[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/31/12
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Mon Dec 31 12:27:17 PST 2012
Happy New Year! <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45772>
Posted on December 31, 2012 12:24 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45772> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Once again it has been a busy year for the Election Law Blog and 2013
promises some big news as well in the area of voting rights, campaign
finance, filibuster reform/political polarization and other topics.
i wish all my readers a safe, healthy and happy 2013.
Below the fold you'll find a list of books, articles, and opeds that
I've published (or that were released in draft) in 2012. Thanks for
reading!
Continue reading ? <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45772#more-45772>
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1> | Comments Off
"Arizona makes example out of few caught voting twice"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45770>
Posted on December 31, 2012 12:19 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45770> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
USA Today reports:
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/12/30/arizona-nabs-double-voters/1799581/>
"In 2008, the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program snared
four cases involving six people who voted for president in both Arizona
and in another state. Earlier this year, Arizona Secretary of State Ken
Bennett said the program had found 10 people who appeared to have voted
twice in the 2010 election. Those cases are still under investigation,
and the voters face possible prosecution. Work has not begun on
cross-referencing voting information from the 2012 elections."
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Posted in chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election
administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Researcher: Long lines at polls caused 49,000 not to vote"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45767>
Posted on December 31, 2012 12:14 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45767> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Orlando Sentinel
<http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-discouraged-voters-20121229,0,215136.story>:
[A]s many as 49,000 people across Central Florida were discouraged
from voting because of long lines on Election Day, according to a
researcher at Ohio State University who analyzed election data
compiled by the Orlando
<http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/us/florida/orange-county-%28florida%29-PLGEO100100410000000.topic>
Sentinel.
About 30,000 of those discouraged voters --- most of them in Orange
and Osceola counties --- likely would have backed Democratic
President Barack Obama
<http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/politics/government/barack-obama-PEPLT007408.topic>,
according to Theodore Allen, an associate professor of industrial
engineering at OSU.
About 19,000 voters would have likely backed Republican Mitt Romney
<http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/politics/government/mitt-romney-PEPLT007376.topic>,
Allen said.
This suggests that Obama's margin over Romney in Florida could have
been roughly 11,000 votes higher than it was, based just on Central
Florida results. Obama carried the state by 74,309 votes out of more
than 8.4 million cast.
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1> | Comments Off
Fewest Bills from 112th Congress <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45765>
Posted on December 31, 2012 12:03 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45765> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NBC News First Read:
<http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/31/16266493-first-thoughts-farewell-to-the-112th-congress?lite>
In addition, just 219 bills have been passed into law --- the lowest
number since Congress began tracking this number in the 1940s. (And
many of these bills were naming courthouses or post offices.) The
previous low was 333 in the 104th Congress (1995-1996).
<http://library.clerk.house.gov/resume.aspx> Throughout its history,
of course, Congress has always been a dysfunctional place; in fact,
the Founding Fathers ensured it that way (with the federal
government's checks and balances). But this particular Congress,
which comes to an end on Jan. 3, has been uniquely dysfunctional.
Just consider: the current fiscal-cliff debate, the debt-ceiling
standoff of 2011 that resulted in an S&P credit downgrade, the Super
Committee's failure, the near government shutdown in the spring of
2011, the defeat of the U.N. Disabilities treaty, etc. With the debt
ceiling, the fiscal cliff, and the near government shutdown, it's
hard not to conclude that Congress has been an active player in the
sluggishness of the U.S. economy.
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Posted in legislation and legislatures
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, political parties
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68> | Comments Off
"'Democracy and Disdain' misses the point of judicial review"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45762>
Posted on December 31, 2012 11:58 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45762> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
George Will:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-democracy-and-disdain-misses-the-point-of-judicial-review/2012/12/28/753b6c08-505b-11e2-8b49-64675006147f_story.html>
"While accusing the Supreme Court's conservative justices of "disdain
for democracy," Pamela S. Karlan
<http://www.harvardlawreview.org/media/pdf/vol126_karlan.pdf>proves
herself <http://www.law.stanford.edu/node/166368> talented at dispensing
disdain. The Stanford law professor is, however, less talented at her
chosen task of presenting a coherent understanding of judicial review.
