[EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/25/17

Tue Oct 24 20:39:39 PDT 2017

Alabama: “Local District Attorneys will decide if hundreds of accused crossover voters will be prosecuted”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95661>
Posted on October 24, 2017 8:36 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95661> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WHNT:<http://whnt.com/2017/10/23/local-district-attorneys-will-decide-if-hundreds-of-accused-crossover-voters-will-be-prosecuted/>
Nearly 700 Alabama voters could be facing up to 10 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines. Their crime? Voting in the wrong runoff election.
Just seven lines of legal code adopted last year, makes all the difference.
It’s the Crossover Voting Ban, that makes it illegal for someone who votes in one party’s primary to vote in the runoff of another party. The first test of the law was the recent special election primary to replace Jeff Sessions’ Senate Seat.
Over the weekend, Secretary of State John Merrill released the number of violators of the law.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

NYC Voter Purge: “City Board of Elections Admits It Broke the Law, Accepts Reform”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95659>
Posted on October 24, 2017 8:33 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95659> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WNYC:<http://www.wnyc.org/story/city-board-elections-admits-it-broke-law-accepts-reforms/>
The New York City Board of Elections is admitting it broke state and federal law when it improperly removed voters from the rolls ahead of the presidential primary last spring, including more than 117,000 voters in Brooklyn.
That’s according to a draft consent decree announced Tuesday— nearly a year after the Board was sued in federal court for violating the National Voter Registration Act and state election law.
The Brooklyn voter purge was first reported<http://www.wnyc.org/story/democratic-voter-rolls-drop-more-60000-brooklyn-presidential-primary/> by WNYC<http://www.wnyc.org/story/de-blasio-demands-explanation-boe-drops-126000-brooklyn-democrats/> just days before last spring’s primary election.
As a part of the settlement, the Board agreed to a series of remedial measures that will be in place at least through the next presidential election, November 2020 — pending court approval. The deal restores the rights of improperly purged voters and establishes a comprehensive plan to prevent illegal voter purges in future elections.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“2 top Brady aides charged in probe of payoff to 2012 primary rival”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95657>
Posted on October 24, 2017 8:25 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95657> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Philly Inquirer:<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/philadelphia/bob-brady-ken-smukler-indicted-charged-fbi-justice-department-20171024.html>
Two top political strategists for U.S. Rep. Robert Brady (D., Pa.) on Tuesday became the latest targets in a widening federal probe of $90,000 the congressman paid<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/need-a-job-bob-brady-and-the-art-of-the-political-buyout-20170730.html> a 2012 primary challenger to drop out of the race.
 Federal prosecutors accused Ken Smukler, 57, and Donald “D.A.” Jones, 62, of making illegal campaign contributions on behalf of their boss and conspiring to hide the money in the campaign finance reports of his rival, former Municipal Court Judge Jimmie Moore….
The money was meant to cover debts Moore incurred during his short-lived race — including more than $80,000 the former judge had personally loaned his own campaign, Moore said.
Because federal campaign contribution limits at the time capped the amount that one candidate could give another campaign at $2,000 for a primary election, Smukler and Jones funneled the money from Brady’s campaign coffers to Moore’s by routing it through their companies, according to Tuesday’s indictment.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Dark Money Group Received Massive Donation In Fight Against Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95655>
Posted on October 24, 2017 4:18 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95655> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
MapLight:<https://maplight.org/story/dark-money-group-received-massive-donation-in-fight-against-obamas-supreme-court-nominee/>
A dark money organization that spent $7 million<https://judicialnetwork.com/judicial-crisis-network-launches-10-million-campaign-preserve-justice-scalias-legacy-support-president-elect-trump-nominee/> to block former President Obama’s Supreme Court pick received just three donations between 2015 and 2016, but one transaction really counted: A single $17.9 million contribution from a mystery donor.
The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), a Washington, D.C.-based conservative nonprofit, saw its revenues explode as it ran ads thanking Republican senators who successfully prevented Merrick Garland, Obama’s pick to replace Antonin Scalia, from receiving a confirmation hearing. It also sent millions of dollars to nonprofits that worked to elect conservative state judicial candidates and attorneys general. Earlier this year, JCN spent $10 million<https://judicialnetwork.com/judicial-crisis-network-launches-10-million-campaign-preserve-justice-scalias-legacy-support-president-elect-trump-nominee/> on ads to help secure Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation.
The organization’s most recent tax return, covering July 2015 to June 2016, shows JCN’s anti-Garland spending spree was fueled by three contributions. The $17.9 million donation accounted for 96.6 percent of its revenue. Before the donation, the organization had never reported more than $6 million in revenue since its 2005 creation.
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“The Only Institution in the United States That Can Solve This Problem”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95653>
Posted on October 24, 2017 4:16 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95653> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Torres-Spelliscy<https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/only-institution-united-states-can-solve-problem> on Gill.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Kobach Says Pence-Kobach Voting Fraud Commission Will Meet Again in a Few Months<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95651>
Posted on October 24, 2017 3:35 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95651> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
PBS News Hour:<https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/whats-become-of-trumps-voter-fraud-commission-even-some-of-its-members-arent-sure>
The panel held its second meeting last month in New Hampshire, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the commission’s vice chairman, told the NewsHour the panel is in the process of planning its next meeting.
“There will be another meeting in the next few months,” Kobach, a Republican, said in a phone interview Monday. Kobach said no date has been set for the meeting.
Asked if he was aware of plans for the next meeting, King said: “No, and that was news to me. I haven’t received information one way or another.”
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

“Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95649>
Posted on October 24, 2017 3:26 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95649> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/clinton-campaign-dnc-paid-for-research-that-led-to-russia-dossier/2017/10/24/226fabf0-b8e4-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.de0e4d33b4c1>
The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research that resulted in a now-famous dossier containing allegations about Donald Trump’s connections to Russia and possible coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin, people familiar with the matter said.
Marc E. Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to conduct the research.
Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community.
Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, retained the firm in April 2016 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC. Prior to that agreement, Fusion GPS’s research into Trump was funded by a still unknown Republican client during the GOP primary.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Twitter Plans to Open Ad Data to Users”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95647>
Posted on October 24, 2017 2:26 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95647> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/technology/twitter-political-ad-data.html>
Twitter said on Tuesday that it would bring more transparency to advertisements on its site, including political ads, in the latest response by a technology company to criticism about its role in spreading foreign propaganda during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The company said that under its new rules, users would be able to see who had created an ad, how long an ad had been running and how the ad was targeted toward a particular user.
Political ads for a particular candidate or party would carry a special label to make them stand out. Twitter said it would disclose who had paid for the election advertisement and allow users to find information about the buyer, including ad spending history and ad targeting practices.
Twitter said it would also create stricter requirements for who could serve political ads. The company said it would also limit targeting options and create stronger penalties for violators.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, social media and social protests<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=58>

“BuzzFeed sues Kris Kobach over refusal to provide emails through KORA request”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95645>
Posted on October 24, 2017 2:11 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95645> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Topeka Capital-Journal reports.<http://cjonline.com/news/local/state-government/2017-10-24/buzzfeed-sues-kris-kobach-over-refusal-provide-emails-through>
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Trump Voter Fraud Commissioner Says Panel Should Be More Transparent Or Disband”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95643>
Posted on October 24, 2017 2:08 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95643> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
HuffPost:<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-voter-fraud-probe-alan-king_us_59ef8424e4b0b7e632655fb5?dc>
A Democratic member of President Donald Trump’s<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/donald-trump> voter fraud<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/voter-fraud> probe said it should urgently disclose what it’s been working on and its future plans, or else disband entirely.
Alan King, a probate judge in Jefferson County, Alabama, is one of four Democrats on the 11-member Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity<https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2017/07/13/presidential-advisory-commission-election-integrity>. He told HuffPost on Tuesday that he was disappointed in how the commission had conducted business and wouldn’t be surprised if other members of the panel had already drafted a recommendation to the president.
“Based on what I’ve read and accounts, it wouldn’t surprise me,” King said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if this whole commission was set up and they had an end result in mind when this commission was first originated.”
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Corporations and American Democracy”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95641>
Posted on October 24, 2017 1:10 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95641> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
This new book <http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674972285> from the Tobin Project and Harvard University Press looks to be very important and with some important intersections to election law.
Table of Contents:

