[EL] ELB News and Commentary 9/12/15
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Sat Sep 12 09:45:56 PDT 2015
“Secretary of State: Still probing Commissioner Amos Newsome’s
election” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75964>
Posted onSeptember 12, 2015 9:43 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75964>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Dothan Eagle
<http://www.dothaneagle.com/news/government/secretary-of-state-still-probing-commissioner-amos-newsome-s-election/article_3b3a94a4-58ad-11e5-9f44-57e49f9eaaaf.html>:
Alabama’s Secretary of State said Friday that his office continues
to investigate absentee voter fraud irregularities in the 2013
Dothan District 2 Commission race that have already resulted in
three criminal convictions.
However, absent a voluntary resignation from current District 2
Commissioner Amos Newsome, there currently appears to be little or
no recourse for his removal.
Secretary of State John Merrill addressed commissioners and
residents Friday at the Dothan Civic Center and said his office is
continuing to investigate voter fraud complaints related to the
election. Newsome defeated challenger Lamesa Danzey by 14 votes in
the August 2013 election. Newsome received 119 of 124 absentee
ballots cast. Three workers in Newsome’s campaign have been
convicted of multiple absentee voter fraud counts in which absentee
ballots cast in the election did not follow legal procedure. A
fourth case is pending in Houston County.
Newsome has not been charged with any crime, nor has he made any
public comment about the voter fraud allegations or convictions
within his campaign.
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Posted inabsentee ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>,chicanery
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>,election administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
Justice Kagan Says Public Opinion “Utterly Irrelevant” to How the
Supreme Court Decides Cases <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75962>
Posted onSeptember 12, 2015 9:41 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75962>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Uh huh.
<http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/bob_mcgovern/2015/09/full_court_press_kagan_court_doesn_t_listen_to_public>
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Posted inSupreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“Larry Lessig, Real-Life Capra Star”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75960>
Posted onSeptember 12, 2015 9:37 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75960>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Cass Sunstein:
<http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-09/larry-lessig-real-life-capra-star>
Nevertheless, Lessig is right to draw attention to the wide gulf
between our aspirations to self-government and our actual practices.
Corruption is a strong word, but it is captures the undue influence
of those with money to throw around.
Lessig’s incipient candidacy may already be having an effect. On
Tuesday, Hillary Clintonsaid
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-09-08/hillary-clinton-proposes-making-companies-disclose-political-donations>,
“We have to end the flood of secret, unaccountable money that is
distorting our elections, corrupting our political system, and
drowning out the voices of too many everyday Americans.” She
proposed a host of electoral reforms, including matching funds for
small donations.
Clinton has championed such reforms for a long time, it’s true. But
no one should be surprised if Lessig’s campaign leads both Democrats
and Republicans to give them far more attention.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
Will Canada Abandon First-Past-the-Post Elections?
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75958>
Posted onSeptember 12, 2015 9:25 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75958>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Star
<http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/09/10/electoral-reform-back-in-the-spotlight.html>:
The Kiwis do it. So do the Germans and Scots.
Now Kelly Carmichael is hopeful that after years of study, debate
and political promises, Canada may be on the brink of doing it, too.
“It” is electoral reform, putting in place a voting system that
ensures the makeup of Parliament better reflects the ballots cast.
Indeed, the October election could be the last federal election
using the first-past-the-post system as both Liberals and NDP have
vowed changes to how Canadians elect their MPs.
“I have to say we are pretty hopeful,” said Carmichael, the
executive director of Fair Vote Canada, which advocates for
electoral reform.
The organization is getting ready to launch a national campaign
later this month to put a spotlight on the issue and enlist the
backing of candidates running in this election.
Boosters of the idea believe electoral reform would bring new voices
and fresh ideas to Parliament. It would shake up the big-party
dominance of the political system. It would lead to consensus-driven
government and better policies.
Yet depending on the alternative model chosen, critics see a
confused electorate and a Parliament that yields not compromise or
consensus but paralyzing standoffs.
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Posted inalternative voting systems <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>
How Much Does AIPAC Spend on Lobbying?
