[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/28/18

[Rick Hasen]

“LinkedIn Co-Founder Apologizes for Deception in Alabama Senate Race”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103007>
Posted on December 28, 2018 8:27 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103007> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/us/reid-hoffman-alabama-election-disinformation.html>

Reid Hoffman, the tech billionaire whose money was spent on Russian-style social media deception<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/us/alabama-senate-roy-jones-russia.html?module=inline> in a Senate race last year, apologized on Wednesday, saying in a statement<https://medium.com/@reidhoffman/truth-and-politics-1a532bc6c2b1> that he had not approved the operation and did not support such tactics in American politics.

Mr. Hoffman said he had no idea that political operatives whose work he had financed had used fakery on Facebook and Twitter in the special Senate election a year ago in Alabama. But he had an obligation to track how his money was spent, he said, and he promised to exercise more care in the future.

“I categorically disavow the use of misinformation to sway an election,” said Mr. Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn and a prominent figure at the intersection of Silicon Valley and Democratic politics<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/technology/reid-hoffman-silicon-valley-blunt-trump.html?module=inline>. He said he had financed “organizations trying to re-establish civic, truth-focused discourse” and was “embarrassed” to learn his money had been spent on disinformation.

The New York Times and The Washington Post reported last week that $100,000 from Mr. