[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/14/16

Tue Dec 13 20:46:53 PST 2016

“Menendez asks Supreme Court to hear case”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89956>
Posted on December 13, 2016 8:44 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89956> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Josh Gerstein for Politico:<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/menendez-supreme-court-bribery-case-232597>
Sen. Bob Menendez is asking the Supreme Court to consider his argument that federal bribery charges he is facing impermissibly intrude into a legislative activity protected by the Constitution’s speech-or-debate clause.
In a petition<http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000158-fa6b-d236-a5dd-fbff78ab0002> submitted to the high court this week, attorneys for the New Jersey Democrat argue that a federal appeals court improperly insisted that he needed to prove his motives were “pure” when he took actions that benefited friend, campaign donor and ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen.
Notable that Paul Clement is on the brief, along with Abbe Lowell.
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Posted in bribery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, Speech or Debate Clause<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=36>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Democratic House Candidates Were Also Targets of Russian Hacking”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89954>
Posted on December 13, 2016 8:37 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89954> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/politics/house-democrats-hacking-dccc.html?ref=politics&_r=0>:
The impact of the information released by the hackers on candidates like Ms. Taddeo in Florida and others in nearly a dozen House races around the country was largely lost in the focus on the hacking attacks against the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/politics/russia-hack-election-dnc.html>. But this untold story underscores the effect the Russian operation had on the American electoral system.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“NC Senate leader on legislature’s agenda this week: ‘There are a lot of things that are being talked about’”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89952>
Posted on December 13, 2016 8:20 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89952> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News and Observer:<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article120605688.html>
House Speaker Tim Moore says there is no plan to add two seats to the N.C. Supreme Court, and he said he’d be opposed to the change. “The only people discussing a Supreme Court bill are the Democrats. That’s not something we’re discussing,” said Moore, a Kings Mountain Republican. “I don’t believe we ought to do it. I’ve made that clear from day one. That’s not something we’re looking at.”
 Asked if he agreed with Moore, Berger was noncommittal.“I agree that that’s what he said,” Berger replied. “The only folks that I’ve heard talking about some of these other things have been the press and the folks up in the gallery. I don’t know that I need to say anything beyond that.”Berger was referring to roughly 100 protesters affiliated with the NAACP’s “Moral Monday” movement who spent the day at the legislature to lobby against any Supreme Court changes. They briefly disrupted Senate proceedings by chanting “shame” and gathered for speeches and songs in a public area in the Legislative Building.
Ever since the election of Democrat Mike Morgan to the N.C. Supreme Court last month, which will give Democrats a 4-3 advantage, liberal advocacy groups have accused Republicans of planning to tip the balance on the court, expanding it by two justices who could be appointed by the governor before McCrory leaves office. One group, Common Cause, reported spending $200,000 to air a television ad rallying opposition to the idea<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article120370743.html>.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, judicial elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>

“Wisconsin: Another Statewide Recount with Minimal Shifts”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89950>
Posted on December 13, 2016 8:03 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89950> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
FairVote:<http://www.fairvote.org/wisconsin_another_statewide_recount_with_minimal_shifts>
In statewide recounts small changes between the initial and recounted totals are to be expected–however recounts rarely change the winner. Examining over two-dozen statewide recounts  that have taken place since 2000, FairVote<http://www.fairvote.org/recounts> has shown that the average change in the margin of victory of the winner before and after the recount is 277 votes, or roughly 0.02% of the original vote total.
There have only been 15 consequential recounts, or recounts in which the margin of victory was less than 0.15% of the original vote total, since 2000. These recounts are consequential because the vote tallies were close enough that the recount might reasonably be expected to change the winner. The average change in the vote margins in consequential recounts is 324 votes, or 0.007% of the original vote total. Only 3 statewide recounts have overturned original election results since 2000-and all of them within consequential margins.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, recounts<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>

“Registration deadlines left thousands of votes uncounted this year”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89948>
Posted on December 13, 2016 7:59 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89948> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/same-day-registration/?hpid=hp_no-name_graphic-story-a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory>
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“Records: Too many votes in 37% of Detroit’s precincts”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89946>
Posted on December 13, 2016 5:25 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89946> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
More evidence<http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/12/records-many-votes-detroits-precincts/95363314/> election administration in Detroit is a national embarrassment:<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89872>
Voting machines in more than one-third of all Detroit precincts registered more votes than they should have during last month’s presidential election, according to Wayne County records prepared at the request of The Detroit News.
Detailed reports from the office of Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett show optical scanners at 248 of the city’s 662 precincts, or 37 percent, tabulated more ballots than the number of voters tallied by workers in the poll books. Voting irregularities in Detroit have spurred plans for an audit<http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/12/vote-audit/95358702/>by Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s office, Elections Director Chris Thomas said Monday.
I don’t suspect malfeasance, but rather incompetence.
There needs to be an audit. There needs to be better training. And there needs to be rolling out of better voting equipment, which I know is planned.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“Is Sessions, Trump’s Attorney General Pick, Trying to Paper Over His Record?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89944>
Posted on December 13, 2016 2:36 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89944> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Nice piece<http://www.npr.org/2016/12/13/505432118/is-sessions-trumps-attorney-general-pick-trying-to-paper-over-his-record?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=politics&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews> from Carrie Johnson for NPR:
Sessions, 69, returned his questionnaire to the committee amid little fanfare late last Friday evening. The former U.S. Attorney and Attorney General for the state of Alabama dutifully listed his employment record. But under a section asking for “any unsuccessful candidacies you have had for elective office or unsuccessful nominations for appointed offices,” Sessions didn’t mention his failed bid for a federal judge post….
And, one more thing about that questionnaire: Sessions was asked to provide the 10 most significant cases he “personally handled” as a lawyer. His list includes eight cases that were not listed in his 1986 judgeship materials, including four civil-rights cases. But those newly listed cases date back to the mid-1980s, something Democratic aides are casting as an effort by Sessions to belatedly “rebrand” himself as a civil-rights advocate. They also question whether Sessions did much more than attach his name to legal filings, a somewhat pro forma step for U.S. Attorneys.
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Posted in Department of Justice<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>

“The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89942>
Posted on December 13, 2016 2:33 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89942> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Must-read NYT <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/politics/russia-hack-election-dnc.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news> on the hack of the DNC, etc.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

Joshua Spivak on the Historical Origins of the Electoral College<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89940>
Posted on December 13, 2016 2:32 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89940> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
At CNBC:<http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/13/why-electoral-college-is-here-to-stay-commentary.html>
Once again, we have a popular vote loser taking the White House, and once again we have criticism and fights over the existence of the Electoral College. The reason for why we have the Electoral College is poorly understood – supporters usually make the argument that it was designed to ensure that smaller states weren’t swamped in a presidential vote.
A look at the contemporary discussions in the 1780s and James Madison’s notes on the debate in the Constitutional Convention shows that this is incorrect – the Electoral College was actually created to both separate the powers and combat corruption from both foreign and domestic sources.
And more here<http://recallelections.blogspot.com/2016/12/additional-comments-on-electoral-college.html>.

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Posted in electoral college<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>

New Lawsuit Filed Against Public Financing in CA<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89938>
Posted on December 13, 2016 2:29 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89938> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release<http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=a40c318dba8ce9a0fc951284f&id=796a3b40e0>:
Today (12) Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and retired State Senator and Judge Quentin L. Kopp filed suit against Governor Brown and the Fair Political Practices Commission to invalidate a new law that would allow public funds to be used for political campaigning.
In September, the Governor signed Senate Bill 1107 which provides that a “candidate may expend or accept public moneys for the purpose of seeking elective office” from a fund established to finance campaigns with taxpayer dollars.
In 1988, California voters amended the Political Reform Act by adopting Proposition 73.  Among other things, Prop 73 outlawed public financing of campaigns and prohibited candidates from accepting public funds for campaigns.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

--
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<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
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