[EL] ELB News and Commentary 9/12/16

Mon Sep 12 07:44:40 PDT 2016

This Week in Emergency Election Litigation<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86435>
Posted on September 12, 2016 7:41 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86435> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

With disputes now resolved about Michigan’s straight ticket voting,<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86371> the DC Circuit’s EAC-Kobach proof of citizenship case<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86390>, and Arizona’s long lines litigation<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86399> (at least partially resolved), what’s left. Here’s a bit of an update from last week’s look:<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86226>

Ohio: The 6th Circuit blocked a district court order requiring Ohio to keep its “Golden Week,” which it tried to eliminate, allowing registration and early voting during one week before the election. Democrats have gone to the Supreme Court trying to get that order reversed. We should hear something within the next few days. I expect Democrats<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86121> to lose. We are still waiting for 6th Circuit rulings on a case involving provisional/absentee voting, and one on an Ohio vote purge.

Kansas/EAC: Even with the DC case settled, there’s another one of these Kansas cases pending before the 10th Circuit.<https://www.aclu.org/cases/fish-v-kobach> And there is a state court case about Kobah’s dual voting system.

More: There’s a dispute over inconsistent rules for same day registration in Illinois, follow on litigation to make sure states are complying in TX and WI (and possibly a new suit in NC), and I hear there may be some more suits filed this week. So stay tuned.

[If you want details on any of these cases, use the search box on ELB or check out the Major Pending Election Cases <http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/election-law/major-pending-cases/> at the indispensable Election Law @ Moritz website).
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Real-Time Election Day Projections May Upend News Tradition”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86433>
Posted on September 12, 2016 7:35 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86433> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/us/politics/election-results-voting.html?ref=politics&_r=0>

For decades, news organizations have refrained from releasing early results in presidential battleground states on Election Day, adhering to a strict, time-honored embargo until a majority of polls there have closed.

Now, a group of data scientists, journalists and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs is seeking to upend that reporting tradition, providing detailed projections of who is winning at any given time on Election Day in key swing states, and updating the information in real time from dawn to dusk.

The plan is likely to cause a stir among those involved in reporting election results and in political circles, who worry about both accuracy and an adverse effect on how people vote. Previous early calls in presidential races have prompted congressional inquiries.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“The Accidental Advocate”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86431>
Posted on September 12, 2016 7:34 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86431> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Voice of OC interviews <http://voiceofoc.org/2016/09/the-accidental-advocate/> Kevin Shenkman about his California Voting Rights Act litigation.
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Posted in election law biz<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>

“Court disputes over voting laws often divide justices along party lines”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86429>
Posted on September 12, 2016 7:31 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86429> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Important David Savage story<http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-court-partisan-voting-20160912-snap-story.html> in the LAT:

’s no secret that partisan state legislators, once in power, frequently try to alter voting laws to give their party an advantage.

But increasingly, when those laws are challenged in federal court, the outcome appears to turn on whether the judges or justices hearing the case were appointed by Republicans or Democrats.

Last month, North Carolina’s Republican leaders were blocked from enforcing several new restrictions on voting that had been adopted over the fierce opposition of Democrats. They included less time for early voting and a requirement that a registered voter show one of several specific types of photo ID cards.

A federal judge appointed by former President George W. Bush had upheld the full law in April, deciding the regulations were reasonable.

hey were struck down in late July by a panel of three judges of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, all of them Democratic appointees, who said the new rules violate the federal Voting Rights Act because they “target African Americans with almost surgical precision.”

They noted the law would allow people to vote by showing a military or veterans ID, but not if they had photo IDs showing they worked for a city or a state agency, were enrolled in a state university or received public assistance. More whites than blacks rely on mail-in ballots, and these were “exempted” from the photo ID rule, the appeals court noted.

When the state’s Republican governor appealed to the Supreme Court, he lost when the justices split 4-4. The high court’s four Republican appointees voted to restore the GOP-backed rules, while the four Democratic appointees refused.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Lobbying registrations are down, but the influence industry is flourishing”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86427>
Posted on September 12, 2016 7:28 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86427> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/09/12/lobbying-registrations-are-down-but-the-influence-industry-is-flourishing/>

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Posted in lobbying<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

“The Least Transparent Candidate In Modern History”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86425>
Posted on September 12, 2016 7:23 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86425> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

At Political Wire<https://politicalwire.com/2016/09/12/the-least-transparent-candidate-in-modern-history/> (Hint: It’s not Hillary Clinton).
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

WI Voting Plaintiffs Want Hearing to Make Sure State is Complying with 7th Circuit Voter ID Order<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86422>
Posted on September 12, 2016 7:17 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86422> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Motion.<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/own.pdf>
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

#SCOTUS MI Straight-Ticket Story Roundup<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86420>
Posted on September 12, 2016 7:12 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86420> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Via Howard.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“More than 235,000 votes didn’t count in June’s U.S. Senate race, and some think ballot designs are to blame”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86418>
Posted on September 12, 2016 7:11 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86418> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

LAT:<http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-ballots-design-votes-rejected-senate-primary-1473461587-htmlstory.html>

Election officials warned this past spring of potential confusion <http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-california-senate-primary-ballot-confusion-20160425-story.html> with a ballot listing 34 candidates who were in the race to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer. Under the state’s top-two primary rules, only Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics-government/government/kamala-harris-PEPLT00008198-topic.html> and Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics-government/government/loretta-sanchez-PEPLT005765-topic.html> advanced to the Nov. 8 general election.

A variety of ballot designs were used by counties, some with more over-vote totals than others. The data analysts concluded that some of the most significant problems happened in counties that used double columns of Senate candidates on two successive ballot pages, with voters presumably thinking they were voting on more than race.

“The more complicated the design, the more likely voters were to over-vote, which caused their votes to be disqualified,” Avagyan said.

Though the missing votes would not have changed the outcome — Harris bested Sanchez by almost 1.6 million votes in the June primary — the analysis found that the Senate race stood alone in the number of over-voted ballots.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“Appeals Court to Review New Hampshire’s Ballot-Selfie Ban”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86416>
Posted on September 12, 2016 7:00 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86416> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Joe Palazzolo reports <http://www.wsj.com/articles/appeals-court-to-review-new-hampshires-ballot-selfie-ban-1473638821> for WSJ.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Billboard magnate pours fortune into unusual single-handed effort for Trump”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86414>
Posted on September 12, 2016 6:58 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86414> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Teddy Schleifer<http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/10/politics/trump-billboards-stephen-adams/index.html> for CNN:

A billionaire backing Donald Trump is taking advertising into his own hands.
Stephen Adams, a billboard magnate who made his fortune in a half-dozen different business ventures over the last five decades, is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into a pro-Trump campaign. Yet it is not the Trump campaign or a Trump super PAC that is spending over $650,000 to boost the Republican nominee — it is Adams himself, who his buying his own billboards in a set of swing states.
It is an unusual purchase and a throwback to a previous era when the wealthy had close to unfettered control over how their dollars were spent. Adams disclosed the spending this week in independent expenditure reports almost always filed by political action committees or nonprofits, rather than individuals: $150,000 in North Carolina, $200,000 in Pennsylvania and $300,000 in Michigan.

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

--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
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