[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/81/5
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Wed Jul 8 08:14:40 PDT 2015
“Voting rights become a proxy war in the 2016 presidential election”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74141>
Posted onJuly 8, 2015 8:12 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74141>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Frank Askin writes
<https://theconversation.com/voting-rights-become-a-proxy-war-in-the-2016-presidential-election-43431>for
The Conversation.
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Posted inelection administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
“FAN 67 (First Amendment News) En Banc Unanimous Ruling from DC
Circuit Upholds Federal Ban on Contributions by Federal Contractors”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74139>
Posted onJuly 8, 2015 8:08 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74139>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ron Collins blogs
<http://concurringopinions.com/archives/2015/07/fan-67-first-amendment-news-en-banc-unanimous-ruling-from-dc-circuit-upholds-federal-ban-on-contributions-by-federal-contractors.html>.
My earlier analysis of the Wagner case ishere
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74090> and thoughts on the Super PAC
question ishere <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74113>.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“Today’s Wagner Decision Encourages an Obama Order on Campaign
Contributions by Federal Contractors”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74137>
Posted onJuly 8, 2015 7:48 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74137>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Charles Tiefer writes for Forbes.
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/charlestiefer/2015/07/07/todays-wagner-decision-encourages-an-obama-order-on-campaign-contributions-by-federal-contractors/2/>
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“Humphrey School Launches First Of Its Kind Online Program To Train
Election Administrators Throughout U.S.”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74135>
Posted onJuly 8, 2015 7:37 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74135>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Doug Chapin
<http://editions.lib.umn.edu/electionacademy/2015/07/08/humphrey-school-launches-first-of-its-kind-online-program-to-train-election-administrators-throughout-u-s/>with
an exciting announcement:
I’m very excited to share that we recently received Regents’
approval for an online graduate Certificate in Election
Administration that will begin accepting students in the Fall.
Here’s the University’s press release:
/A new online certificate program at the Humphrey School of Public
Affairs recently approved by the University of Minnesota Board of
Regents is the first of its kind to prepare the next generation of
creative and committed leaders of election administration. The
Certificate in Election Administration program will provide relevant
and rigorous professional training to those who run election systems
throughout the United States as well college graduates who wish to
learn more about the field. It is the only certificate program in
election administration offered online, and will be offering
enrollment beginning fall 2015./
/“With this new program, the Humphrey School is poised to train
leaders of election administration, at a time when there is an
urgent national need to professionalize election systems,” says
Humphrey School Dean Eric Schwartz. “This exciting new initiative
will build on the School’s top-ranked standing and build on our
commitment to inspiring and training leaders for public service.” /
/Across the United States, there are more than 8,000 local election
jurisdictions and more than 50,000 people employed in election
positions. Until now, numerous barriers including geography and work
schedules have prevented professional development and training. At
the same time, political and media scrutiny on elections has
intensified and the demands on election administrators have
increased because of new legislation, court rulings and technology./
/ “Effectiveness and trust are indispensable for the operation of
elections,” says Professor Larry Jacobs, director of the Humphrey
School’s Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, who
developed the program with Doug Chapin, one of the country’s most
prominent proponents of professionalization in election
administration. “The Humphrey School is excited to work with Doug to
build a pioneering program to train professionals in election
administration and to strengthen the foundation of America’s
democracy.”/
/In its 2014 report, the Presidential Commission on Election
Administration (PCEA) urged “the integration of election
administration in university curriculums of public administration.”
The Certificate in Election Administration program is a direct
response to that call. A total of 12 credits are required for
completion, and all courses will be offered in an online format,
covering such topics as election law, election design, and voter
participation. The program will provide students with a deeper
understanding of election administration as well as the ability to
identify—and resolve—key tensions that run throughout the field today./
/PCEA member Tammy Patrick welcomed the Humphrey School’s program,
saying it meets a “key recommendation to prepare tomorrow’s
professionals to conduct elections in an environment that requires a
comprehensive skill set in order to be successful,” adding “Our
democracy depends on it.”/
If you want more details on the program including curriculum and
admission requirements, please visit
http://www.hhh.umn.edu/electioncertificate.
I want to thank the Humphrey School but particularly colleagues
Associate Dean Laura Bloomberg, Professor Larry Jacobs, Kate Conners
– and especially Lea Chittenden who has kept this effort afloat and
steaming ahead for several years. We’re excited about what’s next –
and we hope you are, too.
Stay tuned!
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Posted inelection administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,election law biz
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>
“What the Supreme Court’s Arizona Redistricting Ruling Means for
Presidential (Not Just Congressional) Election Reform”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74133>
Posted onJuly 8, 2015 7:34 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74133>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Vik Amar
writes<https://verdict.justia.com/2015/07/08/what-the-supreme-courts-arizona-redistricting-ruling-means-for-presidential-not-just-congressional-election-reform>for
Justia’s Verdict. (I discussed the connection between the AZ case and
Article II/Bush v. Gore in this piece forSlate)
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/06/arizona_supreme_court_decision_redistricting_ruling_undermines_bush_v_gore.html>.
