[EL] ELB News and Commentary 9/26/16

Mon Sep 26 07:29:05 PDT 2016

“Judge denies bid to block Arizona ballot harvesting law”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86856>
Posted on September 26, 2016 7:25 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86856> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP:<http://ktar.com/story/1287050/judge-denies-bid-to-block-arizona-ballot-harvesting-law/>

 A federal judge rejected a bid Friday to block an Arizona law prohibiting get-out-the-vote groups from collecting early ballots, striking a blow against Democrats.

U.S. District Court Judge Douglas L. Rayes shot down Democratic groups’ request for an injunction to keep the law from taking effect. In his opinion, Rayes said lawyers representing state and national Democratic groups failed to show that the law would disparately impact minority voters.

It “simply regulates an administrative aspect of the electoral process,” Rayes wrote.

Democrats have already filed a notice of appeal to the 9th Circuit.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86856&title=%E2%80%9CJudge%20denies%20bid%20to%20block%20Arizona%20ballot%20harvesting%20law%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Election Law: Rights, Remedies, and Recent Cases”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86854>
Posted on September 25, 2016 9:09 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86854> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Symposium issue of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy:

Volume 39 – Issue 2
Election Law: Rights, Remedies, and Recent Cases

333

Foreword<http://www.harvard-jlpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/39_2-Fried_F.pdf>

Charles Fried

341

People ≠ Legislature<http://www.harvard-jlpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/39_2-Yoo-Prakash_F.pdf>

Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash & John Yoo

371

Perpetuating “One Person, One Vote” Errors<http://www.harvard-jlpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/39_2-Muller_F.pdf>

Derek T. Muller

397

Image is Everything: Politics, Umpiring, and the Judicial Myth<http://www.harvard-jlpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/39_2-Dimino_F.pdf>

Michael R. Dimino, Sr.

415

The Federalist Safeguards of Politics<http://www.harvard-jlpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/39_2-Johnstone_F.pdf>

Anthony Johnstone

487

De Facto Class Actions? Plaintiff- and Defendant-Orientated Injunctions in Voting Rights, Election Law, and Other Constitutional Cases<http://www.harvard-jlpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/39_2-Morley_F.pdf>

Michael T. Morley

[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86854&title=%E2%80%9CElection%20Law%3A%20Rights%2C%20Remedies%2C%20and%20Recent%20Cases%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Court Leader or Leading Dissenter? Chief Justice’s Fate Tied to Election”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86851>
Posted on September 25, 2016 8:37 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86851> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Important Adam Liptak Sidebar column.<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/us/politics/supreme-court-chief-justice-john-roberts.html?smid=tw-share>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86851&title=%E2%80%9CCourt%20Leader%20or%20Leading%20Dissenter%3F%20Chief%20Justice%E2%80%99s%20Fate%20Tied%20to%20Election%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

President Tim Kaine?<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86849>
Posted on September 25, 2016 8:35 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86849> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sandy Levinson spins <http://balkin.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-perfect-constitutional-storm.html> out the low (but not ridiculously low)-odds constitutional crisis.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86849&title=President%20Tim%20Kaine%3F&description=>
Posted in electoral college<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>

“Meet the Dems’ chief weapon against remap reform: Michael Kasper”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86847>
Posted on September 25, 2016 3:44 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86847> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Crain’s Chicago Business<http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160924/ISSUE01/309249995/meet-the-dems-chief-weapon-against-remap-reform-michael-kasper>:

The go-to election lawyer for Mike Madigan and Rahm Emanuel is mildly horrified to hear some attorneys call him “the dean” of the election bar.

The jolt comes during a rare interview with Michael Kasper, general counsel for the Illinois Democratic Party. Sitting in the lobby of the Langham Hotel, Kasper explains the real dean was the late Michael Lavelle Sr<http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-12-23/news/0912220510_1_mr-lavelle-chicago-area-al-gore>., and furthermore, “I don’t want to be old enough to be the dean of anything, for crying out loud.”

