[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/7/17

Mon Nov 6 20:33:18 PST 2017

“NH Voter Fraud Under Scrutiny as New Investigator Takes Over”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95855>
Posted on November 6, 2017 8:25 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95855> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
AP:<http://www.nh1.com/news/top-news/nh-voter-fraud-under-scrutiny-as-new-investigator-takes-over>
Voting rights and potential fraud remain politically charged issues in New Hampshire, but the state’s new elections investigator said he’s ignoring the partisan divide and focusing on his job.
The hiring of Orville “Bud” Fitch by the secretary of state’s office comes as Republican lawmakers have increasingly sought to tighten voter registration and other election laws. The Republican-led Legislature included the new investigator position to enforce election laws in the state budget, and it passed legislation requiring the secretary of state’s office to look into cases in which address verification letters sent to voters are returned by the postal service as undeliverable.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“A 2013 Supreme Court ruling forever changed Americans’ voting rights — and experts warn it could help decide this year’s elections”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95853>
Posted on November 6, 2017 8:21 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95853> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
BI:<http://www.businessinsider.com/virginia-alabama-elections-voter-id-voting-rights-act-2017-10>
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill didn’t mince words when addressing opponents of his state’s voter ID law, which requires<http://sos.alabama.gov/alabama-votes/voter/voter-id> voters show a government-approved photo ID at the polls.
“People are entitled to their own opinions. But they’re not entitled to their own facts,” Merrill told Business Insider. “Everybody in Alabama that wants a voter ID has one.”
Voting rights activists, who have long dismissed voter ID laws as discriminatory tactics that disenfranchise minority voters, disagree. They say the time it takes people to travel to the office where they need to pick up their IDs and the added cost for the underlying documents required to get the ID in the first place are just too burdensome for many voters.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“Securing the vote: How efforts to prevent fraud, and voting rights, collide”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95851>
Posted on November 6, 2017 8:15 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95851> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Extensive CS Monitor report.<https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2017/1106/Securing-the-vote-How-efforts-to-prevent-fraud-and-voting-rights-collide>
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“The Lessons of Cyrus Vance’s Campaign Contributions”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95849>
Posted on November 6, 2017 8:05 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95849> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Elizabeth Hotlzman and David Yassky NYT oped<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/opinion/cyrus-vance-contributions-weinstein.html?_r=0>:
To be clear, we see no reason to conclude that campaign contributions are in fact influencing district attorneys decisions. But we do believe that public confidence has been significantly damaged by the recent coverage of Mr. Vance’s donors. Perpetuating the current system will lead to further erosion of public trust and risks actual corruption. It is time to end that risk.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Alabama Chief Election Official’s Voter Fraud Suspicions Were Really Far Off”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95847>
Posted on November 6, 2017 8:01 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95847> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
HuffPost:<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/voter-fraud-alabama_us_5a00b712e4b04cdbeb357ad7>
Alabama’s chief election official suggested nearly 700 people<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alabama-crossover-voting_us_59f0a8dfe4b0e064db7e37e9> in the state may have committed voter fraud in an August runoff election, but a new review of records by local election judges shows that number is considerably exaggerated.
John Merrill (R), the Alabama secretary of state, sent the names of 674 people to election judges last month, saying his office believed they may have voted in the state’s Democratic primary and then in a GOP runoff between Sen. Luther Strange and Roy Moore in September for Strange’s U.S. Senate seat. The state banned this so-called crossover voting in May and the September runoff was the first time the law was in effect.
On Monday, the deadline for probate judges to submit their review of Merrill’s  names, it’s clear the final number of those suspected of illegal voting will be far less than what the secretary of state claimed.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

Texas Democratic Party Pushes Partisan Gerrymandering Claim in Texas Redistricting Cases at SCOTUS<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95844>
Posted on November 6, 2017 3:48 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95844> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
New jurisdictional statement.<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/TDP-Quesada-Jurisdictional-Statement.pdf>

