[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/13/17

Mon Mar 13 07:32:27 PDT 2017

New Paper Casts Doubt on Hajnal et al Finding Strict Voter ID Laws Suppress Democratic Votes<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91581>
Posted on March 13, 2017 7:29 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91581> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Grimmer, Hersh, Meredith, Mummolo, and Nall have posted "Comment on 'Voter Identification Laws and the Suppression of Minority Votes.'<http://stanford.edu/~jgrimmer/comment_final.pdf>" Here is the abstract:

To study how voter identification laws affect participation in elections, Hajnal, Lajevardi and Nielson (2017) examines validated turnout data in five national surveys conducted between 2006 and 2014. The study concludes that strict ID laws cause a large turnout decline among minorities, especially Latinos. Here, we show that the results of this paper are a product of large data inaccuracies, that the evidence does not support the stated conclusion, and that model specifications produce highly variable results. When errors in the analysis are corrected, one can recover positive, negative, or null estimates of the effect of voter ID laws on turnout. Our findings underscore that no definitive relationship between strict voter ID laws and turnout can be established from the validated CCES data. Our analysis highlights more general problems with the way empirical evidence is assembled and reported, but it also offers useful suggestions on the appropriate evidence sources for research on election administration.

See my Feb. 10, 2016 post, Caution on the Hajnal Voter ID Paper.<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79785>

Also, for people thinking about whether voter id laws are good or bad, I think this line of inquiry asks the wrong question. <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=89101>
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>

"Texas Congressional Maps Are Struck Down for Discrimination"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91579>
Posted on March 13, 2017 7:19 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91579> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Manny Fernandez for the NYT.<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/11/us/texas-congressional-maps-are-struck-down-for-discrimination.html?ref=politics&_r=0>

Here<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91555> is my analysis of the court ruling from over the weekend.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

"Holder, Pelosi, McAuliffe start redistricting fundraising"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91577>
Posted on March 13, 2017 7:14 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91577> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico reports.<http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/eric-holder-nancy-pelosi-terry-mcauliffe-redistricting-235984>
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

"FEC earning congressional attention - for the wrong reasons"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91575>
Posted on March 13, 2017 7:11 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91575> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CPI reports.<https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/03/13/20751/fec-earning-congressional-attention-wrong-reasons>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal election commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

"Editorial: A call for transparency - Eric Greitens still governing in the dark"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91573>
Posted on March 12, 2017 4:35 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91573> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Editorial:<http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article137819468.html>

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is collaborating in the creation of a bogus nonprofit "social welfare" organization<http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article137209643.html> clearly designed to provide unfiltered propaganda about his political agenda.

The nonprofit could collect unlimited anonymous contributions from donors seeking influence in the state. It is an insult to Missouri voters.

We feel so strongly about the governor's lack of transparency and repeated attempts to evade the Missouri news media that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Kansas City Star are publishing this joint editorial, hoping Greitens will change course.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law and election law<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

"Why 30% of Florida's voting is ripe for fraud"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91571>
Posted on March 12, 2017 10:32 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91571> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The latest from the Palm Beach Post<http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/why-florida-voting-ripe-for-fraud/H01gtcyjJvG32MZmyaKwiO/> on absentee ballot fraud.
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Posted in absentee ballots<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

NC Private Respondents Oppose NC General Assembly's Attempt to Keep Voting Case Alive in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91568>
Posted on March 11, 2017 8:55 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91568> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Opposition.<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/16-833-Private-Respondents-Opposition-to-Motion-to-Add.pdf>
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

"EXCLUSIVE: Winning candidates helped voters fill out their ballots"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91566>
Posted on March 11, 2017 8:44 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91566> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Palm Beach Post:<http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/special-reports/exclusive-winning-candidates-helped-voters-fill-out-their-ballots/V0ieae6VcZNNWF6I9ylRdM/>

________________________________

A Palm Beach County commissioner and a state House member clinched their seats last year by stepping into voters' homes and helping them fill out their mail-in ballots, a Palm Beach Post investigation has found.

Commissioner Mack Bernard and Rep. Al Jacquet, both Democrats running in the August primary, took advantage of gaping holes in Florida's vote-by-mail laws to pressure and cajole voters in their living rooms.

In one case, a blind voter said Bernard filled out and signed his ballot. His vote counted, but Post reporters looked at the signature on the ballot envelope after the fact and found it didn't match the one on file. Florida law requires that absentee voters sign their own ballot<http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0100-0199/0101/Sections/0101.65.html>.

In other cases, residents said candidates watched over their shoulders, telling them who to vote for. Voters said they received mail-in ballots but didn't know why. One woman said she felt pressured by a persistent candidate who talked his way into her home and dug out her ballot from a stack of discarded mail.
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Posted in absentee ballots<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

"Needed: Fresh Eyes to Improve New York's Constitution (Part II)"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91564>
Posted on March 11, 2017 8:41 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91564> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

J.H. Snider writes.<http://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/6800-needed-fresh-eyes-to-improve-new-york-s-constitution-part-two-first-amendment>
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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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