[EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/12/17

Thu May 11 20:23:45 PDT 2017

Why Didn’t Trump Announce All 15 (or 12?) Members of His “Voter Fraud” Commission? And Why Announce Now?<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92496>
Posted on May 11, 2017 8:15 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92496> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Executive order<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92477#more-92477> establishing the “voter fraud” commission provides for the VP to chair and up to 15 additional members. Yet the NYT report says it will have “about a dozen” members, and so far we only know the names of Kobach, Lawson, Blackwell, Gardner, Dunlap and McCormick. That’s 6 names.
So unusual to announce the formation of a commission without saying who the members are and passing along their bios; without having a research director in place; without having infrastructure in place.
It is not as though this is a new idea. My Slate piece criticizing<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/01/trump_s_voting_fraud_investigation_is_a_great_idea.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top> the idea of the commission was posted Jan. 25, just 5 days after inauguration.
So here are two theories:

  1.  This was rushed today to take attention away from Comey/Russia, before everything was put in place.
  2.  They’ve been trying to find more Democrats and some election professionals/academics to serve on the committee, and so far they’ve come up empty. They want to create the pretense<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92477> of a fair, bipartisan commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92471>.
I’m open to other theories including simple incompetence.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92496&title=Why%20Didn%E2%80%99t%20Trump%20Announce%20All%2015%20(or%2012%3F)%20Members%20of%20His%20%E2%80%9CVoter%20Fraud%E2%80%9D%20Commission%3F%20%20And%20Why%20Announce%20Now%3F>
Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Trump Picks Voter ID Advocate for Election Fraud Panel”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92494>
Posted on May 11, 2017 8:07 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92494> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/11/us/politics/trump-voter-fraud.html?ref=politics>
President Trump on Thursday named Kris W. Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who has pressed for aggressive measures to crack down on undocumented immigrants, to a commission investigating vote fraud, following through on his unsubstantiated claim<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/politics/trump-voting-fraud-false-claim-investigation.html> that millions of “illegals” voted for his Democratic rival and robbed him of victory in the national popular vote.
Mr. Kobach, who has championed the strictest voter identification laws in the country, will be the vice chairman of the commission, which will be led by Vice President Mike Pence and is expected to include about a dozen others, including state officials from both political parties, said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy White House press secretary.
Mr. Trump signed an executive order on Thursday creating the commission, which Ms. Sanders said would have a broad mandate to review policies and practices that affect Americans’ confidence in the integrity of federal elections. Marc E. Lotter, Mr. Pence’s spokesman, said that voter suppression would be among the topics studied by the commission, which he said would take a wide-ranging look at problems at the state and national levels. But the order makes no mention of suppression or voting restrictions, specifying only “improper” or “fraudulent” registration and voting as issues to be explored.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92494&title=%E2%80%9CTrump%20Picks%20Voter%20ID%20Advocate%20for%20Election%20Fraud%20Panel%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Is the Supreme Court about to give state and local political parties a boost?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92491>
Posted on May 11, 2017 7:59 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92491> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Brad Smith<http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/is-the-supreme-court-about-to-give-state-and-local-political-parties-a-boost/article/2622573> in Wash. Examiner:
Hardest hit are state and local parties. As part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance “reform” of 2002, virtually everything these local parties do was brought into the web of federal regulation, and their sources of funding largely cut off. A poorly-reasoned Supreme Court decision, McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, upheld these restrictions against a constitutional challenge in 2003. Cases decided since McConnell, however, have relied on traditional First Amendment reasoning to overturn many parts of that decision. One of the few parts that remains is the restrictions on state and local parties.
The Supreme Court now has a chance to rectify this element of the McConnell decision. Currently before the court is the case of Republican Party of Louisiana v. Federal Election Commission, which challenges those legal restrictions on state and local party activity. The party’s position is simple: Why can super PACs, or a nonprofit like Planned Parenthood Action Fund, accept and spend unlimited sums from any source to influence elections, while political parties cannot? And how can parties corrupt their own candidates by trying to help them win elections?
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92491&title=%E2%80%9CIs%20the%20Supreme%20Court%20about%20to%20give%20state%20and%20local%20political%20parties%20a%20boost%3F%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Misguided ME SOS Dunlap: “Dem Tapped For Trump Voter Fraud Panel: I’ll ‘Speak Up’ If It’s A ‘Trojan Horse’”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92489>
Posted on May 11, 2017 7:46 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92489> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
TPM:<http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/dem-on-voter-fraud-panel>
One of the Democrats slated to be on President Trump’s so-called “elections integrity” commission is already warning that he will “speak up” if it becomes a “Trojan horse” for infringing on the right to vote.
“If they take nothing and conflate it into something, I think being part of the commission is a good place to be in order to correct that record,” Maine’s Secretary of State Matt Dunlap told TPM in a phone interview Thursday.
Dunlap confirmed reports that he was likely to serve on the commission and said he is just finishing up the paperwork.
“I’ve been asked to be a part of it and my inclination is to do it,” Dunlap said.
If I were a Maine voter, I’d be calling Dunlap’s office and say he’s being used, and no commission without bipartisan support and headed by a voting rights charlatan is worth his participation.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92489&title=Misguided%20ME%20SOS%20Dunlap%3A%20%E2%80%9CDem%20Tapped%20For%20Trump%20Voter%20Fraud%20Panel%3A%20I%E2%80%99ll%20%E2%80%98Speak%20Up%E2%80%99%20If%20It%E2%80%99s%20A%20%E2%80%98Trojan%20Horse%E2%>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Nate Persily, Research Director of Last Bipartisan Voting Commission, Blasts Trump “Voter Fraud” Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92487>
Posted on May 11, 2017 7:43 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92487> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
TPM:<http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/voting-rights-advocate-sound-the-alarm-on>
Even election administration experts who had served on presidential election commissions in the past were dubious of Trump’s panel’s true aims.
“It so beyond the pale. What can you say at this point?” said Nate Persily, who served as a senior research director for President Obama’s Presidential Commission on Election Administration. “There are a lot of serious academics who have done a lot of work in this area. Let’s see if any of them staff the commission.”…
“I think they’re going to recommend national legislation,” said Persily, who is now an election law professor at Stanford Law. “Why do this unless that’s what you’re going to do.”
“It should be no surprise that the election commission will not be looking at how proposed remedies will lead to eligible people not being able to cast ballots,” Persily added. “That is certainly a bigger problem than ineligible people casting ballots”
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92487&title=Nate%20Persily%2C%20Research%20Director%20of%20Last%20Bipartisan%20Voting%20Commission%2C%20Blasts%20Trump%20%E2%80%9CVoter%20Fraud%E2%80%9D%20Commission>
Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

