[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/27/16

Tue Jul 26 21:06:30 PDT 2016

“The Ghosts of Shelby County; Despite some recent wins, voting rights are still under siege.”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84610>
Posted on July 26, 2016 8:41 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84610> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Dahlia Lithwick<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2016/07/bernie_sanders_forgot_to_mention_voting_rights_in_his_convention_speech.html> for Slate.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“Leaks show DNC asked White House to reward donors with slots on boards and commissions”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84608>
Posted on July 26, 2016 8:39 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84608> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Open Secrets:<http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/07/leaks-show-dnc-asked-white-house-to-reward-donors-with-slots-on-boards-and-commissions/>

Email exchanges involving top officials at theDemocratic National Committee<http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000025356> released along with private documents by WikiLeaks show that DNC officials hoped to reward top donors and insiders with appointments to federal boards and commissions in coordination with the White House.

The revelations give an inside look into how the Democratic Party attempted to leverage its access and influence with the White House to bring in cash.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Spy Agency Consensus Grows That Russia Hacked D.N.C.”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84606>
Posted on July 26, 2016 6:22 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84606> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/us/politics/spy-agency-consensus-grows-that-russia-hacked-dnc.html?action=Click&contentCollection=BreakingNews&contentID=64090353&pgtype=article>:

WASHINGTON — American intelligence agencies have told the White House they now have “high confidence” that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/us/politics/democrats-allege-dnc-hack-is-part-of-russian-effort-to-elect-donald-trump.html> from the Democratic National Committee<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/d/democratic_national_committee/index.html?inline=nyt-org>, according to federal officials who have been briefed on the evidence.

But intelligence agencies have cautioned that they are uncertain whether the electronic break-in at the committee’s computer systems was intended as fairly routine cyberespionage — of the kind the United States also conducts around the world — or as part of an effort to manipulate the 2016 presidential election.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Temporary Legislation, Better Regulation and Experimentalist Governance: An Empirical Study”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84603>
Posted on July 26, 2016 5:57 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84603> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov has posted this draft<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2807564> on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This article presents the findings of an extensive multi-method empirical study that explored the relationship between temporary legislation, better regulation, and experimentalist governance. Temporary (or “sunset”) legislation, statutes enacted for a limited time and set to expire unless their validity is extended, is often hailed as a key tool for promoting experimental and better regulation. Despite the importance of temporary legislation and the bourgeoning theoretical scholarship on the subject, there is still a dearth of empirical studies about how temporary legislation is used in practice. The lack of empirical evidence creates a lacuna in at least three areas of theoretical scholarship, concerning temporary legislation, better regulation, and experimentalist governance. This paper is a first step in filling this gap.

The paper has recently won the Giandomenico Majone Prize, awarded by the European Consortium for Political Research’s Standing Group on Regulatory Governance, for the best conference paper at its 6th Biennial Conference on ‘Between Collaboration and Contestation: Regulatory Governance in a Turbulent World’ at Tilburg Law School.

Looking forward to reading this!
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Posted in legislation and legislatures<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>

“A Partisan Model of Electoral Reform: Voter Identification Laws and Confidence in State Elections”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84600>
Posted on July 26, 2016 5:52 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84600> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Shaun Bowler and Todd Donovan have written this article<http://spa.sagepub.com/content/16/3/340.abstract> for State Politics and Policy Quarterly. Here is the abstract:

We propose a model of public response to politicized election reform. In this model, rival partisan elites send signals on the need and consequences of a proposed reform, with partisans in public adopting those positions. We apply this to test how state use of voter identification laws corresponded with public evaluations of the conduct of a state’s elections. We find that the relationship between photo identification laws and confidence in state elections was polarized and conditioned by party identification in 2014. Democrats in states with strict photo identification laws were less confident in their state’s elections. Republicans in states with strict identification laws were more confident than others. Results suggest strict photo identification laws are failing to instill broad-based confidence in elections, and that the reform could correspond with diminished confidence among some
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

Read the Order Blocking Michigan’s Repeal of Straight Ticket Voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84597>
Posted on July 26, 2016 5:50 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84597> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Following up on this post<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84472>, here is the decision<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/straight-ticket-order.pdf> of the District Court finding the elimination of straight ticket voting violates both the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution’s equal protection clause.

