[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/3/16

Rick Hasen rhasen at law.uci.edu
Thu Mar 3 07:42:35 PST 2016


    “Ted Cruz, facing suits on Canadian birth, lawyers up”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80510>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:38 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80510>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

McClatchy reports. <https://t.co/KLT2wPHRs8>

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Posted incampaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>


    “Miss. Senate takes step toward campaign finance reform”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80508>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:34 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80508>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Clarion-Ledger 
<http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/02/legislature-campaign-reform/81217934/>:

    The Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would require
    Mississippi politicians to itemize campaign spending done with
    a credit card instead of just listing a lump-sum payment to the card
    company as many have been doing for years on their public reports.

    But the chances of further campaign-finance reform appear slim for
    this legislative session.

    A continuing Clarion-Ledger special report, “Public Office/Private
    Gain
    <http://www.clarionledger.com/topic/6785a83f-3b76-4e78-b3e7-4f1b65940be9/public-office-private-gain/>,”
    has shown Mississippi politicians spend campaign money on clothes,
    groceries, trips out of state, cars, apartments, home improvements,
    payments to their own companies and to themselves and many other
    personal expenses prohibited in other states and in federal
    campaigns. For many, campaign accounts appear to have become a
    second income, funded by lobbyists and special interests doing
    business with the state.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


    “FAC 6 (First Amendment Conversations) The Law & Politics of Money:
    A Q & A with Professor Richard Hasen – Part II”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80506>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:29 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80506>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ron Collins 
<http://concurringopinions.com/archives/2016/03/fac-6-first-amendment-conversations-the-law-politics-of-money-a-q-a-with-professor-richard-hasen-part-ii.html>at 
Concurring Opinions: “/This is Part II of my interview with Professor 
Richard Hasen concerning his new book Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, 
the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections 
<http://www.amazon.com/Plutocrats-United-Campaign-Distortion-Elections/dp/0300212453/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456075848&sr=1-1&keywords=Richard+hasen> (Yale 
University Press, 2016) (cloth: $32.50, 256 pp.). Part I of my first 
interview appears here 
<http://concurringopinions.com/archives/2016/03/fac-6-first-amendment-conversations-the-law-politics-of-money-a-q-a-with-richard-hasen-part-i.html>.”/

As I said yesterday, this was a great exchange.

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Posted incampaign finance 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,Plutocrats United 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=104>


    “Reform Advocates’ Elusive Goal: Fix the FEC”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80504>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:26 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80504>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

TAP reports. 
<http://prospect.org/blog/checks/reform-advocates%E2%80%99-elusive-goal-fix-fec>

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,federal 
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>


    “Supreme Court Petition Receives Boost From Seven Amicus Briefs”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80502>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:23 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80502>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Press release 
<http://www.equalrightsnow.org/supreme_court_petition_receives_boost_from_seven_amicus_briefs>:

    An impressive and diverse array of academics, current and former
    territorial officials, and civil rights groups represented by top
    national law firms have filed a total of seven “friend of the court”
    briefs asking the Supreme Court to grant review of a D.C. Circuit
    decision denying recognition of birthright citizenship in U.S.
    territories based on the controversial Insular Cases, a series of
    early 1900s decisions the Ninth Circuit recently explained have
    “been the subject of extensive judicial, academic, and popular
    criticism.”  The briefs were filed in support of a petition
    for/certiorari/submitted last month by prominent Supreme Court
    attorney Theodore B. Olson on behalf of a group of passport-holding
    Americans denied recognition as U.S. citizens because they were born
    in American Samoa. /Tuaua v. United States/
    <http://www.equalrightsnow.org/case_overview>makes the case that
    Congress cannot legislate an exception to the Citizenship Clause of
    the Fourteenth Amendment to withhold citizenship from persons born
    in U.S. territories.

