[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/22/13
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Mon Jan 21 20:29:37 PST 2013
Ezra Klein on Filibuster Reform <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46417>
Posted on January 21, 2013 8:24 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46417>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Important piece
<http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/28/130128fa_fact_klein> in
/The New Yorker./ Klein quotes Tom Mann on why a half-measured reform
would be worse than no reform: "You won't have fixed the Senate. But you
will have further poisoned the environment."
A timely article, as filibuster reform happens tomorrow, or not
<http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/21/1180890/-Filibuster-reform-happens-tomorrow-or-not>.
Meanwhile, /The Onion/ reports: List of Politically Achievable Reforms
Down to Just Three Changes in the Traffic Code
<http://www.theonion.com/articles/list-of-politically-achievable-reforms-down-to-jus,30977/>.
"At press time, legal scholars at the American Bar Association released
a white paper contending that two of the three politically achievable
reforms would be struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court."
Good timing for the Is America Governable?
<https://www.utexas.edu/law/conferences/governable/> conference.
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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
"Va. Republicans push re-drawn district map through Senate"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46414>
Posted on January 21, 2013 8:14 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46414>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-politics/va-republicans-push-re-drawn-district-map-through-senate/2013/01/21/0277795c-6436-11e2-b84d-21c7b65985ee_story.html>:
"Senate Republicans pushed a re-drawn state political map past
flabbergasted Democrats on Monday, pulling off what would amount to a
mid-decade redistricting of Senate lines if the plan gets approval from
the House and governor and stands up to anticipated legal challenges.
The bill, approved 20 to 19, would revamp the Senate map to concentrate
minority voters in a new Southside district and would change most, if
not all, existing district lines. Democrats, still scrambling Monday
night to figure out the impact, said they thought that the new map would
make at least five districts held by Democrats heavily Republican. The
map puts two sitting senators, R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) and Emmett W.
Hanger Jr. (R-Augusta), into a single district."TPM
<http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/01/a_footnote_to_the_virginia_senate_story.php?ref=fpblg>:
As mentioned earlier, seizing on the absence of a Democratic senator
who happens to be a veteran of the civil rights movement and was in
Washington, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, for the second
inauguration of the country's first black president, Republicans in
the evenly split Virginia state Senate pushed through a surprise
mid-decade redistricting plan
<http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/01/republicans-dirty-trick-inauguration.php?ref=fpblg>
to try to gain decisive control of the body in the next election.
We're not done yet.
At the end of this wild day, the "Senate adjourned in memory or
(sic) General Thomas J. 'Stonewall' Jackson," according to the
minutes
<http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/01/republicans-dirty-trick-inauguration.php?ref=fpblg>
of the session. Jan. 21 is the Confederate general's birthday.
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Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | Comments Off
Quote of the Day <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46411>
Posted on January 21, 2013 8:07 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46411>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
"Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for
hours to exercise the right to vote."
--President Obama
<http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/01/21/president_obamas_second_inaugural_address.html#052582a>,
in his second inaugural address, doubling down on his "We have to fix
that" comment on long lines at the polling place.
The /NY Times/ also reports that the President aims to work for "less
restrictive voter identification laws" among other priorities for the
second term.
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Plea agreement reached in vote fraud case; Marshall to plead guilty
to 3 charges related to absentee voting irregularities in 2010?
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46408>
Posted on January 21, 2013 7:32 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46408>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News
<http://plaindealer-sun.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=40&ArticleID=24245>from
Indiana.
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Posted in absentee ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>,
chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | Comments Off
"Colorado Victory: Judge Rules for Voting Rights"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46405>
Posted on January 21, 2013 7:29 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46405>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Brennan Center
<http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/colorado_victory_judge_rules_for_voting_rights>:
"The voting rights of thousands of Colorado citizens were protected
today as a state district court judge blocked Secretary of State Scott
Gessler's controversial interpretation of Colorado's mail ballot
election law. Under Sec. Gessler's reading of the law, county clerks
could not mail ballots in elections conducted only by mail to voters who
did not vote in the most recent general election. In effect, thousands
of eligible voters --- including many longtime voters --- would not be
able to vote unless they jumped through new and burdensome hurdles."