My Q and A with VICE on Trump “Voter Fraud” Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92485>
Posted on May 11, 2017 7:39 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92485> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/why-you-should-worry-about-trumps-voter-fraud-probe>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92485&title=My%20Q%20and%20A%20with%20VICE%20on%20Trump%20%E2%80%9CVoter%20Fraud%E2%80%9D%20Commission>
Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

ACLU Makes FOIA Request Connected to Trump “Voter Fraud” Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92483>
Posted on May 11, 2017 7:38 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92483> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release:<https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-takes-legal-action-over-trump-election-commission-executive-order>
The American Civil Liberties Union took legal action today related to President Trump’s new executive order establishing a “Presidential Commission on Election Integrity.” The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act “FOIA” request seeking information that the Trump administration is using as the basis for its voter fraud claims. The commission vice chair is Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, whom the American Civil Liberties Union has successfully sued numerous times over voter suppression policies.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92483&title=ACLU%20Makes%20FOIA%20Request%20Connected%20to%20Trump%20%E2%80%9CVoter%20Fraud%E2%80%9D%20Commission>
Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

My Thoughts on President Trump’s Executive Order Establishing “Voter Fraud” Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92477>
Posted on May 11, 2017 11:19 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92477> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The President has just issued the promised executive order (I’ve posted it below the fold).  A few notes:

  1.  Although it broadly states a goal to look at public confidence in the election process, it seems to do this only by demanding a study of supposed voter fraud (not, as had been rumored<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-trump-expected-launch-commission-election-integrity/story?id=47337222>) voter suppression.
  2.  This breaks with the tradition of Carter-Ford, Carter-Baker, and Bauer-Ginsberg of having two well respected bipartisan leaders in charge of the Commission. It is not only led by the Republican vice president, but reports suggest that Kris Kobach<http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article149910457.html> will be the vice chair. (The EO does not list the members of the up-to-15 member commission.) That alone makes this commission suspect<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/01/trump_s_voting_fraud_investigation_is_a_great_idea.html>. The presence of some members of the Commission who have made it their mission in life to exaggerate or lie about the extent that voter fraud is a problem in this country today as an excuse to make it harder to register and vote makes this Commission illegitimate to begin with.
  3.  It is not clear whether any serious Democrats or election professionals or academics who study election administration will be involved in the effort. Many have called for a boycott <http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2017/02/choosing-respond-pence-commission/> of the Commission, and that could well happen.
  4.  What is the purpose of the Commission? It does not appear aimed at studying voter fraud in a serious way. We already know that the amount of voter fraud in the last election was very small. Very very small.<https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/noncitizen-voting-missing-millions> There is absolutely no evidence supporting the President’s outlandish claim that 3 million or more non-citizen voters voted in the 2016 elections. So the point is either to give the President validation for his outlandish claims and/or to provide a pretext for passing more laws to make it harder to register and to vote.
  5.  As far as pretext goes, the thing I’m most concerned about is using the report’s “conclusions” as an excuse for Congress to pass new legislation making it harder to register and vote, such as repealing voter friendly portions of the 1993 NVRA (motor-voter law). I suspect this is the end game. (We may get some insight into this if and when Kobach’s notes<http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article149757479.html> on how to kill the NVRA are released.)
  6.  This is not a good day for those who believe we should have a system where all eligible voters, but only eligible voters, can easily cast a ballot that will be fairly and accurately counted.
Continue reading →<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92477#more-92477>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92477&title=My%20Thoughts%20on%20President%20Trump%E2%80%99s%20Executive%20Order%20Establishing%20%E2%80%9CVoter%20Fraud%E2%80%9D%20Commission>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“GA SOS Web Site Linked to Kemp for Gov Facebook page”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92475>
Posted on May 11, 2017 10:21 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92475> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Odd and troubling.<https://vimeo.com/216701703?ref=tw-share>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92475&title=%E2%80%9CGA%20SOS%20Web%20Site%20Linked%20to%20Kemp%20for%20Gov%20Facebook%20page%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

--
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/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20170512/a648254f/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/20170512/a648254f/attachment.png>