[EL] ELB News and Commentary - 12/4/16

Sun Dec 4 08:29:15 PST 2016

Trump Conflicts of Interests, Sunday Edition
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89677>
Posted on December 4, 2016 8:14 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89677> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

>From the NYT
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/04/us/politics/trump-family-ivanka-donald-jr.html>,
Politico <http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-tax-nightmare-232158>,
and Monkey Cage
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/04/what-thomas-hobbes-can-tell-us-about-donald-trump-and-conflicts-of-interest/?utm_term=.1fab60c38180>
.
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Posted in conflict of interest laws <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>
Toobin on Vote Suppression <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89675>
Posted on December 4, 2016 7:36 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89675> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

In the New Yorker,
<http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/12/the-real-voting-scandal-of-2016>
arguing that the recount is a distraction from “the real voting-rights
scandal of 2016.”
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Posted in Voting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
“Where Unfair Voting Practices Begin” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89673>
Posted on December 4, 2016 7:29 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89673> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

NYT editorial
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/opinion/where-unfair-voting-practices-begin.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region>
on partisan gerrymandering.
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Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>
“Like Kryptonite to Campaign Finance Reform”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89671>
Posted on December 4, 2016 7:19 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89671> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Marty Kaplan on Don McGahn at Moyers
<http://billmoyers.com/story/like-kryptonite-campaign-finance-reform/>.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“McCrory administration won’t explain decision that slowed election lawsuit”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89669>
Posted on December 4, 2016 7:00 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89669> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

News & Observer
<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article118688108.html>
:

*Gov. Pat McCrory’s office still won’t explain why it rejected the State
Board of Elections’ choice of lawyers to defend against a lawsuit
challenging same-day-registration votes.*

*The decision Tuesday has forced the elections agency to rely on two
in-house lawyers, who are also working on other election matters, to fight
the conservative Civitas Institute’s claim.*
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
Stein Camp’s Bid for Statewide Pennsylvania Recount in Trouble
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89663>
Posted on December 3, 2016 9:04 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89663> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Coverage from the NYT
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/us/jill-stein-pennsylvania-recount.html>
and WaPo
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/green-party-drops-bid-for-statewide-pennsylvania-recount/2016/12/03/7b3b7482-b9b5-11e6-939c-91749443c5e5_story.html?utm_term=.b732ac7b01c1>
on Saturday’s state
court filing, which says that petitioners can’t afford the $1 million
bond.  While reportedly dropping the Pennsylvania state court case, the
Stein campaign says it will file papers in federal court on Monday seeking
a statewide recount.
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Posted in recounts <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>
Election Fraud Conviction in Michigan <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89661>
Posted on December 3, 2016 8:54 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89661> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Brandon Hall was convicted of 10 counts of election fraud
<http://www.grandhaventribune.com/Courts/2016/11/30/Jury-finds-Brandon-Hall-guilty-of-election-fraud.html>
for forging signatures on a 2012 judicial candidate petition, and now faces
up to five year imprisonment.
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Maine Adopts Ranked-Choice Voting. What Is It, and How Will It Work?”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89657>
Posted on December 3, 2016 8:38 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89657> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

NYT <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/us/maine-ranked-choice-voting.html>.
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Posted in alternative voting systems <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>
“On ‘Hamilton Electors’ and the Lessig/Hasen Debate”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89653>
Posted on December 3, 2016 6:04 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89653> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Mike Parsons blogs at Modern Democracy
<https://moderndemocracyblog.com/2016/12/03/on-hamilton-electors-and-the-lessighasen-debate/>
:

*Professors Lawrence Lessig and Rick Hasen–two titans of the political law
world–recently got into a public debate over the legitimacy of presidential
electors voting in a way different from how their votes were pledged.
Despite my decidedly non-titan status, this is a blog about government
structure and process, so I suppose it’s worth weighing in: both seem wrong
in my view….*

Worth reading!
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Posted in electoral college <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>
Dueling Michigan Recount Lawsuits, in Federal and State Courts
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89651>
Posted on December 3, 2016 5:46 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89651> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

WaPo
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-latest-wisconsins-walker-doesnt-expect-vote-changes/2016/12/02/2a8f0962-b89e-11e6-939c-91749443c5e5_story.html?utm_term=.931796e421fd>
:

Green Party candidate Jill Stein is asking a federal judge to order
Michigan to quickly start a recount of presidential votes.

…The recount could start Wednesday because officials say state law requires
a break of at least two business days.

