[EL] ELB News and Commentary 6/6/17

[Rick Hasen]

“Intelligence Contractor Is Charged in First Leak Case Under Trump”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92968>
Posted on June 5, 2017 8:44 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92968> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Charlie Savage<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/us/politics/reality-winner-contractor-leaking-russia-nsa.html?ref=politics> for the NYT:
An intelligence contractor was charged with sending a classified report about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election to the news media, the Justice Department announced<https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-government-contractor-georgia-charged-removing-and-mailing-classified-materials-news> Monday, the first criminal leak case under President Trump.
The case showed the department’s willingness to crack down on leaks, as Mr. Trump has called for in complaining<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/us/politics/justice-department-leak-investigation-trump.html> that they are undermining his administration. His grievances have contributed to a sometimes tense relationship with the intelligence agencies he now oversees.
The Justice Department announced the case against the contractor, Reality Leigh Winner, 25, about an hour after the national-security news outlet The Intercept published<https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/> the apparent document, a May 5 intelligence report<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3766950-NSA-Report-on-Russia-Spearphishing.html#document/p1> from the National Security Agency.
The report described two cyberattacks by Russia’s military intelligence unit, the G.R.U. — one in August against a company that sells voter registration-related software and another, a few days before the election, against 122 local election officials.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


“Justices Act on Voting Rights and Cellphone Privacy”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92966>
Posted on June 5, 2017 8:41 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92966> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Adam Liptak for the NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/us/politics/us-supreme-court-affirms-north-carolina-districts-rely-too-much-on-race.html?ref=politics>
The Supreme Court<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/supreme_court/index.html?inline=nyt-org> dealt North Carolina a setback on Monday in a voting rights case for the third time in recent weeks, affirming a decision<https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legal-work/Covington_v_NC_Memorandum_Opinion.pdf> that struck down many state legislative districts for relying too heavily on race.
The court also ordered a lower court to reconsider whether racial gerrymandering in North Carolina required a special election this year. And in a third, separate ruling, the justices agreed to decide a major case on the privacy of cellphone records.
The court’s summary affirmance<https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/060517zor_e18f.pdf> of the ruling to strike down the North Carolina voting districts gave no reasons, and there were no noted dissents. But the question in the case was similar to one the justices addressed last month<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/us/politics/supreme-court-north-carolina-congressional-districts.html>, in which the court struck down two of the state’s congressional districts as racial gerrymanders.
The new case presented the same basic question in the context of the state’s General Assembly.
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


“Proposed changes in O.C. voting draws critics, could boost turnout”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92964>
Posted on June 5, 2017 8:36 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92964> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
OC Register<http://www.ocregister.com/2017/06/05/proposed-changes-in-o-c-voting-draws-critics-could-boost-turnout/>:
A massive overhaul of how Orange County voters cast ballots will be considered Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors, but some Republican leaders concerned about potential voter fraud want any changes postponed.
Elections officials here and in other states that have implemented similar changes counter that by saying the upgrades make voting systems more secure.
“There’s no better time to make these changes than now,” said Neal Kelley, county Registrar of Voters, who says the new approach would save the county between $10 million and $20 million.
The “vote center” system he’s proposing would do away the approximately 1000 precinct polling places typically set up in the county for each election. Instead, the county would create new vote centers and distribute mail-in ballots to every registered voter.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


Doing “Constitution Happy Hour” at Hammer Museum Friday at 6 PM: Can Our Voting Rights Be Salvaged?<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92962>
Posted on June 5, 2017 3:51 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92962> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
This should be fun.<https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2017/05/constitution-happy-hour/>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92962&title=Doing%20%E2%80%9CConstitution%20Happy%20Hour%E2%80%9D%20at%20Hammer%20Museum%20Friday%20at%206%20PM%3A%20Can%20Our%20Voting%20Rights%20Be%20Salvaged%3F>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Full Bernie Sanders Interview with Me on Voter Fraud, Campaign Finance Reform, and Gerrymandering<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92960>
Posted on June 5, 2017 2:39 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92960> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
There were technical difficulties last week. But now you can watch here<https://www.facebook.com/senatorsanders/videos/10155992765167908/>.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92960&title=Full%20Bernie%20Sanders%20Interview%20with%20Me%20on%20Voter%20Fraud%2C%20Campaign%20Finance%20Reform%2C%20and%20Gerrymandering>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Intercept: NSA Report Shows Russian Attempted Election Hacking in Days Before the Election<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92958>
Posted on June 5, 2017 1:06 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92958> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Intercept:<https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/>
Russian Military Intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election, according to a highly classified intelligence report obtained by The Intercept.
The top-secret National Security Agency document, which was provided anonymously to The Intercept and independently authenticated, analyzes intelligence very recently acquired by the agency about a months-long Russian intelligence cyber effort against elements of the U.S. election and voting infrastructure. The report, dated May 5, 2017, is the most detailed U.S. government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to light….
The NSA analysis does not draw conclusions about whether the interference had any effect on the election’s outcome and concedes that much remains unknown about the extent of the hackers’ accomplishments. However, the report raises the possibility that Russian hacking may have breached at least some elements of the voting system, with disconcertingly uncertain results.
The NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence were both contacted for this article. Officials requested that we not publish or report on the top secret document and declined to comment on it. When informed that we intended to go ahead with this story, the NSA requested a number of redactions. The Intercept agreed to some of the redaction requests after determining that the disclosure of that material was not clearly in the public interest….
According to Alex Halderman, director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society and an electronic voting expert, one of the main concerns in the scenario described by the NSA document is the likelihood that the officials setting up the electronic poll books are the same people doing the pre-programming of the voting machines. The actual voting machines aren’t going to be networked to something like VR Systems’ EViD, but they do receive manual updates and configuration from people at the local or state level who could be responsible for both. If those were the people targeted by the GRU malware, the implications are troubling.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