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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“McConnell Skeptical of Mandatory Disclosures for Facebook, Twitter Ads”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95842>
Posted on November 6, 2017 11:14 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95842> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Roll Call:<https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/mcconnell-skeptical-of-mandatory-disclosures-for-facebook-and-twitter-ads>
“I’m a little skeptical of these disclosure-type proposals that are floating around, which strikes me would mostly penalize American citizens trying to use the internet and to advertise,” the Kentucky Republican said in an interview that aired Saturday….
Speaking with Hugh Hewitt for his weekend MSNBC program, McConnell also signaled that Russians should not be able to have the free speech protections to which Americans are entitled by the Constitution.
“In any event, the First Amendment shouldn’t apply to foreigners,” McConnell said.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Felon Disenfranchisement”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95840>
Posted on November 6, 2017 11:09 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95840> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Hadar Aviram, Allyson Bragg, and Chelsea Lewis have posted this draft<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3059659> on SSRN (forthcoming Annual Review of Law and Social Science). Here is the abstract:
Crime control and prisons have featured prominently in electoral campaigns, yet currently and formerly incarcerated people are a profoundly disenfranchised constituency in the United States. This article examines the extent to which this population and its concerns have been excluded from American electoral politics. Starting with the philosophical debate on the extent of the right to vote, the article examines the scope of felon disenfranchisement in the United States, including comparative perspectives, policies in states that allow voting within prisons, and eligibility to run for office with a criminal record. The article also examines the problematic underlying issue of racial exclusion via felon disenfranchisement; the impact of disenfranchisement on civic engagement and recidivism; and the perspectives of disenfranchised, formerly incarcerated people. The article ends with thoughts on the prospects of bipartisan reform of voting rights.
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Posted in felon voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>

“Trump Jr. Hinted at Review of Anti-Russia Law, Moscow Lawyer Says”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95836>
Posted on November 6, 2017 7:33 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95836> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-06/trump-jr-said-anti-russia-law-may-be-reviewed-moscow-lawyer-says>:
A Russian lawyer who met with President Donald Trump<https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/id/1252249>’s oldest son last year says he indicated that a law targeting Russia could be re-examined if his father won the election and asked her for written evidence that illegal proceeds went to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, said in a two-and-a-half-hour interview in Moscow that she would tell these and other things to the Senate Judiciary Committee on condition that her answers be made public, something it hasn’t agreed to. She has received scores of questions<https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2017-10-18%20CEG%20to%20Veselnitskaya%20(June%209%20Meeting)_Redacted.pdf> from the committee, which is investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Veselnitskaya said she’s also ready — if asked — to testify to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Not sure why anyone should consider this person a credible witness.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Menendez could remain in Senate even if he’s convicted”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95834>
Posted on November 6, 2017 7:31 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95834> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico:<https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/06/robert-menendez-trial-senate-jury-244581>
But expelling Menendez — even if he is convicted of a felony — might not be that easy.
Republicans need a two-thirds majority in the Senate to agree to expel a member, which means they would need Democratic votes. With partisan tensions so high — Democrats are still bitter that Republicans denied President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland the seat last year, among a host of other issues — they are in no mood to cooperate with the GOP majority.
In addition, New Jersey voters are about to pick a new governor. Democrat Phil Murphy is leading in the polls. If Murphy wins and takes office in January, he could replace Menendez with a Democrat, so the party would have incentive to delay rather than allow Christie to choose a new senator.
Democrats might even support Menendez staying in office even if Murphy takes over as governor. In private, several Democratic senators and aides said they’re not feeling any political pressure yet to cut ties to Menendez if he’s convicted. That might change if he’s found guilty, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and President Donald Trump — joined by editorial pages across the country — turn up the heat on them. But for now, Democrats remain committed to supporting Menendez through at least January, if not longer.
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Posted in legislation and legislatures<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>

“As Voters Prepare for Virginia Election, Data Helping Reduce Lines”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95832>
Posted on November 6, 2017 7:13 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95832> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
John Fortier and Don Palmer <https://medium.com/bipartisan-policy-center/as-voters-prepare-for-virginia-election-data-helping-reduce-lines-b1b23cdf2bbe> for the BPC.
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Posted in 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
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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