[EL] ELB News and Commentary 9/18/17

Mon Sep 18 08:34:15 PDT 2017

“Facebook Knows More About Russia’s Election Meddling. Shouldn’t We?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94882>
Posted on September 18, 2017 8:30 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94882> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Jim Rutenberg NYT column.<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/business/facebook-russia.html>

[are]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94882&title=%E2%80%9CFacebook%20Knows%20More%20About%20Russia%E2%80%99s%20Election%20Meddling.%20Shouldn%E2%80%99t%20We%3F%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Obama Election Commission Chair: Trump Fraud Panel a ‘Calamitous Failure’”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94880>
Posted on September 18, 2017 8:28 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94880> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NBC News:<https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/obama-election-commission-chair-trump-fraud-panel-calamitous-failure-n801766>
Voting experts who have been following President Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission with watchful eyes for the past several months aren’t impressed with the panel’s early efforts.
Commission detractors, including a former presidential commission chairman, told NBC News that four months after the president created his commission to examine the election system, the group is limping along after two public meetings and may end up doing more harm than good.
“F at the beginning, F all along, F now. It’s an F enterprise,” said Bob Bauer, a Democrat who served as the co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s presidential election commission in 2013 and 2014….
David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, a nonprofit Washington institute, said the commission had no accomplishments to date and was on the wrong track.
“If there’s been a more embarrassing or less accomplished presidential commission in history, I’d love for someone to point it out,” said Becker, who has worked with a group that conducts much of the same voter data sharing the commission aims to do.
[are]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94880&title=%E2%80%9CObama%20Election%20Commission%20Chair%3A%20Trump%20Fraud%20Panel%20a%20%E2%80%98Calamitous%20Failure%E2%80%99%E2%80%9D>
Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Shalom Lamm Partner Gets 6 Months In Bloomingburg Voter Fraud Case”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94878>
Posted on September 18, 2017 8:25 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94878> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Forward:<http://forward.com/fast-forward/382853/shalom-lamm-partner-gets-6-months-in-bloomingburg-voter-fraud-case/>
Kenneth Nakdimen, who pled guilty to voter fraud in the small upstate New York village of Bloomingburg this year, received a six-month prison sentence on Friday.
Nakdimen’s co-defendant, developer Shalom Lamm, is still awaiting sentencing<http://forward.com/news/373928/shalom-lamm-guilty-voter-fraud-hasidic-bloomingburg/>. The two were involved in a controversial project<http://forward.com/news/357030/how-the-hasids-won-the-battle-of-bloomingburg-and-everyone-else-lost/> to build homes for Hasidic Jews in the rural village.

[are]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94878&title=%E2%80%9CShalom%20Lamm%20Partner%20Gets%206%20Months%20In%20Bloomingburg%20Voter%20Fraud%20Case%E2%80%9D>
Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

Today’s Must-Read: “How Party Bosses, Not Voters, Pick Politicians in New York”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94876>
Posted on September 18, 2017 8:18 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94876> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Great Shane Goldmache<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/nyregion/new-york-politics-party-bosses.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fnyregion&action=click&contentCollection=nyregion&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0>r in the NYT:
For decades, New York seats have traded hands this way in what amounts to one of the last, most powerful vestiges of Tammany Hall-style politics in the state. Election laws here grant politicians and local political power brokers vast sway in picking candidates when legislators leave office in the middle of their term — whether they retire early, pass away, depart for another job or are carted away in handcuffs.
The rules are a crucial part of what empowers party bosses in a state that regularly outpaces the nation<http://www.politifact.com/new-york/statements/2016/sep/19/elaine-phillips/new-york-has-been-most-corrupt-state-decades/> in corruption. They encourage ambitious politicians, even the most independent ones, to pledge fealty to county political leaders, lest they get passed over if and when the time comes for possible advancement.
[are]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94876&title=Today%E2%80%99s%20Must-Read%3A%20%E2%80%9CHow%20Party%20Bosses%2C%20Not%20Voters%2C%20Pick%20Politicians%20in%20New%20York%E2%80%9D>
Posted in political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>

“Yes, U.S. election integrity could be improved. Here’s why the Pence commission probably won’t do it.”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94874>
Posted on September 18, 2017 8:12 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94874> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Francisco Cantú and German Feierherd for The Monkey Cage<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/09/18/yes-u-s-election-integrity-could-be-improved-heres-why-the-pence-commission-probably-wont-do-it/?utm_term=.3b716b8cfa6f>.
[are]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94874&title=%E2%80%9CYes%2C%20U.S.%20election%20integrity%20could%20be%20improved.%20Here%E2%80%99s%20why%20the%20Pence%20commission%20probably%20won%E2%80%99t%20do%20it.%E2%80%9D>
Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