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75956>
Posted onSeptember 12, 2015 9:23 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75956>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bill Allison for Foreign Policy
<http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/11/how-aipac-may-win-by-losing-the-iran-deal/>:
The advocacy organization’s annual budget averaged about $66 million
between 2009 and 2013, according to federal tax records, but it told
Congress it never spent more than $3 million per year lobbying the
federal government (the group’s 2014 numbers have not yet
been reported to the Internal Revenue Service). In part, the
disparity comes from the fact that federal law gives organizations
different options for calculating the amount they spend on lobbying;
AIPAC has chosen the most narrow. The tax returns it files with the
IRS, which are public documents due to the group’s nonprofit status,
show even less. Although the forms require filers to disclose the
amount they spend on lobbying, AIPAC has entered zero or left the
line blank every year since 2009.
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Posted inlobbying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>
Super PAC Refund <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75954>
Posted onSeptember 11, 2015 5:37 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75954>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Teddy Schleifer
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/11/politics/rick-perry-2016-campaign-suspended/index.html>for
CNN:
The second campaign began to unravel this summer, with the operation
essentially abandoning its efforts in Iowa and New Hampshire. Doug
Deason, the son of a $5 million donor to the Perry super PAC, said
Perry’s campaign had only raised $100,000 in the two months since
the last reporting period. Deason said Perry delivered the news of
the suspension to him on Thursday.
“He felt it coming. He knew there’s only so much the super PAC can
do,” explained Deason, a powerful Texas donor who is part of the
Koch Brothers’ political network. “After the word got out they were
struggling, they did start getting donations in — but it just wasn’t
enough to really make a difference.”
Deason expects to get his millions of dollars back next week.
“The beauty, of course, of investing in a super PAC is you get the
money back that doesn’t get spent,” Deason said.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“Federal candidates seek ways to tap state campaign stockpiles”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75952>
Posted onSeptember 11, 2015 3:18 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75952>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
McClatchy:
<http://www.bradenton.com/2015/09/11/5985761/federal-candidates-seek-ways-to.html>
California’s House members, many of whom previously served in the
state Legislature, have definitely innovated in their disposal of
state-raised funds. They have given to schools and nonprofits. They
have contributed to fellow officeholders. They have donated to their
political party or its affiliated organizations.
Sometimes, their spending has provoked complaints.
Because different rules apply to raising money for state and federal
elections, state-raised funds are not supposed to be spent directly
on a congressional campaign. Within the law, though, there is
considerable ambiguity about whether an expense counts as a federal
campaign activity.
“In most cases there are five possible explanations, and only one of
them is illegal,” Levinson said.
The gray area was illuminated by Rep. Jeff Denham, a Turlock
Republican, in his inaugural 2010 run for the House of Representatives.
Denham was an eight-year veteran of the state Senate, and a
potential candidate for lieutenant governor when he jumped into the
House race. In the heat of a contested Republican primary, Denham
transferred $225,000 from his state campaign account to a small
military veterans’ charity known asRemembering the Brave
<http://www.rememberingthebrave.org/>.
The charity sponsored a benefit for veterans at the Chukchansi Gold
Resort & Casino, for which Denham, an Air Force veteran, cut radio
and television advertisements. The benefit took place 11 days before
the primary, and Denham’s Republican opponents charged it was a
thinly disguised campaign scheme.
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Posted incampaign finance
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,Uncategorized
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Kansas Voter Fraud Cases Likely Coming Soon”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75950>
Posted onSeptember 11, 2015 1:46 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75950>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
KPR reports.
<http://kansaspublicradio.org/kpr-news/kansas-voter-fraud-cases-likely-coming-soon>
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Posted infraudulent fraud squad <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>,The
Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
“Loyola Law School, Los Angeles Professor Justin Levitt Named to
U.S. Department of Justice Post Overseeing Voting”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75948>
Posted onSeptember 11, 2015 11:16 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75948>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release
<http://www.lls.edu/resources/newsroom/loyolaspotlightarticles/levitttodoj/>:
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles today announced that prominent
election law professor Justin Levitt, a national expert in
constitutional law and the law of democracy, has been named Deputy
Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S.
Department of Justice. Levitt will be on leave from Loyola, and
available to serve in that position, through the close of the
current presidential administration.
My earlier coverage ishere <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75934>.
