[EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/17/12

Wed Oct 17 08:10:03 PDT 2012

    Second Thoughts on Top Two Primary
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41868>

Posted on October 17, 2012 8:07 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41868> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Yesterday at the excellent Politics in the Extreme 
<http://polsci.csuci.edu/politicstotheextreme.htm> conference at Cal 
State Channel Islands, there was a great panel on the top two primary 
featuring a paper by Seth Masket (draft here 
<http://mysite.du.edu/%7Esmasket/CA_top_two_CSUCI.pdf>) and comments by 
Timm Herdt <http://www.vcstar.com/staff/timm-herdt/> and Joe Mathews 
<http://newamerica.net/user/94>. Seth's paper is an excellent early look 
at what has changed and what has not as California shifted to top two, 
with the caveat that this is only the first general election under the 
new primary rules and it coincides with a new type of redistricting, the 
citizens redistricting commission.  But I was struck by the negativity 
and disappointment expressed by the commentators about how top two was 
not working out, at least so far, in shaking up the system and producing 
more moderate legislators.  Joe Mathews pithily if vulgarly described 
top two as a two round general election: the clusterf.... round 
folllowed by the blood bath round.

I've long supported the constitutionality 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=241459> of top two 
as adopted through the initiative process---political parties don't have 
a right to a party nomination process to choose candidates for office.  
But I've been more ambivalent on policy grounds as to whether top two is 
a good idea.  I'll be watching to see how Seth and others evaluate the 
effects of top two on politics and elections going forward.

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Posted in political parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, 
political polarization <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68> | Comments Off

    "The Campaign Finance Free-For-All: How We Got to This Point"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41866>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:56 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41866> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

ProPublica 
<http://www.propublica.org/article/campaign-finance-free-for-all-how-we-got-to-this-point>: 
"In a forthcoming law review article 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2040941>, Richard 
Briffault of Columbia Law School argues that the rise of super PACs and 
unfettered contributions and spending this election cycle are 
'effectively ending the post-Watergate era of campaign finance laws.' To 
help understand what is shaping up as a watershed election cycle, I 
asked Briffault to explain the path that took the country from stringent 
post-Watergate contribution limits through Citizens United to today's 
multi-billion-dollar free-for-all."

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "California Ballot Initiatives, Born in Populism, Now Come From
    Billionaires" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41863>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:54 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41863> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Must-read NYT repor 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/us/politics/california-ballot-initiatives-dominated-by-the-very-rich.html?ref=politics&_r=0>t.

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Posted in direct democracy <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=62> | 
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    "Fight ends over early voting in Ohio as US Supreme Court refuses to
    step in" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41859>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:50 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41859> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The /CS Monitor /reports. 
<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/1016/Fight-ends-over-early-voting-in-Ohio-as-US-Supreme-Court-refuses-to-step-in>

SCOTUSBlog has more links. 
<http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/10/wednesday-round-up-156/#more-153943>

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voting 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31> | Comments Off

    Quote of the Day <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41856>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:46 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41856> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

"I also suggest Hasen read Chuck Norris' article at Townhall 
<http://townhall.com/columnists/chucknorris/2012/10/16/voter_fraud_is_the_way_to_americas_destruction>."

--Liberal Lawlessness Exposed In Opposition to Voter ID Laws 
<http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/50344>

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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, 
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off

    "Poll Worker Pay" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41853>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:41 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41853> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

A Pew data dispatch. 
<http://www.pewstates.org/research/analysis/poll-worker-pay-85899424014>

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "Allen West plagued by scam PACs" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41851>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:40 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41851> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

/Politico /reports. 
<http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=BCF30F15-9BAB-403D-8E7E-F62DD5794DB7>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12> | Comments Off

    "Christian college asks for refund of donation to super PAC"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41848>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:37 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41848> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Center for Public Integrity reports 
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/10/16/11524/christian-college-asks-refund-donation-super-pac>.

