[EL] News21 analysis of voter fraud

Tue Aug 14 09:53:13 PDT 2012

Larry, I'm just saying to hear any political consultant/lawyer etc. make that statement will make people on the other side worry. That's a non-partisan net about how people view partisanship!

Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault
  Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 236-6317
bsmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:bsmith at law.capital.edu>
http://www.law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.asp

From: Larry Levine [mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 12:51 PM
To: Smith, Brad; 'Sean Parnell'; 'David A. Schultz'; law-election at UCI.EDU
Subject: RE: [EL] News21 analysis of voter fraud

Ahh. You cast a partisan net. In homily #2 I didn't assign any partisan identification to the God of Majority Rule. In the case of voter ID, God seems to be on the side of Republican controlled legislatures and governors' mansions. I trust my Republican colleagues and friends can cite ample examples of instances in which God was on the other side. The homily, of course, was borne of the frequency with which the deity in evoked to justify the position or action of both sides of a debate.
Larry

From: Smith, Brad [mailto:BSmith at law.capital.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 9:12 AM
To: 'Sean Parnell'; larrylevine at earthlink.net; 'David A. Schultz'; law-election at UCI.EDU
Subject: RE: [EL] News21 analysis of voter fraud

In my experience, it's the expression of ideas such as Larry's Homily #2 (below) by Democrats such as Larry that send Republicans rushing to sign on to Voter ID laws. If you wanted to make any citizen worry about vote fraud by the other side, it would be hard to think of a better way than hearing a skilled operative of the opposite party say something like "God is on the side of the guy with the most votes. If you control the legislature and the governor's office you can do whatever you damned well please."

But Larry's Homily seems meant to channel his inner Madison: he shares the Great Little Madison's concern that "parchment barriers against the encroaching spirit of power" will not stop the growth of government:

"experience assures us, that the efficacy of the provision has been greatly overrated; and that some more adequate defense is indispensably necessary for the more feeble, against the more powerful, members of the government. The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity, and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.

"... An elective despotism was not the government we fought for...

"... a mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments, is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers of government in the same hands."

Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault
  Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 236-6317
bsmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:bsmith at law.capital.edu>
http://www.law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.asp

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu]<mailto:[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu]> On Behalf Of Sean Parnell
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 11:43 AM
To: larrylevine at earthlink.net<mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net>; 'David A. Schultz'; law-election at UCI.EDU<mailto:law-election at UCI.EDU>
Subject: Re: [EL] News21 analysis of voter fraud

Alternately, while to 'objective' observers on the left it's nothing more than an attempt to disenfranchise certain groups of voters, to this 'objective' observer it's a reasonable effort to address a fairly minor concern, and hardly represents the first time elected officials and their ideological/partisan allies have chosen to spend a great deal of effort and time addressing fairly minor concerns. Choose your metaphor - gnats and sledgehammers, molehills and mountains, etc.

Best,

Sean Parnell
President
Impact Policy Management, LLC
6411 Caleb Court
Alexandria, VA  22315
571-289-1374 (c)
sean at impactpolicymanagement.com<mailto:sean at impactpolicymanagement.com>

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu]<mailto:[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu]> On Behalf Of Larry Levine
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 11:30 AM
To: 'David A. Schultz'; law-election at uci.edu<mailto:law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] News21 analysis of voter fraud

Several homilies pop to mind regarding the Republican push for voter ID, which to objective observers has been nothing more than an attempt to disenfranchise certain groups of voters right from the start.
Homily 1 - You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
Homily 2 - God is on the side of the guy with the most votes. If you control the legislature and the governor's office you can do whatever you damned well please and you can make up whatever facts you want to justify it.
Larry

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu]<mailto:[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu]> On Behalf Of David A. Schultz
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 7:30 AM
To: law-election at uci.edu<mailto:law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] News21 analysis of voter fraud

Hi all

An interesting analysis and study on voter fraud as well as a national database.  Several of us on this listserv are featured in the commentary and story.

http://votingrights.news21.com/article/election-fraud/
David Schultz, Professor
Editor, Journal of Public Affairs Education (JPAE)
Hamline University
School of Business
570 Asbury Street
Suite 308
St. Paul, Minnesota 55104
651.523.2858 (voice)
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http://davidschultz.efoliomn.com/
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Twitter: @ProfDSchultz
Named one of the inaugural 2012 FacultyRow SuperProfessors

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