Stein’s attorney, Mark Brewer, filed a lawsuit Friday….  He says the delay
means the recount might not be finished by a Dec. 13 deadline.

If that’s really Stein’s claim (I haven’t seen the complaint), then it
would suffer from the same problem as the pro-Trump PACs’ due process claim
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89644> in their Wisconsin lawsuit: there’s
no federal-law mandate that the recount be completed by the safe-harbor
date.

Meanwhile, Trump and the Michigan attorney general are both trying to stop
that state’s recount
<http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/elections/trump-sues-to-block-michigan-recount>.
Trump’s team has reportedly sued in state court
<http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/elections/jill-stein-files-federal-lawsuit-to-try-to-force-michigan-recount>
claiming
that Stein lacks standing to demand a recount. Michigan Attorney General
Bill Schuette (a Republican) has also sued to stop the recount
<http://www.businessinsider.com/michigans-attorney-general-files-lawsuit-against-jill-stein-recount-2016-12>
.

*Update:*  Richard Winger has Stein’s complaint here
<http://ballot-access.org/2016/12/03/jill-stein-sues-michigan-to-avoid-delay-in-recount/>
.
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Posted in recounts <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>
“Kris Kobach was a source of Donald Trump’s voter fraud allegation, Conway
says” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89649>
Posted on December 3, 2016 5:17 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89649> by *Dan
Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

KC Star
<http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article118434743.html>
.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>
Bush v. Gore Lawsuit from Pro-Trump PACs
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89644>
Posted on December 2, 2016 11:32 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89644> by
*Dan Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Yesterday’s complaint
<https://www.scribd.com/document/332954119/Wisconsin-recount-complaint>
in *Great
America PAC v. Wisconsin Elections Commission* begins:

This lawsuit seeks to enjoin a recount that — like the ill-fated Florida
recount the Supreme Court enjoined in *Bush v. Gore*, 531 U.S. 98 (per
curiam) — fails to satisfy Equal Protection requirements, threatens to
extend past the federally specified “safe harbor” deadline for choosing
presidential electors, and — particularly in conjunction with other
baseless recounts sought by a candidate who did not win a single
presidential elector — may unjustifiably cast doubt upon the legitimacy of
President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s victory.

Further down, the complaint alleges that Wisconsin’s standards for
conducting the recount are too vague and indeterminate, although the quoted
provisions of Wisconsin law are more specific than the intent-of-the voter
standard deemed inadequate in *Bush v. Gore*.  For example, Wisconsin
law says that votes should be counted if specified marks (such as an X, V,
O, / or +) appear within the square by the candidate’s name or anywhere
within the space where that name appears.  Whether Wisconsin’s legal
standard is specific enough may depend on what’s actually going on in
different localities where the recount is proceeding, a factual issue about
which the complaint says virtually nothing.

The complaint also includes a due process claim, asserting that there’s a
“substantial likelihood” that the recounts won’t be finished by deadline
set forth in the federal safe harbor statute (3 U.S.C. 5).  I’m skeptical
that there’s a real federal claim here.  Even aside from the speculative
nature of this claim, federal law doesn’t require states to resolve
post-election disputes by the safe harbor deadline (this year December 13)
— it merely ensures that state determinations regarding electoral votes
will be conclusive if they do.  There might be a state law claim, if
Wisconsin law really mandates that recounts be completed by the safe harbor
date and the recounts can’t be completed in time, but probably not a due
process violation.

For coverage of this case, see Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-super-pac-wisconsin-recount-232121>
and NYT
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/trump-recounts-wisconsin-michigan-pennsylvania.html>
.
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Posted in recounts <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>
“‘Rigged’ or Not, Election Positions Trump to Shape Rules on How You Vote
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89640>
Posted on December 2, 2016 10:10 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89640> by
*Dan Tokaji* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

NYT
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/politics/voting-rights-donald-trump.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_up_20161202&nl=upshot&nl_art=5&nlid=47353638&ref=headline&te=1>:
“After an extraordinarily contentious election, crucial elements of the
rules that determine how Americans vote will be under assault from
conservatives and facing legal challenges heading toward the Supreme Court
as Donald J. Trump prepares to become president.”
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Daniel P. Tokaji

Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Professor of
Constitutional Law

The Ohio State University | Moritz College of Law

55 W. 12th Ave. | Columbus, OH 43210

614.292.6566 <(614)%20292-6566> | tokaji.1 at osu.edu
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