[EL] ELB News and Commentary 6/23/14

Sun Jun 22 21:03:16 PDT 2014

    Conservative "Election Observers" in Mississippi May Be Meant to
    Intimidate Democratic Voters in Cochran-McDaniel Race
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62633>

Posted on June 22, 2014 8:03 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62633>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The /NY Times/ reports: 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/23/us/conservatives-plan-to-use-poll-watchers-in-mississippi.html?_r=0>

    [Conservative] groups will deploy observers in areas where Mr.
    Cochran is recruiting Democrats, Mr. Cuccinelli said. J. Christian
    Adams, a former Justice Department official and conservative
    commentator who said he was advising the effort, described the
    watchers as "election observers," mostly Mississippi residents, who
    will be trained to "observe whether the law is being followed."

The idea here appears to be that because poll workers cannot discourage 
Democrats from voting in the election (based upon an unenforceable 
Mississippi law which says that only those who intend to support the 
nominee of the party in the primary can vote in the primary), these 
outside election observers led by Adams may make such encouragement.  
That is what Adams must mean about "the law" "being followed."  That's 
very troubling and I hope DOJ has some observers now heading down there too.

Here's the background: According toBreitbart, 
<http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/06/21/Questions-Mount-About-Effort-To-Drive-Democrat-Votes-For-Cochran>"Technically, 
according to former Department of Justice Civil Rights division attorney 
J. Christian Adams, it is illegal for Democrats to vote in the GOP 
primary in Mississippi unless they plan on supporting the Republican 
candidate in the general election." In response to my pos 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62528>t saying that Adams was suggesting 
that poll workers exclude Democratic voters from voting at the polls, 
despite the fact that the state attorney general has held the law 
basically unenforceable, Adams responded 
<http://electionlawcenter.com/2014/06/20/rick-hasen-wrongly-suggest-mississippi-law-isnt-the-law.aspx>: 
"Hasen obviously ignores the significance of all that I have said about 
the law at issue.  The Breitbart story notes 'poll workers aren't 
mindreaders.'  I've also tweeted that Carnac the Magnificent and the 
Amazing Kreskin might have to be recruited to work the runoff to enforce 
this law."

I guess Adams now fancies himself as Carnac or Kreskin.

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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, 
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

    Ken Vogel's Big Money Book <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62631>

Posted on June 22, 2014 6:50 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62631>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

[/This is the latest in a series <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61972> 
of short reflections on new books in campaign finance which I am working 
my way through as I write my own manuscript on the subject.]/

/Politico /reporter Ken Vogel's new book, Big Money 
<http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/book/big-money/kenneth-p-vogel/9781610393393>, 
is like candy--or drugs---for the political junkie. It is full of great 
stories about the megadonors behind the 501c4s and the Super PACs in the 
2012 election, and the consultants who bought vacation homes thanks to 
all the money sloshing around. It is an engaging and entertaining book 
about the big personalities, with each chapter seeming to include an 
anecdote wherein Vogel gets kicked out of a big donor event at a fancy 
hotel. Read this if you want to get a sense of what motivates the super 
wealthy to get involved in politics (Vogel notes the affinity to the 
super rich who get involved in buying sports teams to getting involved 
in politics). It also gives great insight into Republican disarray in 
2012, which could reappear in 2016.

This is definitely not the book for anyone looking for broader context 
about how campaign finance law got to where it is, nor is is very deep 
in its philosophical approach to the subject. It is interesting that the 
subtitle of the book is: "2.5 Billion Dollars, One Suspicious Vehicle, 
and a Pimp-on the Trail of the Ultra-Rich Hijacking American Politics."

Hijacking? At a few points in the book Vogel expresses disapproval about 
the state of affairs, but much of the book, and certainly the end, is 
resignation: this is the way it is, and this is the way it will be. It 
would have been nice to know what precisely Vogel thinks is wrong with 
the current state of affairs and how it might be fixed.

Still, this is a great beach read for the political junkie. Worth buying 
it for your fix!

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme 
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

    Breitbart Now Spewing Voter Fraud Allegations Against African
    Americans in Mississippi Who Might Support Cochran
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62629>

Posted on June 22, 2014 6:33 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62629>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here 
<http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/06/21/Questions-Mount-About-Effort-To-Drive-Democrat-Votes-For-Cochran>.

In my earlier coverage <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62528>we saw 
Christian Adams saying it is illegal for Democrats to vote in primary 
unless they intended to support the nominee despite the fact that the 
state attorney general has basically said the law is unenforceable.

More in this Sam Hall column. 
<http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2014/06/21/hall-column-primary-election-law/11212277/>

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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

    "Montana Republicans vote for closed primaries, for runoff
    elections" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62627>

Posted on June 22, 2014 5:59 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62627>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The /Billings Gazette /reports. 
<http://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/montana-republicans-vote-to-close-primaries-runoff-elections/article_02fc9343-2d71-5f66-9444-03e6d44ac47b.html#utm_source=billingsgazette.com&utm_campaign=hot-topics-2&utm_medium=direct>

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Posted in political parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, 
primaries <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>

    "Is anything less than true e-voting adequate for today's post
    office challenged youth?" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62625>

Posted on June 22, 2014 5:57 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62625>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jim Snider blogs 
<http://annearundel.patch.com/groups/jh-jim-sniders-blog/p/is-anything-less-than-true-evoting-adequate-for-todays-post-office-challenged-youth>.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
voting technology <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>

    "California's jungle primary: Tried it. Dump it."
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62623>

Posted on June 22, 2014 10:51 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=62623>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Harold Myerson LA Times oped 
<http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-meyerson-california-jungle-primary-20140622-story.html>.

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Posted in political parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, 
primaries <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>

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

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