It’s hard to argue that the 52-year-old hasn’t earned the title, though. As the Democrats’ top lawyer, Kasper represents party-backed politicians in scuffles that determine who stays on the ballot and who gets kicked off. He secured Emanuel’s spot following a legal challenge to his Chicago residency during his 2011 run for mayor. And this month, the Illinois Supreme Court handed Kasper his second win in two years, blocking a push<http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160913/NEWS02/160919963/state-supreme-court-wont-reconsider-redistricting-ruling> to change how the state draws legislative maps. It was a ruling that thwarted Gov. Bruce Rauner, three Supreme Court justices and the 550,000 people who signed a petition to place the issue on the November ballot.

Yet on a personal level, everyone seems to like Mike Kasper. Opponents describe him as clout-heavy but competent, fair, agreeable—a good winner and, sometimes, a good loser. Attorney Frank Avila Jr. faced off against him in December 2014, when Emanuel tried to bounce mayoral candidate Willie Wilson<http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2015/01/09/never-forget-mayor-rahms-willie-wilson-challenge> from the ballot. Kasper, he says, is “a pleasant, polite, professional Prince of Darkness.”
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86847&title=%E2%80%9CMeet%20the%20Dems%E2%80%99%20chief%20weapon%20against%20remap%20reform%3A%20Michael%20Kasper%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election law biz<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>, redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

“New laws and rulings could cause Election Day confusion”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86845>
Posted on September 25, 2016 3:35 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86845> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Extensive AP report<http://goldenisles.news/ap/national/new-laws-and-rulings-could-cause-election-day-confusion/article_d0bc17c0-da3c-517f-a2b4-07f29138c890.html>:

With more than 120 million Americans expected to cast ballots for president this fall, the nation’s voting process seems more convoluted than ever and rife with potential for confusion come Election Day.

Voting rules vary widely by state and sometimes by county, meaning some Americans can register the same day they vote, while others must do so weeks in advance. Some can mail in a ballot, while others must stand in line at a polling place that might be miles from home. Some who forget photo identification can simply sign an affidavit and have their ballot count, while others must return with their ID within a few days or their vote doesn’t matter.

Fourteen states have new voting and registration rules in place for this election, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law. Legal challenges have led to a multitude of recent court rulings that have blocked or struck down some provisions and upheld or reinstated others, scrambling the picture further.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86845&title=%E2%80%9CNew%20laws%20and%20rulings%20could%20cause%20Election%20Day%20confusion%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Hillary Clinton Endorsed By Campaign Finance Reformers”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86843>
Posted on September 25, 2016 3:28 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86843> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

HuffPo:<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-campaign-finance_us_57e45147e4b0e28b2b532700>

The campaign finance reform organization Every Voice made its first endorsement in a presidential election on Friday, backing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Every Voice, which used to be known as Public Campaign Action Fund, has endorsed candidates from both parties in congressional and state elections in the past, but never before has it inserted itself into a presidential race.

David Donnelly, CEO of Every Voice, told The Huffington Post the group is endorsing Clinton because of her platform to reform campaign finance.

If Clinton is elected, it would not take too much for her efforts on campaign finance reform to exceed those of President Obama. But we’ll see what she does and not what she says.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86843&title=%E2%80%9CHillary%20Clinton%20Endorsed%20By%20Campaign%20Finance%20Reformers%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Why it’s so hard to know who is funding the marijuana legalization battle”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86841>
Posted on September 25, 2016 3:26 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86841> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

OC Register:<http://www.ocregister.com/articles/money-729921-campaign-california.html>

One published media report this month said the campaign to legalize marijuana in California had raised $18 million. Within days, other major news outlets pegged the total at just one-third that amount, while a nonprofit campaign watchdog group said the figure was $11 million.

Why the conflicting numbers?

It’s complicated. And it points to the growing difficulty of tracking funds in California campaigns, despite – and in some respects because of – election fundraising disclosure requirements that are among the most extensive in the nation.

