“How to harden our defenses against an authoritarian president”

July 31, 2024, 7:30 amUncategorizedelection subversionSpencer Overton

Barton Gellman in The Washington Post: It is late afternoon on Inauguration Day 2025. Protesters fill the downtowns of American cities, enraging the newly sworn president. Send in the military, he demands. Invoke the Insurrection Act. Federalize the National… Continue reading

“New ballot-box obstacles: Mapping the states with recent laws that make it harder to vote”

July 30, 2024, 7:52 amUncategorizedVoting RestrictionsSpencer Overton

USA Today: In the wake of former President Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen election in 2020, many state legislatures implemented new laws restricting voter accessibility in key parts of the voting process. Passed in more than half… Continue reading

“ACLU and LWV sue over partisan gerrymandering of South Carolina congressional districts”

July 30, 2024, 7:50 amUncategorizedSpencer Overton

WSAV3: SOUTH CAROLINA (WSAV) – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of South Carolina, and Duffy & Young LLC filed a lawsuit today challenging partisan gerrymandering of South Carolina’s congressional districts. The lawsuit comes after redistricting following the… Continue reading

“How Ideological Diversity Moderates Republican Support for Voter Suppression Measures: The Cases of Georgia and Alabama”

July 30, 2024, 7:49 amUncategorizedvoter suppressionSpencer Overton

Abstract below of new scholarship from Jesse H. Rhodes and Adam Eichen: Why do Republicans sometimes decline to enact voter suppression measures, even when contextual conditions (unified control of state government, electoral threats from Democrats, and racial threats from African… Continue reading

“Electoral Innovation and the Alaska System: Partisanship and Populism Are Associated With Support for Top-4/Ranked-Choice Voting Rules”

July 30, 2024, 7:46 amUncategorizedSpencer Overton

Abstract below of new scholarship from Christian Robert Grose, Andrew Sinclair, Betsy Sinclair, and Mike Alvarez In 2020, Alaskans voted to adopt a nonpartisan top-4 primary followed by a ranked-choice general election. Proposals for “final four” and “final five” election… Continue reading

“Russia is relying on unwitting Americans to spread election disinformation, US officials say”

July 30, 2024, 7:45 amUncategorizeddisinformation, foreign interferenceSpencer Overton

AP: The Kremlin is turning to unwitting Americans and commercial public relations firms in Russia to spread disinformation about the U.S. presidential race, top intelligence officials said Monday, detailing the latest efforts by America’s adversaries to shape public opinion… Continue reading

“A half-million records and one app: The group behind a massive effort to ‘clean’ voter rolls”

July 30, 2024, 7:44 amUncategorizedvoter challenges, voter purgeSpencer Overton

CNN: Police officers in Texas, senior citizens at a nursing home in Pennsylvania and people who had registered to vote at a Marine base in California. They are among the thousands of voters whose right to cast a ballot… Continue reading

“Can Harris Use Biden’s Campaign Money?”

July 30, 2024, 7:43 amUncategorizedCampaign finance, FEC, Federal Election CommissionSpencer Overton

Daniel I. Weiner at Brennan: But more than $90 million was held by Biden’s principal campaign committee — the official vehicle for the Biden-Harris reelection campaign. FEC filings suggest that those funds will now be used by the Harris campaign.… Continue reading

“Echoes of Roe v. Wade in Decision Granting Immunity to Trump”

July 30, 2024, 7:40 amUncategorizedpresidential immunitySpencer Overton

Adam Liptak in NYT: “The judicial method employed by Trump v. United States resembles Roe v. Wade in the ways that matter,” Richard D. Bernstein, who filed a supporting brief in the case on behalf of conservative critics of Mr.… Continue reading

“Biden Calls for Changes to Supreme Court”

July 29, 2024, 7:48 amUncategorizedSupreme Court ReformSpencer Overton

NYT: President Biden said on Monday he was pushing for legislation that would bring major changes to the Supreme Court, including imposing term limits and creating an enforceable code of ethics on the justices. In an opinion essay in … Continue reading

“Kamala Harris campaign raises $200 million in a week”

July 29, 2024, 7:47 amUncategorizedCampaign financeSpencer Overton

Reuters: WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) – Kamala Harris’s election campaign said on Sunday it has raised $200 million and signed up 170,000 new volunteers in the week since she became the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, as Republicans continued to… Continue reading

“Who’s paying for Chicago’s DNC? Voters won’t have the full picture till it’s long over”

July 29, 2024, 7:46 amUncategorizedSpencer Overton

WBEZ Chicago: Once subsidized by taxpayers, major-party national conventions are now almost fully funded by uber-wealthy donors, massive corporations, labor unions and other influential big-money groups. But exactly who is chipping in to cover the potentially record-breaking bill for… Continue reading

“Misinformation floods social media in wake of breakneck news cycle”

July 29, 2024, 7:44 amUncategorizeddisinformationSpencer Overton

The Hill: A weeks-long, breakneck news cycle has set off a parallel explosion of misinformation online, which experts warn could make it harder to parse out what is real versus what is fake as the 2024 election gets underway.

“Sen. Rick Scott sounds a warning on foreign interference in elections”

July 29, 2024, 7:43 amUncategorizeddisinformation, foreign interferenceSpencer Overton

WUSF NPR: Florida’s U.S. senator said the Biden administration isn’t doing enough to combat disinformation and interference from foreign actors in elections. . . . Federal government investigators have found that foreign interference in elections has been rife since… Continue reading