[EL] ELB News and Commentary 8/7/13

Wed Aug 7 08:16:24 PDT 2013

    "Texas Fights New Voting Supervision"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54072>

Posted on August 7, 2013 8:13 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54072> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Lyle Denniston 
<http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/08/texas-fights-new-voting-supervision/>:

    Mounting a strong counter-attack to attempts by the Obama
    administration and others to give federal courts new powers of
    supervision over Texas voting laws, officials of the Lone Star State
    have told a three-judge district court in San Antonio that it cannot
    impose that regime at this stage, or at any point unless there is
    new proof of "rampant" racial bias in election procedures in the state.

    In a fifty-four-page filing
    <http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Texas-reply-on-Sec.-3-of-VRA-8-5-13.pdf>
    Monday evening, state officials cited the Supreme Court's June 25
    decision in /Shelby County v. Holder/
    <http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/Shelby_Cnty_v_Holder_No_1296_2013_BL_167707_US_June_25_2013_Court/3>,
    and told the District Court that it "cannot impose preclearance on
    Texas while remaining faithful to /Shelby County/ and the
    constitutional principles on which it relies."  Preclearance
    obligations under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the state
    contended, can now only be ordered if racial bias in voting in a
    state rises to the level of the "ever-changing discriminatory
    machinations that gave rise to the preclearance regime in the first
    place....Nothing remotely like that has occurred in modern-day Texas."

    The state thus is attempting to turn the new courthouse skirmish
    over a little-used section of the 1965 law --- its Section 3 ---
    into a constitutional battle with high stakes for the future of
    voting rights.  As the two sides have lined up on opposite
    interpretations of Section 3, there is now a very real prospect that
    the Supreme Court may one day have to clarify when a state may be
    required to get approval in Washington before it can put into effect
    any change in its election laws or methods.

Yup, it's Holder's big Texas-sized gambit. 
<http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202613130666&slreturn=20130707111234>

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

    "Wall Street Rules a Conundrum for Chris Christie"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54069>

Posted on August 7, 2013 7:48 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54069> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico reports 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/chris-christie-wall-street-95256.html>.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    Bauer-Ginsberg Commission Meeting in Denver Tomorrow
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54067>

Posted on August 7, 2013 7:47 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54067> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

View the agenda 
<https://www.supportthevoter.gov/2013/07/26/pcea-announces-public-meeting-on-thursday-august-8-2013/>.

Also upcoming i 
<https://www.supportthevoter.gov/2013/07/08/pcea-future-public-meeting-dates/>s 
a Sept. 4 meeting in Philadelphia and a Sept. 20 meeting in a city TBD 
in Ohio.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "Editorial: NARAL shouldn't have exemption on donor disclosure"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54062>

Posted on August 7, 2013 7:36 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54062> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Newsday: 
<http://www.newsday.com/opinion/editorial-naral-shouldn-t-have-exemption-on-donor-disclosure-1.5835247>

    While it's true that abortion is one of the most emotional and
    divisive political topics of our times, there's no reason for the
    exemption abortion-rights lobbying group NARAL Pro-Choice New York
    has been granted that allows it to keep its donors secret.

Indeed <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1948313>.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    A Big Thank You to Dan Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54059>

Posted on August 7, 2013 7:35 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54059> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

...for guest blogging while I was travelling.

Buy his book <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54034>!

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

    The EAC Marches On <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54056>

Posted on August 7, 2013 7:34 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54056> 
by Dan Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

The Election Assistance Commission continues to do business, even 
without commissioners, issuing this report 
<http://www.eac.gov/research/uocava_studies.aspx> on its 2012 UOCAVA 
Survey, and soliciting comments 
<http://www.eac.gov/research/election_administration_and_voting_survey.aspx> 
on its 2014 Election Administration and Voting Survey.  I wonder who the 
people beneath "Commissioners" on this org chart 
<http://www.eac.gov/about_the_eac/> report to?

