[EL] ELB News and Commentary 9/23/16

[Rick Hasen]

Off to Austin for Texas Tribune Festival #TTF<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86809>
Posted on September 22, 2016 9:06 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86809> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Looking forward to speaking on a “Voting Rights and Wrongs<https://www.texastribune.org/festival/tracks/diversity-the-law/#voting-rights-and-wrongs>” panel Saturday.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86809&title=Off%20to%20Austin%20for%20Texas%20Tribune%20Festival%20%23TTF&description=>
Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“4th Circuit judges weigh Virginia voter ID with N.C. case in mind”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86807>
Posted on September 22, 2016 9:00 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86807> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Daily Press:<http://www.dailypress.com/news/politics/dp-nws-voter-id-appeal-20160922-story.html>

U.S. Court of Appeals panel wrestled here Thursday over how to treat Virginia’s voter ID law following a circuit decision that nullified a similar law in North Carolina.

That decision was made by a different three-judge panel on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, but its precedent looms large in Virginia’s case.

Judge Dennis W. Shedd particularly questioned attorneys during oral arguments Thursday over how closely the cases mirror each other. He probed an attorney for the State Board of Elections over whether the court should send this case back to U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson and tell him to reconsider it in light of the July North Carolina decision.

Hudson backed Virginia’s law in May, saying the state Democratic Party<http://www.dailypress.com/topic/politics-government/democratic-party-ORGOV0000005-topic.html> failed to prove that Virginia’s law targets minority voters.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86807&title=%E2%80%9C4th%20Circuit%20judges%20weigh%20Virginia%20voter%20ID%20with%20N.C.%20case%20in%20mind%E2%80%9D&description=>
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>


“O’Donnell Illegally Used Campaign Money for Rent, Court Rules”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86805>
Posted on September 22, 2016 8:48 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86805> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg BNA:<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=97709688&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0k1r4q3a0&split=0>
Former Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell illegally used campaign funds to pay her rent and utilities in 2010 and 2011, a federal court in Wilmington, Del., ruled (Federal Election Commission v. O’Donnell<http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/Federal_Election_Commission_v_ODonnell_et_al_Docket_No_115cv00017/3>, D. Del., No. 15-17, memorandum opinion9/21/16).
The Sept. 21 decision by Judge Leonard Stark of the U.S. District Court for District of Delaware came in a long-running civil enforcement lawsuit against O’Donnell and her Senate campaign committee. The enforcement case was filed by the Federal Election Commission, which has pursued a number of personal-use cases in recent years.
In 2010, O’Donnell, a conservative activist who identified with the Tea Party wing of the GOP, defeated former Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.), a veteran lawmaker, in a Republican Senate primary. O’Donnell lost the general election that year to Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).
The judge rejected an argument by lawyers for O’Donnell that legal restrictions on personal use of campaign funds are unconstitutional because campaign money is equivalent to free speech. He said O’Donnell’s lawyers failed to explain how the long-standing personal-use prohibition in the Federal Election Campaign Act “restricts or limits political speech.”…
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86805&title=%E2%80%9CO%E2%80%99Donnell%20Illegally%20Used%20Campaign%20Money%20for%20Rent%2C%20Court%20Rules%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, federal election commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>


“Top Nonprofit Advocate Meredith McGehee Joins Issue One”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86803>
Posted on September 22, 2016 8:44 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86803> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release:<https://www.issueone.org/top-nonprofit-advocate-meredith-mcgehee-joins-issue-one/>

Issue One is pleased to announce that leading ethics advocate Meredith McGehee will join Issue One as Chief of Policy, Programs and Strategy on October 3. McGehee will lead Issue One’s advocacy efforts to reinvigorate our democratic system. She will also expand the organization’s recruitment of former elected officials and business leaders. She will continue as a strategic adviser with the Campaign Legal Center.

McGehee has spent the last 11 years at the Campaign Legal Center, directing its legislative and media policy efforts and specializing in public interest advocacy campaigns. She has been named nine times by The Hill newspaper as one of the top nonprofit/grassroots lobbyists in Washington.

Congrats to Issue One!
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86803&title=%E2%80%9CTop%20Nonprofit%20Advocate%20Meredith%20McGehee%20Joins%20Issue%20One%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election law biz<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>


“Russian hackers trying to influence U.S. elections, conclude top Intel Democrats”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86801>
Posted on September 22, 2016 1:49 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86801> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico reports.<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/russian-hackers-influence-election-228543>

The top Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence panels said Thursday that they are convinced, based on briefings, that senior Russian officials are trying to sway or disrupt the U.S. elections.

“Based on briefings we have received, we have concluded that the Russian intelligence agencies are making a serious and concerted effort to influence the U.S. election,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein<http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=46035b8dbae2228bafb59b6e62e67d37a269e54440da540e67bb5ce400dc0f1d> and Rep. Adam Schiff<http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=46035b8dbae2228bf382b2d7bd0a2eb8235aef649dda001a6b8dbd8ee7007ffd> in a joint statement.


