Can Absentee Ballots be Received After Election Day in any Swing States?

October 27, 2024, 7:17 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

The Fifth Circuit decision holding that federal law invalidates (preempts) state laws that permit absentee ballots received some number of days after Election Day to count if they are postmarked on or before Election Day is not likely to be… Continue reading

“US intelligence assesses Russian operatives behind fake video showing Pennsylvania ballots being destroyed”

October 26, 2024, 12:46 pmcheap speech, chicaneryRick Hasen

CNN: US intelligence has assessed that Russian operatives were behind a fake video purporting to show someone destroying mail-in ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, that circulated on social media Thursday. “The IC (Intelligence Community) assesses that Russian actors manufactured… Continue reading

I Spoke with MSNBC’s Alex Witt about a Possible “Blue Shift” in Ballot Reports, a Potential Trump Premature Victory Declaration, and More on Musk and His Lottery for Those Who Register to Vote

October 26, 2024, 12:40 pmelection administration, election subversion risk, vote buyingRick Hasen

You can watch the segment at this link. One thing we discussed was my article in Slate this week, Why the “Blue Shift” Everyone Seems to Have Forgotten Might Be More Dangerous This Time.

“These super PACs are spending more to get Trump elected than his campaign itself”

October 26, 2024, 10:12 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: Donald Trump is counting on heavy financial backing from an array of super PACs to get him elected — far more than Kamala Harris is. The groups supporting Trump, working across different platforms to get him elected, spent… Continue reading

“Barricades and Bulletproof Glass: A County Prepares for Election Day”

October 26, 2024, 9:50 amchicanery, election subversion riskRick Hasen

NYT: With northeastern Pennsylvania awash again in the reds and oranges of a dazzling autumn, workers recently planted boulders around a government building in downtown Wilkes-Barre to address a seasonal ugliness. But this was no beautification project. Luzerne County is… Continue reading

“Republican Legal Challenges to Voting Rules Hit a Rough Patch”

October 26, 2024, 9:47 amThe Voting WarsRick Hasen

NYT: The legal wars over election rules are raging even as voters around the country cast ballots. And several recent efforts by groups aligned with former President Donald J. Trump to challenge voting rules have been coming up short in… Continue reading

How Many Votes Are Likely at Stake in the PA Litigation Over Absentee Ballots for Which the RNC is Seeking Supreme Court Review?

October 26, 2024, 6:32 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

As Rick Hasen blogged yesterday, the RNC is going to seek Supreme Court action, based on the independent state legislature doctrine, of the PA Supreme Court decision in the Genser case. As his post explains, the PA court held that… Continue reading

Cass Sunstein on How the Electoral Count Reform Act Protects the Integrity of the Presidential Election

October 26, 2024, 4:06 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

This is from the WSJ, which is paywalled. Here’s an excerpt: The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022, which amended the Electoral Count Act of 1887 … greatly reduces the risk of uncertainty and chaos after Americans vote… The Electoral… Continue reading

“Election Officials Face Torrent of Threats as Nov. 5 Looms”

October 25, 2024, 3:15 pmchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

NYT: With less than two weeks until Election Day, law enforcement officials are confronting a rising wave of threats to election workers and political activists in a presidential contest hurtling toward a bitterly contentious coda and a potentially unsettled aftermath.… Continue reading

“Lancaster County officials hold onto crucial details of investigation over ‘fraudulent’ voter registration applications”

October 25, 2024, 3:10 pmchicanery, voter registrationRick Hasen

LNP: Thousands of voter registration applications submitted to the Lancaster County elections office are being reviewed because some of them may be fraudulent, District Attorney Heather Adams announced Friday. At a news conference alongside the Lancaster County Board of… Continue reading

Fifth Circuit in Bonkers Opinion Holds It Violates Federal Law for Miss. to Accept Ballots Postmarked by Election Day But Arriving After Election Day; Decision (for Now) Won’t Be Applied to This Year’s Election (Which Has Already Started)

October 25, 2024, 2:22 pmabsentee ballotsRick Hasen

You can find the opinion here, coming from the most radical panel of the judges on the Fifth Circuit (and that of course is saying something). I am on multiple deadlines, so a full analysis of the merits will… Continue reading

“Language Access and Voting Rights: An Overview of Federal, State, and Local Policies”

October 25, 2024, 1:52 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

New report from Angelo Ancheta of Demos.

State Legislatures Can No Longer Declare the Election to Have “Failed” in Their State Due to Natural Disasters and Then Appoint Electors

October 25, 2024, 12:59 pmUncategorizedRichard Pildes

One of the major (but less -well appreciated) accomplishments of the new, bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act is that it repealed the provision in federal law that permitted state legislatures to appoint electors if the presidential election had “failed” in… Continue reading

Republicans Plan to Go to U.S. Supreme Court Raising Independent State Legislature Theory to Seek to Block Pennsylvania Supreme Court Ruling Requiring Counting of Certain Provisional Ballots

October 25, 2024, 11:47 amabsentee ballots, legislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Are we about to see the Supreme Court weigh back into the application of the independent state legislature theory? Back on Wednesday, I wrote about a divided ruling of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that required the counting of provisional ballots… Continue reading

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The law of politics and the politics of law