My latest @npr.org story: New public data for redistricting, policymaking and research may be reduced as Trump officials limit the ways the Census Bureau can protect people’s privacy when it releases statistics www.npr.org/2026/06/12/n...

On Friday evening, the Republican leaders of North Carolina's state legislature dropped a big, unannounced, 36-page omnibus bill stuffed to the brim with new voting restrictions and elections changes. We got a full draft of the bill here: https://carolinaforward.org/images/hb-958-pcs.pdf

Ohio Organizing Collective, the target of the FBI’s intimidation above, was one of the groups that tried to pass a far-reaching constitutional amendment in 2024 to protect voting access. Ohio Republicans illegally blocked the measure from the ballot, and Republican judges let them get away with it

One board member said the FBI approached some without warrants. “They had agents all across the state going to civil rights leaders and community leaders’ doors intimidating them, coming and demanding that they talk about literally anything they would ask.” “Just straight-up intimidation tactics.”

Graph of Musk’s net worth over time from Jim Bianco x.com/biancoresear... pbs.twimg.com/media/HKkGn8...

Before Trump / 2020 / covid, the general assumption was that vote by mail was more of a Republican thing (elderly, rural, upper middle class) and early in-person voting was more for Democrats (unions, souls to the polls, working class families, etc.)

A 23-year old influencer who says he is "anti-universal suffrage" and that "women generally do not have what it takes to endure the pressures of a public office" has been hired to help run elections in a Utah county. www.ksl.com/article/5151...

Trende is one of the GOP’s go-to guys to testify in court to defend their gerrymanders. Like his statement here, multiple courts have deemed his testimony “not credible”

this is what "keeping a republic" means

One board member said the FBI approached some without warrants. “They had agents all across the state going to civil rights leaders and community leaders’ doors intimidating them, coming and demanding that they talk about literally anything they would ask.” “Just straight-up intimidation tactics.”

that’s right

👀 "more black voters (41 percent) now identify the Supreme Court as the top threat to their community than the Trump presidency (39 percent). In June 2024, just 26 percent said the Court was the top threat." The word is getting out re John Roberts MAGA #SCOTUS.

Dems could draw more than 20 new blue districts by 2028, reversing GOP’s redistricting advantage They need to maximize their power everywhere they have it to counteract Trump & SCOTUS destroying VRA I break it down here, citing great research by @stephenwolf.bsky.social @davidnir.com

Ohio Republicans have placed an amendment on the ballot to require photo voter ID & have extended the existing law to require photocopy ID for mail voting. In 2024, they illegally blocked voters from putting an amendment to protect voting access on the ballot ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/06/10/o...

Florida voters amended their constitution in 2010 to explicitly ban partisan and racial gerrymandering, and FL’s Supreme Court overturned the GOP’s congressional gerrymander in 2015. But Ron DeSantis has stacked the court since then, and his appointees have let the GOP get away with it this decade

really upsetting coda to the case of Calvin Duncan, an exoneree who, as I wrote last month, was elected by New Orleans voters in a landslide, prompting state Republicans to pass a law *abolishing* his position: Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the law last week ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

State Rep. Luke S. Rankin was the sponsor of the 7-0 map in South Carolina, while Luke A. Rankin was one of the senators who voted to kill it in the Senate. Whether it was because GOP voters had the wrong Luke Rankin or another reason entirely, Luke S. Rankin lost his primary 60-40 on Tuesday.

Florida voters amended their constitution in 2010 to explicitly ban partisan and racial gerrymandering, and FL’s Supreme Court overturned the GOP’s congressional gerrymander in 2015. But Ron DeSantis has stacked the court since then, and his appointees have let the GOP get away with it this decade

Congress passed the 15th Amendment in 1869. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Congress amended the VRA in 1982 to say “no, we really mean it” after the Supreme Court limited its scope. John Roberts & co. have gutted all of that and would do so again. They have left us no other choice

Valadao is now at 41% in the top-two primary results, which is an extremely bad sign for the GOP in this seat. If Valadao won after this, it would be the lowest % for a winning incumbent party in a top-two congressional primary in CA (since 2012) or WA (since 2008).

#ELB: “Postal Service won’t deliver mail ballots for states that don’t hand over voter lists, under plan for Trump directive” https://electionlawblog.org/?p=156674

North Dakota voters have passed a constitutional amendment to limit voter-initiated amendments to a single subject. It’s one of several Republican attempts to stifle ballot initiatives in response to voters creating a government ethics commission in 2018 and trying to pass other election reforms

Musk buying twitter, Bezos buying WaPo, Ellison buying CBS—all are less profitable now. But they’re political investments that increase the value of the new owners’ portfolios Wealth concentration makes this possible, and that’s one mechanism by which inequality destroys democracy

GOP Rep. David Valadao is at just 42% with roughly 72% of votes counted. The GOP has always been >50% in round 1 in his prior House races, & GOP support typically declines in November with higher turnout. This heavily Latino seat passed Prop 50 by 18 points in 2025, & Dems look favored to flip it

We should be teeing up multiparty proportional representation for the 2030 midterms quickly in 2029, like by Valentine's Day Not doubling down on the two party single member districts that got us here @liberalcurrents.com

@davesredist.bsky.social has launched a major update to its UI, with new and improved features for drawing, analyzing, and visualizing redistricting maps. One of those new features enables drawing maps on mobile devices (depending on their capabilities). Check it out here: davesredistricting.org

You cannot address the underlying causes of bad-faith conspiracy theories. Any measures you introduce to speed up the count will be seized on as a pretext to claim the election is now less secure. (We want only paper ballots meticulously hand-counted by candlelight, and all results instantly!)