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Posted invoting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>


    “A Way Forward on Money in Politics”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80500>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:22 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80500>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Third Way <http://www.thirdway.org/memo/a-way-forward-on-money-in-politics>:

    Voters are angry with Washington politicians. Congress’s approval
    rating is at 16%.^1 50% of Americans have little or no confidence in
    the federal government.^2 74% of voters said most elected officials
    put their own interests ahead of the country’s.^3 While this
    information may no longer be surprising, few policymakers are
    putting forth real solutions to address the biggest cause of this:
    America’s campaign finance system. Ourpublic opinion research
    <http://www.thirdway.org/memo/voter-ire-toward-money-in-politics>has
    found that voters believe our political system has careened off the
    rails, in large part driven by the untoward influence of anonymous
    money. The campaign finance system is seen as a root cause of
    partisanship, gridlock, and vitriol in Washington. Voters think
    anonymous money has become a corrupting force, allowing politicians
    who are only concerned with reelection to be bought and sold by
    insiders. When they turn on the news and see stories about how
    Congress can’t get anything done in between campaign attack ads, who
    can blame them?

    Part of the problem, no doubt, is the Supreme Court’s recent
    campaign finance jurisprudence, emblemized by decisions
    like/Citizens United/, which has unleashed nearly two-billion
    dollars of advertising onto our airwaves and into our homes since
    2010.^4 Unfortunately, the Court’s precedents are unlikely to change
    in the immediate future—but that doesn’t mean nothing can be done.
    Calls for a constitutional amendment to overturn/Citizens
    United/have become ubiquitous, at least among policymakers on the
    left. But voters think that is a long shot. So they are just as
    likely to view that conversation as an attempt to get political
    cover as they are to see it as an attempt to actually get something
    done. Furthermore, it’s unclear that overturning/Citizens
    United/would even solve the problem. That decision allowed corporate
    political spending but, by far, most of the money spent by outside
    groups comes from individuals.^5 And outside spending is nowhere
    near the only money problem in our political system.

    With that in mind, we propose a series of repairs to our campaign
    finance rules. First, we must end the super PAC charade by
    tightening the rules that govern what counts as coordination between
    outside spending groups and candidates. Second, we must restructure
    the Federal Election Commission to make sure that there is a cop on
    the beat to enforce campaign finance rules and that those breaking
    the rules actually face punishment. Third, we need to bring
    anonymous political players out in the open by requiring donors to
    own the advertisements they fund and require politically active
    nonprofit organizations to disclose the sources of their political
    funding. Together, these changes would significantly decrease the
    influence of anonymous money in politics, and they could all be done
    without a constitutional amendment.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


    “This Election Cycle Could End With President Paul Ryan”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80498>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:19 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80498>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ari Savitzky 
<https://medium.com/@arisavitzky/this-election-cycle-could-end-with-president-paul-ryan-65f9db064039#.rwcjh4t0t>:

    Paul Ryan could become our next President without receiving a single
    vote. This isn’t fantasy or anarchy. It’s a possible result of the
    Twelfth Amendment, and its rickety, 200-year-old backup plan for
    failures of the Electoral College.

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


    Bauer Thinks Independence Institute Case Raises Serious Disclosure
    Issue <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80496>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:18 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80496>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

See here. 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2016/03/disclosure-wars-little-certainty-outcome/>

I’m less convinced. <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80446>

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


    “Voting Rights Opponents Attempt to Intimidate Voters and Their
    Attorneys From Challenging Discriminatory Voting Laws”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80494>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:14 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80494>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CLC 
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/press-releases/voting-rights-opponents-attempt-intimidate-voters-and-their-attorneys>:

    The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) isrepresenting voters
    <http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/document/figgs-and-jackson-v-quitman-county-us-district-court-northern-district-mississipi-memo>in
    Quitman County, Miss. against a legal action seeking more than $300K
    in attorneys’ fees. Longtime civil rights attorney Ellis Turnage
    brought a lawsuit on behalf of two voters challenging the county’s
    redistricting plan. Before trial, plaintiffs decided to dismiss the
    case. The county then turned around and claimed the suit was
    “frivolous,” seeking attorneys’ fees against Turnage and his clients.

    The Voting Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law Center,
    along with attorneys at the Campaign Legal Center, todayfiled a
    joint response
    <http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/document/figgs-and-jackson-v-quitman-county-us-district-court-northern-district-mississipi-figgs-and>in
    the case/Figgs and Jackson v. Quitman County/arguing the case was
    based on well-established law and supported by Dr. Allan Lichtman,
    one of the foremost experts in the field.

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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>


    “Aging Voting Machines Cost Local, State Governments”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80491>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:12 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80491>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Stateline reports 
<http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2016/03/02/aging-voting-machines-cost-local-state-governments>(viaDoug 
Chapin <https://t.co/ixI6HY8STt>).