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
Election Assistance Commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34> | 
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    Elections? There's an App for That
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54053>

Posted on August 7, 2013 7:15 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54053> 
by Dan Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

The NYT reports here 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/nyregion/registration-as-a-voter-to-be-easier-via-phone.html> 
on the NYC Votes app <http://www.nycvotes.org/faq> from the City's 
Campaign Finance Board, designed "to make it easier to register to vote, 
give money and communicate with campaigns, all from the palm of your hand."

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, voter 
registration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>, voting technology 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40> | Comments Off

    Write-in Candidates Get Majority of Votes in Detroit Mayoral Primary
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54050>

Posted on August 7, 2013 7:05 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54050> 
by Dan Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Write-in candidates received 52% of the vote 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/detroit-mayor-primary-write-in-votes-95274.html> 
in yesterday's primary, with Mike Duggan the top write-in candidate, 
after having been knocked off the ballot due to a residency issue. He'll 
face Sheriff Benny Napoleon 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/us/detroit-mayoral-primary.html?_r=0> 
in the run-off election.

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Posted in ballot access <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46> | Comments Off

    "Organizing for Action Pitches Help for Democrats"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54047>

Posted on August 7, 2013 6:49 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54047> 
by Dan Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Politico reports 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/organizing-for-action-democrats-michelle-nunn-95237.html?hp=f2> that 
"Organizing for Action is looking to help Georgia Senate candidate 
Michelle Nunn,  marking the first time that President Barack Obama's 
political arm has explicitly crossed into Democratic politics,"  while 
OFA spokeswoman Katie Hogan claims: "Organizing for Action does not 
participate in electoral politics. We are not  partisan."

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    Lisa Manheim on "Redistricting Litigation and the Delegation of
    Democratic Design" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54044>

Posted on August 6, 2013 12:26 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54044> 
by Dan Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Lisa Manheim of University of Washington 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=51509> has posted this article 
<http://ssrn.com/abstract=2292123> on SSRN.  Here's the abstract:

The power to redraw electoral lines is the power to design elections. 
Enormous significance therefore attaches to any delegation of 
redistricting authority. Yet in every jurisdiction in the country, the 
power to redistrict has been delegated to a varied collection of actors 
whose participation largely has escaped academic attention. They are as 
ubiquitous as they are overlooked: they are the redistricting litigants. 
These actors' participation in the process leads to a startling form of 
redistricting. Though the majority of these litigants are not elected, 
appointed, or in any way vetted by the electorate at large, they are 
empowered to affect electoral lines in deliberate and politically 
consequential ways; to affect the rights of non-parties without 
providing class-action protections or other defenses; and to exploit a 
procedural regime that, due to the time pressures of the election cycle, 
becomes warped in ways that give litigants significant leverage to 
advance their own agendas. These features reflect a regime developed not 
through deliberate design, but rather through the accidental effects of 
judicial intervention. This Article responds to the persistent gap in 
the literature by revealing the unacknowledged power of redistricting 
litigants. It identifies the concerns their participation raises with 
respect to the outcomes, efficiency, and legitimacy of the redistricting 
process, and it concludes with a discussion of targeted reforms. These 
reforms include institutional adjustments meant to reduce reliance on 
litigants and procedural changes meant to give greater voice to non-parties.

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Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | Comments Off

    Could NC Be Covered Under Section 3?
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54041>

Posted on August 6, 2013 12:18 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54041> 
by Dan Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

HuffPost explores the possibility here 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/06/north-carolina-voting-law_n_3713411.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&ir=Politics>.

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Posted in Voting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | 
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    "Republican Says E-mails Could Mean FEC-IRS Collusion"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54038>

Posted on August 6, 2013 12:11 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=54038> 
by Dan Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

CNN reports 
<http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/05/politics/irs-fec-controversy/index.html?hpt=hp_t3>:  
"The vice chairman of the Federal Election Commission [Don McGahn] told 
CNN on Monday he has seen numerous undisclosed e-mails between FEC 
staffers and the Internal Revenue Service that raise new questions about 
potential collusion between the two federal agencies in the alleged 
targeting of conservative political groups."

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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
hhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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