[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/9/17

Sat Jul 8 21:49:19 PDT 2017

“How Trump, Russia and purging voters is shaping the race for Ohio’s next elections chief”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93696>
Posted on July 8, 2017 9:37 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93696> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ohio.com:<http://www.ohio.com/news/local/how-trump-russia-and-purging-voters-is-shaping-the-race-for-ohio-s-next-elections-chief-1.779202>
Two of the three candidates to succeed Ohio’s current secretary of state support his decision not to release sensitive voter information to President Donald Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity. And the third, who would not comment for this story, is accusing her primary opponent of not being a loyal Republican because he criticized Trump in the election.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D93696&title=%E2%80%9CHow%20Trump%2C%20Russia%20and%20purging%20voters%20is%20shaping%20the%20race%20for%20Ohio%E2%80%99s%20next%20elections%20chief%E2%80%9D>
Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“NC lawmakers: More than 65% of districts could change to correct racial gerrymanders”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93694>
Posted on July 8, 2017 9:29 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93694> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News & Observer:<http://amp.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article160206949.html>
North Carolina lawmakers say they might have to change 116 of the state’s 170 state legislative districts to correct the illegal racially gerrymandered districts used to elect General Assembly members for the past six years.
The private attorneys representing the legislators who were sued over the 2011 district lines offered that detail in federal court documents this week as one reason for opposing special elections this year.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D93694&title=%E2%80%9CNC%20lawmakers%3A%20More%20than%2065%25%20of%20districts%20could%20change%20to%20correct%20racial%20gerrymanders%E2%80%9D>
Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Iowa woman pleads guilty for trying to vote twice for Trump”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93692>
Posted on July 8, 2017 9:25 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93692> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Hill:<http://thehill.com/homenews/news/341108-iowa-woman-pleads-guilty-for-trying-to-vote-twice-for-trump>
A woman in Des Moines, Iowa has pleaded guilty to an election misconduct charge for trying to vote twice for President Trump in the 2016 presidential election, according to court documents.
Terri Lynn Rote, 57, pled guilty to the felony charge on June 27, for attempting to cast two separate ballots for then-Republican nominee Trump, CBS News reported<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/voter-fraud-case-tied-to-iowan-woman-voting-for-trump-twice/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=39540247> on Saturday.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D93692&title=%E2%80%9CIowa%20woman%20pleads%20guilty%20for%20trying%20to%20vote%20twice%20for%20Trump%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Today’s Must-Read: Reihan Salam and Rob Richie on How to Make Congress More Bipartisan Through Ranked Choice Voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93689>
Posted on July 8, 2017 9:22 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93689> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Great NYT oped:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/07/opinion/how-to-make-congress-bipartisan.html?_r=0>
Next term the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Wisconsin’s election maps that could lead to a precedent-setting ruling against partisan gerrymandering — the problematic process whereby incumbents draw legislative boundaries to help their fellow partisans. But would politically neutral redistricting in itself yield significantly more competitive and less polarized politics? Would it ensure greater political diversity and increase the legitimacy of Congress?
The answer is no. Regardless of how you slice the map, the vast majority of Americans will live in so-called landslide districts, in which either Republicans or Democrats win by overwhelming margins. Today’s voters rarely split their tickets and are self-sorting such that the median county in the 2016 presidential race was won by more than 40 percentage points<http://www.thecrosstab.com/2017/01/13/polarization-in-america/> — triple the median margins in the 1990s.
Try as you might, you’re not going to carve out many winnable districts for Republicans in New York City and the West Coast, and you’re not going to elect many Democrats in rural America. The resulting lockdown of the House is breathtaking. Last year, 98 percent<http://www.fairvote.org/fairvote_releases_dubious_democracy_2016> of House incumbents were re-elected, and 402 of 435 races were won by more than 10 percent.
That doesn’t means voters in the minority aren’t there. Although Hillary Clinton easily won Massachusetts, Donald Trump won more votes there than the total votes cast in each of 16 states. Yet because Republican voters are dispersed, Democrats have won every House race in the state — 108 straight victories<https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_congressional_delegations_from_Massachusetts#tab=1900s> — since 1994. Such distortions are common, including Republicans winning every seat in a block of 10 states running from Arkansas to Utah.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D93689&title=Today%E2%80%99s%20Must-Read%3A%20Reihan%20Salam%20and%20Rob%20Richie%20on%20How%20to%20Make%20Congress%20More%20Bipartisan%20Through%20Ranked%20Choice%20Voting>
Posted in absentee ballots<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

Voters Worried Their Registration Information Be Disclosed to Pence-Kobach<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93684>
Posted on July 8, 2017 9:18 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93684> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
In Colorado,<http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/politics/hundreds-withdraw-colorado-voter-registrations-in-response-to-compliance-with-commission-request> Florida<http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-florida-voter-rolls-data-20170707-story.html>, and more.
Let’s hope these voters re-register when they can be assured of more privacy of their information.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D93684&title=Voters%20Worried%20Their%20Registration%20Information%20Be%20Disclosed%20to%20Pence-Kobach>
Posted in 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/>
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