Supreme Court Finds No Racial Gerrymandering in Abbott v. Perez, Except for One District
On June 25, 2018, the Supreme Court in Abbott v. Perez overturned the lower court’s finding that the Texas legislature had gerrymandered legislative districts against Hispanic citizens when redrawing occurred in 2013 after the lower courts struck down the districts drawn in 2011. The Court ruled that the district court…
Senate Rules and Administration Committee Hearing on Election Security
On June 20, 2018, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee held a hearing on election security preparations that are being made at the local and state level. The committee heard witness testimony from state and local officials, along with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Senior Cybersecurity Advisor, Matt Masterson….
Supreme Court Issues Ruling in Gerrymandering Cases
On June 18, 2018 the Supreme Court finally gave its rulings for Gill v. Whitford and Benisek v. Lamone. In Whitford, Democratic voters were suing over the way that the Republican held legislature drew legislative districts in Wisconsin. The voters claimed that the districts were drawn in a partisan way…
US House Judiciary Committee hearing on US Census
On June 8, 2018, the United States House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “Questions regarding the US Census.” The Committee heard testimony and feedback from witnesses who had opinions on a citizenship question being asked on the 2020 US Census. Steve Marshall, the Alabama Attorney General, stressed the…
Supreme Court upholds Ohio Voter Roll Maintenance law 5-4
On June 11, 2018 the Supreme Court ruled in Husted v. Philip Randolph Institute that Ohio did not act unconstitutionally when it passed a law that would assist the state in identifying voters who have moved from the state. The Ohio law stated that if a voter did not do…
Virginia Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds The Drawing of 11 Districts
On May 31, 2018, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that 11 legislative districts did not violate Article II § 6 of the Constitution of Virginia. The challengers to the districts argued that the legislative districts that were drawn in 2011 violated that state constitution because they were not composed of…
California has Technical Difficulties With its New “Motor Voter” System
Six weeks before its June 5 primary, California election officials are trying to solve errors to its voter database made by its new mandatory (automatic) voter registration system. According to a recent story in the Los Angeles Times, election officials in California claim that 77,000 voter records were impacted after…
Senate Intelligence Findings on Russian Targeting of Election Infrastructure During the 2016 Election
On May 8, 2018 the Senate Intelligence Committee released a classified report about its initial findings on attempted Russian interference in the 2016 election cycle and gave its recommendations. The report found that Russian interference efforts began as early as 2014 and lasted until the 2016 election. The Committee saw…
Citizenship and the Census Teleforum with Dr. John Baker Jr.
Dr. John Baker Jr. recently spoke at a teleforum hosted by the Federalist Society and discussed the citizenship question on the 2020 US Census. Here are three main takeaways from the teleforum: Baker started the conversation by comparing the US Census with the American Community Survey (ACS) that…
Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in MD Gerrymandering Case:
Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Benisek v. Lamone, a case where Republican voters are suing Maryland over the way that Maryland’s 6th Congressional District was redrawn in 2011. The Los Angeles Times reports that many of the justices seemed to be concerned about how the district lines…