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,voting technology 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>


    Stop the Presses: Libertarian Shocked I Would Stop Billionaires from
    Self-Funding Campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80489>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 7:09 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80489>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ilya Shapiro comments 
<http://www.cato.org/blog/leading-campaign-finance-reformer-would-stop-you-spending-money-own-campaign>on 
myinterview with Ron Collins 
<http://concurringopinions.com/archives/2016/03/fac-6-first-amendment-conversations-the-law-politics-of-money-a-q-a-with-professor-richard-hasen-part-ii.html>about 
my new book,Plutocrats United 
<http://www.amazon.com/Plutocrats-United-Campaign-Distortion-Elections/dp/0300212453/>.

I devote three chapters of the book to dealing with objections like Ilya’s.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


    “In Clinton email investigation, Justice Department grants immunity
    to former State Department staffer”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80487>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 5:52 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80487>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-clinton-email-investigation-justice-department-grants-immunity-to-former-state-department-staffer/2016/03/02/e421e39e-e0a0-11e5-9c36-e1902f6b6571_story.html?tid=sm_tw>:

    Petraeus “was handled so lightly for his offence there isn’t a whole
    lot you can do,” said a former U.S. law enforcement official who
    oversaw counterintelligence investigations and described the email
    controversy as “a lesser set of circumstances.”

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


    “Anti-Trump Republicans Call for a Third-Party Option”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80485>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 5:28 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80485>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

If that’s what they want 
<http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/us/politics/anti-donald-trump-republicans-call-for-a-third-party-option.html?smid=tw-share&referer=>, 
they’d better get moving.

It may already be too late.

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Posted inballot access <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>,political 
parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,third parties 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=47>


    “Voter fraud! Watch these Californians lie through their teeth about
    having voted on Super Tuesday.” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80482>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 5:22 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80482>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jimmy Kimmel. 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/02/voter-fraud-watch-these-californians-lie-through-their-teeth-about-having-voted-on-super-tuesday/>

My favorite part is the voter reporting to pay not $5—but $10—to cast a 
ballot.

Then there’s the voting system that you can vote by blinking your eyes.

Check out the “I Lied” stickers.

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Posted inelection law "humor" <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=52>


    “Federalism and State Democracy” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80480>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 5:15 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80480>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

David Schleicher 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2739791&download=yes>has 
posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, /Texas Law Review/).  Here is 
the abstract:

    When scholars, judges and politicians talk about federalism, they
    frequently praise the qualities of state and local democracy. State
    and local governments, it is said, are closer to the people and more
    responsive to their needs, their outputs a better fit for the
    diverse set of preferences that exist in a large nation. But these
    stories about state democracy rarely wrestle with the reality of
    elections for state senator and city council, for state insurance
    commissioner and county sheriff. Voters frequently know little about
    the identity or performance of officials in these offices or
    political parties at the state and local levels. Voting for many
    state and local offices is “second-order,” or reflecting voter
    preferences about the President and Congress with little or no
    variation based on the performance or promises of office-holders and
    candidates. State and local elections vary in the degree to which
    they are second-order – chief executive races seem to be less
    second-order than legislative ones, elections were less second-order
    in the 1970s and 80s than they are today – but we see second-order
    voting behavior quite consistently across many state and local
    elections.

    This Article addresses the consequences of second-order elections
    for federalism doctrine, policy-making and theory. First, it argues
    that virtually all of the “ends” of federalism – responsiveness,
    respect for diversity, laboratories of democracy, variation to
    permit foot voting, and so forth – are premised not only on state
    governments having authority, but also on the success of state
    democracy at reflecting local needs and wants. Second, it shows that
    proponents of greater federalism focus largely on questions of state
    authority rather than the quality of state democracy, leading to
    proposals and doctrines that frustrate federalism’s ends. For
    instance, efforts to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment are premised
    on the ground that it would give greater authority to state
    governments, but proponents of repeal fail to see that doing so
    would make state elections even more second-order. Further,
    proponents of more devolution of power either ignore or are hostile
    to efforts by the federal government or state courts to shift power
    from state legislatures to governors, viewing the question as
    somehow not central to debates over federalism. Given that
    gubernatorial elections are less-second order than legislative ones,
    cooperative federalism regimes or changes in state law doctrines
    that empower state executives should lead to policies that are more
    responsive to specific state needs. The Article also sketches
    several new paths for proponents of federalism that aim at reform of
    state government and elections rather than changes to federal policy.

