administrationinstant runoff votingJustin Levitt

NYC news outlets today are letting voters know they may need a little bit of patience to get results from the primary. The City’s board of elections has a helpful explainer on why. First-choice results can be tabulated right away. … Continue reading

“With $25 Million, Pro-Cuomo Super PAC Shatters Outside Spending Records”

June 24, 2025, 1:24 pmcampaign financelocal electionsJustin Levitt

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”

June 24, 2025, 1:23 pmalternative voting systems, election administrationelection budgets, runoff electionsJustin Levitt

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”

June 24, 2025, 1:22 pmprovisional ballots, The Voting Wars, voter registrationHAVAJustin Levitt

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”

June 24, 2025, 1:21 pmelection administration, The Voting WarsJustin Levitt

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.”

June 24, 2025, 1:20 pmcampaigns, cheap speechArtificial IntelligenceJustin Levitt

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”

June 24, 2025, 1:19 pmcampaign financeArtificial IntelligenceJustin Levitt

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”

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