[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/15/13

Fri Feb 15 07:45:41 PST 2013

<http://electionlawblog.org/>

    10 Years of the Election Law Blog <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47303>

Posted on February 15, 2013 7:42 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47303> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

It is hard for me to believe, but Monday marks the tenth anniversary of 
the Election Law Blog.  Here is my first post 
<http://electionlaw.blogspot.com/2003_02_01_archive.html#89322511#89322511>, 
when this blog was on blogspot:

    *McCain-Feingold's Future* Don't expect a decision from the United
    States District Court for the District of Columbia
    <http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/> today in the BCRA litigation. The
    building is closed because of snow.

    posted by Rick 11:37 AM
    <http://electionlaw.blogspot.com/2003_02_01_archive.html#89322511#89322511>

I did not know what to expect when I started blogging on Feb. 18, 2003. 
(On why I started and on my debt to blogfather Howard Bashman 
<http://howappealing.law.com/>, see here. 
<http://www.crescatsententia.net/archives/2003_09_29.html#001989>) Since 
that time, I have posted over 40,000 items. The blog has had almost 2 
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2013-02-15-at-7.34.19-AM.png> 
million unique visits and over 3.2 million page views 
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2013-02-15-at-7.34.19-AM.png>---something 
I never would have imagined for a niche blog such as mine.

Bruce Cain asked me a few years into blogging what my "exit strategy" 
was when I decided I had had enough of the blogging.  I still don't have 
one. It is true that it is a lot of work, but it is a labor of love: a 
way to share information and opinion on election law, and provide a 
forum for contested ideas at the core of American democracy. Thanks to 
each of you for giving some of your time to reading my posts, and here's 
to the next ten years!

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

    Ilya Shapiro on Shelby County <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47301>

Posted on February 15, 2013 7:26 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47301> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The latest 
<http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/shelby-county-v-holder-section-5-of-the-voting-rights-act-conflicts-with-section-2-which-provides-the-proper-remedy-for-racial-discrimination-in-voting/> 
at SCOTUSBlog.

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

    "Fox News Hosts Mock Desiline Victor, 102 Year Old Woman Who Waited
    Three Hours To Vote (AUDIO) " <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47299>

Posted on February 15, 2013 7:25 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47299> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

HuffPo reports 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/fox-news-hosts-desiline-victor_n_2688111.html?utm_hp_ref=tw>.

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

    Map of the Day <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47295>

Posted on February 15, 2013 7:18 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47295> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Redrawing <http://fakeisthenewreal.org/reform/> the United States as 50 
states with equal population.

MORE 
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/02/15/172029048/a-crazy-but-rational-solution-to-our-electoral-college-problem?ft=1&f=1014&sc=tw>from 
Robert Krulwich.

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Posted in electoral college <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44> | 
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    "Racist Alabama Legacy Shadows High Court on Voting Rights"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47292>

Posted on February 15, 2013 7:16 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47292> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg 
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-15/racist-alabama-legacy-shadows-high-court-on-voting-rights.html?alcmpid=politics>:

    To Frank "Butch" Ellis, the racist culture that defined Alabama
    <http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/STOAL1:US> 50 years ago is gone.
    Integrated neighborhoods are common, and blacks are winning local
    elections with white support, he says.

    "It's not an issue anymore with us here," the white lawyer said from
    his office across the street from the Shelby County courthouse in
    Columbiana.

    To Harry Jones, a black minister, the racism has just moved
    underground. "Shelby County has modernized the 'good ole boy'
    syndrome," he said at his church in Calera, 10 miles away.

    Those divergent views of Alabama and the American South are at the
    core of a U.S. Supreme Court
    <http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/1000L:US> fight over the 1965 Voting
    Rights Act, the landmark law that did more than any civil rights-era
    measure to empower blacks at the ballot box. Which perspective the
    court adopts will determine the fate of a central prong of the law
    being challenged by Shelby County. The court hears arguments Feb. 27
    and will probably rule by late June.