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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

    Rutgers Law Review Voting Rights Symposium Published
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41845>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:35 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41845> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here's what's in Vol. 64 No. 2:

  Current Issue

Volume 64, Summer 2012, Issue 4

    Speeches

/PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO VOTE: THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT A HALF CENTURY 
LATER, WHERE ARE WE AND WHAT CHALLENGES REMAIN 
<http://www.rutgerslawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/vol64/issue4/Stein.pdf>
/The Honorable Gary Stein

The Voting Rights Act, and particularly section 5, may be the most 
successful civil rights enactment in our Nation's history. The power of 
section 5 is that it prevents discriminatory election laws from taking 
effect without preclearance by the Justice Department or a federal 
court. Absent section 5, such laws could be challenged under section 2 
of the Act; but that litigation would be expensive and time consuming, 
and pending the outcome, the law would be in effect. That is why the 
invalidation of section 5 is being pursued so vigorously.

/U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE'S ENFORCEMENT OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT 
<http://www.rutgerslawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/vol64/issue4/PerezComments.pdf>
/Thomas Perez

Recently, I had the opportunity to travel with Attorney General Eric 
Holder to Austin, Texas, where he delivered an address on voting rights 
at the LBJ Library. I had a chance to reflect on LBJ's legacy. The 
Attorney General often calls the Civil Rights Division one of the crown 
jewels of the Department of Justice. The crown jewels are actually the 
laws that we enforce, and Lyndon B. Johnson was the person who brought 
us so many of these jewels.

    Articles

/THE FUTURE OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT 
<http://www.rutgerslawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/vol64/issue4/Hebert.pdf>
/J. Gerald Hebert

On March 7, 1965, a few hundred civil rights activists set out to the 
road from Selma, Alabama, marching for voting rights. Their planned 
journey of fifty miles to the state capital in Montgomery ended only a 
few blocks later, when they were turned back at the foot of the Edmund 
Pettus Bridge by Alabama state troopers.

/SWORD, SHIELD, AND COMPASS: THE USES AND MISUSES OF RACIALLY POLARIZED 
VOTING STUDIES IN VOTING RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT 
<http://www.rutgerslawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/vol64/issue4/Crayton.pdf>
/Kareem U. Crayton

The persistence of racially polarized voting ("RPV"), in legal and 
scholarly circles, is viewed as a social ill that must be rendered 
ineffective or eliminated entirely in public life. Among the primary 
legal tools used to pursue this end are the Fifteenth Amendment of the 
Constitution and various federal antidiscrimination statutes, including 
the Voting Rights Act (the "Act" or "VRA").

/THE PAST AS PROLOGUE: DEFENDING DEMOCRACY AGAINST VOTER SUPPRESSION 
TACTICS ON THE EVE OF THE 2012 ELECTIONS 
<http://www.rutgerslawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/archive/vol64/issue4/Haygood.pdf>
/Ryan P. Haygood

We are experiencing an assault on voting rights that is historic both in 
terms of its scope and intensity. In the last two years, fifteen states 
passed twenty-six restrictive voting measures that threaten to 
disproportionately harm voters of color. As many as five million 
eligible voters are in danger of not being able to register and/or cast 
a ballot this November.

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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1> | Comments Off

    'Republican election officials raise red flag over phony IDs"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41842>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:33 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41842> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News from Indiana 
<http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/republican-election-officials-raise-red-flag-over-phony-ids/article_8c039f61-704b-5489-b616-d0fb4e232b35.html?oCampaign=email>.

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Posted in The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9> | Comments Off

    "On Blackberries and Early Voting: The Tyranny of Rising
    Expectations" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41839>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:29 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41839> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

A ChapinBlog 
<http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/electionacademy/2012/10/on_blackberries_and_early_voti.php>.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "Filling in blanks about voter ID; Both sides in Minnesota's voter
    photo identification debate try to paint pictures about how life
    would look if the requirement passes November 6, but the real
    picture has yet to be painted. " <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41836>

Posted on October 17, 2012 7:27 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41836> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Echo Press reports (h/t Doug Chapin). 
<http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/98674/group/News/>

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9> | 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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