[EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/30/12

Tue Oct 30 08:04:49 PDT 2012

    "The Popular Vote and Presidential Legitimacy"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42746>

Posted on October 30, 2012 8:02 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42746> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jonathan Adler 
<http://www.volokh.com/2012/10/30/the-popular-vote-and-presidential-legitimacy/>: 
"Recent polling results present the possibility that Mitt Romney could 
win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote. Would this matter? It 
shouldn't. We've seen this before, and it is not at all unusual for a 
President to be elected with less than 50 percent of the popular vote, 
as some voters support third-party candidates. Should President Obama be 
re-elected, there's no question some GOP partisans will complain and 
right-leaning pundits will dredge up old quotes from Democratic 
politicians calling for replacing the Electoral College with a national 
popular vote system. But Barack Obama would still be the president, and 
he would be no less 'legitimate' than if he had won the popular vote as 
well."

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Posted in campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, electoral 
college <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44> | Comments Off

    "EXCLUSIVE: Romney Campaign Training Poll Watchers To Mislead Voters
    In Wisconsin" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42744>

Posted on October 30, 2012 7:58 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42744> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I expect we will hear more about this 
<http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/10/30/1106961/romney-wisconsin-poll-watchers/?mobile=nc>.

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Posted in campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, The Voting 
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off

    "Above Politics: The Supreme Court is keeping a low profile this
    election year by deftly choosing cases that avoid the hot-button
    issues." <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42741>

Posted on October 30, 2012 7:54 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42741> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Emily Bazelon writes 
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/10/john_roberts_and_the_supreme_court_justices_have_carefully_chosen_cases.html> 
at /Slate./

Interestingly, the Court has relisted the Shelby County case involving 
the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act for this week's 
conference, meaning a decision on whether or not to hear the case could 
come the day before the election.  Will they put it off for another week?

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Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting 
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off

    "Provisional ballots could keep Ohio's presidential outcome in doubt
    for days after election" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42738>

Posted on October 30, 2012 7:48 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42738> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The /Cleveland Plain Dealer/ reports 
<http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/10/provisional_ballots_could_keep.html>.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
provisional ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=67>, The Voting 
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off

    Ohio Files Emergency Stay App. in 6th Circuit in Provisional Ballot
    Case <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42734>

Posted on October 30, 2012 7:42 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42734> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I'm keeping my eye on this 
<http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/AppellantsEmergencyMotiontoStayInjunctionPendingAppeal.pdf> 
for reasons discussed at the end ofthis /Slate /piece 
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/10/campaign_2012_will_obama_win_ohio_thanks_to_bush_v_gore.html>.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
provisional ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=67>, The Voting 
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off

    "Long Ballots, Long Lines in Florida?"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42731>

Posted on October 30, 2012 7:27 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42731> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

A Pew Data Dispatch 
<http://www.pewstates.org/research/analysis/long-ballots-long-lines-in-florida-85899426651>.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "Second printing error could jeopardize another 500 Palm Beach
    County absentee ballots, as copying of 27,000 continues"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42729>

Posted on October 30, 2012 7:26 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42729> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Palm Beach Post reports 
<http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/second-printing-error-could-jeopardize-another-500/nSrJx/>.

As I told NPR, the number one danger for this election going into 
overtime is election administrator incompetence 
<http://www.npr.org/2012/10/28/163823781/shifting-laws-make-create-confusion-at-the-polls>.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "Post Sandy Questions" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42727>

Posted on October 30, 2012 7:24 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42727> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Thad Hall blogs 
<http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/2012/10/30/post-sandy-questions/>.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "Hurricane Sandy Prompts Renewed Discussion -- But So Far ONLY
    Discussion -- About Contingency Planning in Elections"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42725>

Posted on October 30, 2012 7:23 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42725> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

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

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "The Danger of Voter Fraud Vigilantes"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42722>

Posted on October 29, 2012 9:43 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42722> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Drop everything and read Justin Levitt's piece 
<http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/the-danger-of-voter-fraud-vigilantes/> 
in NYT's "Campaign Stops." A taste:

    There are three big problems with mass challenges. The first is the
    accuracy of the underlying information. Sloppy efforts to match data
    from one system to another yield many mistakes: garbage in, garbage
    out. People listed as dead aren't dead
    <http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017683.html>. People listed as
    moving haven't moved
    <http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_8ea75e9a-2d60-548c-8776-80da4bba71cd.html>.
    People listed as noncitizens aren't noncitizens
    <http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/05/31/154020289/world-war-ii-vet-caught-up-in-floridas-voter-purge-controversy>.
    People listed with disenfranchising convictions
    <http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PBPB&p_theme=pbpb&p_action=search&p_field_label-0=Author&p_field_label-1=title&p_bool_label-1=AND&p_text_label-1=Felon%20Purge%20Sacrificed%20Innocent%20Voters>haven't
    been convicted of disenfranchising crimes. Or eligible citizens on
    the rolls are mistaken for people who are ineligible but not
    registered --- like Florida Governor Rick Scott, flagged as dead
    <http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/14/us-usa-voting-florida-idUSBRE85D15R20120614> in
    2006 by a purge that confused him for another Floridian with the
    same name and date of birth. Mistakes like these are far more common
    <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=997888> than
    most of us would assume.