@davesredist.bsky.social has launched a major update to its UI, with new and improved features for drawing, analyzing, and visualizing redistricting maps. One of those new features enables drawing maps on mobile devices (depending on their capabilities). Check it out here: davesredistricting.org

The congressional map’s national Republican advantage is practically all due to gerrymandering, not political geography favoring Republicans on nonpartisan maps. I did a similar project last decade, though unlike this one, it preserved VRA districts. I may have to finally finish the 2020s version

Congressional gerrymandering was just the beginning after the Supreme Court destroyed the Voting Rights Act. In 2027-2028, Republicans could re-gerrymander roughly a dozen state legislatures in the South and Great Plains to eliminate districts that empower Black, Latino, or Native American voters

Striking graphic in this latest Reuters piece, which finds that while President Trump and his family have profited by at least $2.3 billion since he retook the presidency, their more than a million investors have suffered $2.3 billion in net losses. www.reuters.com/investigatio...

"The Court’s behavior in the Louisiana and Alabama cases over the past six weeks can’t be reconciled with or explained by any coherent understanding of what Purcell supposedly stands for. ... The overall pattern reveals justices behaving in a way that has no obvious explanation other than politics."

Johnson: Gerrymandering states to remove Black majority districts is just representation Also Johnson: The lack of evidence of fraud in an election is sufficient evidence of a conspiracy in blue states.

NEW: The DOJ was criminally investigating the companies of W. Va.'s MAGA Senator Jim Justice. Until then-DAG Todd Blanche's office shut it down. @mtredden.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Shapiro: www.propublica.org/article/trum...

The aftermath of this Los Angeles redistricting scandal: • All three council members caught saying racist crap are now out of office • Nithya Raman won reelection in 2024 despite their gerrymander • LA voters approved an independent redistricting commission • Now Raman could become LA’s next mayor

Yooooo remember a couple years ago when those three LA city council members were caught on tape saying a ton of insanely racist stuff and conspiring to gerrymander another council member’s district? That other council member was Nithya Raman. The voting bloc they were trying to split? Renters.

for reference and comparison: conservatively, the United States spent two-thirds of that figure in the *first week* of the war on Iran. it's genuinely difficult to overstate how many world-historical own goals US politics has accumulated over the past few decades

I don’t know what it’s going to take for enough Mormon voters to break with MAGA for Democrats to finally start winning Utah. But if a shift happens suddenly like in 2016, Republicans may regret fighting so hard to keep gerrymandering a 4-0 House map shutout instead of conceding one seat to Dems

A conservative candidate in Indiana whose race is presently in a recount is combing voters’ social media to try to challenge voters, a practice that state observers say is new & unusual: www.indystar.com/story/news/p...

Ballot measures are a relief valve in states where the GOP has otherwise rigged elections to be unloseable via gerrymandered state legislative seats. They're getting rid of the practice where they can or just ignoring the results of referenda (as they are in florida)

The big primaries are mostly over, now the general election is kicking off. We'll talk about that, the attack on science & more on Saturday with: + @cdelawalla.bsky.social + @nycjayjay.bsky.social + @stephenwolf.bsky.social + @laurarbelin.bsky.social 🤳Stream 1-4 CT heartlandsignal.com/wcpt820/

A healthy democracy would automatically register all adult citizens to vote (unless they opt out) and provide every resident with a free national ID card so a driver’s license is only necessary for driving

If Graham Platner were to drop his bid for #MESen, could Maine Democrats replace him on the November ballot? As Quinn @yeargain.bsky.social explains in a new piece, the potential window to do so is very small.

Three Dems in June 9’s ranked-choice primary for governor support switching Maine to winner-take-all for the Electoral College if Nebraska’s GOP does it. Shenna Bellows, Hannah Pingree, and Troy Jackson have also urged their supporters to rank the other two. Fellow Dem Nirav Shah opposes the switch

Or as stephenwolf.bsky.social has demonstrated, Democrats can counter Republican gerrymandering AND respect the VRA. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/u...

Status of 2028 Dem efforts to redraw House maps: CO: 2026 ballot initiative effort. NY: Passed stage 1 of multi-year plan. MD, NJ: 2026 referendums planned. VA: Could undo court ruling in 2027. IL: Considering. MN, OR, WI: May depend on 2026 elections. WI Supreme Court may redraw if Dems can’t

Breaking—New York Democrats have passed the first stage of a constitutional amendment that would let them redraw the congressional map in 2028 and target 4 seats Republicans currently hold. Dems must pass it again next year and win a November 2027 referendum for it to take effect. Details below ⬇️

Breaking—New York Democrats have passed the first stage of a constitutional amendment that would let them redraw the congressional map in 2028 and target 4 seats Republicans currently hold. Dems must pass it again next year and win a November 2027 referendum for it to take effect. Details below ⬇️

As bad and soul-killing as mid-decade gerrymandering was, the national median seat bias is actually a little better than it was in 2018.

ICYMI: The top election official in Texas just announced her retirement, which will take effect less than four months before the state’s most closely watched election in a decade. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/u... #TXLEGE