[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/13/17

Mon Feb 13 07:28:22 PST 2017

"Trump's Watered-Down Ethics Rules Let a Lobbyist Help Run an Agency He Lobbied"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91072>
Posted on February 13, 2017 7:23 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91072> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Justin Elliott <https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-watered-down-ethics-rules-let-lobbyist-help-run-agency-he-lobbied> for ProPublica.
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Posted in conflict of interest laws<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>, lobbying<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

"The next GOP assault on voting rights"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91070>
Posted on February 13, 2017 7:20 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91070> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Important EJ Dionne WaPo column.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-next-gop-assault-on-voting-rights/2017/02/12/1c775b4e-eff4-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html?utm_term=.476d053eb45f>
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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>

"State elections chiefs warn against eliminating agency that protects elections from hacking"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91068>
Posted on February 13, 2017 7:18 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91068> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Think Progress:<https://thinkprogress.org/state-elections-chiefs-warn-of-the-dangers-of-eliminating-the-agency-that-protects-elections-from-c8f26edf5251#.8cxp6ibxm>

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who voted against the legislation, told ThinkProgress it's likely that the full House will follow through with eliminating the agency, as protecting elections has become a partisan issue in Washington.

But elsewhere in the country, things are different. While a majority of elections administrators across the country are Republicans, a number of them told ThinkProgress that they disagree with Congress' move to scrap the EAC, and said their states would suffer without the agency.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Assistance Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

"Speech Ethics"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91066>
Posted on February 13, 2017 7:16 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91066> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bauer blogs.<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2017/02/speech-ethics/>
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Posted in legislation and legislatures<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>

The Best "Evidence" of Voter Fraud in NH? MA License Plates<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91062>
Posted on February 12, 2017 9:46 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91062> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NH1:<http://www.nh1.com/news/comments-by-senior-wh-adviser-that-voter-fraud-in-nh-is-widely-known-create-firestorm/>

Former New Hampshire GOP Chair Fergus Cullen, who unsuccessfully tried to remove Trump's name from the New Hampshire primary ballot, took to Twitter to slam Miller, saying he "offers no proof. Delusional. There are no bused-in voter."

"I will pay $1000 to 1st person proving even 1 out of state person took bus from MA 2 any NH polling place last Election Day," Cullen added.

And former state attorney general and veteran GOP consultant Tom Rath, who was a top adviser to Ohio Gov. John Kasich's bid for the Republican nomination, wrote "let me as be unequivocal as possible-allegations of voter fraud in NH are baseless, without any merit-it's shameful to spread these fantasies."

But state Rep. Al Baldasaro of Londonderry, a top adviser and surrogate for Trump during the primary and general election campaigns, said he's witnessed voter fraud in the Granite State, pointing to "all the Massachusetts cars park at Londonderry polls on election day."
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

"Stephen Miller's bushels of Pinocchios for false voter-fraud claims"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91060>
Posted on February 12, 2017 4:08 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91060> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Glenn Kessler<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/02/12/stephen-millers-bushels-of-pinocchios-for-false-voter-fraud-claims/?utm_term=.7b542b6d0e21> Fact Checker column in WaPo:

Stephanopoulos is right. The White House continues to provide zero evidence to back up its claims of voter fraud. Officials instead retreat to the same bogus talking points that have been repeatedly shown to be false.

It's pretty shameless to cite research in a way that even the researcher says is inappropriate, and yet Miller keeps saying 14 percent of noncitizens are registered to vote. The Republican governor of New Hampshire has admitted that he was wrong to say buses of illegal voters voted in the election, and yet Miller shamelessly suggests that is the case. Miller cites a supposed expert on voter fraud, Kobach, who has been mocked for failing to prove his own claims of voter fraud. Miller also repeats a claim about people being registered to vote in two states, even though that is not an example of voter fraud.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

Watch Trump Administration's Stephen Miller State Lie after Lie About Voter "Fraud," and Reasons to Worry<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91057>
Posted on February 12, 2017 9:05 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91057> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Astonishing video full of lies and unsubstantiated (and unproven) statements. <https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/830789017507610624>

(A bit from Politifact<http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/24/donald-trump/donald-trump-wrongly-says-14-percent-noncitizens-a/>.)