  *   Preface
  *   Corporations and American Democracy: An Introduction [Naomi R. Lamoreaux and William J. Novak]
  *   I. Corporate Origins
     *   1. Early American Corporations and the State [Eric Hilt]
     *   2. Corporations and Organizations in the United States after 1840 [Jessica L. Hennessey and John Joseph Wallis]
  *   II. The Turn to Regulation
     *   3. The Dissociation of Incorporation and Regulation in the Progressive Era and the New Deal [Daniel A. Crane]
     *   4. The Public Utility Idea and the Origins of Modern Business Regulation [William J. Novak]
     *   5. Corporate Taxation and the Regulation of Early Twentieth-Century American Business [Steven A. Bank and Ajay K. Mehrotra]
  *   III. The Changing Corporate Form
     *   6. From Fiscal Triangle to Passing Through: Rise of the Nonprofit Corporation [Jonathan Levy]
     *   7. The Supreme Court’s View of Corporate Rights: Two Centuries of Evolution and Controversy [Margaret M. Blair and Elizabeth Pollman]
     *   8. Corporations and the Fourteenth Amendment [Ruth H. Bloch and Naomi R. Lamoreaux]
  *   IV. Modern Corporate Challenges
     *   9. Two Cheers for Vertical Integration: Corporate Governance in a World of Global Supply Chains [Nelson Lichtenstein]
     *   10. Citizens United, Personhood, and the Corporation in Politics [Adam Winkler]

[Disclosure: I’m involved with democracy issues at Tobin.].
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Russia’s Favored Outlet Is an Online News Giant. YouTube Helped.”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95639>
Posted on October 24, 2017 1:04 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95639> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/technology/youtube-russia-rt.html?_r=0>
When the state-backed Russian news channel RT became the first news organization to surpass one billion views on YouTube in 2013, it marked the achievement<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyH1dkTHsyI> with a retrospective of its most popular videos and a special guest — one of the Google-owned site’s senior executives.
Robert Kyncl<https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertkyncl/>, a YouTube vice president who has since become its chief business officer, joined an RT anchor in a studio, where he praised RT for bonding with viewers by providing “authentic” content instead of “agendas or propaganda.”
But now, as investigators in Washington examine the scope and reach of Russian interference in United States politics<https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/russian-election-hacking>, the once-cozy relationship between RT and YouTube is drawing closer scrutiny.
YouTube — the world’s most-visited video site, owned by one of the most powerful and influential corporations in America — played a crucial role in helping build and expand RT, an organization that the American intelligence community has described<https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf> as the Kremlin’s “principal international propaganda outlet” and a key player in Russia’s information warfare operations around the world.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Why Maine will likely vote again on ranked-choice elections”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95636>
Posted on October 24, 2017 8:34 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95636> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The latest <http://stateandcapitol.bangordailynews.com/2017/10/24/why-maine-will-likely-vote-again-on-ranked-choice-elections/> from Maine. [corrected link]
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Posted in alternative voting systems<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>

“The Indispensable Electoral College”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95634>
Posted on October 24, 2017 8:14 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95634> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Tara Ross is out with a new book-length defense<https://www.amazon.com/Indispensable-Electoral-College-Founders-Country/dp/1621576744> of the electoral college, with the subhead: “How the Founders Plan Saves Our Country from Mob Rule.”
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Posted in electoral college<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>

--
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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