And congraulations to Vik, who isgoing to be the new dean at Illinois
law <http://www.law.illinois.edu/news/article/3023?src=fpb>. He’s not
only a first rate scholar and excellent teacher but also one of the
nicest people you’ll ever meet.
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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Inside the GOP’s Effort to Close the Campaign-Science Gap With
Democrats” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74131>
Posted onJuly 8, 2015 7:31 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74131>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Fascinating Sasha Issenberg look.
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/features/2015-07-08/inside-the-gop-s-effort-to-close-the-campaign-science-gap-with-democrats?cmpid=BBD070815_POL>
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Posted incampaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“Instant runoff voting could improve Boston elections”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74129>
Posted onJuly 8, 2015 7:29 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74129>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
James Sutherland writes.
<http://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/instant-runoff-voting-could-improve-boston-elections/>
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Posted inalternative voting systems <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>
“Democrats sue state election officials over 2011 redistricting”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74127>
Posted onJuly 8, 2015 7:27 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74127>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/democrats-sue-state-election-officials-over-2011-redistricting-b99533804z1-312495891.html>from
Wisconsin:
A group of Democrats sued state election officials Wednesday over
election maps Republicans drew in 2011 thathelped give them a firm
grip
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/control-of-state-legislature-will-be-tough-for-democrats-1075fi5-173198241.html>on
the Legislature.
The lawsuit comes two years after a panel of three federal judges in
separate litigation redrew two Assembly districts andblasted GOP
lawmakers
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/judges-close-redistricting-fight-with-admonition-b9925646z1-210006311.html>for
drawing the maps in secret. That panel found the two districts on
Milwaukee’s south sideviolated the voting rights of Latinos
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/panel-rules-south-side-districts-must-be-redrawn-others-approved-bn4mlpo-143811306.html>,
but it left in place all the other legislative maps, allowing
Republicans to keep their advantage in elections.
The new lawsuit seeks to change that by arguing the maps are so
partisan as to be unconstitutional….
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled overly partisan maps can be
unconstitutional, but the justices have never agreed on what
standard to use to determine that. The latest lawsuit proposes a way
of doing that.
Partisan gerrymandering is achieved by “cracking” and “packing”
districts. Cracking districts involves breaking up voters of one
party across multiple districts so they don’t have a majority of
votes in the districts. Packing districts amounts to stuffing large
number of like-minded voters into a small number of districts.
In both cases, those districts produce large numbers of “wasted”
votes — that is, excess votes that aren’t needed to elect a
candidate. Those bringing the lawsuit contend partisan
gerrymandering can be measured by using those wasted votes to
calculate a redistricting plan’s “efficiency gap.”
The gap is the difference between the two parties’ wasted votes
divided by the total number of votes cast. The gap determines the
percentage of seats a party receives that it would not have received
under a plan in which both sides receive roughly equal numbers of
wasted votes.
Using that measure, the Assembly maps gave Republicans an efficiency
gap of 13% in 2012 and 10% in 2014. That makes the maps one of the
most partisan in American history, according to the lawsuit.
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Posted inredistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>
Lyle Denniston’s Take on Today’s DC Circuit Campaign Finance
Decision <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74125>
Posted onJuly 7, 2015 2:04 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74125>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
He concludes
<http://lyldenlawnews.com/2015/07/07/ban-on-contractors-political-donations-upheld/>:
Aside from its direct impact on the flat ban on contractor
contributions, the new decision’s rejection of the First Amendment
challenge may have a legal and political effect on two other
potential campaign law controversies that have been developing in
the Obama administration for several years.
Both of those potential initiatives have been strongly challenged on
First Amendment grounds, as potential restrictions on the
free-speech aspects of campaign financing.
The first of those possible changes has been under study by
President Obama and his White House aides for some time: a plan to
issue a presidential order to force business firms doing business
with the federal government to disclose publicly all of their
political activity. Although contractors are banned from making
direct political contributions to candidates or campaign
organizations, they may channel money into politics in other ways..
The second possible revision was a study by the Internal Revenue
Service — now suspended, perhaps for an indefinite period, because
of political opposition — to revise the rules on eligibility fo
tax-exempt status of private groups that are active in funding
federal election campaigns. Current IRS rules allow many such
groups to gain tax-exempt status on the theory that they are doing
“charitable” work. The IRS had draft plans to severely restrict
that status for such groups.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
Cert Petition Filed Arguing Exclusion of Independent Voters in NJ
Primaries is Unconstitutional <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74122>
Posted onJuly 7, 2015 12:55 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74122>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Read the cert. petition inBalsam v. Secretary of State of New Jersey
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/balsam.pdf>.
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Posted inpolitical parties
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,primaries
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>
“The Rise and Fall of Mario Biaggi: Reminder of Why the Illegal
Gratuities Statute Should be Revived “
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74120>
Posted onJuly 7, 2015 12:50 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74120>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Meredith McGehee blogs.
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/blog/clc-blog-rise-and-fall-mario-biaggi-reminder-why-illegal-gratuities-statute-should-be>
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Posted inbribery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>
“Blogging judge calls political candidate ‘unfit’ for office”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74115>
Posted onJuly 7, 2015 11:15 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74115>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Orin Kerr
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/07/07/blogging-judge-calls-political-candidate-unfit-for-office/>on
Judge Kopf.
