[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/24/13

Wed Apr 24 06:32:23 PDT 2013

    "Low Turnout, High Cost: Time to Rethink Special Elections?"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49520>

Posted on April 24, 2013 6:25 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49520> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

A ChapinBlog. 
<http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/electionacademy/2013/04/low_turnout_high_cost_time_to.php>

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "Graham's campaign collects bundle from lobbyists"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49517>

Posted on April 24, 2013 6:21 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49517> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CPI reports 
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/04/24/12531/grahams-campaign-collects-bundle-lobbyists>.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
lobbying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off

    "The Filibuster and Reconciliation: The Future of Majoritarian
    Lawmaking in the U.S. Senate" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49515>

Posted on April 24, 2013 6:20 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49515> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Tonja Jacobi and Jeff Van Dam have posted this draft 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2221712> on SSRN.  
Here is the abstract:

    The filibuster has effectively become a supermajority requirement
    for all lawmaking in the Senate, an effect worsened by ill-conceived
    attempts at its reform. Once an obscure budgetary procedure,
    reconciliation is now the primary mechanism of avoiding filibusters,
    and so it is now the means by which the most significant pieces of
    legislation in recent years have been passed. The effectiveness of
    mechanisms of restraining reconciliation --- particularly the Byrd
    rule --- as well as constraints on more meaningful filibuster reform
    all hinge on who has supervisory power over Senate rules.
    Ultimately, this rests not in the courts or the Parliamentarian but
    in the Senate itself. The battle between majoritarian and
    minoritarian power in the Senate, and so over the nature of
    legislation creation in Congress, depends upon individual incentives
    and institutional norms. We show that those incentives are
    structured towards minoritarian power, due to particularism,
    institutionalized risk aversion, and path dependence. Consequently,
    filibuster reform is likely to be continually frustrated, as the
    most recent skirmish illustrated. Only through the largely
    accidental change proffered by reconciliation has majoritarian power
    resurfaced, and yet still the pull of minoritarian influence
    continues to reassert itself.

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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

    "S.E.C. Gets Plea: Force Companies to Disclose Donations"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49512>

Posted on April 23, 2013 7:59 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49512> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/us/politics/sec-is-asked-to-make-companies-disclose-donations.html?ref=politics>: 
"A loose coalition of Democratic elected officials, shareholder 
activists and pension funds has flooded the Securities and Exchange 
Commission 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/securities_and_exchange_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org> 
with calls to require publicly traded corporations to disclose to 
shareholders all of their political donations, a move that could 
transform the growing world of secret campaign spending."

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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

    Politifact Rates Statements about Proposed Florida Voting Changes
    "Half True" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49509>

Posted on April 23, 2013 6:31 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49509> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politifact 
<http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2013/apr/23/christopher-l-smith/chris-smith-elections-bill-two-required-changes/>:

    Florida lawmakers are poised to pass voting law changes after being
    mocked for long lines and delayed results during the 2012
    presidential election.

    But in the waning days of the legislative session, Senate Democrats
    are criticizing the plan as not going far enough to address the
    problems at the polls last year.

    "This bill mandates only two things that will address concerns from
    the last election," wrote Sen. Chris Smith, the Senate Democratic
    leader from Fort Lauderdale, in a column in the /Sun-Sentinel
    <http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/fl-cscol-election-oped0421-20130421,0,3131882.story>
    /April 21. "It allows persons to correct an absentee ballot if they
    did not sign it and requires an extra two hours a day for early
    voting. Everything else in this bill is discretionary. Under SB 600,
    Broward, Dade, Palm Beach, Duval, Orange, Hillsborough, Jackson,
    Franklin, Dixie and all the rest of our 67 counties can do exactly
    what they did in 2012, with the exception of just two more hours per
    day for early voting. Nothing else is mandated. Nothing else is
    changed."

    The column left readers with the impression that the bill changed
    little for the better. Smith called it "an opportunity lost."

    Democrats and Republicans are split on some provisions of the bill,
    so there are varying perspectives as to what "concerns" came up
    after the last election. We wanted to fact-check Smith's claim that
    the election bill "allows persons to correct an absentee ballot if
    they did not sign it and requires an extra two hours a day for early
    voting. Everything else in this bill is discretionary."

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

    "Taking on American Political Dysfunction without Changing the
    Constitution" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49506>

Posted on April 23, 2013 6:27 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49506> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

FairVote 
<http://www.fairvote.org/taking-on-american-political-dysfunction-without-changing-the-constitution#.UXczs4JaFyV>: 
"In his draft paper on /Political Dysfunction and Constitutional 
Change,/ <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2243798> 
University of California-Irvine professor Rick Hasen makes a powerful 
case for the need for out-of-the-box thinking on American political 
reform. But he also makes a curious omission. Fair voting alternatives 
to winner-take-all elections do not receive a single mention in the 
paper, even though they were promoted 
<http://www.fairvote.org/the-chairman-s-corner-fairvote-reforms-featured-in-mann-ornstein-book> 
in one of Hasen's major sources, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein's 2012 
book /It's Even Worse Than It Looks/."

MORE: "We do take issue with Hasen's third contention that a dramatic 
change in governance structure is the only reform that could work."

Where do I say that?

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

    "Ron Wyden, Lisa Murkowski Unveil Bipartisan Campaign Finance Bill"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49503>

Posted on April 23, 2013 6:20 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49503> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

HuffPo reports. 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/23/wyden-murkowski-campaign-finance_n_3141818.html>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "On Filibuster, It's Past Time to End 'False Equivalence'"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49500>

Posted on April 23, 2013 5:46 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49500> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Andrew Cohen blogs. 
<http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/filibuster-it%E2%80%99s-past-time-end-%E2%80%98false-equivalence%E2%80%99>

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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

    "Dark-money bill progress reflects legislative corruption"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49497>

Posted on April 23, 2013 5:44 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49497> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The latest f 
<http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/politics/article_c94442c2-aba8-11e2-8651-0019bb2963f4.html>rom 
Montana.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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-- 
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

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