One factor in the case of Proposition 64, the pro-legalization initiative on the November ballot, has been a proliferation of committees filing reports each time they move funds between groups promoting or opposing the measure. That’s led to millions of dollars being counted twice and has made it difficult to track the origins of some of the money.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86841&title=%E2%80%9CWhy%20it%E2%80%99s%20so%20hard%20to%20know%20who%20is%20funding%20the%20marijuana%20legalization%20battle%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Trump campaign quarrels over money woes”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86839>
Posted on September 25, 2016 11:36 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86839> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico reports.<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/trump-campaign-money-woes-228601>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86839&title=%E2%80%9CTrump%20campaign%20quarrels%20over%20money%20woes%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

Full Court Press to Get #SCOTUS to Take Up WI #JohnDoe Case (As It Should)<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86837>
Posted on September 25, 2016 11:34 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86837> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Lincoln Caplan <http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-the-supreme-court-should-take-on-political-corruption-in-wisconsin> in the New Yorker.

Billy Corriher<https://thinkprogress.org/are-judges-for-sale-the-supreme-court-could-decide-in-pending-corruption-case-cfd222bd7fdb> at Think Progress.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86837&title=Full%20Court%20Press%20to%20Get%20%23SCOTUS%20to%20Take%20Up%20WI%20%23JohnDoe%20Case%20(As%20It%20Should)&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, judicial elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Mark Joseph Stern Wrong on Ballot Selfies<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86835>
Posted on September 25, 2016 11:31 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86835> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here’s the part<http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/09/voting_booth_ballot_selfie_bans_violate_the_first_amendment.html> in Slate that’s most objectionable to me:

Second, the (still relatively rare) instances of voter fraud to which Hasen alludes<http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/08/17/why-the-selfie-is-a-threat-to-democracy/> likely would not have been foiled by a ballot selfie ban. Vote-buying almost always occurs<http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/09/01/voter_fraud_exists_through_absentee_ballots_but_republicans_won_t_stop_it.html>through mail-in absentee ballots, not at the polls

Uh, this misses the entire point. The reason vote buying takes place with absentee ballots but now with in person ballots is because the secret ballot prevents verifying how one voted, thereby cutting down on effective vote buying (and coercion from spouses, employers, etc.)

Provide the way to verify the transaction and the very same danger is likely to reemerge. I have no doubt.

And the civic virtue of taking a picture of the completed ballot compared to a selfie in front of the polling station seems to me to be exceptionally marginal.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86835&title=Mark%20Joseph%20Stern%20Wrong%20on%20Ballot%20Selfies&description=>
Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“Ninth Circuit Won’t Strike Down Arizona’s February Petition Deadline Because Green Party Submitted No Evidence that Early Deadline Injured It”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86833>
Posted on September 25, 2016 11:16 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86833> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

BAN<http://ballot-access.org/2016/09/23/ninth-circuit-wont-strike-down-arizonas-february-petition-deadline-because-green-party-submitted-no-evidence-that-early-deadline-injured-it/>:

On September 23, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion<https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2016/09/23/14-15976.pdf> in Arizona Green Party v Reagan, 14-15976, saying that the party’s challenge to the February petition deadline for new parties fails because the Green Party submitted no evidence that the deadline is harmful. The decision is only 18 pages long and lays great emphasis on the party’s lack of evidence.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86833&title=%E2%80%9CNinth%20Circuit%20Won%E2%80%99t%20Strike%20Down%20Arizona%E2%80%99s%20February%20Petition%20Deadline%20Because%20Green%20Party%20Submitted%20No%20Evidence%20that%20Early%20Deadline%20Injur>
Posted in ballot access<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>, third parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=47>

“Small War Chests in Gubernatorial Races Leads to Major Outside Spending”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86831>
Posted on September 25, 2016 11:02 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86831> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NH Journal reports.<http://www.nhjournal.com/low-war-chests-in-gubernatorial-race-leads-to-major-outside-spending/>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86831&title=%E2%80%9CSmall%20War%20Chests%20in%20Gubernatorial%20Races%20Leads%20to%20Major%20Outside%20Spending%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“From Russia With Trump: A Political Conflict Zone”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86829>
Posted on September 25, 2016 10:57 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86829> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

ABC News<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/russia-trump-political-conflict-zone/story?id=42263092> investigative report:

Donald Trump<http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/donald-trump.htm> and his children have for years promoted themselves and their real estate opportunities in Russia and other former Soviet states, and ethics experts say if he is elected President the get-tough U.S. sanctions against Russia could be in direct conflict with his business interests.

