[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/30/16

Rick Hasen rhasen at law.uci.edu
Wed Mar 30 09:14:36 PDT 2016


    Troubling Problems, Maybe Hacking, with AZ Primary Involving
    Switching Party Registrations <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81340>

Posted onMarch 30, 2016 9:13 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81340>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

U.S. Uncut: <http://usuncut.com/politics/arizona-election-fraud-primary/>

    Arizona’s Secretary of State has confirmed that election fraud took
    place in the Arizona primary on March 22.

    During yesterday’s testimony at the Arizona state capitol in
    Phoenix, Secretary of State Michele Reagan was asked what her office
    was doing to investigate the claims that registration for thousands
    of voters had been changed from Democrat or Republican to
    independent. As/US Uncut/previously reported
    <http://usuncut.com/politics/5-examples-voter-suppression-arizona-primary/>,
    thousands of voters were given provisional ballots, which aren’t
    actually counted, due to their party registration mysteriously
    showing up in the system as “independent” or “no party declared.”

    Reagan answered “yes” when asked if she knew for certain voter
    registration had been changed prior to the primary election, then
    followed up by saying:

    “This was something that/I/know happens, and I know it happened to
    people in this room. It’s not hearsay. It happened to someone in my
    own office. One of my employees was registered as a particular
    party, went to go vote, and I don’t want to divulge his personal
    details, but it happened to him.”

Michael McDonald 
<https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/715185041647792128>: Claim, 
substantiated by AZ SoS, is that thousands of AZ voters had their party 
reg switched from Dem to Indy or Rep

Doug Chapin 
<https://twitter.com/HHHElections/status/715188126767972353>: This could 
explain why so many AZ “independents” showed up last week …

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


    “Arizona House passes campaign finance bill easing dark money rules”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81338>

Posted onMarch 30, 2016 9:08 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81338>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP 
<http://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/arizona-house-passes-campaign-finance-bill-easing-dark-money-rules>:

    PHOENIX – Political donors could spend unlimited amounts on food and
    beverages to throw extravagant fundraisers without having to
    disclose a single dollar under a sweeping campaign finance bill the
    Arizona House passed Monday.

    GOP Secretary of State Michele Reagan’s office is backing the
    campaign finance overhaul that critics call a back-door attempt to
    expand the influence of anonymous political spending in Arizona
    elections.

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


    “Democrats See Split Supreme Court Decision as a New Tool to Fill
    Vacancy” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81336>

Posted onMarch 30, 2016 9:05 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81336>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Carl Hulse 
<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/03/30/democrats-see-split-supreme-court-decision-as-a-new-tool-to-fill-vacancy/>for 
the NYT.

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Posted inpolitical parties 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,political polarization 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>


    “Can Trump become so unpopular that Democrats take back the House?”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81334>

Posted onMarch 30, 2016 9:04 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81334>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Paul Kane writes 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/can-trump-become-so-unpopular-that-democrats-take-back-the-house/2016/03/29/34ff8176-f5c4-11e5-8b23-538270a1ca31_story.html>for 
WaPo.

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


    “Eatonville mayor suspended by governor after arrest over
    voter-fraud allegations” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81332>

Posted onMarch 30, 2016 9:00 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81332>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Orlando Sentinel 
<http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange/os-anthony-grant-mayor-eatonville-2-20160329-story.html>:

    Gov.Rick Scott
    <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/politics-government/government/rick-scott-PEPLT00007609-topic.html>suspended
    Eatonville Mayor Anthony Grant on Tuesday evening following his
    indictment on voter-fraud charges earlier in the week.

    “It is in the best interests of the residents of the Town of
    Eatonville, and the citizens of the State of Florida, that Grant be
    immediately suspended from the public office that he now holds,” the
    governor’s executive order reads.

    Grant, 50, and two others are accused of intimidating and bribing
    voters in the 2015 election that led to Grant’s victory. In six
    cases examined, a grand jury found that Grant, Mia Antionette
    Nowells and James Randolph unlawfully marked absentee ballots or
    forced people to vote for them, according to the 25-count indictment
    released Monday.

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


    Justice Thomas Asks Texas to Respond to Voter ID Emergency #SCOTUS
    Application <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81329>

Posted onMarch 30, 2016 8:46 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81329>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Docket. Response due April 11.

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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>


    “Should Congressional Staffers Get A Pay Bump?”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81327>

Posted onMarch 30, 2016 8:37 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81327>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Lee Drutman talks 
<http://www.npr.org/2016/03/29/472309542/should-congressional-staffers-get-a-pay-bump>to 
NPR.

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Posted inlegislation and legislatures <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>


    “For Some SuperPACs Backing Ted Cruz, It’s Time To Unite Against
    Trump” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81325>

Posted onMarch 30, 2016 8:36 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81325>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Peter Overby reports 
<http://www.npr.org/2016/03/24/471762400/ted-cruz-banks-on-alliance-of-superpacs-in-race-against-donald-trump>for 
NPR.

