[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/27/15
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Mon Jul 27 07:42:00 PDT 2015
“Ahead of Redraw, Virginia Republicans Jockey for Safe Seats”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74614>
Posted onJuly 27, 2015 7:40 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74614>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Roll Call reports
<http://atr.rollcall.com/virginia-redistricting-republican-jockey-for-seats/?dcz=>.
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Posted inredistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>
Zephyr Teachout Taking Over for Lessig as Head of MayDay PAC
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74612>
Posted onJuly 27, 2015 7:39 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74612>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Emily Cahn reports.
<https://twitter.com/CahnEmily/status/625652390138675200>
And here she is in the foreground <https://mayday.us/>, with Larry in
the background.
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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“The television election: Despite all the hype about tools like
Snapchat and Meerkat, the 2016 campaign will be dominated by a
technology that’s been around for decades: TV. “
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74610>
Posted onJuly 27, 2015 7:27 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74610>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Yup
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/decline-of-tv-ads-not-in-2016-120611.html>.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“The new look at ‘one person, one vote,’ made simple”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74607>
Posted onJuly 26, 2015 10:20 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74607>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Lyle
Denniston<http://www.scotusblog.com/2015/07/the-new-look-at-one-person-one-vote-made-simple/>for
SCOTUSBlog. “Editor’s note: This post examines two cases the Supreme
Court will review at its next Term: /Evenwel v. Abbott
<http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/evenwel-v-abbott/?wpmp_switcher=desktop>,
/and /Harris v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission
<http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/harris-v-arizona-independent-redistricting-commission/?wpmp_switcher=desktop>.
/This post will be followed this week by a symposium on/Evenwel/.”
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Posted inredistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>,Supreme Court
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“AG’s Office Probing Valley Election Fraud Claims”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74605>
Posted onJuly 26, 2015 8:56 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74605>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Texas Tribune
<http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/24/lawyer-ags-office-probing-election-contest-in/>:
The Texas attorney general’s office has opened an investigation into
a contested election in the Rio Grande Valley won by a client of
Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa two years ago,
according to a lawyer for the losing candidate.
Houston attorney Jerad Najvar said Thursday that Attorney GeneralKen
Paxton <http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/>‘s office
is acting on a criminal complaint filed by his client, Letty Lopez.
She lost to Lupe Rivera, Hinojosa’s client, by 16 votes in a
November 2013 election for a spot on the Weslaco City Commission.
More than a year ago, a visiting judge ruled that some of the votes
for Rivera were illegally cast and ordered a new election held as
soon as possible, according to local media. Legal wrangling has kept
the new election from taking place, and Rivera has remained in
office while Hinojosa has defended him in court.
In an interview Friday, Hinojosa said he had no comment about the
investigation but questioned the motivations of Najvar, a prominent
Republican lawyer who specializes in campaign finance and political
law. The case has no doubt provided fodder to the Texas GOP, which
has latched on to reports of corruption in the Valley to accuse
Democrats of hypocrisy on voting rights.
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Posted inchicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>,The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
“First on CNN: Billionaire brothers give Cruz super PAC $15 million”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74603>
Posted onJuly 26, 2015 8:49 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74603>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Teddy Schleifer reports
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/25/politics/ted-cruz-wilks-brothers/index.html>for
CNN.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“Kobach gains power to intimidate voters”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74601>
Posted onJuly 26, 2015 8:45 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74601>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Michael Smith has writtenthis oped.
<http://www.hutchnews.com/opinion/columnists/kobach-gains-power-to-intimidate-voters/article_da55b246-8ea7-5a30-aab2-1207b50c2afd.html>
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Posted inThe Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
“Donald Trump: I Pay My Own Way, Unlike Bush, Walker or Clinton”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74599>
Posted onJuly 26, 2015 7:22 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74599>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WSJ:
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/07/25/donald-trump-i-pay-my-own-way-unlike-bush-walker-or-clinton/>
*Donald Trump*said there was no cap in the amount of money he would
be willing to put into his campaign for the Republican nomination
for president if his message continues to resonate with voters.
Speaking at a free-wheeling press conference following a rally in
this city east of Des Moines, Mr. Trump also attacked Republican
rivals*Jeb Bush*and*Scott Walker*and Democrat*Hillary Clinton*with
accusations that they were beholden to wealthy donors.
Mr. Trump, a real-estate developer and television personality, has
almost entirely self-financed his campaign so far.
“Bush is controlled by those people. Walker is controlled by those
people. Hillary Clinton is controlled by those people. Trump has
none of those people,” he said Saturday afternoon. “I’m not
controlled. I do what’s right for the people.”
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
‘Exodus from Puerto Rico could upend Florida vote in 2016
presidential race’ <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74597>
Posted onJuly 26, 2015 7:12 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74597>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo reports.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/exodus-from-puerto-rico-could-upend-florida-vote-in-2016-presidential-race/2015/07/26/d73bc724-3229-11e5-8353-1215475949f4_story.html>
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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Presidential Race Just Started? Not According to the Spending”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74595>
Posted onJuly 26, 2015 2:02 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74595>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Must-read NYT report
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/us/presidential-race-just-started-not-according-to-the-spending.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news>:
Since late last year, presidential hopefuls have been romancing
donors, hiring staff and haunting the diners and senior centers of
Manchester and Dubuque.