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Posted intheory <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=41>,voting 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>


    A Modest Proposal <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80478>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 3:56 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80478>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

How crazy is a Cruz-Rubio alliance against Trump where they leave it to 
*convention* to decide top of ticket and VP? I’d pay to watch that.

It’s like bringing the ultimate reality television to the Republican 
convention: Celebrity Apprentice meets Survivor.

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Posted inpolitical parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>


    “GOP Statisticians Develop New Branch Of Math To Formulate Scenarios
    In Which Trump Doesn’t Win Nomination”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80476>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 2:48 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80476>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Onion reports. 
<http://www.theonion.com/article/gop-statisticians-develop-new-branch-math-formulat-52463>

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Posted inelection law "humor" <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=52>


    Will Colorado Abandon Its Caucuses for Primaries?
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80474>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 2:11 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80474>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Could <https://twitter.com/APkristenwyatt/status/705138227255054338>be 
<https://www.facebook.com/notes/rick-palacio/colorados-historic-caucuses-of-2016/1151782248174986>.

Let’s hope 
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/02/congress_should_kill_the_republican_and_democratic_state_caucuses_and_mandate_primaries_instead_.html>.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,political parties 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,primaries 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>


    “State parties: A neglected path to healthier politics”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80472>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 1:04 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80472>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Looks likea great Brookings event 
<http://www.brookings.edu/events/2016/03/08-state-parties-healthier-politics-kamarck-rauch>coming 
up March 8:

    Hidden in plain sight, state party organizations are linchpins of
    the U.S. political process, and evidence suggests they can act as
    important counterweights to polarization and extremism. Yet campaign
    finance rules and the explosive growth of super PACs have left state
    parties struggling on a playing field that is tilted against them.
    What is the condition of the state parties in the age of Trump? What
    are their prospects and how can they be strengthened?

    On March 8, theCenter for Effective Public Management
    <http://www.brookings.edu/about/centers/effective-public-management>at
    Brookings will host a panel of experts to discuss a groundbreaking
    new report that combines interviews, financial data, and new survey
    results to assess the state of the state parties in 2016 and offer
    sensible, attainable recommendations for reform.

    After the session, panelists will take audience questions.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


    Will RNC Have Trouble Raising Corporate Money for Its Convention If
    Trump is the Nominee? <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80470>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 12:29 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80470>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Stuart Stevens 
<https://twitter.com/stuartpstevens/status/705119855859666944>sosuggests 
<https://twitter.com/stuartpstevens/status/705122627308941312>.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,political parties 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>


    “How Trump could blow up the GOP without winning the nomination”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80468>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 12:06 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80468>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ben Ginsberg 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/03/02/how-trump-could-blow-up-the-gop-without-winning-the-nomination/>talks 
to Greg Sargent. (Notethe caveat <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80440>in 
my earlier post.)

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


    “Pro-Chris Christie super PAC bankroller accused of breaking law”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80466>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 11:58 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80466>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CPI: 
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/03/02/19392/pro-chris-christie-super-pac-bankroller-accused-breaking-law>

    Two government reform organizationstoday accused
    <http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/press-releases/fec-must-take-action-chris-christie-super-pac-donor-evading-disclosure-laws>a
    mysterious Delaware-based company of violating federal campaign
    finance laws.

    Asfirst reported
    <https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/02/21/19339/numbers-know-about-2016-presidential-race>by
    theCenter for Public Integrity <http://www.publicintegrity.org/>,
    Decor Services LLC contributed $250,000 on Jan. 12 to America Leads,
    a super PAC that backed New Jersey Gov.Chris Christie’s
    <https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/06/30/17582/9-things-know-about-chris-christie>failed
    presidential bid.

