Unanimous Washington Supreme Court rejects state constitutional challenge to absentee ballot signature matching practices

March 6, 2025, 9:05 amcourt decisions, election administrationDerek Muller

Vet Voice Foundation v. Hobbs: This case concerns some of the most fundamental building blocks of our representative democracy: the right to vote, the legislature’s power and obligation to ensure that voters can freely exercise that right, and the… Continue reading

“A test for judicial independence in Wisconsin; Elon Musk is spending big on the state’s Supreme Court race while expressing contempt for independent courts. That’s a worrisome combination.”

March 6, 2025, 7:20 amcampaign finance, judicial electionsRick Hasen

Rob Yablon for The Contrarian.

“ActBlue, the Democratic Fund-Raising Powerhouse, Faces Internal Chaos”

March 6, 2025, 6:55 amcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: ActBlue, the online fund-raising organization that powers Democratic candidates, has plunged into turmoil, with at least seven senior officials resigning late last month and a remaining lawyer suggesting he faced internal retaliation. The departures from ActBlue, which helps raise… Continue reading

“Voting Rights Act Enforcement Increases Turnout”

March 6, 2025, 6:46 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

New Brennan Center report: Inequities are a persistent feature of U.S. elections. As our colleagues have documented, the gap in voter participation between white and Black Americans has increased since the Supreme Court, through its 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision,… Continue reading

Morgan Kousser: “A New Coverage Scheme for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act”

March 6, 2025, 6:42 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The great Morgan Kousser has written this article for ELJ. Here is the abstract: Ever since the coverage scheme for Section 5, the preclearance section of the Voting Rights Act, was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the… Continue reading

“Drawing Representation from Taxation: A Tax-Based Approach to Redistricting”

March 6, 2025, 6:40 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Jacob Hooper has written this student note for the George Mason Law Review. Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court’s 2023 Allen v. Milligan decision upheld Thornburg v. Gingles from 1986. Gingles established preconditions creating majority-minority districts to protect a… Continue reading

“Alabama’s Racial Turnout Gap Hit a 16-Year High in 2024”

March 5, 2025, 1:22 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

Brennan Center: Sixty years ago, civil rights activists seeking to peacefully march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand equal access to the ballot were brutally assaulted by police. The events of what became known as Bloody Sunday were a… Continue reading

“Election security aid is on the chopping block, rattling local officials”

March 5, 2025, 1:20 pmchicanery, election administration, voting technologyRick Hasen

NBC News: State and local election officials who have grown to rely on the federal government’s cybersecurity assistance fear that the Trump administration may permanently block that aid by Thursday. Such funding, which began in President Donald Trump’s first… Continue reading

Rob Richie: “Introducing Expand Democracy; My new organization will promote pro-democracy ideas by helping others succeed”

March 5, 2025, 9:31 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

Congrats to Rob Richie on this announcement, and the new organization, Expand Democracy. Here is their list of “Democracy Topics” from their website: Ranked choice voting: We help to grow and sustain ranked choice voting in the United States… Continue reading

“‘Election integrity’ still top of mind for some House Republicans”

March 5, 2025, 7:42 amThe Voting WarsRick Hasen

Roll Call: After a cycle that delivered them full power in Washington, Republicans are still pushing to change federal election law — and some Democrats are sounding a renewed alarm. A proposal that aims to bar noncitizens from voting could… Continue reading

“A Kennedy Ally Puts Money Into a Push to Recall Karen Bass”

March 5, 2025, 7:30 amcampaign finance, Plutocrats United, recall electionsRick Hasen

NYT: The first serious effort to recall Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles after the city’s devastating fires is taking shape, with financial backing from Nicole Shanahan, who was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate in last year’s presidential election.… Continue reading

“The reality is anything that empowers online donors mechanically disempowers non-white and working class Democrats”

March 4, 2025, 1:48 pmUncategorizedRichard Pildes

That line is from this tweet, by David Shor, who is one of the top political data analysts on the Democratic side. You will see that he references a new academic study that makes this point. As readers of this… Continue reading

“The downballot roll-off effect in action”

March 4, 2025, 11:41 amrecall electionsRick Hasen

Joshua Spivak: The November 2024 election ballot in Alameda County saw an unusual occurrence: overlapping recalls of the Alameda district attorney and the Oakland mayor. Media coverage of these recalls portrayed those separate county and city contest results as being… Continue reading

“People Are Paying Millions to Dine With Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago”

March 4, 2025, 11:00 amcampaign finance, conflict of interest lawsRick Hasen

Wired: Guests are paying millions of dollars to dine and meet with President Donald Trump at special events held at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Business leaders can secure a one-on-one meeting with the president at Mar-a-Lago for… Continue reading