Respondents’ Brief Filed at SCOTUS in Ohio Voter Purge Case<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94872>
Posted on September 18, 2017 8:10 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94872> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Find it here.<http://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/publications/16-980%20bs.pdf>
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, NVRA (motor voter)<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Senate Democrats to Hold Hearing on Ways to Protect and Strengthen the Right to Vote”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94870>
Posted on September 18, 2017 8:08 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94870> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Advisory via email:
On Tuesday, September 19th at 3:00 PM, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, along with U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, will hold a hearing entitled “Voting Rights Under Fire: Democratic Ideas to Protect and Strengthen Americans’ Constitutional Right to Vote.” Recent actions by the President’s Election Commission have raised concerns – including invasion of privacy and possible voter suppression – about the real goals of the President’s Election commission.  Democrats will use this hearing to hear from experts about the challenges facing Americans in exercising their constitutional right to vote, discuss their ideas to improve access to voting and will call on the Administration to work with them.
The Senators will hear testimony from the following expert witnesses:

  *   Sherrilyn Ifill; President, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund

  *   Vanita Gupta; President, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

  *   Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony; President, Detroit Branch NAACP

  *   Thomas A. Saenz; President and General Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

  *   Natalie Tenant; Former West Virginia Secretary of State and Manager of State Advocacy on the Brennan Center’s Voting Rights and Election Project
**Livestream link available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJcrOTutdkk<http://tlcef.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d%3d.528%26JDG%3c%3b4%3d%2b%3b4%3f%26SDG%3c90%3a.&RE=MC&RI=4588068&Preview=False&DistributionActionID=7033&Action=Follow+Link>**
WHO:           U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
Other U.S. Senators
WHAT:         To hold hearing on ways to protect and strengthen the right to vote
WHEN:        Tuesday, September 19th at 3:00 PM
WHERE:      Senate Visitors Center
Room 212-210
[are]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94870&title=%E2%80%9CSenate%20Democrats%20to%20Hold%20Hearing%20on%20Ways%20to%20Protect%20and%20Strengthen%20the%20Right%20to%20Vote%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“Trump’s voter fraud commission proves a magnet for controversy”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94868>
Posted on September 17, 2017 4:55 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94868> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-voter-fraud-commission-proves-a-magnet-for-controversy/2017/09/15/1e013fa2-9a30-11e7-82e4-f1076f6d6152_story.html?utm_term=.d4394a84e111>
As President Trump’s voter fraud commission prepared to convene in New Hampshire this week, it already faced questions about its seriousness of purpose and whether it was a hopelessly biased endeavor.
Then things got worse.
An email surfaced<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-voting-panel-member-lamented-inclusion-of-democrats-mainstream-republicans/2017/09/13/03f89a90-98bb-11e7-82e4-f1076f6d6152_story.html?utm_term=.d0e733e9e918> in which the Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky, one of the commission’s most conservative members, lamented that Trump was appointing Democrats and “mainstream” Republicans to the bipartisan panel.
Its vice chairman, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), drew rebukes from voting rights advocates<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/09/08/election-integrity-commission-members-accuse-new-hampshire-voters-of-fraud/?utm_term=.8267bf64fc3f> — and a couple of fellow commissioners — for an article he wrote for the hard-right Breitbart News website. The article asserted, without proof, that voter fraud had likely changed the result in New Hampshire’s most recent U.S. Senate race.
A third Republican on the panel, J. Christian Adams of Virginia, later feuded on Twitter with a journalist, questioning whether she had lied about her academic credentials. She had not.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

I Talked SCOTUS, Gerrymandering, Voting Rights, and Pence-Kobach with Dahlia Lithwick on Slate’s Amicus<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94866>
Posted on September 16, 2017 12:13 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94866> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Great to join Dahlia on the first new podcast of the term.
Listen.<http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/amicus/2017/09/political_gerrymandering_and_the_2017_supreme_court_term.html>

[are]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D94866&title=I%20Talked%20SCOTUS%2C%20Gerrymandering%2C%20Voting%20Rights%2C%20and%20Pence-Kobach%20with%20Dahlia%20Lithwick%20on%20Slate%E2%80%99s%20Amicus>
Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“City attorney argues Santa Fe not prepared for new voting system”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94864>
Posted on September 16, 2017 11:51 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=94864> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Santa Fe New Mexican:<http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/city-attorney-argues-santa-fe-not-prepared-for-new-voting/article_2df34e27-fbb9-5164-b7e9-ceae66a84393.html>
The Santa Fe City Council is not obligated or prepared to implement ranked-choice voting for the 2018 municipal elections, the city attorney wrote Friday in response to a lawsuit filed in the state Supreme Court.
With its reply, the city’s legal department disputed people who sued on the claim that ranked-choice software is functional, available and must be used in the upcoming election to ensure candidates who are elected in March reflect the will of a majority of voters.
The city attorney’s legal brief counters that the needed software for ranked-choice voting missed deadlines for an upgrade this year and would upset an election campaign that’s already underway, with candidates expecting the existing system to prevail. The city argues conditions in the city charter regarding the ranked-choice implementation have not been met.
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Posted in alternative voting systems<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>, 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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