Trump has said he will not participate in decisions about his business if he is elected to the White House and that those decisions will be left to his children in what they have called a “blind trust.”

But Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who served as ethics advisor to Republican President George W. Bush, said the arrangement would not fit his definition of a blind trust, and appeared ripe for potential conflicts.

“I don’t see how you have a blind trust when you know what’s in the blind trust,” Painter told ABC News. “The appearance is that a foreign government or other foreign organization has influence over the president of the United States through financial dealings with his family and that would be unacceptable.”…

He later told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, “Will I sell condos to Russians on occasion? Probably. I mean I do that. I have a lot of condos. I do that. But I have no relationship to Russia whatsoever.”

But an ABC News investigation found he has numerous connections to Russian interests both in the U.S. and abroad.

“The level of business amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars — what he received as a result of interaction with Russian businessmen,” said Sergei Millian, who heads a U.S.-Russia business group and who says he once helped market Trump’s U.S. condos in Russia and the former Soviet states. “They were happy to invest with him, and they were happy to work with Donald Trump. And they were happy to associate—[and] be associated with Donald Trump.”
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86829&title=%E2%80%9CFrom%20Russia%20With%20Trump%3A%20A%20Political%20Conflict%20Zone%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, conflict of interest laws<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>

“Campaign mega-donors spill on why they open their wallets”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86826>
Posted on September 25, 2016 10:47 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86826> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Dave Levinthal<https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/09/24/20258/campaign-mega-donors-spill-why-they-open-their-wallets> on the excellent panel he ran at the Texas Tribune Festival:

A small group of campaign super-donors agreed that the campaign finance system in the U.S. needs reform, but said in the meantime, they are following the rules of the current system and using their donations to fund campaigns that advance causes they support.

This was the message delivered by a panel moderated by Dave Levinthal, senior reporter at the Center for Public Integrity<http://www.publicintegrity.org/>, at the Texas Tribune Festival<https://www.texastribune.org/festival/> in Austin on Saturday.

“I agree that Citizens United <https://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/10/18/11527/citizens-united-decision-and-why-it-matters> is a flawed decision, I don’t think I would go so far as to call it bribery because I don’t think that’s what it is,” said Austin-based philanthropist Aimee Boone Cunningham.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86826&title=%E2%80%9CCampaign%20mega-donors%20spill%20on%20why%20they%20open%20their%20wallets%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Justice Kennedy Laments ‘Hostile, Fractious’ U.S. Politics”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86824>
Posted on September 25, 2016 10:42 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86824> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NLJ:<http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202768417009/Justice-Kennedy-Laments-Hostile-Fractious-US-Politics?back=DC&kw=Justice%20Kennedy%20Laments%20%27Hostile%2C%20Fractious%27%20U.S.%20Politics&cn=20160923&pt=Legal%20Times%20Afternoon%20Update&src=EMC-Email&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal>

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy decried the current state of political discourse on Friday, telling an audience at the International Bar Association conference in Washington that the country’s divisions had reverberations around the globe.

“The verdict on freedom is out. Half of the world is looking at us,” he said. “They’re watching. They’re waiting. And what do they see? They see a civil discourse that’s hostile, fractious. Not based on neutral principle, tolerant discussion.

Kennedy said the problem went beyond the presidential election.

