[EL] number of federal election lawsuits over time

[Rick Hasen]

I have a database of state and federal election-related litigation from 1996 updated through 2018 (the version through 2020 will come later  this year). It is discussed in my book Election Meltdown at 56:

But many of the fundamental pathologies unearthed by the 2000
debacle have not changed even as new problems with voting technology
have emerged, especially with the rising prospect of foreign hacking.
Political actors realized that the courts were fertile grounds for
fi ghting over election rules. American election litigation has nearly
tripled since 2000, from an average of 94 cases per year before Bush v.
Gore to an average of 270 cases after. Election litigation was up 23 percent
in 2016 compared to 2012. The nonpresidential year of 2018 saw
the most cases, 394, since at least since 1996 (and likely ever).17





17. For a discussion of the methodology used in computing these figures, see Richard

L. Hasen, The 2016 U.S. Voting Wars: From Bad to Worse, 26 Wm. & Mary Bill of

Rts. J. 629, 630–31 (2018). For the most updated version of the database, see https://

electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Election-Litigation-1996–2018.xlsx

[https://perma.cc/99TC-GVSZ]


From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> on behalf of "Hess, Douglas (Doug)" <HESSDOUG at Grinnell.EDU>
Date: Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 12:38 PM
To: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] number of federal election lawsuits over time

Does anybody know of a source with the number of election-related lawsuits in federal court over time? Or a data set that could be used to create such a list? Since 1999 to the (near) present would be ideal, but any recent frame of time would help.

I realize it would be best to narrow “election-related” down, so am open to suggestions. Thanks for any ideas.

-----------------------
Douglas R Hess
On sabbatical until Aug 31, 2021
Asst. Professor, Political Science/Policy Studies
http://www.douglasrhess.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.douglasrhess.com_&d=DwMGaQ&c=HUrdOLg_tCr0UMeDjWLBOM9lLDRpsndbROGxEKQRFzk&r=xr_OjwGHtP-zw6I-DJj_MQ4cusLbiVT1bScGa0c8ZJo&m=1Su0W65D8QCtkZsJ9MBhqWnbMcCIi_d8PwyIITS_tY4&s=aHRFhpmE6iq5wHSEeTCwBPdVAD0eUAghzYZAx_GUTyE&e=>
My latest op-ed using the Grinnell College
National Poll: http://www.bit.ly/hillhess2020

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