[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/19/17

Wed Jul 19 11:22:25 PDT 2017

Maine SOS Dunlap, Who Promised to Butt Heads, Says Virtually Nothing to Challenge Voter Fraud Focus of Pence-Kobach Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93944>
Posted on July 19, 2017 11:20 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93944> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Maine SOS Dunlap, one of the few credible Democrats on the Pence-Kobach fraud commission, promised <http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article161006494.html> “head-butting” on the push to make this commission about voter fraud.
The first meeting of the Commission has just concluded. And if anyone expected Dunlap to be a voice for the concerns people have expressed about this fraudulent fraud squad, they’d be sorely disappointed.
I called <http://www.pressherald.com/2017/05/24/commentary-dunlap-badly-mistaken-in-agreeing-to-serve-on-trump-voter-fraud-panel/> for Dunlap to step down from the Commission. He’s said he’d be more valuable as a voice in the room.  So far he has not served that role, at all.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Trump stokes voter fraud fears as commission convenes”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93942>
Posted on July 19, 2017 11:12 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93942> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico reports.<http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/19/trump-pence-voter-fraud-commission-240714>

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

Supreme Court Will Hear Oral Argument in WI Partisan Gerrymandering Case Oct 3<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93940>
Posted on July 19, 2017 11:03 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93940> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Greg Stohr<https://twitter.com/GregStohr/status/887733773827289099> tweets.
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

House Republicans Restores, Increases Funding for United States Election Assistance Commission, At Least for Now<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93938>
Posted on July 19, 2017 11:01 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93938> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Celeste Katz notes some good news.<https://twitter.com/CelesteKatzNYC/status/887708802954526720>
As I wrote <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/15/opinion/sunday/dont-let-our-democracy-collapse.html> Sunday:
Meanwhile, House Republicans are moving<http://m.govexec.com/management/2017/06/house-republicans-want-eliminate-federal-election-assistance-agency/139123/> to abolish the United States Election Assistance Commission, a bipartisan federal agency that serves as a clearinghouse for information about best voting practices and certifies the security of voting machines. Does that sound like a good idea right now?
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Assistance Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>

News Coverage of Ninth Circuit Panel on Election Law with Brad Smith, Ann Ravel, and Me<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93934>
Posted on July 19, 2017 10:41 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93934> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
SF Chronicle, Experts defend, oppose Electoral College, campaign finance rules<http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Experts-defend-oppose-Electoral-College-11298109.php>
Courthouse News Service, Voter Fraud Extremely Rare, Conference Panel Agrees <https://www.courthousenews.com/voter-fraud-extremely-rare-conference-panel-agrees/>
(This latter article has some inaccurate quotes)

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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Ken Blackwell defends his work on Trump’s Election Integrity Commission, past work in Ohio”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93932>
Posted on July 19, 2017 10:33 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93932> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Cleveland.com reports.<http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2017/07/ohios_ken_blackwell_back_in_th.html>
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Judge denies injunction against Trump voter fraud panel”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93930>
Posted on July 18, 2017 9:55 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93930> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico:<http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/18/trump-voter-fraud-panel-court-ruling-240677>
A federal judge has turned down an effort to force President Donald Trump’s controversial voter fraud commission to open its first official meeting to in-person, public attendance and to force disclosure of more records about the group’s work.
U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said there wasn’t enough indication that the panel planned to defy a federal sunshine law, particularly after the commission published thousands of pages of information online and announced plans to make more data public in a timely fashion.
Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling<https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2017cv1354-17> said there was no sign that the commission’s procedures were impeding public debate about its actions, particularly a hotly-debated request that states turn over public voter registration data for study by the panel.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Fake news microtargeting now part of Russia investigation”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93928>
Posted on July 18, 2017 9:44 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93928> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
KCRW- To the Point:<http://kcrw.co/2uxZiS9>
“Hillary Clinton is running a child sex ring out of a pizza shop.” “Democrats want to impose Sharia law in Florida” These are just some of the headlines you may have seen online last fall. Among other, more constructive things, social media was used during the 2016 campaign to disseminate targeted fake news stories that may have swayed the election in favor of Donald Trump. Russia operatives seemed to have played an active role in the process. Among the many questions is whether the Trump campaign’s digital operation, run by son-in-law Jared Kushner, guided the hand of Russia’s internet masters of propaganda.
Guests:
Peter Stone<http://www.kcrw.com/people/peter-stone>, McClatchy Newspapers
Rick Hasen<http://www.kcrw.com/people/rick-hasen>, University of California, Irvine (@rickhasen<http://twitter.com/@rickhasen>)
Brandon Valeriano<http://www.kcrw.com/people/brandon-valeriano>, Marine Corps University (@drbva<http://twitter.com/@drbva>)
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