But on paper, most of the candidates spent virtually no money
exploring a presidential bid until very recently. According to
campaign disclosures filed with theFederal Election Commission
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_election_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org>last
week, the much-promoted campaign staff they hired had other jobs.
And their many, many trips to New Hampshire and Iowa had nothing to
do with running for president.
Such accounting — which the campaigns defended as perfectly
appropriate but some election lawyers said violated the law — has
allowed would-be candidates to spend months testing the presidential
waters while saving cash to use later in the primaries.
It also let them tap their most loyal donors for additional funds
that will not count against the limits on contributions to their
official campaigns. And it has contributed to what some experts
described as a kind of campaign Wild West, with candidates and their
lawyers testing or crossing legal boundaries stretched thin by the
advent of “super PACs
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/campaign_finance/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>”
and by Federal Election Commission deadlocks.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,tax law and election law
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>
“Conservative Support Sought for Campaign Law Changes”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74593>
Posted onJuly 26, 2015 1:59 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74593>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg BNA
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=73234919&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0h0j2j3x8&split=0>:
Republicans on Capitol Hill are responding positively to a new
nonprofit organization trying to build conservative support for
changes in the campaign finance system, the group’s leader said.
The group is getting “a better reaction than we thought we would”
from Republican lawmakers despite a recent history of sharp partisan
division over campaign finance issues, John Pudner, the executive
director or Take Back Our Republic, said during a July 24 panel
discussion.
Pudner is a political consultant who helped Rep. Dave Brat win a
stunning victory in a Republican primary in Virginia last year over
former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. He spoke on a panel of
campaign finance experts assembled by the nonprofit Campaign Finance
Institute, a group that has long favored strong regulation of money
in politics.
Pudner helped launch the Auburn, Ala.-based Take Back Our Republic
early this year and has been working to establish dozens of state
offices for the group.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“The Millions of Marginalized Americans”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74591>
Posted onJuly 26, 2015 1:57 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74591>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Frank Bruni NYT column
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-the-millions-of-marginalized-americans.html?_r=1>on
the Electoral College.
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Posted incampaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,electoral
college <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>
“Second Choices Mean a Second Chance to Determine Real GOP
Frontrunner” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74589>
Posted onJuly 26, 2015 1:55 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74589>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
FairVote
<http://www.fairvote.org/research-and-analysis/blog/second-choices-mean-a-second-chance-to-determine-real-gop-frontrunner/>:
Right alongside the weather of late July, the Republican contest for
president is heating up. Every day, new GOP primary poll results are
published, yet none has managed to pin down the true leading
candidate in a crowded field. With aranked choice voting
<http://www.fairvote.org/reforms/instant-runoff-voting/>poll,
however, we’d have a better chance — and at least new one poll is
getting close.
Many polls only let voters pick one candidate. With more than two
choices, let alone 17, analysts like Princeton’s Sam Wang argue that
<http://www.fairvote.org/[sitetree_link,id=]#http:/www.newrepublic.com/article/122333/donald-trump-not-frontrunner-smarter-polls-would-prove-it>vote-for-one
polls give too little information
<http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122333/donald-trump-not-frontrunner-smarter-polls-would-prove-it>.
<http://www.fairvote.org/[sitetree_link,id=]#http:/www.newrepublic.com/article/122333/donald-trump-not-frontrunner-smarter-polls-would-prove-it>Any
two similar candidates may split their support, making it difficult
to see that connection when voters must choose one or the other.
When the field has become so fractured that a candidate with only
15% of first-choice support is deemed a “front-runner,” it’s time to
rethink how we conduct polls. Winning a small percentage of loyal
followers does not indicate a majority of support among Republican
voters nor help tell us just where the race may go in the months ahead.
A growing number of polls give voters the chance to indicate a
second choice, but typically report those numbers simplistically by
lumping those second choices in with the first choices, again making
it very difficult to see where the coalitions are and to compare
frontrunners in a straight-up manner.
A true ranked choice poll would allow voters to rank all the
candidates in order of preference, and it would offer a better
profile of which candidate truly has the broadest base of support by
demonstrating how support changes when candidates are taken out of
the process. The group Democracy for America demonstratedhow this
could work
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fairvoteblog.com%2F2014%2F12%2Fdemocracy-for-americas-creative-use-of.html&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHPMyPceLUzxDt-DEyNIEmDJChCpg>among
rumored Democratic candidates for president in late 2014.
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Posted inalternative voting systems
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“Plaintiffs rest case in federal voting rights trial; state
attorneys call first witness” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74587>
Posted onJuly 24, 2015 9:27 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74587>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The latest f
<http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/expert-n-c-s-election-law-fits-historical-pattern-in/article_7f1902be-3229-11e5-a67c-d7b52d50ec1f.html>rom
the NC voting trial.
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Posted inelection administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,Voting Rights Act
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
--
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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