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Posted inDepartment of Justice
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>,election law biz
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>
“Seventh Circuit on the Right to ‘An Effective Voice in the General
Election'” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75946>
Posted onSeptember 11, 2015 10:29 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75946>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
FairVote
<http://www.fairvote.org/research-and-analysis/blog/seventh-circuit-and-limited-nominations-an-effective-voice-in-the-general-election-/>:
The Seventh Circuit’s ruling may have significant implications.
Indianapolis’s current law recognizes that in partisan elections for
judges, partisan voters often “vote the ticket” and wipe out one
side. That makes the primary the determinative election, with the
general election at most contested on paper. FairVote’s analyses
have pointed out that most state legislative elections havegeneral
elections with no meaningful competition
<http://www.fairvote.org/research-and-analysis/blog/government-of-few-report-highlights-new-tools-exposing-our-broken-democracy/>;
several whole legislative chambers are represented by state
representatives with party affiliations that match up perfectly with
the partisan affiliation of the presidential nominee who carried
their district.
Even worse, more than four in ten state legislative elections arenot
even contested on paper
<http://ballotpedia.org/Competitiveness_in_State_Legislative_Elections:_1972-2014>today.
Here is what the Seventh Circuit panel had to say about the right to
vote:
*/“When an election law reduces or forecloses the opportunity for
electoral choice, it restricts a market where a voter might
effectively and meaningfully exercise his choice between competing
ideas or candidates, and thus severely burdens the right to vote.”/*
If there really is a constitutional right to meaningful choices in
November, we could be in for some creative legal challenges ahead!
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Posted inalternative voting systems <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>
“N.J.’s Menendez says actions that helped friend were legitimate”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75944>
Posted onSeptember 11, 2015 10:28 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75944>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NJ.com:
<http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/09/menendez_says_actions_that_benefitted_friend_were.html>
Lawyers for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez argued in U.S. District Court
in Newark that his actions on behalf of Dr. Salomon Melgen concerned
legitimate policy questions and were not favors for a friend and
campaign donor.
In filings submitted late Thursday, Menendez’s lawyers said his
actions were protected by the Constitution’s “speech and debate
clause
<http://www.heritage.org/constitution/#%21/articles/1/essays/27/speech-and-debate-clause>,”
which prevent lawmakers from being prosecuted for their legislative
activities.
“The indictment violates the Speech or Debate Clause by charging
that Senator Menendez took various legislative acts and alleging
that Senator Menendez received various gifts, and leaving the
prosecution to ask the jury to infer that there must have been some
sort of corrupt agreement linking the gifts with those acts,” the
senator’s lawyers wrote.
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Posted inbribery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>,chicanery
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>,legislation and legislatures
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>,Speech or Debate Clause
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=36>
“Amid rise of super PACs, billionaire brothers wield clout”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75942>
Posted onSeptember 11, 2015 8:04 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75942>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Boston Globe:
<http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/09/10/from-one-struggling-town-billionaire-brothers-illustrate-how-campaign-laws-favor-wealthiest/VYKFXbhdbtB0V7ouOB76FI/story.html>
Brothers Farris and Dan Wilks grew up here in a converted goat shed
amid the ranchlands. They seemed destined to spend their lives in
their father’s masonry business. They had little money to spare and
didn’t show much interest in politics.
Then, one day in 2002, they decided to invest in a once-obscure
branch of the natural gas business known as “fracking.” Before long,
two things changed: The brothers became fabulously wealthy, and
election laws were upended by the Supreme Court.
By the time the Wilks brothers sold their company, Frac-Tech, in
2011, they both were billionaires. This year, seizing upon the
opportunity presented by loosened election laws, they have made a
new investment: the race for the presidency.
Therein lies a story that is redefining the way democracy is
practiced in America — to some, it is a breakthrough for free
speech; to others, a dire threat to fair elections.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“California Senate OKs automatic voter registration plan”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75940>
Posted onSeptember 11, 2015 7:55 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75940>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LAT
<http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-senate-voter-registration-drivers-licenses-20150910-story.html>:
In response to the record-low turnout in the last election, the
state Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would automatically
register to vote any eligible Californian who gets a driver’s
license unless they opt out.
The measure was prompted by the 42% turnout in the November
election, as well as the turnout for March election in Los Angeles,
in which only about 10% of eligible voters went to the polls.
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Posted invoter registration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>
--
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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