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


    Seton Hall Campaign Finance Event <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81323>

Posted onMarch 30, 2016 8:32 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81323>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I earlier blogged <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=80770>about this Free 
Speech for 
Peopleevent<http://freespeechforpeople.org/join-us-seton-hall/>Friday.

You can now accessthe agenda <https://t.co/OctGmeL8zN>.

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


    “Taking on Citizens United” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81321>

Posted onMarch 30, 2016 8:28 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81321>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub withan NYT oped 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/opinion/taking-n-citizens-united.html?ref=opinion&_r=0>:

    Throughout Citizens United/,/the court described corporations as
    “associations of citizens”: “If the First Amendment has any force,”
    Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote, “it prohibits Congress from fining
    or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply
    engaging in political speech.” In other words, when it comes to
    political speech, which the court equated with political
    contributions and expenditures, the rights that citizens hold are
    not lost when they gather in corporate form.

    Foreign nationals are another matter. They are forbidden by law from
    directly or indirectly making political contributions or financing
    certain election-related advertising known as independent
    expenditures and electioneering communications. Government
    contractors are also barred from making contributions.

    Thus, when the court spoke of “associations of citizens” that have
    the right to participate in American elections, it can only have
    meant associations of American citizens who are allowed to contribute.

    But many American corporations have shareholders who are foreigners
    or government contractors. These corporations are not associations
    of citizens who are allowed to contribute. They are an inseparable
    mix of citizens and noncitizens, or of citizens and federal
    contractors….

    Arguably, then, for a corporation to make political contributions or
    expenditures legally, it may not have any shareholders who are
    foreigners or federal contractors. Corporations with easily
    identifiable shareholders could meet this standard, but most
    publicly traded corporations probably could not.

Bloomberg BNA 
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=86071307&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0j1j2a6e9&split=0>:

he threat of foreign money influencing U.S. elections is a focus of a 
new regulatoryproposal 
<http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2016/documents/mtgdoc_16-14-a.pdf>set to be 
discussed by the Federal Election Commission on March 31.

    Democratic FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub drafted a motion calling
    for a new rule on foreign money—as well as campaign money from
    government contractors—and asked to place the issue on theagenda
    <http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2016/agenda20160331.shtml>for the
    commission’s next open meeting.
    Weintraub told Bloomberg BNA that she hopes the proposal will at
    least raise awareness of the threat that illegal money could seep
    into U.S. elections through obscure corporations without voters even
    knowing about it.
    Her draft motion calls for a new FEC rule to “assist those accepting
    corporate contributions or making corporate expenditures in
    complying with existing campaign finance law,” which has long banned
    money from foreigners and contractors.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,federal 
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>,Supreme Court 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


    Koch Bros. Involved of Funding Efforts Against Confirming Judge
    Garland? <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81319>

Posted onMarch 29, 2016 1:11 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81319>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Daily Beast 
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/29/billionaires-try-to-buy-the-supreme-court.html?via=desktop&source=twitter>:

     From the beginning, Wellspring was set up as a dark-money conduit,
    effectively laundering billionaire donations so no one would have to
    be accountable for them. Wellspring donated $7.8 million in 2008,
    for example, in part to other Koch-funded fronts like Americans for
    Prosperity.

    But Wellspring was different in one key respect. Unlike most of the
    libertarian “Kochtopus”—which would eventually fund the Astroturf
    Tea Party movement—Wellspring worked closely with the Republican
    establishment. Corkery herself was a co-chair of the National Women
    for Mitt Finance Committee. The operations were initially run by
    Rick Wiley, a former Republican National Committee official.
    Wellspring also coordinated with Republican mega-donors, including
    Sheldon Adelson’s Freedom’s Watch.

    The marriage didn’t last long, though. After the 2008 election loss,
    the Koch brothers turned back to their roots, funding front groups
    like Americans for Prosperity andCenter to Protect Patient Rights
    <http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/09/a-story-on-politicos-website.html>to
    oppose Obamacare and theTea Party movement
    <http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/20/dark_money_jane_mayer_on_how>to
    oppose mainstream Republicans.

     From 2008 to 2011, Wellspringraised $24 million
    <http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/11/wellsprings-flow/>but not
    one donor’s name is known. (There are rumors that itsfunders now
    include
    <http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/03/the-jcn-story-building-a-secretive-gop-judicial-machine/>the
    Templeton Foundation and hedge fund mogul Paul Singer, both contacts
    of Corkery’s.) Intriguingly, however, 10 of Wellspring’s grantees
    (in the period 2008-11)also received money
    <http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/11/wellsprings-flow/>from the
    Koch-funded Center to Protect Patient Rights, and Wellspring works
    with consultants who used to work with Koch Industries.

