[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/6/14
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Wed Nov 5 21:02:01 PST 2014
"California GOP victory: Democrats denied supermajority"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68084>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 9:01 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68084>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LAT reports.
<http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-california-analysis-20141106-story.html>
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Posted inlegislation and legislatures
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>,political parties
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,political polarization
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>
"Roberts Survives Re-Election Battle But May Opt Out of Rules Panel
Chair" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68081>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 8:50 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68081>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg BNA
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=58603767&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0f8n4d8m1&split=0>:
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), the top Republican on the Senate Rules
Committee survived a tough re-election battle Nov. 4 and may now be
in line to take the chairmanship of the Rules panel, with the
Republican takeover of the Senate.
However, Roberts also may be in line for the chairmanship of the
Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee --- a post the
veteran Kansas lawmaker would be likely to take.
If Roberts does not take the Rules Committee chairmanship, next in
line for the post in terms of seniority would be Sen. Thad Cochran
(R-Miss.), who is currently the top Republican on the Agriculture
Committee but may be in line to be chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
Other veteran Republicans on the committee also may have options to
head other panels, creating a murky outlook if Roberts does not end
up chairing the panel. Further down the seniority list on the
committee are Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).
Bloomberg also says the fate of the EAC nominees is uncertain.
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Posted inelection administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,Election Assistance Commission
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>,political parties
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,political polarization
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>
"Does Election Law Serve the Electorate?"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=67612>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 8:50 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=67612>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
[Bumped to the top -- on my way to this event.]
I am very excited to participate inthis event
<http://electionlawblog.org/9261293150243720572859>for the University of
Chicago Legal Forum. (I'll bepresenting a paper
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2497192>on
uniformity in election administration.) Here are the details:
Legal Forum Symposium: Does Election Law Serve the Electorate?
Date:
Friday, November 7, 2014 - 9:00am - 3:30pm
Contact info (email or phone):
ericajaffe at uchicago.edu <mailto:ericajaffe at uchicago.edu>
The Symposium will take place in Room V, from 9:00 a.m.- 11:45 a.m.
and continue after lunch and the keynote from 1:45 p.m. -- 3:30 p.m..
The keynote speaker at this year's event will be Cass Sunstein,
Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law.
The keynote will take place at 12 p.m. in Room II
*PANELS*
Governance, Polarization, and the Role of Election Law: 9 a.m. --
10:30 a.m.
Voters and Redistricting: 10:45 a.m. -- 12 p.m.
Campaign Finance: 1:45 p.m. -- 2:15 p.m.
Rules and Regulations: 2:30 p.m. -- 3:30 p.m.
Participants
Richard Briffault, Columbia Law School
Josh Chafetz, Cornell University Law School
Guy-Uriel Charles, Duke University School of Law
Edward Foley, The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law
Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Richard Hasen, University of California, Irvine School of Law
Ellen Katz, University of Michigan Law School
Nolan McCarty, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Michael Morley, Barry University School of Law
Nathaniel Persily, Stanford Law School
Michael Pitts, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
James Sample, Hofstra University School of Law
David Schleicher, George Mason University School of Law
Nicholas Stephanopoulos, University of Chicago Law School
David Strauss, University of Chicago Law School
Zephyr Teachout, Fordham University School of Law
All events are open to the public.
For more information, please contact Erica Jaffe at
ericajaffe at uchicago.edu <mailto:ericajaffe at uchicago.edu>
For special assistance or needs, please contact Lucienne Goodman at
773-702-0877.
Faculty:
Cass R. Sunstein <http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/sunstein>
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Posted inelection administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,pedagogy
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=23>
"Chevron Spends Big, And Loses Big, In A City Council Race"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68079>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 8:33 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68079>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NPR
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/05/361875792/chevron-spends-big-and-loses-big-in-a-city-council-race?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=politics&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews>:
Early returns indicated the progressives' grass roots strategy would
be successful. By the end of election night, Butt had captured the
mayor's race with more than 51 percent of the votes cast, and the
Chevron-backed candidate, City Councilman Nat Bates, garnered just
over 35 percent.
As a distraught Bates told the Richmond Confidential
<http://richmondconfidential.org/2014/11/05/progressives-capture-city-hall-and-council-fending-off-chevron-money/>,
"It's a bloodbath, obviously. I think the citizens will suffer."
