[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/4/16

Fri Mar 4 07:33:03 PST 2016

    Supreme Court Will Hear Gov. McDonnell Case April 27
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80549>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 7:31 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80549>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

It is the last scheduled 
day<https://twitter.com/KimberlyRobinsn/status/705774166218244096>of 
oral arguments for the Court term.

And this is a case where Justice Scalia’s absence could really make a 
difference.

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Posted inchicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

    “GOP pollster: Independent candidate unlikely to win”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80547>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 7:28 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80547>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico reports. 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/independent-2016-candidate-chances-220256>

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Posted inthird parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=47>

    “Republicans Have a Stake in Making a Deal on a Supreme Court
    Justice” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80545>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 7:26 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80545>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

James StewartNYT column 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/business/a-way-to-a-deal-on-a-supreme-court-nomination.html?ref=politics&_r=0>:

    So the question for the Republican Senate leadership now and over
    the next few months, as the likely outcome becomes even clearer, is
    stark: Would they prefer an Obama nominee who is expected to be
    moderate and will be likely to deliver at least some of their
    agenda, or one chosen by Mrs. Clinton who, with a Democratic Senate,
    would have virtually unfettered discretion to pick anyone she wants?

As i wrotelast week <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80408>:

    But here’s a more extreme version of this scenario. Suppose Obama
    nominates a very strong candidate who is a moderate, like a Sri
    Srinivasan. Trump is the Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton the
    Democratic nominee.  Trump looks like he’s going to lose (or perhaps
    he already loses). Clinton signals she will nominate a liberal
    Scalia or second Brennan  (think Pam Karlan) after inauguration.
      The Senate might even flip (or be about to flip after a lame duck)
    to Democrats, who can kill the filibuster.

    In that scenario, it is completely in McConnell’s interest to allow
    a vote (and perhaps even vote for) the Obama nominee.  The
    alternative would be worse.

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Posted inSupreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

    “L.A. County D.A.’s corruption case against three Irwindale
    officials is dismissed” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80543>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 7:23 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80543>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

LAT 
<http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-irwindale-corruption-charges-20160304-story.html>:

    The D.A.’s Public Integrity Division has racked up big wins in its
    15-year history, including convictions of seven officials in the
    Bell salary scandal and Los Angeles City Commissioner Leland Wong
    for bribery. But last week’s dismissal marked the latest blow for
    the elite unit, which has been accused of misconduct in some recent
    high-profile cases and of sometimes failing to pursue allegations
    aggressively enough.

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Posted inchicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

    “Corporate Political Spending Becomes Compliance Issue”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80541>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 7:08 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80541>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WSJ reports. 
<http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2016/03/03/corporate-political-spending-becomes-compliance-issue/>

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

    “Secretary Pate Applauds Iowa Senate on Passage of Voting Age Bill,
    Encourages House Members to Support”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80539>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 7:07 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80539>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News <http://oskynews.org/?p=77166>from Iowa: “Iowa Secretary of State 
Paul Pate supports the Iowa Senate bill that would allow 17-year-olds to 
participate in primary elections, if they will be 18 by the date of that 
year’s general election. Pate, Iowa’s Commissioner of Elections, 
proposed an amendment to Senate File 2142 that altered the present age 
of voter registration from 17 and a half to 17. That amendment was adopted.”

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

    “Is This The End of Big-Money Politics?”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80537>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 7:05 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80537>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

No 
<http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/is-this-the-end-of-big-money-politics>, 
says Jane Mayer in the New Yorker.

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

    Congrats to Liz Kennedy <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80535>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 7:03 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80535>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

She’s moving from Demos to the Center for American Progress, to work on 
democracy issues.

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Posted inelection law biz <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>

    “The History of Voter ID Laws and the Story of Crawford v. Marion
    County Election Board” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80533>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 7:01 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80533>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Josh Douglas has postedthis draft 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2742169>on SSRN 
(forthcoming, /Election Law Stories/). Here is the abstract:

    Voter ID has become one of the biggest hot-button issues in American
    politics. Everyone accepts that this issue is a major battleground.
    Yet where did the idea even come from? This chapter tells that
    story. (This submission contains only the introduction to the
    chapter. The full chapter is published in the book Election Law
    Stories.)

    The backstory of the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in Crawford v.
    Marion County Election Board, which upheld Indiana’s voter ID law,
    requires a deep dive into national and Indiana politics. It is the
    tale of Kit Bond, a U.S. Senator from Missouri, who was deeply
    concerned about the election results in his state in 2000 and
    claimed that Republican John Ashcroft lost his U.S. Senate election
    race only because of voting by dead people and dogs. In response,
    Bond slipped a voter ID measure into the federal Help America Vote
    Act of 2002. This proved to be the initial catalyst for states like
    Indiana to go even further with their own stricter photo ID
    requirements. It is the story of aspiring Indiana Republican
    politicians who regained control of the Governor’s mansion and both
    legislative houses and sought to enact a voting law that could help
    their side in future elections. It contains important figures such
    as Indiana Representative Bill Crawford, the longest-serving black
    state lawmaker in U.S. history, who stood up for Democrats and
    African-Americans to protest a law he believed would lead to
    disenfranchisement in the same way that poll taxes and literacy
    tests once did more explicitly. And it recounts the litigation path
    of this important case, culminating in the Supreme Court’s fractured
    decision upholding the law, which reverberated throughout the
    country as more and more states began passing voter ID requirements.
    This chapter tells that story through interviews with the key
    players in the debate and litigation, research into the history of
    the national and Indiana voter ID provisions, and detailed analysis
    of the opinions in Crawford.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,voter id 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>

    Lede of the Day <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80531>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 7:00 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80531>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Benjy Sarlin 
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/only-the-voters-can-judge-donald-trumps-horror-show-debate>:

    Donald Trump’s rivals and Fox News’ debate moderators laid out a
    clear and factual case on Thursday that Trump’s policies were
    unworkable; that he regularly shifted his positions; and that he had
    engaged in business practices he routinely denounces on the campaign
    trail.