    Donald Simon, general counsel for Democracy 21,argued
    <http://www.democracy21.org/inside-the-courts/press-releases-inside-the-courts/democracy-21-and-campaign-legal-center-urge-fec-to-investigate-use-of-llc-to-hide-donors-to-pro-chris-christie-super-pac/>that
    this limited liability company could simply be an “anonymous
    conduit” for “hiding the true source of the funds.” That’s why,
    along with the Campaign Legal Center, the group has now asked the
    Federal Election Commission to investigate the matter.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


    “Boulder caucus site turns away hundreds of Democrats”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80464>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 11:36 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80464>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Denver Post reports. 
<http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29585255/boulder-caucus-site-turns-away-hundreds-democrats>

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,political parties 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,primaries 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>


    Oh my <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80462>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 10:45 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80462>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Texas Tribune: 
<http://www.texastribune.org/2016/03/02/newly-elected-gop-chair-texas-capitol/>

    The newly elected chair of the Republican Party in the county that
    includes the Texas Capitol spent most of election night tweeting
    about former Gov.Rick Perry
    <http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rick-perry/>’s sexual
    orientation and former PresidentBill Clinton’s penis
    <https://twitter.com/RobMorroLiberty/status/704902581705949185>, and
    insisting that members of theBush family should be in jail
    <https://twitter.com/RobMorroLiberty/status/704920430319169536>.

    He also found time to call Hillary Clinton an “angry bull dyke
    <https://twitter.com/RobMorroLiberty/status/704765222049853441>” and
    accuse his county vice chair of betraying the values of the
    Republican Party….

    Morrow, who’s also tweeted that Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is “very
    likely a gayman who got married
    <https://twitter.com/RobMorroLiberty/status/703322650303602688>,”
    said he supports the brand of Republican politics he most closely
    associates with Donald Trump and Sen.Ted Cruz
    <http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ted-cruz/>.

    “The Republican Party, I would hope, is about limited government
    with a libertarian perspective,” Morrow said. “But it’s a big tent,
    and there are many factions in it, and that’s okay with me.”

    Morrow’s main complaint is with “establishment” Republicans, who he
    does not believe should hold elected office, he said. Last week, he
    tweeted that the Republican National Committee was just a “gay foam
    party <https://twitter.com/RobMorroLiberty/status/703667556196831232>.”

    Morrow has a long history of critiquing prominent state Republicans
    in vulgar, and often sexually explicit, terms. For years, he has
    alleged that Perry is secretly bisexual; in 2010, he referred to him
    as “Gov. Skank Daddy” in an email.

    “Perry is an epic hypocrite,” he told the Tribune on Wednesday. “I
    think he has been a rampaging bisexual adulterer for many decades.”

    Though Morrow has tweeted often aboutsexually explicit acts
    <https://twitter.com/RobMorroLiberty/status/704910905616822273>involving
    Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton and his last
    several Facebook profile pictures were of scantily clad women, he
    said he denies any charge that he is sexist.

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


    Chilling Trump Video on Threats of Violence
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80460>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 9:13 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80460>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Posted by Politico 
<https://www.facebook.com/politico/videos/10153356507226680/>.

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


    “Why Is Anyone Still Doing Caucuses?”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80458>

Posted onMarch 2, 2016 8:16 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80458>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Evan McMorris-Santoro 
<http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/why-is-anyone-still-doing-caucuses#.sm84zLnZQ>for 
BuzzFeed:

    About a half hour from the Las Vegas Strip, in a large public high
    school on the day the state’s Democratic nominating contest, a man
    stepped up onto the gym bleachers and shouted:

    “Let’s make sure we never caucus again!”

    “And then,” said Sondra Cosgrove, president of the League of Women
    Voters of Las Vegas Valley, “the whole room erupted, chanting, ‘No
    more caucus! no more caucus!’”

    The man, and Cosgrove, were among the 80,000 or so who sucked it up
    and made their voice heard during a chaotic Saturday in Nevada last
    month. Their particular caucus site — El Dorado High School — had
    all the hallmarks of the process: confusing rules, long lines that
    seemed to go nowhere, volunteers unprepared to deal with the crush
    of people who showed up.

    Cosgrove came to caucus for Clinton, and while she wasn’t sure who
    the man on the bleachers supported, they were all united in one
    shared cause that afternoon. “Everybody was angry,” she said.

    Few things in modern electoral politics go as predictably, publicly
    badly as a high-profile caucuses in America. For people like
    Cosgrove — interested in fair, well-attended, and fraud-free
    elections — the caucus system just doesn’t cut it.

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Posted inpolitical parties 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,primaries 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>


-- 
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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