“The Looming Threat to Voting in Person; Amid a push for mail-in balloting, states still need a better strategy for safety at the polls.”
Nate Persily and Charles Stewart for The Atlantic.
Breaking: 7th Circuit, after 3 Year Delay, Decides Challenge to Wisconsin Voter ID and Related Voting Provisions, in Short Unanimous Opinion, Upholding and Striking Down Some Parts of Law; This is Mostly a Loss for Voting Rights Plaintiffs
You can find the 27-page unanimous decision, with no explanation for the 3 year delay in this case, at this link.
This is mostly a loss for the plaintiffs in these cases, as the appeals court rejected many (though… Continue reading
My New Piece in the NY Times Sunday Review: “Bring on the 28th Amendment”
I have written this piece for the New York Times Sunday Review (part of their “The America We Need” series on inequality). It begins:
What if we made voting an agent of equality, not inequality? And how can we get… Continue reading
In “60 Minutes” Segment on Voting Rights During the Pandemic, Trump Lawyer Makes Crazy Claim that Voting is “Safer” in Person
60 Minutes:
Justin Clark, senior counsel for President Donald Trump’s campaign, advised Wisconsin Republicans. He blames Democratic governor Tony Evers for the chaos and told us the Democrats are cynically using the pandemic to expand their voter base with… Continue reading
As Expected, Trump Points to Paterson, NJ Absentee Ballot Fraud Scandal (and Tries to Draw Nonsensical Distinction Between Absentee and Mail-in Balloting)
Trump tweet:
Absentee Ballots are fine. A person has to go through a process to get and use them. Mail-In Voting, on the other hand, will lead to the most corrupt Election is USA history. Bad things happen with Mail-Ins.… Continue reading
“Trump Retweets Racist Video Showing Supporter Yelling ‘White Power’”
NYT:
President Trump on Sunday retweeted a video of one of his supporters yelling “White power!,” once again using the vast reach of his social media platforms to inflame racial divisions in a nation roiled by weeks of protests about… Continue reading
“Zuckerberg once wanted to sanction Trump. Then Facebook wrote rules that accommodated him”
WaPo:
Facebook has constrained its efforts against false and misleading news, adopted a policy explicitly allowing politicians to lie, and even altered its news feed algorithm to neutralize claims that it was biased against conservative publishers, according to more… Continue reading
Election Commissioner in Jones County, MS: “The blacks are having lots of events for voter registration. People in Mississippi have to get involved too.”
Oh my.
"The blacks are having lots of events for voter registration. People in Mississippi have to get involved too."—Jones County (MS) Election Commissioner Gail Harrison Welch pic.twitter.com/kbrPFqZMUe— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) June 28, 2020
ASAP: Seeking Law Students Nationwide to Recruit Student Poll Workers
Important announcement via email:
ASAP: Seeking Law Students Nationwide to Recruit Student Poll Workers.
William & Mary Law students have formed the Alliance of Students at the Polls (ASAP). ASAP is building a national network of law students to recruit… Continue reading
“The County Line: The Law and Politics of Ballot Positioning in New Jersey”
Brett Pugach has posted this draft on SSRN (Rutgers L. Rev.). Here is the abstract:
In New Jersey, unelected and unaccountable party bosses and political machines have for years relied on arcane state laws related to the design of primary… Continue reading
“Simulated Packing and Cracking”
A new paper by Jeffrey Buzas and Gregory Warrington. Here’s the abstract:
We introduce simulated packing and cracking as a technique for evaluating partisan-gerrymandering measures. We apply it to historical congressional and legislative elections to evaluate four measures: partisan bias,… Continue reading