More evidence the "Pence Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90962>" on voter fraud will be a sham (here<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/01/trump_s_voting_fraud_investigation_is_a_great_idea.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top>'s what a fair commission would look like).

And most chilling is Miller referring to DOJ as getting ready to crack down on this non-existent fraud, making it appear more likely this will be an excuse to suppress the votes of those likely to vote for Democrats.

Chilling.

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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

"Guest column: At-large judge seats disregard black voters"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91054>
Posted on February 11, 2017 6:33 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91054> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

A.P. Turead<http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/article_e9f785f0-ed72-11e6-b715-fb17b71c9aa4.html> Jr. (the first black student to attend LSU) writes:

In 1953, I integrated Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. My admission, as the first black student on a campus today serving more than 30,000 students, was possible after my father and namesake, civil rights attorney A.P. Tureaud Sr., successfully challenged LSU's discriminatory admissions policies.

That lawsuit and more filed by my father, alongside Thurgood Marshall and other civil rights advocates, paved the way for the end of legally sanctioned American apartheid in many public institutions in Louisiana. Regrettably, more than 50 years after we fought to dismantle racial segregation in my home state, another challenge has to be waged to bring racial inclusion to another Louisiana public institution - the 32nd Judicial District Court, which serves Terrebonne Parish.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Quote of the Day (Too-Much-for-Bill-Kristol-Edition)<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91052>
Posted on February 11, 2017 6:28 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91052> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

"I'm a law & order person and support voter ID. But this sentence is nuts, & it's unseemly for the TX Governor to be chest-beating about it."

Bill Kristol <https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/830564524075921408> on Twitter, responding to TX Gov. Greg Abbott tweet<https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/830267079500632065>
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

"Elbridge Gerry and the Monstrous Gerrymander"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91050>
Posted on February 11, 2017 6:26 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91050> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

New blog post<http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2017/02/elbridge-gerry-and-the-monstrous-gerrymander/> at the Library of Congress:

Gerrymandering is a current political topic today; as always, it is usually initiated by the incumbents to retain or increase their power. When gerrymandering is taught in U.S. history classes, it is likely students will be shown a picture of the original political cartoon drawn by Elkanah Tisdale<https://web.archive.org/web/20120424000154/http:/www.bostonmapsociety.org:80/0708MapOfTheMonth.html> for the Gazette and held here at the Library of Congress. Gerry did not win the 1812 election for his home district despite the reapportionment. He did, however, go on to become James Madison's second vice president later in 1812.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

"As Trump tweets, legal community turns eyes to John Roberts"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91048>
Posted on February 11, 2017 9:48 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91048> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ariane de Vogue<http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/11/politics/john-roberts-trump-tweets/index.html> for CNN.
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

"Illegal Voting Gets Texas Woman 8 Years in Prison, and Certain Deportation"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91046>
Posted on February 11, 2017 9:47 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91046> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Michael Wines<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/us/illegal-voting-gets-texas-woman-8-years-in-prison-and-certain-deportation.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0> for the NYT:

Despite repeated statements by Republican political leaders that American elections are rife with illegal voting, credible reports of fraud have been hard to find<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/18/us/voter-fraud.html> and convictions rarer still.

That may help explain the unusually heavy penalty imposed on Rosa Maria Ortega, 37, a permanent resident and a mother of four who lives outside Dallas. On Thursday, a Fort Worth judge sentenced her to eight years in prison - and almost certainly deportation later - after she voted illegally in elections in 2012 and 2014.

The sentence for Ms. Ortega, who was brought to this country by her mother as an infant, "shows how serious Texas is about keeping its elections secure," Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, said in a statement. Her lawyer called it an egregious overreaction, made to score political points, against someone who wrongly believed she was eligible to vote.

"She has a sixth-grade education. She didn't know she wasn't legal," said Ms. Ortega's lawyer, Clark Birdsall, who once oversaw voter fraud prosecutions in neighboring Dallas County. "She can own property; she can serve in the military; she can get a job; she can pay taxes. But she can't vote, and she didn't know that."
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 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
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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