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

    "Federal election commission may take back seat to Florida reforms"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47289>

Posted on February 15, 2013 7:13 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47289> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Orlando Sentinel reports 
<http://www.southflorida.com/news/os-elections-lines-obama-commission-20130214,0,4377215.story>.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
Election Assistance Commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>, The 
Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off

    "Supreme Court Justice David Prosser's case appears stuck in
    neutral' <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47286>

Posted on February 15, 2013 7:11 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47286> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The latest 
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/judicial-panel-told-prosser-ethics-prosecutor-to-put-case-in-neutral-v48pjrd-191306381.html>from 
Wisconsin.

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Posted in chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, judicial 
elections <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19> | Comments Off

    "Election Opponents Now on Same Team: Panel to Fix Voting"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47282>

Posted on February 15, 2013 7:08 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47282> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/us/politics/opposing-election-lawyers-to-lead-obama-voting-panel.html?hp&_r=0> 
offers new details on the Bauer-Ginsberg Commission:

    The White House will also name five other people to the commission,
    aides said, including customer service experts from the private
    sector and election officials. Advisers said the commission would
    not propose legislation, but would make broader suggestions of best
    practices to try and diminish the long lines at polling places. It
    is expected to spend at least six months studying the voting
    challenges before making its recommendation. In the meantime, the
    Supreme Court is preparing to hear a major challenge to the Voting
    Rights Act
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/v/voting_rights_act_1965/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>
    this month, with a decision potentially giving states more freedom
    to tighten voting requirements....

    The mechanics of voting are facing more scrutiny than at any other
    point in the last decade, since the Help America Vote Act was
    created in 2002 in response to the deadlocked presidential election
    two years earlier. But the Election Assistance Commission that was
    established has been barely visible and four commissioner seats have
    been vacant for nearly two years.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, Voting Rights Act 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off

    "Warehouse worker finds Sacramento County uncounted ballots"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47279>

Posted on February 14, 2013 4:13 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47279> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

SacBee 
<http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/14/5191836/warehouse-worker-finds-sacramento.html>: 
"The Sacramento County Elections office reported today that a member of 
its warehouse crew found 407 uncounted ballots cast in the Nov. 6 
election sitting unopened in a sealed bag on a shelf."

Unfortunately, these stories are all too common. Hanlon's razor 
<http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hanlon%27s%20Razor>, my 
friends.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "Center report prompts request for FEC hearing on super PACs"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47276>

Posted on February 14, 2013 3:41 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47276> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CPI: 
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/12/12183/center-report-prompts-request-fec-hearing-super-pacs>"Harvard 
University law professor Lawrence Lessig <http://www.lessig.org/about/>* 
and his campaign finance reform organization, Rootstrikers 
<http://www.rootstrikers.org/about_rootstrikers>, are today calling on 
Federal Election Commission Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub 
<http://www.fec.gov/members/weintraub/weintraubbio.shtml> to conduct a 
public hearing on super PAC regulation." [/*The Center for Public 
Integrity receives funding through an arrangement with Harvard 
University, facilitated by Lessig./]

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "U.S. Postal Service plans to eliminate Saturday delivery; Elections
    officials not surprised; will ramp-up voter ed"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47273>

Posted on February 14, 2013 3:38 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47273> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

That's the lead story in this week's Electionline Weekly 
<http://www.electionline.org/index.php/electionline-weekly>.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "Reagan's Former AG Schools Hans von Spakovsky on Voting Rights"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47270>

Posted on February 14, 2013 3:22 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47270> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Doug Kendall blogs 
<https://theusconstitution.org/text-history/1815/reagan%E2%80%99s-former-ag-schools-hans-von-spakovsky-voting-rights>.

