My general policy, which I flagged on Friday, is to not sign any statement I do not write. I share many of Keith’s concerns about the risks of joining open letters. Fortunately, most professors have the discretion to sign, or not sign public statements. But this year, I suspect that many faculty, as well as most students, will be asked to … Continue reading Faculty and Student Pledges Continue Reading
If you think it’s only American media that’s been turned upside down by a tweet like this, I’m already doing interviews on the subject with German and Spanish television, and have turned down requests from still other countries. I’m saying the same thing about this that everyone else who knows the law is saying. … Continue reading World’s Head Explodes: Trump Tweets about “Delaying the Election” Continue Reading
With all the attention focused on his “delay the election” tweet, I want to highlight another aspect of this morning’s tweets about voting. The President begins by praising absentee voting: “With Universal Mail-in Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good) 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history.” But when he goes … Continue reading Pres. Trump’s Tweets on “Mail-in Voting” Continue Reading
That appears to be the conclusion of this new paper by Ed Stiglitz and Aviv Caspi entitled “Observability and Reasoned Discourse: Evidence from the U.S. Senate”. Here’s the abstract: Many private and public institutions depend on reasoned discourse to reach decisions. Before collective action, before voting, tends to come reasoned discourse, at least in aspiration. Reformers … Continue reading How Greater Transparency Might Have Increased Polarization in Congress Continue Reading
From about 1/2 hour ago, the same position I flagged earlier: Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 33m Glad I was able to get the very dishonest LameStream Media to finally start talking about the RISKS to our Democracy from dangerous Universal Mail-In-Voting (not Absentee Voting, which I totally support!). See Campaign: https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113580Contact Information:Richard PildesTags:, Wire, … Continue reading Trump Continues to Press Distinction Between Absentee Voting (Good) and “Universal Mail-in Voting” (Bad) Continue Reading
For those of us who believe strong political parties, at both the national and state level, are important for a strong democratic system of politics and governance, this story from Politico identifies a noteworthy development: Once ignored, underfunded and often written off, Democratic state party organizations are harvesting record-setting cash heading into the 2020 election, reasserting their roles inside … Continue reading “Democratic state party groups in traditional and emerging swing states are seeing a huge cash influx from donors looking to beat Trump” Continue Reading
The Washington Post’s Michelle Lee and Jacob Bogage write: The U.S. Postal Service is experiencing days-long backlogs of mail across the country after a top Trump donor running the agency put in place new procedures described as cost-cutting efforts, alarming postal workers who warn that the policies could undermine their ability to deliver ballots on … Continue reading “Postal Service backlog sparks worries that ballot delivery could be delayed in November” Continue Reading
From NBC news: A dozen doctors delivered speeches in front of the U.S. Capitol on Monday to a small crowd, claiming without evidence that the coronavirus could be cured and that widely accepted efforts to slow its spread were unnecessary and dangerous. It was the latest video to go viral from apparent experts, quietly backed by … Continue reading “Dark money and PAC’s coordinated ‘reopen’ push are behind doctors’ viral hydroxychloroquine video” Continue Reading
TN law permits absentee voting only for one of 12 specified reasons. A lower court held, as a matter of state constitutional law, that no-excuse absentee voting was required, given Covid-19. The case was argued yesterday before the TN Supreme Court, and the Nashville Tennessean has this interesting account of the argument (I really like being able … Continue reading “State shifts position on COVID-19 and absentee voting in arguments before Tennessee Supreme Court” Continue Reading
From David Wasserman at The Cook Political Report: The real danger is a perfect catastrophe of administrative overload, postal delays and voter error that could lead to millions of absentee ballots not counting. And this year, unlike the past, those ballots are likely to be overwhelmingly Democratic. The problem for Democrats? Absentee ballots are rejected at higher rates than … Continue reading “The Hidden Mess That Could Cost Democrats Up to Two Points in November” Continue Reading