Butt, who had accused Chevron of trying to buy the Richmond Council
election <http://www.tombutt.com/forum/2014/14-11-02a.html>, was
ecstatic over his David versus Goliath victory.
"To take on a campaign that's funded with $3 million and our modest
campaign budget was about $50,000," he said, "but we had a lot of
grassroots help and we pulled it off."
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
"Company acknowledges Bexar ballot glitch that omitted Greg Abbott's
name" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68077>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 4:19 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68077>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
So True the Votewas right after all
<http://m.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Bexar-ballot-Abbott-malfunction-5873080.php>,
not a photoshop:
The company that supplies Bexar County with iVotronic ballot
machines acknowledged Wednesday that a glitch caused an electronic
ballot to display the wrong name for the Republican candidate in the
race for Texas governor.
Personally, I'd love to junk the remaining DRE machines being used in
elections in this country and go to nationally mandated precinct scanned
optically scanned ballots.
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Posted inelection administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,voting technology
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>
"Climate Change Activists Come Up Short In Midterm Elections"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68075>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 2:57 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68075>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
But Tom Steyertells Peter Overby
<http://www.npr.org/2014/11/05/361820847/climate-change-activists-come-up-short-in-midterm-elections>he
will be back in 2016.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"Republican Congressman Claims Voting Machines Are Rigged"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68072>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 2:50 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68072>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
HuffPo
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/04/voting-machines-broken_n_6101312.html>:
A Virginia Republican congressman and the state's GOP are claiming
they've received reports of faulty polling machines in almost two
dozen locations, with voters intending to vote Republican
accidentally selecting the Democratic candidate instead. But the
voter registrar in his district is reporting considerably fewer
irregularities.
Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) is running for re-election against
Democrat Suzanne Patrick, a retired commander in the U.S. Navy
Reserves. Rigell said at a press conference Tuesday morning that
he'd received reports from 25 people in 19 precincts across the 2nd
District who had tried to cast votes for him, but had their votes
initially redirected to Patrick. The voters were ultimately able to
switch their votes back.
Hampton Roads
<http://hamptonroads.com/2014/11/voting-irregularities-reported-virginia-beach>:
Republicans and Democrats alike reported problems Tuesday using
touch-screen voting machines in Virginia Beach and Newport News,
with some claiming they almost cast ballots for candidates they did
not support...
The extent of the "calibration issues" is unclear. Virginia
Department of Elections Commissioner Edgardo Cortes said 32 of
Virginia Beach's 820 AccuVote TSX machines were pulled from service
by 3:30 p.m. Another four were discontinued in Newport News, where
most votes were recorded on paper ballots.
MORE
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-election-officials-look-into-machine-glitches/2014/11/05/ab05a8a6-651e-11e4-ab86-46000e1d0035_story.html>from
AP.
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Posted inchicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>,election
administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,voting technology
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>
"New Outside Groups Prove Worth to Conservative Donors"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68070>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 12:55 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68070>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Must-read Nick Confessore
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/us/politics/koch-brothers-republican-super-pac-spending-pays-off.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news>NYT:
Over the last year and a half, the conservative outside groups
retooled and revamped, borrowing lessons about how to exploit voter
data, opposition research and advertising learned from their less
moneyed but more effective Democratic counterparts during 2012.
As federal courts opened new avenues of influence for the wealthy
and lenient enforcement effectively neutered what few legal and
regulatory restraints remain on big-money politics, they took
advantage of every available tool. To shield donors from scrutiny,
they moved most of their spending through nonprofit groups not
subject to federal disclosure requirements. To be more nimble, they
created subsidiaries devoted to specific races. They begged donors
for money, overcame internal rivalries that lingered through
Election Day, and ultimately deployed at least $300 million in a
favorable political environment, helping drive the 2014 midterms to
become the costliest in history.
All told, the political network overseen by the conservative
billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/david_h_koch/index.html?inline=nyt-per> appeared
to be the largest overall source of outside television spending on
behalf of Republicans. Seven Koch-backed groups spent roughly $77
million on television advertising in the midterm elections,
officials said, including eleven Senate races. Koch groups appeared
to be the biggest outside spenders on television in Arkansas, Iowa
and Louisiana, airing a combined $25 million in ads. Republican
candidates won Arkansas and Iowa, and the party's candidate is
favored to win a coming runoff in Louisiana.