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

    "Judicial Elections: Who Wins and Who Loses?"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47265>

Posted on February 14, 2013 3:19 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47265> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I will be joining California Supreme Court Justice Ming W. Chin and 
California Court of Appeals Justice Douglas P. Miller at this event 
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Joint-Meeting-InvitationRev020613.pdf> 
for the Inns of Court in Indian Wells, California on Tuesday, February 19.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, judicial elections 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19> | Comments Off

    Heritage Event on Shelby County Case
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47263>

Posted on February 14, 2013 3:15 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47263> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The following invitation arrived via email:

*Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder*

The (Un)Constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act

/Featuring/

*The Honorable John Neiman*

Solicitor General, State of Alabama

**

*Michael Carvin*

Partner, Jones Day

*Roger Clegg*

President and General Counsel, Center for Equal Opportunity

**

*Todd Gaziano*

Director, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, The 
Heritage Foundation

**

**

/Host:/

*Hans von Spakovsky*

Senior Legal Fellow, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial 
Studies, The Heritage Foundation

On February 27, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the 
constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). While 
appropriate as a temporary, "emergency" measure in 1965, Section 5 is 
now outdated and imposes onerous requirements on an arbitrary group of 
states and counties.  In order for these jurisdictions to make any 
change to their voting rules, Section 5 requires that they submit the 
proposed changes to the federal government and receive pre-clearance 
before implementing them.  Not only is Section 5 an intrusion into state 
sovereignty, it also challenges the tradition of treating states 
equally.  Join our panel of experts as they discuss these issues as well 
as examine the arguments the parties may make when they appear before 
the Court.

    Friday, Feb. 22, 2:00 to 3:15 p.m.

          The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman Auditorium

**

RSVP online at RSVP online 
<http://www.heritage.org/events/2013/02/shelby-county> | or call (202) 
675-1761

Terms and conditions of attendance are posted at 
heritage.org/Events/terms.cfm 
<http://www.heritage.org/Press/Events/terms.cfm>

*214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE | Washington, DC 20002 | (202) 546-4400*

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

    "Big Corporations Put Up Seed Funding for Republican Dark Money
    Group" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47260>

Posted on February 14, 2013 3:12 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47260> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

ProPublica 
<http://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit>: 
"Some of the nation's biggest corporations donated more than a million 
dollars to launch a Republican nonprofit that went on to play a key role 
in recent political fights. Like the nonprofit groups 
<http://www.propublica.org/article/how-nonprofits-spend-millions-on-elections-and-call-it-public-welfare> 
that poured money into last year's elections, the decade-old State 
Government Leadership Foundation <http://www.sglf.org/> has been able to 
keep the identities of its funders secret. Until now."

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "Obama advocacy group OFA solicits high-dollar bundlers for support"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47257>

Posted on February 14, 2013 3:10 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47257> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

LA Times 
<http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-ofa-solicits-high-dollar-bundlers-20130214,0,1262414.story?track=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=56325>: 
"Leaders of Organizing for Action 
<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/organizing-for-action-ORCIG000105.topic>, 
President Obama 
<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/barack-obama-PEPLT007408.topic>'s 
new nonprofit advocacy group 
<http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-organizing-for-action-partisan-issues-20130207,0,6239594.story>, 
are courting his top campaign bundlers to be part of a high-dollar 
fundraising network that will help finance the work of the nascent 
organization. During a swing through the Bay Area and Los Angeles this 
week, OFA Chairman Jim Messina and Executive Director Jon Carson met 
with members of the Obama campaign's National Finance Committee and told 
them there will be a similar structure in place to support the work of 
the nonprofit group, which is set up as a 501(c)4 social welfare 
organization. They were accompanied by Rufus Gifford, who served as 
finance director for Obama's reelection bid."

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "Obama's proposed voting commission under partisan fire from both
    sides" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47254>

Posted on February 14, 2013 3:06 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47254> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-proposed-voting-commission-under-partisan-fire-from-both-sides/2013/02/14/9320078e-7616-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_story.html>.

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

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