[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/25/17

Tue Jul 25 07:39:33 PDT 2017

“Voter fraud is rare, Ohio secretary of state tells Trump’s election integrity commission”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94033>
Posted on July 25, 2017 7:34 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94033> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Cleveland.com reports.<http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/07/voter_fraud_is_rare_ohio_secre.html>

[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94033&title=%E2%80%9CVoter%20fraud%20is%20rare%2C%20Ohio%20secretary%20of%20state%20tells%20Trump%E2%80%99s%20election%20integrity%20commission%E2%80%9D>
Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Democrats’ short-lived 2012 recall victory led to key evidence in partisan gerrymandering case”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94031>
Posted on July 25, 2017 7:31 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94031> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Madison.com:<http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_d5cfb956-6e93-5c81-8403-050493b5412e.html>
By most accounts, the 2011 and 2012 gubernatorial and Senate recall elections were a complete disaster for Wisconsin Democrats.
Gov. Scott Walker’s historic victory boosted his fundraising and re-election prospects. The recall petition became a litmus test for party loyalty. And though Democrats recaptured the Senate majority in June 2012, they lost it five months later and have been shut out of state government ever since.
But some Democrats see a silver lining in the recalls that has gone mostly unnoticed until now: The unearthing of key evidence in a potentially landmark legislative redistricting case now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94031&title=%E2%80%9CDemocrats%E2%80%99%20short-lived%202012%20recall%20victory%20led%20to%20key%20evidence%20in%20partisan%20gerrymandering%20case%E2%80%9D>
Posted in recall elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=11>, redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Justin Levitt: Mass. Voter Registration Ruling is “Significant”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94029>
Posted on July 24, 2017 5:09 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94029> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Boston Globe:<https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/07/24/judge-overturns-state-voter-registration-deadline/B4Ah02C1GW9hMMOQNrkftL/story.html>
The ruling is a significant one and could influence election law in other states, according to Justin Levitt, a professor of election law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
“The rationale is thought out in great detail,” Levitt said. “It’s quite a lot of analysis, and I suspect that other courts in other states may well look to this as persuasive in how they might interpret their own constitution.”
Levitt, who focused on voting rights as an attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice, said it is “tough to tell” whether the state’s appeal has a chance at success, but noted that Wilkins went to great lengths to carefully detail his reasoning in his 92-page ruling.
“The judge was very careful. The court pointed to the fact that early voting starts five days after the registration deadline,” he said. “He showed that the state actually showed the ability to [prepare voter rolls] in five days, not 20.”
Testimony from local election officials seemed to influence his decision. Officials reported that they use a computerprogram that excludes the names of voters who registered in the 20 days prior to the election from a final voter printout, leading the judge to rule that there was little rationale for the deadline.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94029&title=Justin%20Levitt%3A%20Mass.%20Voter%20Registration%20Ruling%20is%20%E2%80%9CSignificant%E2%80%9D>
Posted in voter registration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>

“5 Ways to Interfere in American Elections—Without Breaking the Law”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94026>
Posted on July 24, 2017 12:40 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94026> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Uri Friedman<https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/07/legal-ways-interfere-election/534057/> for The Atlantic.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94026&title=%E2%80%9C5%20Ways%20to%20Interfere%20in%20American%20Elections%E2%80%94Without%20Breaking%20the%20Law%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

State Court Strikes Down Mass. 20-Day Registration Cutoff for Voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94024>
Posted on July 24, 2017 12:20 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94024> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The opinion is not yet available, but according to the ACLU’s Dale Ho<https://twitter.com/dale_e_ho/status/889548010530770944>: “Decision means state cannot require ppl to register 20 days before election bc violates state constitution.” More: “No remedy ordered yet – could mean Election Day Reg; or Same Day Registration; and/or shorter registration cutoff.”
Update: Here is the opinion<https://aclum.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Decision-and-Order.pdf>, which refuses to grant relief at this point other than a declaration given “ample time for legislative action and appellate review.”
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94024&title=State%20Court%20Strikes%20Down%20Mass.%2020-Day%20Registration%20Cutoff%20for%20Voting>
Posted in voter registration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>, voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>

