[EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/11/17

Wed May 10 20:39:35 PDT 2017

“Texas lawmakers racing against clock to pass bill aimed at curbing mail-in vote fraud”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92469>
Posted on May 10, 2017 8:11 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92469> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Dallas Morning News:<https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2017/05/10/texas-lawmakers-racing-clock-pass-bill-aimed-curbing-mail-vote-fraud>
Texas lawmakers are trying to implement legislation that would curb mail-in ballot fraud at nursing homes.
The House bill and its Senate companion would amend the Election Code to allow election judges to collect mail-in ballots directly from voters at nursing homes or similar facilities.
The new process would prevent political operatives from requesting mail-in ballots for unsuspecting seniors or the infirm and then returning to the facility to pick up the ballots before they reach the voter. It would also make it unnecessary for a person other than an election judge to help a nursing home resident vote.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92469&title=%E2%80%9CTexas%20lawmakers%20racing%20against%20clock%20to%20pass%20bill%20aimed%20at%20curbing%20mail-in%20vote%20fraud%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

Giving Keynote Address at Northwestern: Annual Law in Motion Lecture (May 11)<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92225>
Posted on May 10, 2017 8:00 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92225> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
[Bumping to the top with the talk tomorrow/]
I’ll be talking<http://www.legalstudies.northwestern.edu/about/events/law-in-motion--the-past,-present,-and-future-of-american-elections.html> at Northwestern’s annual Law in Motion conference about my draft paper<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2912403> on race, party, and polarization in redistricting and voting cases (which Judge Jerry Smith recently discussed<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92173> in detail in his dissent in a Texas redistricting case).
(Note this is on the main campus and not at the law school.)
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92225&title=Giving%20Keynote%20Address%20at%20Northwestern%3A%20Annual%20Law%20in%20Motion%20Lecture%20(May%2011)>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“ACLU Challenges New Hampshire Voter Signature-Matching Law”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92466>
Posted on May 10, 2017 7:56 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92466> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release:<https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-challenges-new-hampshire-voter-signature-matching-law>
The American Civil Liberties Union today sued New Hampshire for invalidating the absentee ballots of hundreds of voters, many of whom are disabled, without warning.
At issue is a state law that allows election officials — who have no handwriting-analysis expertise — to reject an absentee ballot, without giving notice to the voter, if they think there is a signature mismatch in the voter’s paperwork. People with disabilities are far more likely to have fluctuating handwriting or to require the assistance of someone to sign their name, as allowed under federal disability rights law.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92466&title=%E2%80%9CACLU%20Challenges%20New%20Hampshire%20Voter%20Signature-Matching%20Law%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“Feeling Underrepresented, California Groups Demand 1,200 More Lawmakers”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92464>
Posted on May 10, 2017 7:54 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92464> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Courthouse News Service:<https://www.courthousenews.com/feeling-underrepresented-california-groups-demand-1200-lawmakers/>
An eclectic group of plaintiffs of all political stripes want to renovate California’s political system, which they say is burdened by an “oligarchic” state government shaped by exponential population growth and an influx of corporate money in local elections.
Led by a group of secessionists whose main goal is to eventually break away from California, the plaintiffs claim in a federal lawsuit<http://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/More-CA-Lawmakers-COMPLAINT.pdf> that the Golden State has stubbornly refused to increase its number of elected state lawmakers despite a population that has ballooned to nearly 40 million. With just one state senator per approximately one million people, the Californians say their votes have been diluted and their elections “purchased” by candidates from the two major parties.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92464&title=%E2%80%9CFeeling%20Underrepresented%2C%20California%20Groups%20Demand%201%2C200%20More%20Lawmakers%E2%80%9D>
Posted in voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>

“Did a Voter ID Law Really Cost Clinton a Victory in Wisconsin?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92462>
Posted on May 10, 2017 7:50 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92462> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Slate reports<http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/10/the_problem_with_the_civis_study_blaming_clinton_s_wisconsin_loss_on_a_voter.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_bot> (and links to my earlier blog post<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92447>).
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92462&title=%E2%80%9CDid%20a%20Voter%20ID%20Law%20Really%20Cost%20Clinton%20a%20Victory%20in%20Wisconsin%3F%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

Harvard Law Review Write-Up of Whitford v. Gill<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92460>
Posted on May 10, 2017 7:49 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92460> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Read it here.<https://harvardlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1954-1961_Online.pdf>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92460&title=Harvard%20Law%20Review%20Write-Up%20of%20Whitford%20v.%20Gill>
Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

--
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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