New NAACP-LDF Complaint Raises Constitutional and Statutory Claims Against Pence-Kobach Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93926>
Posted on July 18, 2017 11:26 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93926> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Complaint. <https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3896799-LDF-Complaint-071817.html>
(h/t Chris Geidner<https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/887376025423933441>.)
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Trump Election Commission: A White House Team Will Handle Voter Data”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93924>
Posted on July 18, 2017 11:10 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93924> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Chris Geidner:<https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/trumps-election-commission-lays-out-a-plan-to-keep-state?utm_term=.rwPXPBrNA#.cn6ZERKx7>
Since President Trump’s Election Integrity Commission was last in court, the commission has announced plans to dramatically alter how it plans to collect state voter information in an attempt to avoid a potential legal ruling that could require it to conduct a privacy assessment before collecting the data.
The plan, more or less, is to have a few people on the White House staff conduct all of the work of the commission in order to help maintain a legal argument that the “sole function” of the commission is to advise the president. The commission is chaired by Vice President Mike Pence.
On Monday, Charles Christopher Herndon, the director of White House Information Technology, laid out<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3896307-EPIC-DOJ-Herndon-Decl-07-17-17.html> how limited that would be in a declaration submitted in the case brought by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
“The Executive Committee for Information Technology will have no role in this data collection process. The U.S. Digital Service (which is within the Office of Management and Budget) will also have no role, nor will any federal agency,” Herndon wrote. “The only people who will assist are a limited number of my technical staff from the White House Office of Administration.”
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

Trump DOJ: Court Should Give Up Jurisdiction and Trust Texas on Voter ID Education Efforts<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93921>
Posted on July 18, 2017 10:18 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93921> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Texas dragged its feet in implementing the district court’s interim remedy in the Texas voter id case, which allowed voters without one of the right (narrow) forms of identification to vote in Texas elections. The state was so bad at letting voters know of the court’s interim remedy that plaintiffs had to go back to the district court to get Texas to devote some resources to educating voters.
Texas has now passed a new voter ID law (SB 5), which contains no requirement to educate voters about its reasonable impediment provisions (which largely, but don’t completely, follow the district court’s interim remedy).  Texas says the district court should nonetheless give up jurisdiction over the case and not supervise how SB5 is implemented, and now the Trump DOJ has fully embraced Texas’s view on this issue (after the Obama DOJ was one of the party’s suing Texas over its voter id law).
From a new brief by the DOJ:<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Veasey_et_al_v._Abbott_et_al_1131.pdf>
First, Private Plaintiffs point to the fact that S.B. 5 does not codify any provision “for education and training.” ECF No. 1051 at 14. But the State has made a public commitment to implement a voter education and training program that exceeds the program required by the agreed interim remedy. See id.; see also ECF No. 1052 at 7–9. There is no requirement that the State’s voter education and training program be memorialized in statute. Moreover, in all events, any concerns regarding the State’s completion of its voter education and training efforts provide no occasion to “substitut[e]” a permanent injunction or declaratory judgment for S.B. 5.
“A public commitment.”  Remarkable.
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Posted in Department of Justice<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“The Political Defense—and Ethics—of Donald Trump”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93919>
Posted on July 18, 2017 9:56 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93919> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bob Bauer <https://www.lawfareblog.com/political-defense%E2%80%94and-ethics%E2%80%94-donald-trump> at Lawfare.
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Posted in conflict of interest laws<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>

“Former Clinton and Romney campaign chiefs join forces to fight election hacking”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93917>
Posted on July 18, 2017 9:54 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93917> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/former-clinton-and-romney-campaign-chiefs-join-forces-to-fight-election-hacking/2017/07/17/756ccf56-6b12-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html?utm_term=.a62217b37c03>
The former managers of Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns are leading a new initiative called “Defending Digital Democracy” in the hopes of preventing a repeat of Russia’s 2016 election interference.
Robby Mook, Clinton’s 2016 campaign chief, and Matt Rhoades, who managed the 2012 run of GOP nominee Romney, are heading up the project at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in one of the first major efforts outside government to grapple with 21st century hacking and propaganda operations — and ways to deter them….
The bipartisan project aims to develop ways to share key threat information with political campaigns and state and local election offices; create “playbooks” for election officials to improve cybersecurity; and forge strategies for the United States to deter adversaries from engaging in hacks and information operations, among other things.
More of this please.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voting technology<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>

“Sensenbrenner: Congress should reauthorize modern Voting Rights Act”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93915>
Posted on July 18, 2017 9:52 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93915> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Rep. Sensenbrenner oped:<http://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/07/17/sensenbrenner-congress-should-reauthorize-modern-voting-rights-act/484118001/>
In response to this ruling, I introduced the Voting Rights Amendment Act in 2015, and reintroduced it again last week with my Democratic colleague Rep. John Conyers of Michigan. Among other things, the bill modernizes the original 1965 law — which applied preclearance to the same nine states for 48 years — so that the pre-clearance rules apply equally to every state in the country.
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Posted in Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>, VRAA<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=81>

--
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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