[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/5/17

Mon Dec 4 20:22:18 PST 2017

“Alabama’s Disdain for Democrats Looms Over Its Senate Race”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96221>
Posted on December 4, 2017 8:14 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96221> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:
“I don’t think the Lord Jesus could win as a Democrat in Alabama,” said Brad Chism, who runs a Democratic communications firm in Mississippi that has conducted surveys of female voters in Alabama in recent weeks. “They’re just waiting for the Republican Party to tell them how they’re going to fix this,”…
Abortion is one of the few issues that caused people to switch parties in past years, said Clyde Wilcox, a professor of government at Georgetown University who has studied the politics of abortion. But, he said the party sorting process has essentially played out, and stances toward abortion are now nearly synonymous with party identification.
“We’ve become so tribal to our politics, we want our tribe to dominate Congress for all kinds of reasons,” Professor Wilcox said. “Of all those issues, the one that is the easiest to say, but also maybe the most intense, would be abortion.” If an anti-abortion Democrat were running in the Alabama race, Professor Wilcox said, “my guess is most of the people saying ‘abortion’ would just be saying something else.”
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Posted in political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>

“Corrine Brown, Ex-Congresswoman Who Ran a Sham Charity, Gets 5 Years in Prison”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96219>
Posted on December 4, 2017 8:09 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96219> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT reports.<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/politics/corrine-brown-sentenced.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics&action=click&contentCollection=politics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0>
Corrine Brown, a former longtime United States representative from Florida, was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday for operating a fraudulent charity that she used for more than $300,000 in personal expenses, including tickets for N.F.L. games and a Beyoncé concert.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D96219&title=%E2%80%9CCorrine%20Brown%2C%20Ex-Congresswoman%20Who%20Ran%20a%20Sham%20Charity%2C%20Gets%205%20Years%20in%20Prison%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“RNC to support Roy Moore in Senate race in Alabama, weeks after cutting ties with his campaign”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96217>
Posted on December 4, 2017 8:08 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96217> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/with-trumps-support-moore-could-gain-influence-in-washington/2017/12/04/02da209c-d917-11e7-b1a8-62589434a581_story.html?utm_term=.b588163f015a>
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>

“Texas back in court on ‘discriminatory’ voter ID law”; 5th Circuit Panel Draw is Higginbotham, Jones, and Graves<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96215>
Posted on December 4, 2017 8:01 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96215> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Oral argument<http://www.mystatesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/texas-back-court-discriminatory-voter-law/CwyeMinXdCTvLUlCeocI4L/> before the 5th Circuit Tuesday in Veasey case on the intentional discrimination question.
With Judges Edith Jones and James Graves on the panel<https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8735191455269065118&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr>, there is likely to be a dissent, given how each voted in the last go around.<https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8735191455269065118&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr> Judge Patrick Higgenbotham, now a senior judge, did not vote in that last en banc appeal.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

Colorado: “Voter fraud trial underway for former GOP chairman”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96213>
Posted on December 4, 2017 7:47 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96213> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News from Colorado<http://kdvr.com/2017/12/04/voter-fraud-trial-underway-for-former-gop-chairman/>:
Just weeks before the 2016 presidential election, Steve Curtis told his radio listeners “Virtually every case of voter fraud, that I can remember in my lifetime was committed by Democrats or do I not have the facts?”
Now Curtis, the chairman of Colorado’s Republican party in the late 1990’s and a former talk show host for KLZ-560 AM, is on trial in a Weld County Courtroom, charged with forgery, a felony and election fraud, a misdemeanor.
The 58-year-old is accused of forging his ex-wife’s signature on her 2016 mail-in ballot after the couple divorced and she moved to South Carolina.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Voters with Disabilities: Observations on Polling Place Accessibility and Related Federal Guidance”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96209>
Posted on December 4, 2017 7:42 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96209> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
New GAO report.<http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-4?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>

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Posted in voters with disabilities<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=71>

“The Tax Overhaul is Proof that Money in Politics Affects All of Us”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96205>
Posted on December 4, 2017 7:38 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96205> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Dan Weiner:<http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/tax-overhaul-proof-money-politics-affects-all-us>
As Republicans in the Senate pushed a giant tax overhaul last week, the media took on many angles, from winners and losers, to subplots ranging from politicized churches to actor Paul Newman’s charitable foundation. But one dimension deserves far more attention: the role that vast sums of political money — much of it unleashed by Citizens United and other court cases — played in setting the agenda.
Republicans in Congress have been surprisingly forthright<https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/republicans-are-candid-about-true-price-tax-bill> that they are pressing ahead a broadly unpopular<https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-gop-tax-cuts-are-even-more-unpopular-than-past-tax-hikes/> set of tax code changes to satisfy their major donors. It is no secret that large donors have more sway than the average voter — but we have truly crossed the Rubicon when donor demands become an acceptable justification for major legislation. This should put to rest once and for all any doubts about the real-world impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of campaign finance law.
I made a similar point on Twitter last week,<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/936743104442273792> and it is a central theme in my book, Plutocrats United<https://www.amazon.com/Plutocrats-United-Campaign-Distortion-Elections/dp/0300223544/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

John Anderson, Presidential Candidate and Ballot Access Champion, Dies at Age 95<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96203>
Posted on December 4, 2017 4:17 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96203> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Richard Winger recaps<http://ballot-access.org/2017/12/04/john-b-anderson-dies/> his connection to election law.
Condolences to his family and friends.
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Posted in election law biz<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>

“How the GOP Senate Could Supercharge Clinton-Style Joint Fundraising Committees”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96201>
Posted on December 4, 2017 4:03 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96201> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Brendan Fischer blogs.<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/blog/how-gop-senate-could-supercharge-clinton-style-joint-fundraising-committees>

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

“Congress could hardwire dark money into our democracy”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96198>
Posted on December 4, 2017 1:09 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96198> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy oped.<http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/363144-congress-would-hardwire-dark-money-into-our-democracy>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law and election law<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

“The Dark Money Subsidy? Tax Policy and Donations to 501(c)(4) Organizations”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96196>
Posted on December 4, 2017 10:54 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96196> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Brian Galle has posted this draft<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3075508> on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:
This Article presents the first empirical examination of giving to § 501(c)(4) organizations, which have recently become central players in U.S. politics. Although donations to a 501(c)(4) are not legally deductible, the elasticity of c(4) giving to the top-bracket tax-price of charitable giving is – 1.24, very close to the elasticity for charities. 501c(4) donations also correlate with changes in the tax savings from in-kind gifts. These responses could be driven either by donor-side behavior, such as misunderstandings or intentional over-claiming, or by firm-side fundraising.
I find evidence consistent with both explanations. 501(c)(4) fundraising is also highly responsive to the value of the deduction, with an elasticity of -2.9, and is more effective when the value of the deduction rises. These results imply that the U.S. is currently granting much larger subsidies to c(4) firms than is generally understood, and that subsidies for charity cause previously unobserved pressures on competing c(4)s.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law and election law<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

--
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
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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