[EL] Sunday Panel with Commissioners

Mon Sep 1 14:34:58 PDT 2014

Sunday Panel with the Commissioners and Their Critics

Thanks to Rick for organizing this panel, and to theparticipants (some of whom showed up despite their miserable night). Looking infrom outside the echo chamber, I was unable to detect even a hint of criticismabout the Report. Heather was mentioned as having said something critical ofthe Commission; but I guess I missed that. As I recall, Heather noted, amongother things, that election reform generally has a second class status in USpolitics, that special interests block any meaningful reforms, that money isscarce for election administrators, and that, keepingwithin the Commission's mandate, the Report doesn’t suggest federallegislation, but only suggests administrative improvements.

When called upon, I noted that the Report praised onlinevoter registration, but it stated that “the Internet is not yet secure enoughfor voting.” (Rpt 60) Then I asked if the Commissioners based that conclusionon any examples of actual elections using online voting in which there weresecurity breeches. 

Ben Ginsberg replied that they spent a lot of time on theissue, and that the experts could not agree. However, he didn’t say that anydirect evidence of security breeches in any election for public office, usingInternet voting, was presented to the Commission.

I neglected to ask any follow up questions, such as “whochose the experts?” And which experts were heard?  And, why did the nay-saying experts prevail?

The Commissioners were really proud of the Harmony AmongElites that their Report manifests. But satisfying their desire for harmony seems to have come at the cost of blinding them to theneeds of the public for a 21st Century means of democraticparticipation. 

How long will they continue to tell themselves that trekkingto the polls and half hour waits are OK?  In my view, this Report does little more than re-arrange the deck chairs.

[For more on the Report see, http://internetvotingforall.blogspot.com/2014/02/half-hour-waits-ok-says-obama.html ]

William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.

-----Original Message-----
From: law-election-request <law-election-request at department-lists.uci.edu>
To: law-election <law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
Sent: Sun, Aug 31, 2014 12:00 pm
Subject: Law-election Digest, Vol 40, Issue 29

Today's Topics:   1. ELB News and Commentary 8/31/14 (Rick Hasen)   2. Re: #apsaonfire (Paul Gronke)----------------------------------------------------------------------Message: 1Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 09:36:40 -0400From: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>To: "law-election at UCI.edu" <law-election at UCI.edu>Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 8/31/14Message-ID: <540324E8.9070800 at law.uci.edu>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed"    #APSAonFire <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=64822>Posted onAugust 31, 2014 6:33 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=64822>byRick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>A littletoo much excitement <http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fire-forces-evacuation-of-marriott-wardman-park-hotel-during-apsa-conference/2014/08/30/3fc4fb1c-305a-11e4-994d-202962a9150c_story.html>

At APSA this year.  Those of us in the central tower of the Marriott Wardman Park hotel were evacuated from the hotel at 1 am thanks to series of suspicious fires set in the stairwell at the hotel. As I was leaving my room there was smoke coming in the hallway.We were kept outside until after 3 am, when they moved us into the lobby. Some slept on the floor. Eventually they gathered us in an overcrowded ballroom until the swept the hotel thoroughly looking for possible arsonists  We were allowed to return to our rooms at about 8 am.The DC Fire Department and DC Police Department did an excellent job keeping us safe. Fortunately no one was hurt.  I was much less impressed with the management of the Marriott.  The evacuation was difficult. We had to evacuate in part through areas with no lighting.  There was virtually no communication from the hotel's management for hours as we were kept outside.  Then we were given contradictory information. They were slow to react and did not seem to have a good disaster planning in place. Unfortunately, having attended too many APSA and AALS meetings at the hotel, this met my expectations of this hotel. Next time I'll stay at the excellent Omni Shoreham.It was certainly inconvenient to have stayed up all night and then had to moderate the Bauer-Ginsberg election reform panel a few hours later. But in the scheme of life it could have been a heck of a lot worse.
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Message: 2Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 07:52:51 -0700From: Paul Gronke <paul.gronke at gmail.com>To: Election Law <Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>Subject: Re: [EL] #apsaonfireMessage-ID: <332B0E37-A7A8-4322-8E71-B9E2D92FB443 at gmail.com>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"I'm not sure I agree with Rick.  The love fest with Commissioners Bauer and Ginsberg turned a bit more critical when Prof. Gerken, clearly sleep deprived, provided her commentary.  So much for kumbaya!  More seriously, it was a very good and productive session.  It was great to hear from the Commissioners, freed from their constraints, how they managed to build compromise and agreement.  Thanks to Rick for organizing it and for the commissioners, John Fortier, David Kimball, Heather, and Dan Tokaji for participating.  And yes, the Omni is a better hotel.---Paul Gronke	Professor, Reed College andDaniel B. German Endowed Visiting Professor, Appalachian State UniversityDirector, Early Voting Information Center3203 SE Woodstock BlvdPortland OR 97202EVIC: http://earlyvoting.netOn Aug 31, 2014, at 6:36 AM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:> #APSAonFire> Posted on August 31, 2014 6:33 am by Rick Hasen> A little too much excitement at APSA this year.  Those of us in the central tower of the Marriott Wardman Park hotel were evacuated from the hotel at 1 am thanks to series of suspicious fires set in the stairwell at the hotel. As I was leaving my room there was smoke coming in the hallway.> > We were kept outside until after 3 am, when they moved us into the lobby. Some slept on the floor. Eventually they gathered us in an overcrowded ballroom until the swept the hotel thoroughly looking for possible arsonists  We were allowed to return to our rooms at about 8 am.> > The DC Fire Department and DC Police Department did an excellent job keeping us safe. Fortunately no one was hurt.  I was much less impressed with the management of the Marriott.  The evacuation was difficult. We had to evacuate in part through areas with no lighting.  There was virtually no communication from the hotel?s management for hours as we were kept outside.  Then we were given contradictory information. They were slow to react and did not seem to have a good disaster planning in place. Unfortunately, having attended too many APSA and AALS meetings at the hotel, this met my expectations of this hotel. Next time I?ll stay at the excellent Omni Shoreham.> > It was certainly inconvenient to have stayed up all night and then had to moderate the Bauer-Ginsberg election reform panel a few hours later. But in the scheme of life it could have been a heck of a lot worse.

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