Author: bakhtawar

Bart Jansen deep dive for USA Today: Requiring an excuse for absentee voting. Paying for postage for mail-in ballots. Purging names from voter registration lists. Placing the names on ballots to provide an advantage in so-called “donkey votes.” These are among the disputes that have generated a record number of lawsuits over the Nov. 3 election. Decisions … Continue reading “Election lawsuits set record pace amid COVID-19 pandemic as results decide who votes and how Nov. 3” Continue Reading →

Brennan Center: Early this morning, 34 national security leaders — including Madeline Albright, Chuck Hagel, Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff, Susan Rice, John Kerry, Leon Panetta, James Clapper, and Janet Napolitano — sent the letter here (full text and signers below) to congressional leaders on the urgent need for federal funding in the next stimulus package to keep U.S. elections safe, secure, … Continue reading “National Security Leaders Urge Congress to Provide Election Officials with Additional Funds” Continue Reading →

Mississippi Today: Secretary of State Michael Watson is asking for an official opinion from Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office about whether a bill passed by the state Legislature will make it more difficult for Mississippians to vote if COVID-19 is still an issue during the Nov. 3 election. The bill, which was signed into law … Continue reading “Watson asking attorney general whether Mississippi Legislature made it harder to vote in pandemic” Continue Reading →

Bloomberg: The 2020 election between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden is shaping up to be the most litigated in U.S. history, as changes to balloting prompted by the coronavirus pandemic spur lawsuits that could leave the outcome in suspense for days or even weeks. A recent count by Loyola Marymount University law professor Justin … Continue reading “‘Everybody Is Suing’: Trump-Biden Election Sets Up Legal Logjam” Continue Reading →

Common Cause:  A report released today by the University of Southern California (USC), the University of Minnesota and the University of Houston researchers makes the provocative recommendation that the California State Legislature should no longer have the power to strike finalists from the pool of applicants for California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission. The report was issued in the wake of a series of controversial … Continue reading “Provocative Report on California Citizens Redistricting Commission Selection Process Raises New Questions about Legislative Role in Striking Latinx Applicants” Continue Reading →

WaPo: Gov. Larry Hogan on Monday defended his decision to hold a traditional election in November, despite growing concerns from voting rights advocates and election officials about the impact of his choice amid a global pandemic. Hogan (R) said he opted for a “normal” election instead of a “vote by mail only” because of the chaos that occurred during … Continue reading Maryland “Hogan defends use of all polling sites, requiring applications for mail-in ballots” Continue Reading →

Politico: Democratic leaders are asking the FBI for an urgent briefing arising out of concern that members of Congress are being targeted by a foreign operation intended to influence the 2020 presidential election, according to a letter they released publicly on Monday. Among the Democrats’ concerns is that a Senate investigation being led by Sen. Ron Johnson … Continue reading “Dem leaders demand FBI briefing on ‘foreign interference campaign’ targeting lawmakers” Continue Reading →

CNN deep dive: Voting experts and political strategists from across the political spectrum are increasingly alarmed about the potential for a disputed presidential election in November, one in which one candidate openly questions the legitimacy of the results or even refuses to concede. These experts are keenly aware of President Donald Trump’s well-documented history of lying about voter … Continue reading “‘Things could get very ugly’: Experts fear post-election crisis as Trump sets the stage to dispute the results in November” Continue Reading →

NYT Dealbook: Walmart calls its employees “heroes” for putting their health at risk to work during the pandemic. AT&T champions L.G.B.T.Q. rights. Microsoft is undertaking one of the country’s most ambitious corporate efforts to eliminate its carbon emissions. At a time when Corporate America is speaking up on some of the most important issues of our time, there is … Continue reading “A Company Backs a Cause. It Funds a Politician Who Doesn’t. What Gives?” Continue Reading →

McClatchy: Early voting sites should be easier to find in this fall’s elections, at least in North Carolina’s biggest cities, because of an order issued by the N.C. State Board of Elections on Friday. North Carolina Republicans say the change to statewide voting rules is just a partisan ploy to help Democrats, but state officials … Continue reading “NC just changed election rules to expand early voting. Why GOP leaders say it’s unfair.” Continue Reading →