    Whoever is paying for it, we do know that Wellspring is giving JCN$7
    million a year
    <http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/right-wing-groups-gearing-up-onslaught-merrick-garland-supreme-court>,
    the lion’s share of that group’s budget, and that Corkery’s husband
    Neil is JCN’s treasurer. JCN, in turn, announced a $3 million
    campaign to oppose any Supreme Court confirmation hearings—just the
    latest of itsbig spends on judicial battles across the country
    <http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/03/the-jcn-story-building-a-secretive-gop-judicial-machine/>.

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


    “‘Five Questions’ With Retiring Leon County Supervisor Ion Sancho”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81316>

Posted onMarch 29, 2016 12:51 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81316>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Doug Chapin: 
<http://editions.lib.umn.edu/electionacademy/2016/03/29/five-questions-with-retiring-leon-county-supervisor-ion-sancho/>

    Ion Sancho of Leon County (Tallahassee) FL, one of Florida’s (and
    the nation’s) most experienced and outspoken county election
    officials, is retiring at the end of the year after almost three
    decades on the job. Recently, he gave a“five questions” interview
    with Sunshine State News
    <http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/news-service-florida-has-five-questions-ion-sancho>–
    and I thought it was too good not to share.

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Posted inelection administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


    “West Virginia May Become 3rd Automatic Voter Signup State”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81314>

Posted onMarch 29, 2016 12:50 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81314>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Very interesting 
<http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/west-virginia-3rd-automatic-voter-signup-state-37851449>in 
West Va:

    A push to automatically sign up voters that began with new laws in
    Oregon and California will soon likely hit a third, notably less
    liberal state — West Virginia.

    The proposed change has taken a less-than-conventional route to the
    governor’s desk.

    After condemning a Republican voter ID bill as the “voter
    suppression act,” Democrats offered an amendment to include
    automatic registration when people get driver’s licenses or IDs. The
    Republican-led Legislature accepted it without much resistance.

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


    Response from Ralph Nader on My Post About His Oped on Running as a
    Third Party Candidate <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81312>

Posted onMarch 29, 2016 11:02 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81312>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I received the following “Response on Behalf of Ralph Nader” from Oliver 
Hall. (While I am happy to post the questions, I don’t have time to 
answer these interrogatories (though I do want to write something at 
some point about “spoiler” candidates). Readers are welcome to submit 
their own answers if they want to take the time):

Dear Professor Hasen,

    In your March 25, 2016 blog post,
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81243>“Ralph Nader: Why Bernie
    Sanders Was Right to Run as a Democrat,” you wrote that it’s
    “amazing that Nader can write this without mentioning his spoiler
    role in Florida in Bush v. Gore.”
    You then quote “a reader” who quotes a New York Times editorial
    asserting that Nader is a “‘political narcissist’ whose ego has ‘run
    amuck.’”
    We’re used to hearing this kind of rhetoric from partisan Democrats
    who want to blame a scapegoat for the outcome of the 2000
    presidential election. But when it comes from someone like you, a
    political scientist, election law expert, and faculty member of UC
    Irvine’s Center for the Study of Democracy – that’s what’s really
    amazing.
    As you must recognize, the “spoiler” charge is fundamentally
    anti-democratic, in that it relegates all candidates other than
    Republicans and Democrats to the status of second-class citizens,
    who presumptively lack legitimacy to participate in elections on an
    equal basis with the major party nominees. If you are concerned
    about minor party or independent candidates splitting the vote,
    there are solutions our major-party controlled legislatures could
    enact tomorrow, like instant run-off voting, which protect the
    rights of all citizens equally. But opposing a candidate’s mere
    participation in an election, on the ground that it might “spoil”
    the outcome, is inconsistent with the freedom of association and
    political equality guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
    Further, by repeating disparaging comments about Mr. Nader’s
    character, you imply that he had no reason to run for public office,
    except to satisfy the narcissism others impute to him. That is
    simply astounding. You know as well as anyone that the major parties
    have rigged our electoral system to suppress competition by means of
    overly restrictive and discriminatory ballot access laws,
    gerrymandering, winner-take-all elections including, at the
    presidential level, the archaic and unnecessary Electoral College,
    and campaign finance laws strongly tilted to favor Republicans and
    Democrats. You also know that Mr. Nader has developed a
    comprehensive critique of that system, and of a political process
    controlled by two major parties which, in turn, have been largely
    captured by corporate interests – with predictable consequences for
    substantive outcomes. You may disagree with that critique, but to
    ignore it entirely, while suggesting that Mr. Nader had no
    legitimate reason to run for public office, is disingenuous.
    Your post thus invites a number of questions. In the interest of
    fairness, and to clarify the basis of your position, we request that
    you post this response submitted on Mr. Nader’s behalf, as well as
    your answers to the questions below.

