[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/16/13

Sat Feb 16 13:02:28 PST 2013

    "Obama Versus Campaign Finance Laws"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47371>

Posted on February 16, 2013 1:00 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47371> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

John Wonderlich 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-sunlight-foundation/obama-campaign-finance-laws_b_2697863.html>:

    There's a certain conventional wisdom that President Obama wants
    stronger campaign finance laws, and to protect our democracy from
    the corrupting effects of money in politics.

    It's a story that you should no longer believe.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "Voter ID law likely to be postponed until after May primary"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47368>

Posted on February 16, 2013 12:55 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47368> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News 
<http://articles.mcall.com/2013-02-15/news/mc-pa-voter-id-primary-0215-20130215_1_voter-id-law-election-officials-photo-id-card> 
from PA.

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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

    About All That Supposed Voter Fraud in Hamilton County, Ohio
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47365>

Posted on February 16, 2013 12:49 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47365> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Read this: 
<http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201302150522/NEWS/302150193>

    A Hamilton County Board of Elections hearing on Friday into possible
    vote fraud last November produced no Perry Mason moments but plenty
    of evidence of voter confusion -- not over for whom to vote, but how
    to vote...

    The case of Veronica Stearns, a 51-year-old Springfield Township
    voter, was typical of those heard Friday. Stearns acknowledged
    having cast an absentee ballot and then also voting a second time at
    her polling place on Election Day.

    Stearns said she became concerned when a postal worker told her
    mother that absentee ballot envelopes without two stamps -- hers had
    only one -- would not be delivered. (In fact, the post office's
    policy is to deliver such ballot envelopes, with boards of elections
    picking up the additional postage cost, said board member Caleb Faux.)

    "The post office told my mom my vote wouldn't be counted," she said.

    When she went to her polling place on Election Day, Stearns said,
    workers who she told that she already had voted absentee allowed her
    to cast a provisional ballot -- the proper procedure.

    Provisional ballots are cast when there is a question over a voter's
    eligibility, often after a move, a name change or in cases when it
    is unclear whether a requested absentee ballot has actually been
    cast. After officials sort out the matter, they decide which, if
    any, of a voter's ballots to count.

    In instances in which both an absentee and Election Day ballot have
    been cast, the vote counted usually is the first one cast -- the
    absentee....

Of course, some real voter fraud does occur including in Hamilton County 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47096>. But don't turn a very small 
problem into an epidemic of fraud.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
fraudulent fraud squad <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting 
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off

    "FEC Deadlocks Derail Matters Involving Crossroads GPS,
    Family-Member Super PAC" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47362>

Posted on February 15, 2013 5:50 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47362> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg BNA 
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=29745575&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0d6m0d6q4&split=0>:

    The Federal Election Commission dismissed two cases involving
    allegations of illegal coordination between congressional candidates
    and outside spending groups after the commissioners deadlocked along
    party lines regarding whether the cases should be investigated, the
    FEC announced Feb. 15.
    One case involved Crossroads GPS, among the most prominent
    Republican-leaning nonprofit groups involved in recent campaigns.
    Designated Matter Under Review (MUR) 6368, the case involved
    allegations that the group's founder, Republican strategist Karl
    Rove, illegally coordinated efforts with then-Rep. Roy Blunt's
    (R-Mo.) successful 2010 campaign for U.S. Senate.
    The other case (MUR 6611) involved a super PAC funded by the mother
    of Laura Ruderman, an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the U.S.
    House in 2012. The case was the FEC's first consideration of a
    single-candidate PAC financed by the candidate's family, according a
    written statement from three of the commissioners.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal 
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24> | Comments Off

    "Jesse Jackson Jr. Charged in Misuse of Campaign Money"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47359>

Posted on February 15, 2013 5:26 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47359> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/us/politics/jesse-jackson-jr-charged-in-misuse-of-campaign-money.html?hp>: 
"The Justice Department filed fraud and conspiracy charges on Friday 
against former Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr., saying that he used 
about $750,000 in campaign money for personal expenses that included a 
Michael Jackson fedora and cashmere capes. he 10-page document 
<http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/16/us/politics/16jackson-charges-document.html> 
filed in federal court by prosecutors in Washington offered details of 
Mr. Jackson's use of campaign money. He has agreed to plead guilty to 
the charges, although a date for him to accept the plea deal before a 
judge has not yet been set."