The state of Michigan has appealed, so now there is a Michigan case joining a couple of Ohio election cases at the Sixth Circuit.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

Read the St. Petersburg Ordinance Set Up as Challenge to Legality of Super PACs<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84595>
Posted on July 26, 2016 5:42 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84595> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release<http://freespeechforpeople.org/victory-st-pete/>:

Last night, on Thursday 21, 2016,  the St. Petersburg City Council voted 6-1 to move forward for consideration our proposed ordinance to abolish super PACs<http://freespeechforpeople.org/cms/assets/uploads/2016/07/FSFP_St.-Petersburg_Ordinance-072116.pdf> and ban foreign corporate money in local elections.  The vote followed passionate statements<http://freespeechforpeople.org/fsfp-takes-super-pacs-foreign-spending-fl-elections/> made by many St. Petersburg residents who attended this discussion and packed the city council hearing room.  American Promise-Tampa Bay<http://tampabay.americanpromise.net/>, the League of Women Voters of St. Petersburg, and other allies played a critical role in showing the public support for this proposed ordinance.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

Julian Assange Claimed He Leaked DNC Emails Timed to Hurt Clinton<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84593>
Posted on July 26, 2016 5:11 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84593> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Charlie Savage reports<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/us/politics/assange-timed-wikileaks-release-of-democratic-emails-to-harm-hillary-clinton.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0> for the NYT.

This statement does not necessarily negate Russian involvement. Assange, as I understand it, heavily depends on Russian support.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“‘DNC Hacker’ Unmasked: He Really Works for Russia, Researchers Say”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84591>
Posted on July 26, 2016 10:15 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84591> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Daily Beast reports.<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/26/dnc-hacker-unmasked-he-really-works-for-russia-researchers-say.html?via=desktop&source=twitter>
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Making Sense Of Kansas’ Ever-Changing Voting Laws”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84589>
Posted on July 26, 2016 10:14 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84589> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Good report from KMUW <http://kmuw.org/post/making-sense-kansas-ever-changing-voting-laws> (via Doug Chapin<http://editions.lib.umn.edu/electionacademy/2016/07/26/sunflower-state-ping-pong-tracking-election-litigation-in-kansas/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HHHElections+%28The+Election+Academy%29>).
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Report: FEC leaders, managers share blame for horrid morale”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84587>
Posted on July 26, 2016 10:08 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84587> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CPI:<https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/07/26/20006/report-fec-leaders-managers-share-blame-horrid-morale>

Bickering commissioners, ineffective managers and lousy internal communication rank among the top reasons why the Federal Election Commission staff is one of the federal government’s most bedraggled.

That’s the dispiriting — if unsurprising<https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/09/28/18078/fec-employees-bedraggled-lot> — conclusion of a new report<http://www.fec.gov/fecig/documents/RootCausesofLowEmployeeMoraleStudy-FinalReport-OIG-15-06.pdf> from the FEC’s Office of Inspector General, which for months had conducted employee surveys and interviews in hopes of answering a nagging question: why, specifically, is agency morale so consistently rotten?

Investigators dump the most blame on the FEC’s six commissioners: three Democratic appointees and three Republican appointees who have regularly criticized one another and frequently<https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/12/17/19008/new-fec-chairman-aims-calm-agency-war-itself> (but not exclusively<https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/07/13/19947/koch-backed-dark-money-groups-fined-failing-disclose-donors>) deadlocked on high-profile political issues before them.

I discussed the low morale problem at the FEC with FEC Commissioners in 2 ELB podcasts:

# 7 Ellen Weintraub<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=78013>

# 11 Lee Goodman<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81239>

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Posted in election law biz<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>, federal election commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

Read the TX “Reasonable Impediment Affidavit” for Voter ID Which Could Be Model for What’s to Come<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84585>
Posted on July 26, 2016 10:06 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84585> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here it is <https://static.texastribune.org/media/documents/SanAntonioVoterIDorder.pdf> for the special election and could well be what the judge orders statewide in Texas in November.

More from the Texas Tribune.<https://www.texastribune.org/2016/07/25/judge-orders-voter-id-fix-texas-house-runoff/?platform=hootsuite>
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“In Hacked D.N.C. Emails, a Glimpse of How Big Money Works”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84583>
Posted on July 26, 2016 7:35 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84583> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/us/politics/dnc-wikileaks-emails-fundraising.html?ref=politics&_r=0>:

But the leaked cache also included thousands of emails exchanged by Democratic officials and party fund-raisers, revealing in rarely seen detail the elaborate, ingratiating and often bluntly transactional exchanges necessary to harvest hundreds of millions of dollars from the party’s wealthy donor class.

The emails capture a world where seating charts are arranged with dollar totals in mind, where a White House celebration of gay pride is a thinly disguised occasion for rewarding wealthy donors and where physical proximity to the president is the most precious of currencies.
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Posted in campaign 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<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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