    The second problem is that some citizen vigilantes see the law as
    they want it to be, not as it is. They hunt voters registered at
    business addresses, ignoring the fact that small business owners or
    managers may live where they work
    <http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2002605462_challenges05m.html>.
    They hunt immigrants, ignoring the fact that noncitizens may have
    become naturalized
    <http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/18/486575/james-o-keefe-william-romero-citizen/>.
    They hunt students and others in group housing, ignoring the fact
    that legal residence may not be intuitive
    <http://http//bangordailynews.com/2011/09/09/politics/gop-chairman-targets-voters-who-list-hotel-rooms-as-residence/>.
    They target, in short, situations that they deem unfamiliar ---
    forgetting that unfamiliar is not the same as unlawful.

    The law they think they are helping to enforce is the law of their
    gut, not the law on the books. And at the most extreme, they even
    impersonate real law enforcement personnel
    <http://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_82d8aea0-106a-58b1-a164-2c35a05d3c8c.html> to
    do so.

    The third problem is the result of this wholly predictable
    inaccuracy. Belated mass challenges to registration rolls suck time
    away from overworked and underpaid officials desperately trying to
    make sure that the elections run smoothly and they pull eligible
    citizens away from jobs and families into unnecessary legal
    hearings. Mass challenges to absentee ballots leave legitimate
    voters with little practical chance to defend themselves. Mass
    challenges at the polls bog the process down, creating excessive and
    confrontational lines that make voting a gauntlet rather than a
    civic rite.

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

    "Could a Hurricane Like Sandy Postpone the Presidential Election?"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42719>

Posted on October 29, 2012 9:37 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42719> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Andrew Cohen interviews 
<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/10/could-a-hurricane-like-sandy-postpone-the-presidential-election/264254/> 
Jerry Goldfeder.

Just like Gerry Hebert is the "Bailout King 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?s=bailout+king>," I think Jerry Goldfeder 
will be thought of as the "Presidential Election Disaster King."

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "How Hurricane Sandy Could Spoil Election Day"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42716>

Posted on October 29, 2012 9:32 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42716> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ben Jacobs writes 
<http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/109364/how-hurricane-sandy-could-spoil-election-day> 
for TNR.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    What Should We Do if Sandy's Aftermath Disrupts Voting? Moritz Forum
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42713>

Posted on October 29, 2012 9:29 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42713> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

John Fortier 
<http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/comments/index.php?ID=9963> opens 
the discussion at Moritz: "There are no easy answers, but one simple 
principle: like laws governing recounts, these questions are better 
answered in advance rather than in the midst of an election controversy. 
In the future, states should improve their laws for dealing with 
disrupted elections. For the present, election officials and the legal 
teams for both campaigns should try to clarify election disruption 
procedures before election day. And for the rest of us, let's pray that 
Sandy does little damage to our already turbulent 2012 election."

  Ned Foley: 
<http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/freefair/index.php?ID=9965>"Therefore, 
every effort should be made to develop contingency plans that will 
enable the casting of ballots to end, as expected, on November 6. Our 
electoral system was built with the understanding that it may take some 
days after November 6 to complete the counting of those ballots, but to 
keep the polls open several more days is much more unsettling to the 
system. It is not that we should never exercise that more extreme 
option. It is only that we should carefully assess whether it is truly 
necessary, after considering the feasibility of less extreme but 
potentially effective measures."

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "Pass the Plate a Second Time to Support Marriage . . ."
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42710>

Posted on October 29, 2012 9:24 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42710> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Richard Painter 
<http://www.legalethicsforum.com/blog/2012/10/pass-the-plate-a-second-time-to-support-marriage.html> 
on churches and fundraising on an anti same-sex marriage measure in 
Minnesota.

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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

    "Disability and Voting" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42708>

Posted on October 29, 2012 9:22 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=42708> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Michael Waterstone blogs 
<http://llsblog.lls.edu/faculty/2012/10/by-associate-dean-michael-waterstone-2.html> 
at Summary Judgments.

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Posted in voting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31> | 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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