Federal Court Rejects EPIC’s Request to Block Collection of Voter Data by Pence-Kobach Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94022>
Posted on July 24, 2017 12:16 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94022> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
35-page order and opinion. <https://epic.org/privacy/litigation/voter/epic-v-commission/epic-v-commission-memorandum-opinion-072417.pdf>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94022&title=Federal%20Court%20Rejects%20EPIC%E2%80%99s%20Request%20to%20Block%20Collection%20of%20Voter%20Data%20by%20Pence-Kobach%20Commission>
Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Five sentenced to days in jail for Supreme Court disruption over campaign finance”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94020>
Posted on July 24, 2017 10:42 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94020> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/five-face-sentencing-monday-for-supreme-court-disruption/2017/07/23/54f9a392-6e38-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html?utm_term=.ac15bf95dd11>
Five protesters who disrupted a session of the U.S. Supreme Court by shouting disapproval of its rulings on campaign finance law were sentenced to either one or two weekends in prison Monday after losing a bid to overturn a 1949 law restricting public protest at the court.
U.S. prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Christopher R. “Casey” Cooper in Washington to order 10-day jail sentences for the defendants, members of an organization called 99Rise. They had stood and spoke one-by-one just after the court was gaveled into session April 1, 2015, about a year after the justices struck down overall limits on campaign contributions.
“Money is not speech. One person, one vote!” shouted defendant Matthew Kresling, 43, of Los Angeles, before being led away in 2015. David Bronstein, 30, of the District, sang, “We who believe in freedom shall not rest.” A third defendant demanded the court overturn its campaign finance decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94020&title=%E2%80%9CFive%20sentenced%20to%20days%20in%20jail%20for%20Supreme%20Court%20disruption%20over%20campaign%20finance%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

Must-Read Journal of Law and Policy Symposium on Buckley at 40, Campaign Finance and Free Speech<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94017>
Posted on July 24, 2017 10:04 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94017> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
It was a great conference and now what looks like a very promising law review issue<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/>:
Current Issue: Volume 25, Issue 1 (2016)
Articles
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1515&context=jlp>
Introduction; The Past, Present and Future of Free Speech<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/1>
Joel M. Gora
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1516&context=jlp>
A Landmark Decision Turns Forty: A Conversation on Buckley v. Valeo<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/2>
Ira Glasser, Nicholas W. Allard, and James L. Buckley
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1517&context=jlp>
Symposium: Free Speech Under Fire: The Future of the First Amendment<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/3>
Nicholas W. Allard and Floyd Abrams
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1518&context=jlp>
Free Speech Matters: The Roberts Court and the First Amendment<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/4>
Joel M. Gora
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1519&context=jlp>
Where’s the Fire?<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/5>
Burt Neuborne
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1520&context=jlp>
Protecting Hatred Preserves Freedom: Why Offensive Expressions Command Constitutional Protection<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/6>
Andrew P. Napolitano
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1521&context=jlp>
Freedom of Speech and Equality: Do We Have to Choose?<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/7>
Nadine Strossen
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1522&context=jlp>
The Academy, Campaign Finance, and Free Speech Under Fire<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/8>
Bradley A. Smith
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1523&context=jlp>
Money and Speech: Practical Perspectives<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/9>
Nicholas W. Allard
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1524&context=jlp>
Producing Democratic Vibrancy<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/10>
K. Sabeel Rahman
PDF<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1525&context=jlp>
Persistent Threats to Commercial Speech<http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol25/iss1/11>
Jonathan H. Adler
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94017&title=Must-Read%20Journal%20of%20Law%20and%20Policy%20Symposium%20on%20Buckley%20at%2040%2C%20Campaign%20Finance%20and%20Free%20Speech>

Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
Re Don Jr.: Federal Sentencing Guidelines Punish Campaign Finance Cooperation with Foreign Governments More Severely Than Foreign Nationals<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94015>
Posted on July 24, 2017 9:59 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94015> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy:<https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/who-were-russians-working>
As I explain in a forthcoming law review article, Dark Money as a Political Sovereignty Problem<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2864436>, the federal sentencing guidelines already make a distinction between  mere foreign nationals and members of foreign governments. The article states,<https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=54309011500510308207211609609309203100008805101105205509809202211202911303108510602203810205305402304312506811811307401812009110503908203501312201609402807201511804205005306407008000911611309506911300509001202906> “[t]he federal sentencing guidelines were amended to reflect the new strictures of BCRA including sentencing enhancements for foreign money in American elections especially if the source was a foreign government.”
In the first post-McCain Feingold sentencing guidelines<https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/amendment-process/official-text-amendments/20030501_Amendments_0.pdf>, in 2003, penalties listed at §2C1.8(b)(2) were enhanced if the campaign finance offense involved a foreign national (two levels) or a foreign government (four levels).  Thus there is more prison time for a person working for a foreign government than one who is simply a run-of-the-mill foreign national like Bluman.
And if you’re wondering how the law defines a “government of a foreign country,” the sentencing guidelines use FARA’s definition<https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/611>.  The term “government of a foreign country” includes “any person or group of persons exercising sovereign de facto or de jure political jurisdiction over any country, other than the United States, or over any part of such country, and includes any subdivision of any such group and any group or agency to which such sovereign de facto or de jure authority or functions are directly or indirectly delegated.”
So it actually makes a difference whether the Russian lawyer<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/world/europe/natalia-veselnitskaya-donald-trump-jr-russian-lawyer.html>, or the Russian-American former KGB agent<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/14/us/politics/russian-american-lobbyist-meeting-trump.html>, or the Soviet-born financier once suspected of money laundering<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/us/politics/trump-meeting-russia.html>, or the former British tabloid reporter who now promotes a Russian pop star<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/style/rob-goldstone-russia-trump.html> or even the U.S.-born translator, <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/style/rob-goldstone-russia-trump.html> or anyone else who managed to fit in Donald Jr.’s office that day along with Manafort and Kushner were working for the Russian government. If any of the lot was working for the Kremlin and they’re convicted of violating the foreign contributions ban, they’ll face a stiffer sentence.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94015&title=Re%20Don%20Jr.%3A%20Federal%20Sentencing%20Guidelines%20Punish%20Campaign%20Finance%20Cooperation%20with%20Foreign%20Governments%20More%20Severely%20Than%20Foreign%20Nationals>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“The Case for Courage; Fight for voting rights, not just for yourself but for your neighbor, too.”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94013>
Posted on July 24, 2017 7:56 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94013> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Andrew Cohen <https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/case-courage> for the Brennan Center for Justice.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94013&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20Case%20for%20Courage%3B%20Fight%20for%20voting%20rights%2C%20not%20just%20for%20yourself%20but%20for%20your%20neighbor%2C%20too.%E2%80%9D>
Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“In Seattle, vouchers let voters steer city money to political campaigns. But some aren’t buying it”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94011>
Posted on July 24, 2017 7:23 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94011> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LAT reports.<http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-vouchers-2017-story.html>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94011&title=%E2%80%9CIn%20Seattle%2C%20vouchers%20let%20voters%20steer%20city%20money%20to%20political%20campaigns.%20But%20some%20aren%E2%80%99t%20buying%20it%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Federal Election Commission must not shy away from Russia probe”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94009>
Posted on July 24, 2017 7:21 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94009> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Stephen Spaulding oped <http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/343228-federal-election-commission-must-not-shy-away-from> in The Hill.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94009&title=%E2%80%9CFederal%20Election%20Commission%20must%20not%20shy%20away%20from%20Russia%20probe%E2%80%9D>
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/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20170725/e516a3d2/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2021 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20170725/e516a3d2/attachment.png>