[EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/8/17

Sun May 7 21:11:17 PDT 2017

“Allegations Of Voter Fraud Delay Results In Dallas City Council District 6 Race”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92419>
Posted on May 7, 2017 9:05 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92419> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
KERA reports.<http://keranews.org/post/allegations-voter-fraud-delay-results-dallas-city-council-district-6-race>
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“Campaign-finance laws look worse up close”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92417>
Posted on May 7, 2017 9:01 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92417> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Susan Shelley column<http://www.ocregister.com/2017/05/06/campaign-finance-laws-look-worse-up-close/> in the OC Register:
Get ready to bake me a cake with a file in it.
I ran for public office, so I have no secrets from you. Stand by for a major revelation: In 2013, as a first-time state candidate in a special election for the Assembly, I was late in mailing the paper copies of campaign finance reports that I had already filed electronically.
Speaking of late, now, four years later, California’s Fair Political Practices Commission says this is 11 counts of violating the 1974 Political Reform Act, with a potential penalty of $55,000.
The complaint says I “substantially complied with the Act’s campaign reporting requirements,” made a “good-faith effort,” and “consulted Commission staff throughout.” Further, they found “no evidence of deliberate concealment or intent to deceive the public.”
You read it right, they’re complaining that I substantially complied.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

Kansas City Star Editorial Calls Kris Kobach the “Javert of Voter Fraud”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92415>
Posted on May 7, 2017 8:58 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92415> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Editorial:<http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article148955354.html>
The Javert<http://www.shmoop.com/les-miserables/javert.html> of voter fraud now has a ninth conviction<http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article148434369.html> to show for Kansans’ tax dollars and his own single-minded pursuit. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach claimed in a statement last week that, “This conviction demonstrates once again how prevalent the crime of double voting is. In Kansas, we are making it clear that people who willfully vote twice will be prosecuted.”
We agree that this does show just how prevalent the crime is.
Keep this up, sir, and you may yet prove that of the 1.8 million registered voters in the state, the number of those who have perpetrated this crime is in the double digits.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Can math stop partisan gerrymandering?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92413>
Posted on May 7, 2017 11:53 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92413> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Sam Wang and Brian Remlinger LAT oped:<http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-wang-remlinger-gerrymandering-20170505-story.html>
Setting aside the Monte Carlo analysis, the most straightforward way to determine if gerrymandering has gone too far is to ask whether one side’s wins were exceptionally lopsided compared with the other. In North Carolina in 2016, for example, Democrats won their three seats by an average margin of 37 points, while Republicans won by only 21 points. Using what may be<http://vassarstats.net/textbook/ch11pt1.html> the world’s most widely-used statistical test, the “t-test,” such an outcome would only occur by chance 1 out of 350 times. Courts would still have to decide where to draw the line — 1 out of 350 may be ridiculous, but what’s acceptable? Since scientists consider 1 out of 20 “statistically significant,” perhaps that’s the most logical threshold.
More complex measures of extreme gerrymandering are possible too, such as the efficiency gap<https://lawreview.uchicago.edu/sites/lawreview.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/82_2/04%20Stephanopoulos_McGhee_ART.pdf>, which political scientists have devised to estimate how many votes have been “wasted.”
A statistical standard could certainly harmonize with existing election law, which already requires that districts have equal populations, but allows odd shapes to accommodate minority voting rights. Because of their ubiquity in the sciences, the t-test or efficiency gap are likely to withstand detailed critiques in a court challenge.
Five justices, including Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy<http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/justice-system/anthony-kennedy-PEPLT00008042-topic.html>, have expressed interest<https://www.oyez.org/cases/2005/05-204> in establishing a standard<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bernard_Grofman/publication/44256135_The_Future_of_Partisan_Symmetry_as_a_Judicial_Test_for_Partisan_Gerrymandering_after_LULAC_v_Perry/links/0fcfd51266f8de7914000000.pdf> such as the ones we have described. If Kennedy were to finally rein in gerrymandering, that would cap an already-distinguished legacy of his nearly 30 years on the Supreme Court.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Pasadena, TX: “Latinos in heavily segregated city see limited success in pivotal Texas election”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92411>
Posted on May 7, 2017 11:49 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92411> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Guardian:<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/07/latinos-pasadena-texas-election-voting-rights-act?CMP=share_btn_tw>
Pasadena was one of the first places in the country to be placed back under federal supervision after that 2013 ruling. So Saturday’s mayoral and city council elections were keenly watched by civil rights advocates.
Those hoping Pasadena could stand as a beacon for the political power of Hispanic voters on a level playing field were left disappointed, as left-leaning and Latino candidates enjoyed only limited success.
With a couple of runoff elections to come, it looks unlikely that voters in the city of 154,000 will effect a change that overcomes establishment dominance to install a set of leaders that truly reflects Pasadena’s ethnic diversity.
“It’s going to be a series of steps, it’s not going to be a magic process, it’s going to take time,” said Oscar Del Toro, a defeated candidate who was born in Mexico<https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/magazine/block-the-vote.html?_r=0>. “If you want to accomplish something you have to start from the beginning. So this is at the beginning.”
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Posted in Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“Heated MT Judicial Campaign Spawns Free-Speech Lawsuit”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92409>
Posted on May 7, 2017 11:46 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92409> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Courthouse News Service:<http://www.courthousenews.com/heated-mt-judicial-campaign-spawns-free-speech-lawsuit/>
A new federal lawsuit involving a contentious Montana judicial race last year claims an investigation into campaign statements is having a chilling effect on one of the candidate’s ability to defend himself in disciplinary proceedings.
Robert Myers wants a federal judge to strike down Montana’s criminal defamation statute as unconstitutional. He says doing so will not only prevent Myers from being “illegally prosecuted in a criminal proceeding,” but also may encourage other witnesses to come forward without fear that their testimony regarding possible misconduct by Ravalli County District Judge Jeffrey Langton will result in them being charged with criminal defamation.
The newest complaint,<http://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Myers-MT-COMPLAINT.pdf> filed Thursday, comes almost a year after Myers sued Chief Disciplinary Counsel Shaun R. Thompson over alleged ethics violations included in civil disciplinary complaint against him. Myers said Montana’s disciplinary code, which prohibits attorneys from making false statements about judges, forces judicial candidates to forego exercising their fundamental right to criticize their opponents. A trial before U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy is set for Sept. 25 in Helena.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, judicial elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>

--
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>
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http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
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