[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/21/16

Mon Nov 21 07:25:38 PST 2016

“McCrory campaign request on election complaint review rejected – for now”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89397>
Posted on November 21, 2016 7:22 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89397> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News and Observer:<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article116060918.html>
The State Board of Elections on Sunday rejected a request from Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign to take over election protest reviews, instead setting a 10 a.m. Tuesday meeting to set guidelines for counties to address the complaints.
The McCrory campaign has been involved in filing dozens of elections protests regarding dead voters, felon voters, people voting twice and absentee ballot concerns – some of which were rejected by Republican-led county election boards on Friday<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/durham-news/article115681693.html>. Campaign manager Russell Peck asked the state board to rule on all complaints.
County elections boards must rule on the complaints first before their decision can be appealed to the State Board of Elections. In a rare “emergency” meeting on Sunday, the state board didn’t rule out the possibility of reviewing election complaints – but it left the initial responsibility with county boards.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, recounts<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>

“Many in Milwaukee Neighborhood Didn’t Vote — and Don’t Regret It”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89395>
Posted on November 21, 2016 7:03 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89395> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/us/many-in-milwaukee-neighborhood-didnt-vote-and-dont-regret-it.html>
“Give us loans, or a 401(k),” he said, trimming the mustache of Steve Stricklin, a firefighter from the neighborhood. His biggest issue was health insurance. Mr. Fleming lost his coverage after his divorce three years ago and has struggled to find a policy he could afford. He finally found one, which starts Monday but costs too much at $300 a month.
“Ain’t none of this been working,” he said. He did not vote.
Mr. Albrecht, of the election commission, said other factors contributed to the decline in turnout. This was the first general election under new state laws that required voters to produce an approved photo ID card, and that stiffened the requirements for new voters to prove their residence. This was particularly onerous for the poor, who move often.
Mr. Albrecht said he believed this change had cost several thousand people in the city their vote.
“To me that’s very significant,” he said. “It takes away from the fairness and integrity of the election.”
Although two federal district courts had ruled that the photo ID law discriminated against African-Americans, who disproportionately lack the approved IDs, the law was applied on Election Day after an appeals court stayed one of the decisions. Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who backed the laws, has said they have no impact on voter participation, and Mr. Albrecht allowed that their effect on Milwaukee’s turnout would not have erased Mr. Trump’s victory in the state.
Perhaps the biggest drags on voter turnout in Milwaukee, as in the rest of the country, were the candidates themselves. To some, it was like having to choose between broccoli and liver.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“The Heiress Quietly Shaping Trump’s Operation”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89393>
Posted on November 21, 2016 7:00 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89393> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Voge<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/rebekah-mercer-donald-trump-231693>l on Mercer.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Reform and Mobilization”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89391>
Posted on November 21, 2016 6:57 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89391> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Interesting <http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2016/11/reform-mobilization/> Bauer on Weiner.<https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/money-and-politics-age-trump>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Indian Business Partners Hope to Exploit Their Ties to Donald Trump”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89389>
Posted on November 21, 2016 6:55 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89389> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/us/politics/donald-trump-india-business.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0>
Since Donald J. Trump won the presidency, they have celebrated the growth that Mr. Trump’s win could bring to their brand, even flying to New York last week<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/us/politics/donald-trump-pauses-transition-work-to-meet-with-indian-business-partners.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news> to meet<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3222568-Ivanka-Eric-President-Elect-Trump-with-Indian.html> with the president-elect and his family as he was assembling his cabinet….
In just under nine weeks, Mr. Trump will take control of a portfolio of public business between the United States and India, the world’s two largest democracies, supervising debates over issues including climate change, maritime shadowboxing with China and the nuclear standoff with Pakistan.
The meeting shows that Mr. Trump has not fully disengaged from his business ventures even as he leads his presidential transition, and it highlights the potential conflicts he will face going forward if he does not separate himself from a brand that has been constructed around his persona.
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Posted in conflict of interest laws<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>

