“Trump Leans On Creative Bookkeeping to Keep Up in Cash Race”

October 15, 2024, 12:54 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

NYT: Donald J. Trump’s political operation has been taking extraordinary measures in a bid to stay financially competitive with Vice President Kamala Harris, deploying aggressive and creative accounting strategies that test the legal limits of how far a candidate can… Continue reading

Arizona Supreme Court approves rules for “priority adjudication of post-general election judicial proceedings”

October 15, 2024, 11:37 amcourt decisionsDerek Muller

On the heels of the proposed rules in Colorado and the rules in Pennsylvania, here are new rules in Arizona to expedite election disputes. These rules continue to show that state courts are taking the deadlines of the Electoral… Continue reading

Fifth Circuit Panel, Citing Purcell, Stays District Court Order Against Enforcing Texas S.B. 1 Provision Against “interaction with one or more voters, in the physical presence of an official ballot or a ballot voted by mail, intended to deliver votes for a specific candidate or measure.”

October 15, 2024, 8:59 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

You can find Judge Ho’s opinion, and Judge Ramirez’s concurrence, at this link. Although the law is titled as against “vote harvesting” it seems a pretty clear violation of the First Amendment. The fact that the court relied on… Continue reading

“How Trump allies stoked election chaos in Detroit in 2020 — and what they’re planning in 2024”

October 15, 2024, 8:05 amchicanery, election subversion risk, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Ryan Reilly and Jane Timm deep dive for NBC: How this will play out on Election Day is unknown. But an NBC News investigation can now report the extent of the Republican Party and Trump campaign’s involvement in the TCF… Continue reading

“Election certification in Georgia is mandatory, judge says”

October 15, 2024, 7:44 amchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

AJC: Certifying elections is a required duty of county election boards in Georgia, and they’re not allowed to refuse finalizing results based on suspicions of miscounts or fraud, a Fulton County judge ruled Tuesday. Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney rejected… Continue reading

“Republicans face backlash for lawsuits targeting overseas and military voting”

October 15, 2024, 7:40 amelection administration, military votingRick Hasen

WaPo: Republican lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina challenging the legitimacy of overseas ballots have prompted a backlash among military personnel, their spouses, veterans and elected officials. Scores of veterans and active-duty members of the armed forces have posted… Continue reading

My Q & A with The Guardian: “‘There are certain things that we don’t allow to be sold’: why vote buying in the US is illegal”

October 15, 2024, 7:38 amvote buyingRick Hasen

From Musk, to Cards Against Humanity, and more….

“Republican Operatives Function as Hidden Hand Behind Pro-Trump Efforts”

October 15, 2024, 7:36 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

NYT: A group of Republican donors and operatives has been the hidden hand behind some of this campaign’s most controversial advertisements attacking Kamala Harris and bolstering Donald J. Trump. Over $100 million was raised and spent over the past four… Continue reading

“Greg Abbott Boasted That Texas Removed 6,500 Noncitizens From Its Voter Rolls. That Number Was Likely Inflated.”

October 15, 2024, 7:34 amelection administration, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

ProPublica: An investigation by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and Votebeat, however, found that the governor’s claims about noncitizens on the rolls appear inflated and, in some cases, wrong. The secretary of state’s office identified 581 people, not 6,500, as noncitizens,… Continue reading

“Trump Loyalists Push for a Combative Slate of New Judges”

October 15, 2024, 7:27 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

WSJ: A rising faction within the conservative legal movement is laying the groundwork for Donald Trump to appoint judges who prioritize loyalty to him and aggressively advocate for dismantling the federal government should he win a second term. The movement’s… Continue reading

“How a Man Imprisoned in New York Could Sway a Key House Race in Alaska”

October 15, 2024, 7:24 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

NYT reports, but Rob Richie is not impressed.

Politico, MSNBC, USA Today press implausible scenarios for purported weaknesses of the Electoral Count Reform Act

October 15, 2024, 6:06 amUncategorizedDerek Muller

Continuing a theme from an earlier post, more disaster scenarios have been promulgated in unrealistic scenarios, often highlighting purported weaknesses of the Electoral Count Reform Act. Of course, these scenarios invented in the last few weeks were hardly uncontemplated… Continue reading

“Election Administration Harms and Ballot Design: A study of Florida’s 2018 United States Senate race”

October 14, 2024, 5:02 pmelection administrationRick Hasen

Michael Morse (Penn Law), Marc Meredith (Penn), Michael Herron (Dartmouth), Dan Smith (Florida), and Michael Martinez (Florida) have posted this draft on SSRN (AJPS). Here is the abstract: We introduce a typology of election administration harms and apply it to… Continue reading

Why Is This Not the Top Story in Every Newspaper, on Every News Website, and on Every Television News Program? “Trump sparks outrage after calling for army to handle enemies on election day”

October 14, 2024, 12:22 pmauthoritarian threats in US, election subversion riskRick Hasen

The Guardian story is here. My earlier coverage: “Trump floats sending military after US citizens on election day citing ‘radical left lunatics’ and ‘the enemy from within’” The Independent: Donald Trump has chillingly suggested sending the military or … Continue reading

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The law of politics and the politics of law