[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86801&title=%E2%80%9CRussian%20hackers%20trying%20to%20influence%20U.S.%20elections%2C%20conclude%20top%20Intel%20Democrats%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


“Campaign Legal Center and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice File Lawsuit Over North Carolina’s Partisan Gerrymandered Congressional Districts”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86799>
Posted on September 22, 2016 11:41 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86799> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/press-releases/campaign-legal-center-and-southern-coalition-social-justice-file-lawsuit-over>:

The Campaign Legal Center and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice filed a complaint <http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/sites/default/files/League%20of%20Women%20Voters%20NC%20v.%20Rucho%20Complaint.pdf> today on behalf of the League of Women Voters of North Carolina and numerous individual voters, arguing that North Carolina’s 2016 congressional redistricting plan violates the 1st and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.League of Women Voters of North Carolina v. Rucho was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. North Carolina’s 2016 redistricting plan was drafted during a special legislative session after a federal three-judge panel ruled that previous maps were unconstitutional racial gerrymanders.

In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court held that partisan gerrymandering claims present a legal controversy that courts could potentially resolve. However, to date, the court has not agreed on an acceptable standard to determine when a partisan gerrymander is unconstitutional.League of Women Voters of North Carolina v. Rucho offers an empirical analysis to demonstrate the extent to which an extreme gerrymander exists. That analysis is called theefficiency gap, which captures the packing and cracking among a plan’s districts in a single number. This is the first case since Whitford v. Gill<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/case/whitford-v-gill>in Wisconsin to present the efficiency gap as a legal standard to determine if a partisan gerrymander is too extreme.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86799&title=%E2%80%9CCampaign%20Legal%20Center%20and%20the%20Southern%20Coalition%20for%20Social%20Justice%20File%20Lawsuit%20Over%20North%20Carolina%E2%80%99s%20Partisan%20Gerrymandered%20Congressional%20Dist>
Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>


“The Divided States of America”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86797>
Posted on September 22, 2016 11:21 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86797> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Must-read Lee Drutman NYT oped:<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/opinion/campaign-stops/the-divided-states-of-america.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>

Reading the nonstop coverage of what may well be a close presidential election, one might be forgiven for thinking that political competition is alive and well in America.

But look at the majority of states and congressional races, and a different picture emerges: In most places, meaningful two-party electoral competition is nonexistent. Rather than being one two-party nation, we are becoming two one-party nations.

Most large cities, college towns, the Northeast and the West Coast are deep-blue Democratic. Ruby-red Republican strongholds take up most of the South, the Great Plains, the Mountain States and the suburban and rural areas in between. Rather than compete directly against each other, both parties increasingly occupy their separate territories, with diminishing overlap and disappearing common accountability. They hear from very different constituents, with very different priorities. The minimal electoral incentives they do face all push toward nurturing, rather than bridging, those increasingly wide divisions….

While gerrymandering may explain some<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/opinion/sunday/let-math-save-our-democracy.html> of the noncompetitiveness of House races, it can’t explain the Senate or the Electoral College. No amount of nonpartisan redistricting can overcomethe fundamental disconnect<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/opinion/sunday/its-the-geography-stupid.html> between place-based, winner-take-all elections and polarized, geographically separated parties.

Competition is even rarer these days in state legislatures, where 43 percent of candidates did not face a major party opponent<https://ballotpedia.org/2014_state_legislative_elections_analyzed_using_a_Competitiveness_Index> in 2014, and fewer than one in 20 races was decided by five percentage points or less. That made 2014 one of the most uncompetitive<https://ballotpedia.org/Competitiveness_in_State_Legislative_Elections:_1972-2014> state-election years in decades.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86797&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20Divided%20States%20of%20America%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>


“Security and Elections: What Legislators Need to Know”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86795>
Posted on September 22, 2016 10:58 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86795> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

That leads off this month’s issue of NCSL’s The Canvass.<http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/the-canvass-september-2016.aspx>


[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86795&title=%E2%80%9CSecurity%20and%20Elections%3A%20What%20Legislators%20Need%20to%20Know%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


Letter from FEC Commissioners Ravel and Weintraub on Foreign Money in U.S. Elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86793>
Posted on September 22, 2016 10:56 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86793> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Read it here.<http://www.fec.gov/members/ravel/statements/letter_rankingmember_Brady_09212016.pdf>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86793&title=Letter%20from%20FEC%20Commissioners%20Ravel%20and%20Weintraub%20on%20Foreign%20Money%20in%20U.S.%20Elections&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal election commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>


“McConnell Threatens Government Shutdown to Keep Dark Money Secret”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86790>
Posted on September 22, 2016 9:23 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86790> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Public Citizen release via email:

In the midst of a close national election, the Republican leadership in Congress is risking a government shutdown to keep corporate political spending in the dark – raising obvious questions about just how much dark money is flowing into Republican campaign coffers and whether Republicans in Congress are doing the bidding of their corporate donors instead of serving the American people.

In the midst of final negotiations between Congress and the White House over the details of a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is demanding the inclusion of a rider that would block the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from working on a rule to require publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending. This rider is one of the main sticking points standing in the way of a deal.

It is highly irregular and profoundly inappropriate for a continuing resolution (CR) – which simply extends status quo funding levels – to include significant policymaking provisions of any kind. With the deadline for a deal only a week away, it is imperative that Congress set aside any poison pill policy riders – including the SEC rider – to avoid a disruptive and costly government shutdown. McConnell’s push to include the rider in the CR is a real marker of its importance, and even if it remains in the CR for the next two months, it must be taken out of the omnibus funding package to be negotiated later in the year.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86790&title=%E2%80%9CMcConnell%20Threatens%20Government%20Shutdown%20to%20Keep%20Dark%20Money%20Secret%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign 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<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20160923/d3e336ef/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2021 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20160923/d3e336ef/attachment.png>