The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that the redistricting of the Sumter County, Georgia, School Board election six years ago violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The redistricting eliminated two board member seats and made two seats to be voted in at-large. The court [...]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) released a report Tuesday that raises concerns over safety on Election Day.  The DHS IG authored the report to Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs on October 22. The report praised improvement in cybersecurity but also criticized current DHS physical safety measures for [...]

The UN human rights investigator for Belarus said Monday that Belarus needs to “promptly stop repressing its own people” and should establish an independent judicial system to overcome its current political crisis. This call follows demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko’s re-election for a sixth term in August, which some claim was rigged. During a presentation [...]

The Michigan Court of Claims granted injunctive relief Tuesday to gun rights groups challenging a prohibition on the open carry of firearms at polling places on Election Day. On October 16, Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, acting in her capacity as the chief electoral officer, issued the directive prohibiting open carry of firearms “within 100 [...]

Chilean citizens overwhelmingly voted to draft a new constitution to replace former guiding principles put in place four decades ago under General Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship. More than 7.5 million of 14.97 million eligible voters opted to overhaul the constitution Sunday; the largest voter turnout since Chile instituted voluntary voting in 2012. Citizens want the [...]

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday rejected a Department of Justice (DOJ) request to immediately ban Apple from offering WeChat in the US. In early August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions against Chinese mobile applications TikTok and WeChat, stating that the spread of Chinese mobile apps throughout [...]

In a per curiam decision Tuesday, the Texas Supreme Court upheld Governor Greg Abbott’s October proclamation limiting early ballot drop-off locations to one per county. The proclamation issued on October 1 prohibited county officials from designating multiple ballot drop-off locations prior to Election Day, citing health concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and election integrity. [...]

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) filed a lawsuit Monday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to enjoin the Trump administration’s recent executive order weakening job protections for career federal employees. In the complaint, the union requests declaratory and injunctive relief. The order, “Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service,” was [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Court has reversed a lower court’s decision that an Indiana law prohibiting anyone except county boards of elections from petitioning to extend polling hours was unconstitutional. In 2019 the Republican-dominated Indiana legislature amended the state elections statute and limited all polling stations in the state to [...]

The US Department of the Treasury announced Monday that it was imposing new sanctions on the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the National Iranian Tanker Company, and <21 other individuals, entities, and vessels. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated them as counterterrorism authorities for their financial [...]