    Trump, in turn, bragged about the size of his penis and promised to
    force Americans to commit war crimes. He remains the odds on
    favorite to win the Republican nomination.

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

    “California voters could finally weigh in on ‘Citizens United’ in
    November” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80529>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 6:58 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80529>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

LAT: 
<http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-citizens-united-november-ballot-measure-20160303-story.html>

    California voters will likely weigh in this November on the
    explosion of money in politics, through an advisory measure that the
    Legislature now has legal permission to place on the statewide ballot.

    A quartet of state senators submitted language Thursday to ask
    voters, through a nonbinding Nov. 8 ballot measure, whether Congress
    should work to overturn the 2010 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in
    the case ofCitizens United
    <http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/citizens-united>.

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

    “Cleveland seeking to buy riot gear for Republican National
    Convention” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80527>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 6:57 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80527>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Are theymore likely 
<http://www.cleveland.com/rnc-2016/index.ssf/2016/03/cleveland_seeking_to_buy_riot.html>to 
need it outside or inside the arena?

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

    “Election Officials Help North Carolina Voters Tackle Confusing
    Voter ID Laws” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80525>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 6:56 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80525>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NPR’s Pam Fessler reports 
<http://www.npr.org/2016/03/03/469083115/election-officials-help-north-carolina-voters-tackle-confusing-voter-id-laws?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social>.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,voter id 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>

    “Fewer Democrats Are Voting This Year In (Surprise!) States With
    Strict New Voter Laws” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80522>

Posted onMarch 4, 2016 6:54 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80522>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

HuffPost reports. 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/voter-id-laws-democratic-turnout_us_56d8c5bae4b0000de403f238?section=politics>

I’d be VERY wary of drawing conclusions from differentials in Democratic 
turnout in these states. Consider Texas, for example: Democratic turnout 
could be down because Clinton and Sanders did not put a lot of resources 
into that state relative to the size of the state. As the article itself 
explains near the bottom:

    Voter ID rules “could have a large underlying role” in suppressing
    turnout this year but it’s too early to know for sure, said UC San
    Diego professor Zoltan Hajnal, who worked on the study. “We can’t
    assess it yet,” he said.

I also think this focus on turnout puts emphasis on the wrong place. The 
question is why make it harder for folks to vote when there is no good 
evidence these laws are serving antifraud or public confidence purposes.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

    “Quadratic Election Law” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80520>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 4:31 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80520>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Eric Posner and Nick Stephanopoulos have postedthis draft 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2741311>on SSRN. 
  Here is the abstract:

    The standard form of electoral system in the United States—plurality
    voting with one person, one vote—suffers from countless defects,
    most of which stem from its failure to enable people to register the
    intensity of their preferences for political outcomes when they
    vote. Quadratic voting, an elegant alternative system proposed by
    Glen Weyl, provides a theoretically attractive solution to this
    problem but is an awkward fit with America’s legal and political
    traditions. We identify the legal barriers to the adoption of
    quadratic voting, discuss modified versions that could pass muster,
    and show how even a modified version would address many of the
    pathologies of the existing system.

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Posted inalternative voting systems <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>

    “Voters Were Blocked From the Polls on Super Tuesday by New
    Restrictions” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80518>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 2:06 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80518>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ari Berman 
<http://www.thenation.com/article/voters-were-blocked-from-the-polls-on-super-tuesday-by-new-voting-restrictions/>:

    The 2016 election is the first in 50 years without thefull
    protections of the Voting Rights Act
    <http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/03/01/3755473/super-tueday-voting/>.
    Texas is a perfect case study of what has happened since the Supreme
    Court gutted the VRA. Clark is a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging
    Texas’ voter ID law, which has been struck down on three different
    occasions under the VRA but remains in effect while the Fifth
    Circuit Court of Appeals decideswhat to do
    <http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/texas-voter-id-decision-whats-next>with
    the case. Clark keeps winning and still cannot vote. (More than
    600,000 registered voters in Texas lack avoter ID
    <http://www.texasobserver.org/election-identification-certificates-voter-id/>,
    but the state has issued just 653 of them over the past three years.)

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Posted inelection 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>

    “Ten State Caucuses Roll on Shabbos – and That’s Not Okay”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80516>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 1:59 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80516>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Harry Baumgarten blogs 
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/blog/when-voting-and-religious-freedom-collide>on 
another reason tokill the caucus 
<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>,primaries 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>

    “Trial on Virginia voter ID law wraps up”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80514>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 1:10 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80514>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The /Richmond Times-Dispatch /reports. 
<http://m.richmond.com/news/local/central-virginia/article_cfe61d0a-783d-5216-b05c-16907dcf3687.html?mode=jqm>

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

    10th Circuit Holds CO Disclosure Law Unconstitutional As Applied to
    Small Political Group <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80512>

Posted onMarch 3, 2016 10:16 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80512>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

See here<http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/14/14-1469.pdf>(andCCP 
release) 
<http://www.campaignfreedom.org/2016/03/03/federal-appeals-court-rules-colorado-disclosure-law-unconstitutional/>.

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Posted incampaign 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
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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