[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/21/17

Tue Feb 21 07:38:02 PST 2017

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear True the Vote Case Seeking to Sue Lois Lerner, Former IRS Official<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91216>
Posted on February 21, 2017 7:27 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91216> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP:<http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPREME_COURT_IRS_INVESTIGATION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT>

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a nonprofit group that wanted to sue individual IRS officials for targeting tea party groups that applied for tax-exempt status.
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, tax law and election law<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

"President Trump, with RNC Help, Raised More Small Donor Money than President Obama; As Much As Clinton and Sanders Combined"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91214>
Posted on February 21, 2017 7:12 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91214> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

New from CFI:<http://bit.ly/2m0S4ly>

Small donors: After including the money from joint fundraisers, $238.6 million of Trump's campaign funds came from donors who gave a total of $200 or less. This was 69 percent of the campaign's individual contributions and 58 percent its total receipts.

As a comparison, Senator Bernie Sanders' much-noted small donors gave his campaign $99.7 million (44 percent of his individual contributions), while Hillary Clinton's gave $136.8 million (22 percent). Combining Sanders and Clinton's small donors would put them just short of Trump's $238.6 million (see Table 2<http://campaignfinanceinstitute.cmail20.com/t/i-i-utfljd-l-j/>).

The previous frontrunner was Barack Obama, who raised $218.8 million in 2012 (28 percent) and $181.3 million in 2008 (24 percent) from donors who gave $200 or less (see Tables 3<http://campaignfinanceinstitute.cmail20.com/t/i-i-utfljd-l-t/> and 4<http://campaignfinanceinstitute.cmail20.com/t/i-i-utfljd-l-i/>). Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee in 2012, raised $57.5 million (12 percent) from small donors (Table 3<http://campaignfinanceinstitute.cmail20.com/t/i-i-utfljd-l-d/>).
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

National Popular Vote Passes NM Senate on Party Line Vote<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91212>
Posted on February 20, 2017 7:33 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91212> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The measure<https://www.abqjournal.com/953716/senate-oks-popular-vote-for-presidency-on-26-16-vote.html> now moves on to the New Mexico House.
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Posted in electoral college<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>

"Seaman: The harmful myth of widespread voter fraud"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91210>
Posted on February 20, 2017 5:44 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91210> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Chris Seaman has written this oped <http://www.roanoke.com/opinion/commentary/seaman-the-harmful-myth-of-widespread-voter-fraud/article_b77117ab-45f4-5d46-a1b8-27a594874bf5.html?platform=hootsuite> for the Roanoke Times.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

Outgoing FEC Commissioner Ravel Predicts More Departures from the FEC, Potentially Costing a Quorum<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91208>
Posted on February 20, 2017 12:50 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91208> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Dave Levinthal <https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/02/20/20732/fec-s-ann-ravel-resigning-not-going-away> for CPI:

Conceivably, Trump could nominate anyone he wants to the FEC, including Libertarians or independents that share his political sensibilities. Federal law only mandates that the FEC feature no more than three commissioners from any one political party - it says nothing about them having to be Republicans or Democrats. Such a scenario could give Republicans a potential advantage on the commission.

But Walther, for his part, says he's yet to hear from the Trump administration. The White House did not respond to requests for comment about its intentions for the FEC and Ravel's resignation.

Ravel, without detailing her reasons, says she believes "others on the commission are likely to go into the [Trump] administration" and soon leave the FEC.

Losing a quorum of four commissioners would stop the FEC's very ability to conduct business. The commission must have four commissioners in place to take most any official action, from opening investigations to levying fines to offering political candidates and committees formal advice on how to comply with federal law. This last happened in 2008<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fec-fight-leaves-candidates-hanging/>, and for months, it crippled the agency.

Goodman, who could not be reached for comment Sunday, in December told<https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/12/15/20524/federal-election-commission-forgotten-tool-donald-trump-s-drain-swamp-effort> the Center for Public Integrity he's make a decision in early 2017 about whether to leave the FEC. Hunter on Sunday declined to discuss her future plans. Petersen, Walther and Weintraub have each recently said they don't have immediate plans to leave the FEC.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal election commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

"Trump's Former Aide Concedes There Was No Voter Fraud In New Hampshire; Corey Lewandowski is not reading from the same script"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91206>
Posted on February 20, 2017 10:52 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91206> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

HuffPo reports.<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-voter-fraud-corey-lewandowski_us_58ab2331e4b07602ad56d2f4>
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

--
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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