Voting rights disputes in virus era spark court battles

Voting rights disputes in virus era spark court battles

Rick Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California-Irvine, said he expects “a lot of litigation, especially in states that offer excuse absentee balloting.” But, he added, fighting over elections was already going to be intense before the outbreak. Hasen tracks election litigation and said it soared to a high record in 2018 — an unusual mark for a nonpresidential year. “Part of it is hyperpolarization,” Hasen said. “Part of it is that we have a lot of close elections, and people realize that, in really close elections, rules matter.”