Still, her "Democracy and Disdain
<http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/126/november12/Foreword_9380.php>"
in the November issue of the Harvard Law Review usefully illustrates
progressivism's consistent disdain for the Founders' project of limiting
government."
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Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29> | Comments Off
"Let's Give Up on the Constitution"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45760>
Posted on December 31, 2012 11:57 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45760> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Louis Michael Seidman has written this NYT oped,
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/opinion/lets-give-up-on-the-constitution.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>
which begins: "AS the nation teeters at the edge of fiscal chaos,
observers are reaching the conclusion that the American system of
government is broken. But almost no one blames the culprit: our
insistence on obedience to the Constitution, with all its archaic,
idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions."
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1> | Comments Off
"A Constitutional Case Against Felony Disenfranchisement Laws"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45757>
Posted on December 31, 2012 11:51 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45757> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Color Lines reports
<http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/12/a_case_for_how_felony_disenfranchisement_laws_violate_constitutional_rights.html>.
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Posted in felon voting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66> | Comments Off
"Conservatives Invoke NAACP Case In Fight For Secret Donors"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45755>
Posted on December 31, 2012 11:50 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45755> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Peter Overby reports
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/12/30/168216783/conservatives-invoke-naacp-case-in-fight-for-secret-donors?live=1>for
NPR.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22> | Comments Off
"In Congress, relatives lobby on bills before family members"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45753>
Posted on December 31, 2012 11:49 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45753> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-congress-relatives-lobby-for-bills-before-family-members/2012/12/29/a54adce2-4301-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_story.html>:
"In 2007, in the wake of the biggest lobbying scandal in decades,
Congress limited the ability of family members to lobby their relatives
in the House or Senate. But it declined to ban the practice entirely.
Since then, 56 relatives of lawmakers have been paid to influence
Congress. More than 500 firms have spent more than $400 million on
lobbying teams that include the relatives of members, according to a
Washington Post analysis of disclosure forms."
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Posted in conflict of interest laws
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>, ethics investigations
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=42>, legislation and legislatures
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, lobbying
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off
Asymmetric Polarization in Congress
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45750>
Posted on December 28, 2012 4:22 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45750> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Political Wire
<http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/12/28/republicans_to_blame_for_more_polarized_congress.html>:
Harry Enten
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/28/democrats-republicans-polarisation-congress>
looks at statistics that rank members of Congress on a scale from -1
for most liberal to 1 for most conservative and finds Senate and
House Democrats have been fairly stable at -0.4 since 1992.
"There has, however, been an increase in partisanship in the House,
and it truly is 'asymmetrical'. The Republican House caucus has been
becoming more conservative every year since 1977, whether or not
House Republicans are winning or losing elections. Republicans have
climbed from 0.4 on the DW nominate scales after the 1992 elections
to near 0.7 in the last congress. That type of charge towards
polarization is historically unusual over data that stretches back
130 years."
Likewise, Senate Republicans "have slowly and become more
conservative in their roll call votes by moving from about 0.3 to
0.5 on the scale."
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Posted in legislation and legislatures
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, political parties
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>, Remedies
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=57>, tax law and election law
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>, term limits
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=65> | Comments Off
"Is Online Voting for the Oscars Really a Problem?"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45747>
Posted on December 28, 2012 3:40 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45747> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Slate explores.
<http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/12/28/oscars_online_voting_problems_academy_voters_upset_by_technical_glitches.html>
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Posted in internet voting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=49>, voting
technology <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40> | Comments Off
"Lawmakers Suggest New Rules to Speed Up Senate Business"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45744>
Posted on December 28, 2012 3:03 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45744> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:
<http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/lawmakers-suggest-new-rules-to-speed-up-senate-business/>
"A bipartisan group of eight senators on Friday proposed a detailed set
of Senate rule changes that could speed the legislative process
considerably but would stop short of the most dramatic changes to the
filibuster that some Democrats are demanding."
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Posted in legislation and legislatures
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, political polarization
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68> | Comments Off
--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org
Now available: The Voting Wars: http://amzn.to/y22ZTv
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