[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/5/18

[Rick Hasen]

“How to Build a Campaign Finance Case Against Donald Trump and Michael Cohen”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98550>
Posted on April 5, 2018 7:51 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98550> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Liam Brennan, who prosecuted former Ct. governor John Rowland, has this Slate piece.<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/04/how-to-build-a-campaign-finance-case-against-donald-trump-and-michael-cohen.html>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


“NH Primary Source: Gardner using Interstate Crosscheck System to probe possible NH voter fraud”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98548>
Posted on April 5, 2018 7:49 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98548> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WMUR:<http://www.wmur.com/article/nh-primary-source-gardner-using-interstate-crosscheck-system-to-probe-possible-nh-voter-fraud/19688216>

 Secretary of State Bill Gardner has been saying for several weeks now that he intends to release new information about potential voter fraud later this spring, when his comprehensive review of registration and voting lists, using the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck System, is completed.

Gardner told New Hampshire Primary Source this week that expects his report will provide an estimate of the number of duplicate voters during the 2016 election – that is, people who voted in New Hampshire and also voted in another state or states.

The Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program was created in 2005 by former Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburg and election officials in other states. In recent years, it has been administered by the current controversial Kansas secretary of state, Kris Kobach, ostensibly to track down voter fraud. But it has been criticized by researchers<https://www.dropbox.com/s/fokd83nn4x6wuw9/OnePersonOneVote.pdf?dl=0>charging that the system produces<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/20/this-anti-voter-fraud-program-gets-it-wrong-over-99-of-the-time-the-gop-wants-to-take-it-nationwide/?utm_term=.d6234a907e27> a huge number of false positives and as such is unreliable.

In 2014, Kobach said that the system was capable of checking the registration<http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2014/apr/20/program-run-kobach-checks-voter-registation-record/?print> records of more than 100 million people.

Gardner said he waited many years before he felt confident enough to recommend that New Hampshire enter the program. But he said this week that he has still reached no definite conclusion about its reliability.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Elections Very Small Agency Tackling Very Big Problem of Election Meddling”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98546>
Posted on April 5, 2018 7:39 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98546> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg BNA:<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=131211632&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=000001629181d953ad6ab1f76e6e0003&split=0>
One of the federal government’s smallest agencies is taking on one of the country’s most pressing problems: foreign meddling in U.S. elections.
The Election Assistance Commission, which has an annual budget of less than $10 million and about 30 employees, wants to quickly distribute the $380 million provided by the fiscal 2018 spending package for security grants to state and local election authorities.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Assistance Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>


“Can This Census Be Saved?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98544>
Posted on April 5, 2018 7:34 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98544> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Eliza Newlin Carney<http://prospect.org/article/can-census-be-saved> for TAP.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“EXCLUSIVE: Robert Mercer backed a secretive group that worked with Facebook, Google to target anti-Muslim ads at swing voters”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98542>
Posted on April 5, 2018 7:32 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98542> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Great work<https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/04/exclusive-robert-mercer-backed-a-secretive-group-that-worked-with-facebook-google-to-target-anti-muslim-ads-at-swing-voters/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-email-exclusive-mercer-backed-secretive-grp040518&utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&utm_campaign=4b42a84db7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9df8578d78-4b42a84db7-206469445> by Open Secrets:

As the final weeks of the 2016 elections ticked down, voters in swing states like Nevada and North Carolina began seeing eerie promotional travel ads as they scrolled through their Facebook feeds or clicked through Google sites.

In one, a woman with a French accent cheerfully welcomes visitors to the “Islamic State of France,” where “under Sharia law,  you can enjoy everything the Islamic State of France has to offer, as long as you follow the rules.”

The video has a Man in the High Tower feel. Iconic French tourist sites are both familiar and transformed — the Eiffel Tower is capped with a star and crescent and the spires of the Notre Dame are replaced with the domed qubba of a mosque.

The Mona Lisa is shown looking, the ad says, “as a woman should,” covered in a burka.

If it wasn’t already clear that the ad was meant to stoke viewers’ fears of imminent Muslim conquest, the video is interspersed with violent imagery. Three missiles are seen flying through the sky as the video opens. Blindfolded men are shown kneeling with guns pointed at their heads, and children are shown training with weapons “to defend the caliphate.”..

The group, a social welfare organization called Secure America Now, worked hand in hand with Facebook and Google to target their message at voters in swing states who were most likely to be receptive to them.

And new tax documents obtained by OpenSecrets<https://s3.amazonaws.com/public.opensecrets.org/secure-america-now-2019-990-unredacted.pdf> show that the money fueling the group came mostly from just three donors, including the secretive multimillionaire donor Robert Mercer.

As a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, Secure America Now (SAN) is not required to disclose its donors to the public, but they are required to report them to the IRS. This information is usually redacted when provided for public inspection. However, when OpenSecrets called to request a 2016 return, an unredacted return was provided by the group’s accounting firm.

[https://www.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mercer-contrib.png]<https://www.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mercer-contrib.png>The filing shows the largest individual contribution, $2 million, came from Robert Mercer, the reclusive hedge fund investor who spent millions in 2016<https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/summ.php?cycle=2016&disp=D&type=V&superonly=N> helping Donald Trump capture the White House.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law and election law<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>


“Election Law ‘Federalism’ and the Limits of the Antidiscrimination Framework”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98540>
Posted on April 5, 2018 7:27 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98540> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Franita Tolson has posted this draft<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3152638> on SSRN (forthcoming, William and Mary Law Review). Here is the abstract:

If the United States Supreme Court conceived of the right to vote as an active entitlement that safeguards other fundamental rights rather than as a passive privilege that permits courts to prioritize state sovereignty over broad enfranchisement, then many of the errors that have become commonplace in our system of elections would not occur. It is unlikely, however, that the Court will take the steps necessary to extend the constitutional protections afforded to the right to vote. In recent years, the Court has sharply circumscribed Congress’s ability to protect the right to vote under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, rejecting any new conceptual framework that would more properly allocate authority over voting rights between the states and the federal government.