“In latest voter ID filing, feds argue Texas discriminated on purpose”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89387>
Posted on November 20, 2016 3:24 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89387> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Texas Tribune:<https://www.texastribune.org/2016/11/19/latest-voter-id-filing-feds-argue-texas-discrimina/>
Months after a federal appeals court ruled<https://www.texastribune.org/2016/07/20/appeals-court-rules-texas-voter-id/> that Texas lawmakers discriminated against African-American and Latino voters in passing a strict voter identification law, the Obama administration and civil rights groups are asking a judge to go a step further — by finding that the lawmakers did it on purpose.
“The discriminatory impact was not merely an unintended consequence” of the 2011 law, known as Senate Bill 14, Justice Department lawyers wrote in a brief filed late Friday<https://static.texastribune.org/media/documents/US_discriminatory_.pdf>. “It was, in part, SB 14’s purpose.”
The 45-page brief was part of the latest back-and-forth in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas — one of two legal fronts in a convoluted battle over identification requirements that were temporarily softened during November’s presidential election.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton<http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/> refuted the plaintiffs’ arguments in his own filing Friday<https://static.texastribune.org/media/documents/TexasproposedFOF.pdf>, accusing them of pushing a “false narrative.”
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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>

“Texas was Obama’s chief antagonist. In Trump’s America, California is eager for the part”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89385>
Posted on November 20, 2016 3:21 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89385> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
As this LAT report explains,<http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-texas-california-trump-20161117-story.html> who is California’s next AG (to replace Senator-Elect Kamala Harris) matters a great deal.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“FEC dismisses 2014 Carolina Rising complaint”–Bad Even for the FEC<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89383>
Posted on November 19, 2016 9:57 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89383> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News and Observer:<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article115792438.html>
The Federal Election Commission will not investigate the state Democratic Party’s 2014 complaint against Carolina Rising, an organization designated as a social welfare group but which Democrats said was electioneering and should have identified its donors.
The FEC dismissed the complaint on a 3-3 vote on Oct. 18, with Republican members voting not to pursue the case. Two Democratic FEC members wrote Friday that the commission had missed its chance to check groups that exploit the tax code and “trample on federal campaign law.”
Dallas Woodhouse, who ran Carolina Rising in 2014, could not be reached for comment Friday night. He is now the N.C. Republican Party’s executive director.
Carolina Rising indicated on its 2014 tax form that its mission was to promote limited government, low taxation and a thriving economy.
After the 2014 election, the Center for Public Integrity found that Carolina Rising ran nearly 4,000 ads praising Republican Thom Tillis in the U.S. Senate race. Tillis defeated Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the Center for Responsive Politics published documents showing that Carolina Rising had used 97 percent of its revenue to pay for those ads, and that most of the money, $4.82 million, came from a single donor.
This Robert Maguire tweetstorm<https://twitter.com/RobertMaguire_/status/799728642741833728> shows how utterly ridiculous it was for the Republican FEC Commissioners to conclude anything other than that this group was working as an independent PAC supporting Tillis.  Depressing.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

Politifact Rates False InfoWars’ Ridiculous Claim that 3 Million Votes Cast in 2016 Election Were “Illegal Aliens”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89381>
Posted on November 19, 2016 9:53 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89381> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politifact.<http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2016/nov/18/blog-posting/no-3-million-undocumented-immigrants-did-not-vote-/>
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

“Voting Rights in the Age of Trump”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89379>
Posted on November 19, 2016 9:51 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89379> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ari Berman NYT oped<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/opinion/voting-rights-in-the-age-of-trump.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0>:
Mr. Trump’s Justice Department will also present a severe threat to voting rights. It could choose not to vigorously enforce the Voting Rights Act, instead pressing states to take more aggressive action to combat alleged voter fraud. This could include purging voter rolls and starting investigations into voter-registration organizations. As a United States attorney in the 1980s, Jeff Sessions, Mr. Trump’s choice for attorney general, charged black civil rights activists in Alabama with voter fraud. (They were acquitted.) He has called the Voting Rights Act “a piece of intrusive legislation,” and supported the Supreme Court’s Shelby decision, saying “if you go to Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, people aren’t being denied the vote because of the color of their skin.”
Things are hardly better at the state level. After the 2016 election, Republicans control both legislative chambers and the governor’s office in half the states (compared with only six such states controlled by Democrats). They are likely to intensify efforts to pass new voting restrictions in those states. Voters in Missouri approved a constitutional amendment on Election Day requiring a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot. Republicans in Wisconsin have vowed to cut early voting following high early-voting turnout in heavily Democratic cities like Madison and Milwaukee.
Republicans in Congress could also jump into the fray. Senator Ted Cruz has introduced legislation to require proof of citizenship such as a passport or a birth certificate to vote in federal elections. Mandating a government-issued photo ID for federal elections — which disproportionately burdens low-income voters and minorities — is another top conservative priority. Kevin D. Williamson of National Review has called on Congress to repeal the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, which allows voters to register at the Department of Motor Vehicles and other public agencies.
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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>