“That’s part of it. I’m talking about the way we discuss our civic affairs,” he said.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86824&title=%E2%80%9CJustice%20Kennedy%20Laments%20%E2%80%98Hostile%2C%20Fractious%E2%80%99%20U.S.%20Politics%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Texas Asks Supreme Court To Save Voter ID Law After Election”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86822>
Posted on September 25, 2016 10:37 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86822> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP:<http://keranews.org/post/texas-asks-supreme-court-save-voter-id-law-after-election>

Texas is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to restore its newly weakened voter ID law but not until after the November election.
Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the request Friday<https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/epress/Veasey_Cert_Petition_FINAL.PDF?cachebuster%3A34=&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=>, two months after a federal appeals court ruled that the state’s 2011 law discriminated against minorities and the poor. The U.S. Justice Department has argued that more than 600,000 registered voters lacked an acceptable ID under the law.

Texas was forced to soften those ID requirements for the upcoming election. But Paxton wants the Supreme Court to ultimately restore the full law.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86822&title=%E2%80%9CTexas%20Asks%20Supreme%20Court%20To%20Save%20Voter%20ID%20Law%20After%20Election%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“CBS4 Investigation Finds Dead Voters Casting Ballots In Colorado”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86820>
Posted on September 25, 2016 10:34 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86820> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CBS4:<http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/09/22/cbs4-investigation-finds-dead-voters-casting-ballots-in-colorado/>

A CBS4 investigation has found multiple cases of dead men and women voting in Colorado months and in some cases years after their deaths, a revelation that calls into question safeguards designed to prevent such occurrences….

One of the most glaring cases was that of Sara Sosa in Colorado Springs. She died on Oct. 14, 2009. However, CBS4 uncovered voting records that showed ballots cast for Sosa in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Her husband, Miguel, died on Sept. 26, 2008. But CBS4 unearthed records showing that a vote was cast in his name the next year, 2009….

Broerman said after their deaths, the Sosas remained on active voter rolls and mail ballots were still sent to their home because they did not meet the criteria to have their names deleted from eligible voter rolls.

“Somebody was able to cast a vote that was not theirs to cast,” concluded Broerman.

CBS4 visited the Sosa’s Colorado Springs home and contacted their daughter, Sarilu Sosa-Sanchez, who refused to discuss the fraudulent ballots.

“Go talk to someone else,” said Sosa-Sanchez….
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86820&title=%E2%80%9CCBS4%20Investigation%20Finds%20Dead%20Voters%20Casting%20Ballots%20In%20Colorado%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“Elite ‘bundlers’ raise more than $113 million for Hillary Clinton”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86818>
Posted on September 25, 2016 10:28 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86818> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Michael Beckel reports<https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/09/23/20254/elite-bundlers-raise-more-113-million-hillary-clinton> for CPI.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86818&title=%E2%80%9CElite%20%E2%80%98bundlers%E2%80%99%20raise%20more%20than%20%24113%20million%20for%20Hillary%20Clinton%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Reforming the Contested Convention: Rethinking the Presidential Nomination Process”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86816>
Posted on September 25, 2016 10:27 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86816> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Michael Morley has posted this draft<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2840497> on SSRN (forthcoming, Fordham Law Review).  Here is the abstract:

The presidential nomination process used by the Democrat and Republican Parties is an ill-considered, unstable pastiche of competing components that generally operate in fundamentally different manners: the selection of delegates to the national convention (generally through state and district party conventions or other intraparty processes), and the determination of the presidential candidates for whom those delegates will vote (generally through state-by-state primaries and caucuses).

The ritual of holding primary elections and caucuses across the nation creates the widespread public expectation that the results of those proceedings — the will of the voters — will determine who wins each party’s nomination. Yet the national convention need not nominate the presidential candidate who received the most votes nationwide, won the most delegates, or prevailed in the most primaries or caucuses. The system gives delegates substantial power over both the rules of the convention and the choice of nominee that, were it ever used, could lead to the collapse of a party. And the mere existence of this power leads to suspicion of the party establishment, intraparty intrigue and discord, and uncertainty throughout the primary process that is unhealthy for both the party and the country.