     1. By what principle do you designate a particular candidate, in
        contrast with all other candidates in an election, as a
        “spoiler”, and how do you reconcile that principle with the
        freedom of association and political equality guaranteed by the
        First and Fourteenth Amendments?
     2. Since you believe Mr. Nader was a “spoiler” in the 2000
        presidential election, does that mean you believe the other
        seven candidates on Florida’s presidential ballot, each of whom
        received more votes than the margin of difference between Bush
        and Gore, were also “spoilers”?
     3. If your answer to question 2 is No, then why do you designate
        Mr. Nader as a “spoiler”, but not those other seven candidates?
     4. If your answer to question 2 is Yes, then why do you accord the
        Republican and Democrat privileged status as the only
        non-spoiler candidates in the election, when the Constitution
        itself does not accord them that status?
     5. Can you identify any other individual or group whose lawful
        participation in an election you would oppose, on the ground
        that it could “spoil” the outcome, and state your reasons or
        justification for that position?
     6. How do you know that if Mr. Nader hadn’t run in 2000, a majority
        of his 97,488 Florida voters would have voted for Gore instead
        of staying home?
     7. How do you know that if Mr. Nader hadn’t run in 2000, a majority
        of his 97,488 Florida voters would have voted for Gore instead
        of voting for Bush or one of the other seven presidential
        candidates on the ballot?
     8. How do you know that Mr. Nader’s candidacy in 2000 didn’t
        increase Gore’s vote total among progressives, by causing a
        statistically significant “mobilization effect,” the result of
        which was that “some large number but small proportion of the
        Gore vote would not have voted for Gore had Ralph Nader not been
        in the race and reminded them what a left agenda could feel
        like,” as professor Solon Simmons concluded in a 2004 study
        (attached)?
     9. How do you know that Mr. Nader’s candidacy in 2000 didn’t
        increase Gore’s vote total among independents, by enabling Gore
        to run more effectively as a centrist, as professor Robert
        Fellmeth argues in a 2000 op-ed for the San Diego Union-Tribune
        (attached)?
    10. If you are unable to provide evidence to support your position
        in response to questions 6 through 9, how can you claim to know
        the true impact of Mr. Nader’s candidacy on the outcome of the
        2000 presidential election?

    We look forward to your response
    Sincerely,
    Oliver Hall
    /Counsel to Ralph Nader/

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


    “POST-MAP-ASK: Towards a More Democratic, Modern Lobbying Process”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81310>

Posted onMarch 29, 2016 10:38 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81310>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Christine Mahoney and Lee Drutman atNew America 
<https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/post-map-ask/>:

    American democracy faces a fundamental challenge. The legislative
    process is increasingly overwhelmed by lobbyists, particularly those
    representing large corporations and business associations. These
    lobbyists overwhelm congressional offices and their increasingly
    stretched-too-thin policy staff. As a result, narrow business
    interests tend to wield disproportionate influence in Washington.

    Business power is not a new issue, but the amount of political
    activity on behalf of large corporations today is truly
    unprecedented, especially in comparison to the shrinking resources
    Congress allocates for its own policy staff. The $2.6 billion in
    reported annual corporate lobbying spending is now more than the $2
    billion combined budget for the entire Senate ($860 million) and the
    entire House ($1.18 billion).

    While resources are not destiny, they do matter. They determine
    which perspectives make it to key decision-makers, and which
    perspectives don’t. They shape which policy choices are possible,
    and which policy choices are impossible.

    /*POST-MAP-ASK: Towards a More Democratic, Modern Lobbying Process
    <https://static.newamerica.org/attachments/12905-post-map-ask/Post-Map-Ask.b8ff1af67b5f4efab53e72fcb76bb5ae.pdf>*/looks
    at the ways in which the chaotic legislative lobbying process
    amplifies the resource imbalances, overwhelms congressional
    staffers, and influences public policy outcomes. The report makes
    the case for a process that ensures more accountability, more
    transparency, and better representation for a more diverse group of
    citizens.

    Authors*Lee Drutman*and*Christine Mahoney*propose a new system for
    advocacy: POST, MAP, and ASK.

      * *By Post*, Drutman and Mahoney suggest that advocacy groups
        should post their policy positions and papers to website
        maintained by the Library of Congress.
      * *By Map*, they refer to a process during which the Library of
        Congress would map out the positions, creating a tool for both
        congressional offices and the general public to easily see who
        stands where.
      * *By Ask*, they mean that relevant congressional committees would
        then ask for comments from groups that are missing.

    Read the full report*here
    <https://static.newamerica.org/attachments/12905-post-map-ask/Post-Map-Ask.b8ff1af67b5f4efab53e72fcb76bb5ae.pdf>*.

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-- 
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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