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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
The Status of the Federal Contractor Ban as Applied to Super PACs
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74113>
Posted onJuly 7, 2015 10:22 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74113>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
As I noted inmy earlier post <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74090>on
today’s Wagner v. FEC decision, the DC Circuit today did not address the
question whether federal contractors have a constitutional right to make
contributions to super PACs despite the contractor ban. It turns out the
issue was raised in a matter involving Chevron at the FEC a few years
ago, but the FEC did not resolve it. Here’s aCovington Bulletin
<http://www.insidepoliticallaw.com/2014/04/11/in-chevron-case-fec-brings-clarity-to-the-federal-contractor-ban-and-super-pacs/>(my
emphasis):
*In Chevron Case, FEC Brings Clarity to the Federal Contractor Ban
and Super PACs*
ByRobert Kelner
<http://www.insidepoliticallaw.com/authors/#rkelner>,Robert Lenhard
<http://www.insidepoliticallaw.com/authors/#rlenhard>andKevin
Glandon <http://www.insidepoliticallaw.com/authors/#kglandon>onApril
11th, 2014
The rules on corporate contributions to Super PACs were made clearer
today when the Federal Election Commission (FEC)released its finding
<http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/14044353483.pdf>that Chevron
Corporation’s $2.5 million contribution in 2012 to the Congressional
Leadership Fund (a Super PAC) had not violated the bar on government
contractors making contributions in federal elections.
Public Citizen and several environmental groups had alleged that
Chevron Corporation and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. had numerous federal
contracts, and consequently could not contribute to a Super PAC. On
abipartisan 5-1 vote
<http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/14044353409.pdf>, the FEC dismissed
the charges, finding that Chevron Corporation—which made the
contribution—was not a federal contractor at the time, and that
federal contractor status could not be imputed to the company merely
because it had a wholly-owned subsidiary that owned a subsidiary
that in turn owned a subsidiary that owned a federal contractor. In
so doing, the FEC followed the agency’s longstanding practice of
permitting a parent company with a federal contractor subsidiary to
make a contribution as long as it has sufficient funds from sources
other than the contractor subsidiary. Nor is the federal contractor
ban particularly stringent, permitting officers, shareholders, a
corporate PAC, and subcontractors to contribute, even when the
contractor cannot.
*Having resolved the case by applying the facts to existing law, the
FEC did not address an even more fundamental issueraised by Chevron
<http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/14044353375.pdf>: Applying the
federal contractor ban to contributions to a Super PAC is
inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s limiting of campaign finance
restrictions to the prevention of/quid pro quo/corruption or its
appearance. Last Wednesday’s decision in/McCutcheon v.
FEC/highlights the doctrinal fragility of the federal contractor ban
in cases like this.*
Full disclosure: Covington represented Chevron before the FEC in
this matter.
UPDATE:
Craig Holman sent the following message to the election law listserv
(reprinted with permission):
Every indication at this point is that the federal pay-to-play law
applies to super PACs, though this question has yet to be litigated.
The federal law explicitly prohibits federal contractors from making
campaign contributions to federal candidates, parties and PACs, and
super PACs are federal PACs.
This was the basis of a “recent” FEC complaint filed by Public
Citizen, in which Chevron made a $2.5 million contribution to
Boehner’s super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund. The FEC
dismissed the complaint on the grounds offered by Chevron: that the
campaign contribution to the super PAC was made by Chevron
Corporation, while the federal contract was held by Chevron USA, a
different division of the same corporate family. (This rationale of
allowing one division of a company make campaign contributions while
another division of the same corporate family holds the contracts is
currently the subject of an FEC rulemaking petition).
The issue of whether the federal pay-to-play law applies to super
PACs was not questioned in that decision, and individual
commissioners have on occasion said that they believe the law does
indeed apply to super PACs.
Public Citizen contends that the law does indeed apply to super
PACs. It makes sense. Not only is the law clear that it does apply
to all PACs, the very close association and coordination of super
PACs with candidates and parties warrants such an interpretation.
Such an interpretation is not only appropriate for the federal
pay-to-play law, but also for SEC rule 206(4)-5. The SEC has not yet
made it clear that the SEC pay-to-play rule applies to super PACs,
but the agency has routinely applied the pay-to-play rule in other
situations where it deemed appropriate to close evasion of the
pay-to-play rule.
Craig Holman, Ph.D.
Government Affairs Lobbyist
Public Citizen
See also pages 5 and 9 of this2011 MUR
<http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/11044304942.pdf>, in which the FEC says
contractors cannot make contributions to Super PACs.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“The Age of Super PACs” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74111>
Posted onJuly 7, 2015 10:02 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74111>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT video.
<http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000003778583/the-age-of-super-pacs.html>
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“‘Super PACs’ Take On New Role, Organizing Voters”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74109>
Posted onJuly 7, 2015 9:59 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74109>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Trip Gabriel
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/us/politics/super-pacs-take-on-new-role-organizing-voters.html?_r=0>for
the NYT on the ground in Iowa.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
--
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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