Nonetheless, both scholars and voting rights advocates can take advantage of the existing framework by using the Elections Clause to supplement the Reconstruction Amendments in an effort to protect voting rights and defend the scope of federal anti-discrimination legislation. Under the Clause, states set procedural regulations that govern federal elections, but Congress can also enact its own laws and, more importantly, veto state regulations at will. This provision has been significantly underutilized in the two centuries-long battle over the regulation of federal elections.

Despite this unique structure that places final policymaking authority in the hands of Congress, both the Supreme Court and legal scholars tend to discuss the Clause in federalism terms, characterizing the exercise of federal power as a rare and somewhat unwelcome intrusion on the states’ relatively broad authority to legislate with respect to federal elections. Contrary to this view, this Article argues that Congress and the courts can disregard state sovereignty in enacting, enforcing, and resolving the constitutionality of legislation passed pursuant to the Elections Clause. Close examination reveals that the Clause’s structure does not fit comfortably within any of the prevailing theories of federalism, which deploy notions of state sovereignty in ways that are inconsistent with the Clause’s text, purpose, and history.

Descriptively, federalism doctrine fails to explain the regulatory dynamic between the states and Congress over federal elections because the Clause embodies values other than those that our federalist system safeguards. Traditional federalism doctrine emphasizes objectives such as increased citizen involvement, experimentation, and innovation in state government. In contrast, the touchstone of the Elections Clause is the continued existence and political legitimacy of federal elections: that a winner be chosen from an electoral process—implemented by the states at the sufferance of Congress—that is legitimized by clear rules and a definitive outcome. This focus makes it difficult to embrace the state-centric approach of traditional federalism, or the flexibility and nationalism that is the hallmark of the “new” federalism. This insight has significant implications as we approach the 2020 redistricting cycle, in which states will seek to defend discriminatory redistricting plans, enact more restrictive voting laws, and challenge the constitutionality of federal voting rights legislation on federalism grounds.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Save the Date: 8th Annual Supreme Court Term in Review at UCI Law, July 9<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98538>
Posted on April 5, 2018 7:20 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98538> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

What a lineup<http://www.law.uci.edu/events/supreme-court-term-review/2018.html>!

8th Annual Supreme Court Term in Review

Monday, July 9, 2018, 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Irvine Barclay Theatre (Map<http://www.thebarclay.org/irvine-barclay-theatre.asp?n=plan-your-visit&n1=directions>)

Registration and lobby doors open at 9:30 a.m.
Seating begins at 10:00 a.m.

Registration and RSVP will open June 1, 2018

This exciting and entertaining program reviews the Supreme Court’s key cases decided in the October 2017 term, with an all-star panel of Supreme Court practitioners, journalists, and academics.

Recap of last year’s event in video, photos, news & social media ><https://storify.com/UCILaw/7th-annual-supreme-court-term-in-review>

Panelists
·         Erwin Chemerinsky<https://www.law.berkeley.edu/our-faculty/faculty-profiles/erwin-chemerinsky/>, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, Berkeley Law
·         Hon. Goodwin Liu<http://www.courts.ca.gov/15450.htm>, Associate Justice, California Supreme Court
·         Erin E. Murphy<https://www.kirkland.com/sitecontent.cfm?contentID=220&itemID=12020>, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
·         Alexandra Natapoff<http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/natapoff/index.html>, Professor, UCI Law
·         Nina Totenberg<https://www.npr.org/people/2101289/nina-totenberg>, NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent
·         Moderated by Rick Hasen<http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/index.html>, Chancellor’s Professor, UCI Law

Viewers may submit questions via Twitter (@UCILaw<http://twitter.com/ucilaw> or @rickhasen<https://twitter.com/rickhasen>), using the hash tag #ucilawscotus at the end of your question.

This event is approved for 1.5 hours of Minimum Continuing Legal Education Credit by the State Bar of California.
UC Irvine School of Law is a State Bar-approved MCLE provider.
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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


April 10 Symposium at Berkeley Law: “Making Democracy Reform a Reality”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98536>
Posted on April 4, 2018 10:33 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98536> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sorry to miss this event.<https://www.scribd.com/document/375544370/El-b-Symposium-2018-Final>
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Florida: “Gov. Scott appeals judge’s ruling on voting rights for felons”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98533>
Posted on April 4, 2018 10:27 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=98533> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Tampa Bay Times:<http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/04/04/gov-scott-appeals-judges-ruling-on-voting-rights-for-felons/>

Gov. Rick Scott is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that he must come up with a new way to restore voting rights to felons.

“People elected by Floridians should determine Florida’s clemency rules for convicted criminals, not federal judges,” Scott spokesman John Tupps said in a statement. “This process has been in place for decades and is outlined in the both the U.S. and Florida Constitutions.”

Scott and his fellow Cabinet members were given an April 26 deadline<http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/03/27/florida-judge-orders-rick-scott-cabinet-to-create-new-voting-rights-restoration-system-for-felons-by-april-26/> to figure out a better way for felons who have completed their sentences to be allowed to vote.

Read the AG filing here.<https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/4.4.18_DE162163163.1.pdf>
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Posted in felon voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>



--
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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