“North Carolina Republicans Battle to Save Governor, Trailing by Whisker”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89375>
Posted on November 18, 2016 5:52 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89375> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/us/north-carolina-governor-election.html?_r=0>
Democrats and Republicans in this fiercely contested political battleground have regularly resorted to creative legal maneuvers and election-law changes in their efforts to wring every last vote from the state’s nearly seven million voters. But even by that standard, the disputed, hairbreadth race for governor is plowing litigious and acrimonious ground.
Scrambling to save the incumbent governor, Pat McCrory, Republicans said they were pursuing protests in about half of North Carolina’s 100 counties, alleging that fraud and technical troubles had pushed the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Roy Cooper, to a statewide lead of more than 6,500 votes. But Republican-controlled county elections boards, including one here in vote-rich Durham County, turned back some of the challenges on Friday.
The legal and political jockeying raised the specter of a recount, and it could ultimately climax in a political wild card: Mr. McCrory using a state law to contest the election in the state’s Republican-dominated General Assembly.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D89375&title=%E2%80%9CNorth%20Carolina%20Republicans%20Battle%20to%20Save%20Governor%2C%20Trailing%20by%20Whisker%E2%80%9D>
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>

“Cooper’s team claims insurmountable lead”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89373>
Posted on November 18, 2016 4:27 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89373> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News and Observer:<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article115729818.html>
Roy Cooper’s election law specialist told reporters on Friday that internal calculations tell the campaign that the attorney general has an insurmountable lead over Gov. Pat McCrory.
Cooper, the Democrat, has held a lead of about 5,000 votes since Election Day. That lead has increased to 7,448 votes, according to Marc Elias who spoke to reporters in a phone-in conference. He said he expects that lead to grow slightly, based on the mix of counties that have yet to report outstanding ballots.
“This race has simply gotten away from Pat McCrory,” Elias said. “More North Carolinians voted for Roy Cooper than Pat McCrory, and did so by a close but significant margin. There is nothing Gov. McCrory or his legal team are going to be able to do to undo what is just basic math.”
McCrory and state Republican officials have filed protests questioning voter integrity in 52 of the state’s 100 counties. The first of those counties that began deliberating those protests on Friday overwhelmingly rejected them.
The McCrory campaign on Friday evening asked the State Board of Elections to take the protests out of the hands of county election boards and decide the issues itself, in order to ensure consistent decisions and a quicker resolution. The state board has not yet responded.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, recounts<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>

“Black Belt voter fraud case in Alabama shaped Sen. Jeff Sessions’ career”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89371>
Posted on November 18, 2016 4:09 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89371> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Mary Troyan and Brian Lyman<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/11/18/black-belt-voter-fraud-case-alabama-shaped-sen-jeff-sessions-career/94088186/> for USA Today.
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Posted in Department of Justice<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>

“Sessions Looks Like a Lock for Confirmation”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89369>
Posted on November 18, 2016 4:06 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89369> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico:<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-confirmation-231602>
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a potential swing vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee, will support Sessions, a spokesman said Friday. That’s a key pickup, given Flake’s moderate views on immigration and social issues, and his opposition to Donald Trump during the campaign. Then moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) said<https://twitter.com/SalenaZito/status/799732646695686144> he would support Sessions as did moderate Republican Susan Collins of Maine, all but clinching his elevation.
If Sessions can clear committee, he’ll likely win a floor vote to become the nation’s top law enforcement official, GOP Senate insiders said. Republicans will likely have 52 votes in the next Congress, and Trump’s Cabinet picks can’t be filibustered because Democrats unilaterally changed Senate rules three years ago to eliminate the 60-vote threshold for most nominations.
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Posted in Department of Justice<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>

“Why Jeff Sessions As Attorney General Horrifies Voting Rights Advocates”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89367>
Posted on November 18, 2016 4:04 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89367> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
TPM reports.<http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/why-trump-s-choice-of-jeff-sessions-as-ag-is-alarming-voting-rights-advocates>
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

--
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
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