With all the talk of campaign finance reform, the Greer and Jesse 
Jackson Jr. cases show that one big remaining problem is personal graft.

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

    "G.O.P. Chief in Florida Pleads Guilty"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47356>

Posted on February 15, 2013 5:07 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47356> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I missedthis news 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/us/politics/jim-greer-of-fla-gop-pleads-guilty-to-theft.html?src=recg>from 
earlier in the week: "Averting a prolonged and heated political drama, 
Jim Greer, a former chairman of the Republican Party 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org> 
of Florida, walked into an Orlando courtroom on Monday and pleaded 
guilty to grand theft and money laundering charges."

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

    "Obama's Voting Initiative Greeted With Skepticism"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47353>

Posted on February 15, 2013 4:20 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47353> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Roll Call reports. 
<http://www.rollcall.com/news/obamas_voting_initiative_greeted_with_skepticism-222493-1.html?pg=all>

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

    "California and the Limits of Independent Redistricting Commissions
    with Winner-Take-All" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47350>

Posted on February 15, 2013 4:13 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47350> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

FairVote 
<http://www.fairvote.org/california-and-the-limits-of-independent-redistricting-commissions-with-winner-take-all/#.UR7Of-h8tPw>:

    Three months after the 2012 election, independent redistricting
    continues to gain attention as a panacea for American congressional
    elections. Making the case from the quantitative flank is Sam Wang,
    professor of neuroscience at Princeton and founder of the Princeton
    Election Consortium, whose *February 2 op-ed*
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/opinion/sunday/the-great-gerrymander-of-2012.html?pagewanted=1&ref=opinion>
    in the New York Times purported to show that the partisan bias in
    the U.S. House of Representatives could be corrected nearly entirely
    by implanting independent redistricting nationwide in the form that
    it is currently used in states like California. Wang later expressed
    his admiration for the California commission model by *tweeting*
    <https://twitter.com/SamWangPhD/status/300326325732909056>, in
    response to a *National Journal article*
    <http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-waxman-berman-machine-finally-shuts-down-20130124>
    on the defeat of Congressman Howard Berman, "What independent
    redistricting looks like: races blown wide open, incumbents ousted."

    As FairVote has long argued
    <http://www.salon.com/2013/01/13/the_house_gop_cant_be_beat_its_worse_than_gerrymandering/>,
    independent redistricting is a necessary reform, and we support it
    wholeheartedly. But proponents are simply wrong to suggest it would
    be sufficient if left to operate within winner-take-all elections. A
    perfect illustration of this point is the effect of the independent
    redistricting commission in California. Election results clearly
    show that  "wide open" races and "ousted incumbents" were not the
    norm in California in 2012 -- and are likely to become even more
    scarce in the state's future elections.

See also Geography as a Failed Unit of Representation: Why Fifty Equal 
Population States Is no Solution for Presidential Elections 
<http://www.fairvote.org/geography-as-a-failed-unit-of-representation-why-fifty-equal-population-states-is-no-solution-for-presidential-elections/>.

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Posted in alternative voting systems 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>, citizen commissions 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=7>, electoral college 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>, redistricting 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | Comments Off

    "Bullock, GOP senator roll out fix to stamp out campaign 'dark
    money'" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47347>

Posted on February 15, 2013 4:10 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47347> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News 
<http://helenair.com/news/legislature/bullock-gop-senator-roll-out-fix-to-stamp-out-campaign/article_46ce41cc-7709-11e2-b08a-001a4bcf887a.html>from 
Montana.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "Can the Republicans Be Saved From Obsolescence?"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47344>

Posted on February 15, 2013 3:35 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47344> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Extensive Robert Draper 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/magazine/can-the-republicans-be-saved-from-obsolescence.html?ref=politics>NYT 
magazine piece.

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Posted in campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, political 
parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68> | 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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