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Posted in absentee ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>,
election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Benign Partisanship" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46402>
Posted on January 21, 2013 7:25 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46402>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Franita Tolson has posted this draft
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2199003> on SSRN
(/Notre Dame Law Review/). Here is the abstract:
The Framers of the United States Constitution created our system of
federalism based on the principle that political safeguards would
protect the regulatory interests of the states from overreaching by
the federal government. While many of these safeguards have since
failed, others have emerged to insulate the states from an
ever-expanding federal presence. One such safeguard is partisan
gerrymandering, which allows states to draw legislative districts
that reflect the partisan affiliation of a majority of the
electorate, and in turn, send a delegation to Congress that is as
ideologically cohesive as practicable. In making this argument, this
Article corrects a basic misunderstanding in the political
safeguards literature: that the Senate is the only chamber that the
Framers constructed to protect state interests. In reality, a
politically cohesive House delegation can ensure that the state's
preferred policy preferences shape federal lawmaking.
This Article also illustrates that, in the context of congressional
redistricting, the legal scholarship's sole focus on ascertaining
manageable judicial standards ignores the concerns about
institutional legitimacy and judicially dictated political outcomes
that are exacerbated by the federalism issues in this area. Despite
the absence of standards, the broader structural implications of
promoting "federalism-reinforcing" gerrymandering require the
Supreme Court to craft rules that encourage the use of mid-decade
redistricting and at-large voting schemes; that limit the authority
of independent commissions to draw redistricting plans; and that
promote strong state political parties, all of which will help
preserve the states' ability to utilize the federalism benefits that
flow from partisan redistricting.
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Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | Comments Off
"THE CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS, MINORITY VOTING RIGHTS, AND THE
U.S. SUPREME COURT" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46400>
Posted on January 21, 2013 7:23 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46400>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Law and Politics Book Review offers this review
<http://www.lpbr.net/2013/01/the-congressional-black-caucus-minority.html>.
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Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
"Report Highlights Unexpected Results and Unequal Access to Early
Voting in the 2012 Presidential Election Compared to 2008?
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46398>
Posted on January 21, 2013 7:22 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46398>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The following press release arrived via email:
*Report Highlights Unexpected Results and Unequal Access to Early
Voting in the 2012 Presidential Election Compared to 2008*
/Advocates call on Ohio Legislature to change election rules to
provide for diversity/
A team led by Norman Robbins, Research Director, Northeast Ohio
Voter Advocates, today reported
<http://www.nova-ohio.org/analysis%20early-absentee%20voting%202012%20vers10%201-19-13.pdf>
unexpected results on early in-person voting in the 2012
Presidential election, highlighting both important similarities and
important differences between Ohio's counties, which should be
considered in new legislation.
The study found that early in-person voting was almost equally
popular in smaller rural and larger urban counties (counties with
less than or greater than 100,000 total votes cast, respectively).
This happened because smaller counties increased early voting by 33%
from 2008 to 2012. Clearly, early in-person voting in Ohio is
popular and here to stay.
Not all news was good. During the last and only weekend of early
voting in 2012, in-person voters had to wait 1 to 4 hours in most
larger counties but less than a half hour in smaller counties. "This
issue of unequal access for voters in different sized counties
because of inflexible rules demands legislative correction", Robbins
said.
Another unexpected finding was that despite the mailing of
applications for vote-by-mail ballots to all active voters in the
state, mail-in ballots as a percent of the total vote increased by
only about 1% over that in 2008 (when only a few counties sent
voters such applications). Some counties, however, saw a
modestincrease in voting by mail, and may have benefited from
sending the applications.