American Crossroads and its affiliated nonprofit group spent $50
million on political advertising, and at least $20 million more on
so-called issue ads, a spokesman said. The groups dominated outside
spending in Alaska, where the Crossroads groups put about $7 million
into television advertising, and Colorado, fielding close to $14
million, which helped crush Senator Mark Udall, the Democratic
incumbent who was once favored to win.
All told, Republican outside groups spent about $205 million on
television advertising, according to a Democrat tracking media
purchases, while Democratic groups spent $132 million.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"MayDay PAC's Candidates Sink" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68068>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 11:47 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68068>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Joe Trotter
<http://www.campaignfreedom.org/2014/11/05/mayday-pacs-candidates-sink/>for
CCP.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
"Houston City Council candidate Trebor Gordon files First Amendment
challenge to campaign blackout period"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68066>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 11:17 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68066>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
See this press release.
<http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=457f6886c4b43749a1e06cd15&id=cb349aac0d>
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"TV Ad Spending Reaches Nearly $14 Million in 2014 State Supreme
Court Races" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68064>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 10:35 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68064>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release:
<http://www.brennancenter.org/press-release/tv-ad-spending-reaches-nearly-14-million-2014-state-supreme-court-races>
TV ad spending in state Supreme Court elections by outside groups,
political parties, and candidates has surged to more than $13.8
million since January, surpassing the $12.2 million spent on TV
advertising in the 2010 midterm elections, according to an analysis
by the Brennan Center for Justice and Justice at Stake of estimates
provided by Kantar Media/CMAG.
The 2014 judicial elections delivered a new round of special
interest money, attack ads, and partisan politics into America's
courtrooms, shattering several state records and increasing
political pressure on state justices. For the first time, a powerful
national political group, the Republican State Leadership Committee,
systematically invested in Supreme Court and lower court contests
across the country --- an effort that was unsuccessful in almost all
its targeted states, including North Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee,
and Montana.
Additionally, voters endorsed a ballot measure that would serve to
head off contested judicial elections in Tennessee and rejected a
Florida initiative that would have given the governor the power to
prospectively appoint replacements for sitting justices before the
end of his or her term.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,judicial elections
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>
"Georgia's Voting Wars" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68062>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 10:32 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68062>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Jamelle Bouie writes for Slate
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/11/michelle_nunn_and_david_perdue_in_close_georgia_senate_race_democrats_and.html>.
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Posted inelection administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
"WyLiberty Attorneys File Brief in Texas Free Speech Case"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68060>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 10:31 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68060>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Press release
<http://wyliberty.org/feature/wyliberty-attorneys-file-brief-in-texas-free-speech-case/#nuS4Q>:
"Wyoming Liberty Group attorneys Benjamin Barr and Steve Klein filed an
/amicus curiae/ (friend-of-the-court) brief
<http://wyliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Cary-v.-Texas-WyLiberty-brief-filed.pdf> in
the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals at Dallas, arguing that a political
contributor's convictions for organized crime, bribery and money
laundering for campaign finance violations unconstitutionally abridge
his First Amendment rights."
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Posted inbribery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>,campaign finance
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,chicanery
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>
"Texas Has Issued Seven Times More Auctioneers' Licenses than Voter
ID Cards" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68058>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 9:56 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68058>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Texas Observer reports.
<http://www.texasobserver.org/texas-voter-id-cards-auctioneers/>
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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
"Big win for conservative big money"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68056>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 8:52 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68056>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Important Ken Vogel analysis
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/big-win-for-conservative-big-money-112571.html>that
surely won't be the last word on this topic:
Establishment Republican money finally got what it paid for
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/election-update-midterms-2014-house-senate-races-112491.html> ---
an electoral wave.
After two cycles during which conservative megadonors' record
spending was plagued
<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83534.html> by flawed
candidates
<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51950.html> and
internecine squabbling
<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65504.html>, their side's
big money operatives got to do some gloating on election night.
Conservatives tweaked their playbook to spend bigger and earlier to
crush tea party insurgents
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/2014-elections-republican-candidates-112428.html> and
define Democratic candidates. And Republicans won most of the Senate
races in which they prosecuted that plan --- including Iowa,
Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"Election Results 2014: Here Are the Key Races That Are Still Too
Close to Project" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68054>
Posted onNovember 5, 2014 8:08 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68054>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
ABC News reports
<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/election-results-2014-key-races-close-call/story?id=26703958>.
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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
--
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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