Walter Olson
Number fifteen in our series of occasional roundups on election law and policy:
- “It sure looks like the Civil Rights Division is trying to do what the Pence-Kobach Commission failed to do eight years ago: assemble a national voter file.” Is that legal? [Justin Levitt, Election Law Blog] More and related: Claire Rush and Ali Swenson, Associated Press (DOJ says it’s suing Oregon and Maine for not handing over files); Miles Parks, Gabriel J. Sanchez and Scott Detrow, NPR “All Things Considered”; Devlin Barrett and Nick Corasaniti, New York Times; Natalia Contreras, VoteBeat (Texas). Claim: Trump and DOJ “are building the machine now to meddle in the 2026 midterm elections.” [Chris Brennan, USA Today]
- I don’t necessarily agree with every idea here, but it’s one of the better expositions of how mathematical resources can make for better, fairer districting, assuming that’s what states want. With hints of a link between the compactness and the competitiveness of a state’s districts (there are many serviceable compactness formulas besides the one offered here) [Roland Fryer, New York Times]
- Justice Department could launch criminal probes against state and local officials based on unsubstantiated theories that current voting equipment suffers from hidden vulnerabilities to domestic fraud or foreign manipulation [Devlin Barrett and Nick Corasaniti, NYT, July via Rick Pildes, ELB]
- Breaking with long tradition, feds kick the League of Women Voters and other nonpartisan civic groups out of providing voter registration following naturalization ceremonies [my Substack; consider subscribing, which is free]. USCIS says there’s an alternative because municipalities can send over registrars instead. Or maybe not, because—surprise!—“USCIS staff are ‘not permitted to work with the City of Denver currently due to Denver’s sanctuary city status.’ ” [Jessica Huseman, VoteBeat]
- Beehive State gerrymander flew in the face of both good districting practice, which would have counseled not carving Salt Lake City into four slices, and Utah voters’ 2018 approval of a redistricting reform initiative, which the legislature purported to overturn. [Hannah Schoenbaum, Associated Press]
- “Simple research shows 34 countries or territories have some mail-in voting, and—in an amazing coincidence—that list largely mirrors those countries that are freest, wealthiest, and most democratic.” [Steven Greenhut, Reason]