Today’s Must-Read: “How the Trump-Russia Data Machine Games Google to Fool Americans”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92956>
Posted on June 5, 2017 12:55 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92956> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Really disturbing from Paste Magazine:<https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/06/how-the-trump-russia-data-machine-games-google-to.html?utm_content=bufferc967c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer>
Now let’s see exactly what’s up here. Together, we’re going to Google the phrase “trump no evidence collusion.” (And because Google searches change over time, I’ll drop screenshots of my results here.) What will emerge is a picture of an invisible hand writing a specific argument, over and over and over. That hand belongs to Robert Mercer, Trump’s data man, who gamed Google and fake news during the campaign and whose return to the scene is heralded by Trump’s war room and bot boom. If you want, you can read more<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy> about this crazyAF, richAF, crackpot genius with a heart of shit.
Before we begin, though, we need to establish the fact that this statement is a lie: “There’s no evidence of collusion!” The reason I’m using this specific example is because this highly nuanced claim is the perfect loophole to exploit for misinformation, to shade the truth as lie and get away with it clean.
The truth: no one in the intelligence community and no one on any of the Congressional committees looking into this thing, be they Democrat or Republican, none of them have said categorically, flat-out, “There is no evidence of collusion.” Period. People investigating the case will only go so far as to say they haven’t seen any evidence. Or that there hasn’t been any evidence made available to them yet. But they don’t ever say there flat-out isn’t any evidence of collusion. Ever. Read this<http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/may/12/donald-trump/trumps-mostly-false-claim-clapper-said-no-collusio/> if you don’t believe me.
Back to the Googs. Here’s what I saw when I Googled “trump no evidence collusion” on the afternoon of May 29….
How many mainstream sites do you see on the first page? Zero. Let’s go to page two….
Ah! There, buried under InfoWars and National Review and The Blaze and not one, not two, but three pieces from The Free Beacon, we finally find good old Reuters! And, lo: the good old Washington Post! And what about The Failing New York Times? Truly failing. Here’s page three:…
Nope. The New York Fucking Times doesn’t pop up until page five. Ahead of it: Lifezette; Talking Points Memo; The Blaze; The Daily Caller; something called ntknetwork; constitution.com; GOP.com; GatewayPundit; the aptly named NewsBusters; TownHall.com; and, kings of kings, Breitbart and InfoWars.
And when I googled the search term the night of May 31, as I’m writing this, it’s even worse. The Washington Post, which had a page two hit on May 29, is now at the bottom of page four.
Now, to state the obvious, the way those results are ordered isn’t exactly organic. Alexa ranks the NYT at 120 globally; WaPo at 190. Now, what about the illustrious townhall.com, which had not one but two hits on page one? It’s ranked at 9,109. In other words, those first four pages (four full pages of synchronized bullshit) are evidence of a massive and centrally managed strategic misinformation campaign being waged on your brain….
How The SEOsage Is Made
First: Create content that subtly masks the truth.
Second: Shape that content into something people will share.
Third: Make it identical, and make a ton of it.
Fourth: Flood the internet with that content.
Fifth: Flood the internet with that content.
Six: Flood the fucking internet with that content.
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Posted in social media and social protests<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=58>


First Arrest Warrant in West Dallas, TX Absentee Ballot Fraud Case<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92954>
Posted on June 5, 2017 12:48 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92954> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Dallas Morning News reports.<https://www.dallasnews.com/news/elections/2017/06/02/prosecutors-issue-first-arrest-warrantin-west-dallas-voter-fraud-case>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92954&title=First%20Arrest%20Warrant%20in%20West%20Dallas%2C%20TX%20Absentee%20Ballot%20Fraud%20Case>
Posted in absentee ballots<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


New Report Says Thousands of PA Voters (Including 17K in Philly) Registered on Time But Could Not Vote Because of Administrative Delays<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92952>
Posted on June 5, 2017 11:27 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92952> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
If this pans out<https://static1.squarespace.com/static/562169a3e4b0234688622b82/t/59239c31725e250c25b2dbbc/1495505971889/Lost+and+Late+voter+registrations+report+May+2017.pdf>, it could be a big deal.
And this does not look like voter suppression–more like bureaucratic incompetence.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


Former NC Governor Pat McCrory Calls for New Voter ID Law<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92950>
Posted on June 5, 2017 11:11 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92950> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News and Observer:<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article154239819.html>
The former governor also had advice for the legislature. Republican House and Senate leaders were in the crowd at the NCGOP convention.
“I know for a fact that we had a lot of noncitizens that were voting,” McCrory said. “Ladies and gentlemen, voter ID would have stopped it. Keep it a clean bill, stay with a voter ID law and get that passed.”
A recent audit by the State Board of Elections found 41 noncitizens who cast ballots<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article145971264.html>. They were legal residents who had successfully registered to vote. An ID requirement likely wouldn’t have stopped them. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month <http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article150554992.html> that it won’t reinstate North Carolina’s original voter ID law; parts of the legal challenge to the law included changes to voter registration and early voting requirements.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Democrats See New Opportunities in Texas Redistricting Case”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92948>
Posted on June 5, 2017 11:09 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92948> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Roll Call reports.<http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/democrats-see-new-opportunities-texas-redistricting-case?utm_content=buffer9ead0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer>
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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
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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