[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/16/13
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Sat Feb 16 13:05:08 PST 2013
inadvertently left this item off:
"President's New Voting Commission Greeted With Skepticism"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47335>
Posted on February 15, 2013 12:32 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47335> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Pam Fessler reports
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/02/15/172097215/presidents-new-voting-commission-greeted-with-skepticism?ft=1&f=1014&sc=tw>
for NPR.
Similar sentiments from Daily Kos
<http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/15/1187382/--Bauer-Ginsberg-election-commission-unlikely-to-accomplish-much-despite-obvious-need>.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47335&title=%E2%80%9CPresident%E2%80%99s%20New%20Voting%20Commission%20Greeted%20With%20Skepticism%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off |
On 2/16/13 1:02 PM, Rick Hasen wrote:
>
>
> "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.
>
> Share
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47371&title=%E2%80%9CObama%20Versus%20Campaign%20Finance%20Laws%E2%80%9D&description=>
> Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
> Comments Off
>
>
> "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.
>
> Share
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47368&title=%E2%80%9CVoter%20ID%20law%20likely%20to%20be%20postponed%20until%20after%20May%20primary%E2%80%9D&description=>
> 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.
>
> Share
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47365&title=About%20All%20That%20Supposed%20Voter%20Fraud%20in%20Hamilton%20County%2C%20Ohio&description=>
> 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.
>
> Share
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47362&title=%E2%80%9CFEC%20Deadlocks%20Derail%20Matters%20Involving%20Crossroads%20GPS%2C%20Family-Member%20Super%20PAC%E2%80%9D&description=>
> 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.
>
> Share
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47359&title=%E2%80%9CJesse%20Jackson%20Jr.%20Charged%20in%20Misuse%20of%20Campaign%20Money%E2%80%9D&description=>
> 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."
>
> Share
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47356&title=%E2%80%9CG.O.P.%20Chief%20in%20Florida%20Pleads%20Guilty%E2%80%9D&description=>
> 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>
>
> Share
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47353&title=%E2%80%9CObama%E2%80%99s%20Voting%20Initiative%20Greeted%20With%20Skepticism%E2%80%9D&description=>
> 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/>.
>
> Share
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47350&title=%E2%80%9CCalifornia%20and%20the%20Limits%20of%20Independent%20Redistricting%20Commissions%20with%20Winner-Take-All%E2%80%9D&description=>
> 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.
>
> Share
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47347&title=%E2%80%9CBullock%2C%20GOP%20senator%20roll%20out%20fix%20to%20stamp%20out%20campaign%20%E2%80%98dark%20money%E2%80%99%E2%80%9D&description=>
> Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
> Comments Off
>
>
> "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.
>
> Share
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47344&title=%E2%80%9CCan%20the%20Republicans%20Be%20Saved%20From%20Obsolescence%3F%E2%80%9D&description=>
> 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
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
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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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