There was considerable fall-off in vote-by-mail and especially
in early in-person voting in non-Presidential elections (2009-2011)
compared to the Presidential elections of 2008 and 2012.
In order to provide equal access to early voting, to respect
differences in voting patterns and resources in different counties,
and to acknowledge different turnout in Presidential and
non-Presidential elections, future legislation will need "uniform"
formulas rather than inflexible "uniform" rules to provide for
Ohio's diversity (as discussed in the report).
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Democrat Ekes Out Senate Win" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46394>
Posted on January 20, 2013 8:48 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46394>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
18 vote victory
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/19/nyregion/cecilia-tkaczyk-democrat-ekes-out-win-in-republican-senate-district.html>
out of 126,000 votes cast in NY Senate race.
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Posted in campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, election
administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | Comments Off
"Fiscal Footnote: Big Senate Gift to Drug Maker"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46392>
Posted on January 20, 2013 8:46 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46392>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Must read NYT
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/us/medicare-pricing-delay-is-political-win-for-amgen-drug-maker.html?ref=politics>
on a big favor to AmGen buried in Congress's "fiscal cliff" bill.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
legislation and legislatures <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>,
lobbying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off
"Obama campaign final fundraising total: $1.1 billion"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46389>
Posted on January 19, 2013 3:38 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46389>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico reports.
<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/obama-campaign-final-fundraising-total-1-billion-86445.html?hp=l4>
<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/obama-campaign-final-fundraising-total-1-billion-86445.html?hp=l4>
This is no surprise. I believe I predicted Obama would reach a billion
dollars for 2012 right after the 2008 election---even though the Obama
campaign protested that it would not be able to raise a billion dollars
during the 2012 election.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
Comments Off
"The Election Disaster That Wasn't; America's poorly designed
ballots could have bungled the 2012 election. How we can fix them
before 2016." <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46384>
Posted on January 19, 2013 2:08 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46384>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Mark Vanhoenacker writes
<http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/design/2013/01/ballot_design_america_s_elections_depend_on_confusing_badly_designed_ballots.html>
for /Slate.
/There's also a great slide show
<http://www.slate.com/slideshows/life/the-most-amazing-voting-ballots-from-around-the-world.html>
of ballots from around the world.
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Well-Trod Path: Political Donor to Ambassador"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46381>
Posted on January 19, 2013 2:05 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46381>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Interesting NYT report.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/19/us/politics/well-trod-path-political-donor-to-ambassador.html?ref=politics&_r=0>
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/19/us/politics/well-trod-path-political-donor-to-ambassador.html?ref=politics&_r=0>
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59> | Comments Off
7th Circuit Holds Oral Argument in Wisconsin Campaign Finance
Disclosure Case <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46378>
Posted on January 18, 2013 6:00 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46378>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
12-2915
<http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/fdocs/docs.fwx?caseno=12-2915&submit=showdkt>
Wisconsin Right to L v. David Deininger civil 01/18/2013 Oral
Argument
<http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/fdocs/docs.fwx?submit=showbr&shofile=12-2915_001.mp3>
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
Comments Off
"Full hearing on Texas redistricting appeal now not likely this
term" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46376>
Posted on January 18, 2013 5:19 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=46376>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Texas Redistricting
<http://txredistricting.org/post/40866010029/full-hearing-on-texas-redistricting-appeal-now-not>:
"...many observers have speculated that the high court has deferred
deciding what to do with the Texas case until it decides in /Shelby Co.
v. Holder/ whether section 5 of the Voting Rights Act remains
constitutional....While waiting arguably makes sense, the challenge
could become having to quickly draw remedial maps if section 5 is upheld
-- since a decision in the/Shelby Co./ case very likely might not come
until late June. Any changes to the maps would require redrawing
precinct lines and a number of other technical steps, and the countdown
to the filing date for the Texas primary starts in September."
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Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting Rights Act
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | 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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