The presidential nomination process could be substantially improved through a few minor tweaks that would reduce unnecessary uncertainty, bolster its democratic underpinnings, and reduce friction among its various components. First, certain fundamental rules governing national conventions should be determined well in advance of the presidential nominating process, before any primaries or caucuses are held or delegates selected, and not be subject to change or suspension at the convention itself. Second, parties should enhance the democratic moorings of their national conventions by requiring presidential candidates to win a greater number of presidential preference votes — perhaps a figure between 12 and 20 — to be placed into nomination.

Third, state parties should tie the various components of the presidential nomination process more closely together by adopting a blend of the Democratic and Republican Parties’ current approaches. The candidate(s) who prevail in a primary or caucus should be permitted to veto any delegates who may be pledged or bound to them under state party rules or state law as a result. Moreover, delegates allocated to a presidential candidate based on the results of a primary or caucus should be bound to vote for that candidate, at least in the first round or two of voting at the national convention. Votes cast in violation of a delegate’s binding should be treated as if they had been cast for the proper candidate.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86816&title=%E2%80%9CReforming%20the%20Contested%20Convention%3A%20Rethinking%20the%20Presidential%20Nomination%20Process%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“How many were removed from Ohio’s voter rolls? It’s a mess”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86814>
Posted on September 25, 2016 10:01 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86814> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Extensive Cincinnati Enquirer report<http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/09/22/investigation-ohio-voter-purge-rolls-a-mess/90347416/>:

While nearly every county was happy to discuss what local officials call the “voter purge” process, the records they provided were a morass of half-kept data and confusing spikes in removed voters. And the numbers they sent to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission weren’t much better.

At best, these records reveal a lack of care by some election officials tracking voters taken off the rolls.

At worst, they point to a system of removing voters that’s far from uniform – meaning where you live could determine when, or if, your voter registration is deleted. And that could affect whose votes count, and whose don’t, in a critical battleground state that may determine the next president.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, insists counties are removing voters from the rolls in a uniform manner across all 88 counties.

“Everyone is being removed by the same standard statewide,” Husted said. “There is not a variance between county to county.”

But he doesn’t have a number for how many people were removed either. Husted doesn’t know whether that figure has increased or decreased over the 20-plus years the state has removed voters this way. His office does compile how many warning notices are sent to people who might be removed: more than 4.6 million notice since 2011. Some of those people are taken off the rolls if they don’t respond to the notice or vote in the following four years.

In Ohio, county officials run the show. They are tasked with removing voters who haven’t voted in six years or have failed to respond to notices that they might be kicked off. Surely they would track how many people were removed from the rolls in this controversial way.

It depends. Some county election officials kept detailed records on how many people were removed. Others were pretty sure it had been years since they removed people for not voting.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86814&title=%E2%80%9CHow%20many%20were%20removed%20from%20Ohio%E2%80%99s%20voter%20rolls%3F%20It%E2%80%99s%20a%20mess%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, NVRA (motor voter)<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Federal court says Ohio’s system for purging voters violates federal law”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86811>
Posted on September 23, 2016 1:28 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86811> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Cleveland.com<http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/09/federal_court_says_ohios_syste.html>:

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3113329-Voting-Purge-Decision.html>that Ohio’s reliance on lack of voting activity as a trigger for purging people from the voting rolls violates federal law.

In a 2-1 opinion, the appellate court reversed a lower court decision.

The dissenting judge said he rushed his dissent so there would be time for Supreme Court review, if requested by Ohio. No word on that yet. But I’d expect Ohio getting a reversal on this on an emergency basis to be a long shot given that this is a 2-1 ruling [corrected], and given (at least from my initial read of the case) that both the majority and dissenting opinions’ interpretations of the interactions of two federal statutes (the NVRA and HAVA) seem plausible.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D86811&title=%E2%80%9CFederal%20court%20says%20Ohio%E2%80%99s%20system%20for%20purging%20voters%20violates%20federal%20law%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, NVRA (motor voter)<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

--
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/20160926/0e22535c/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/20160926/0e22535c/attachment.png>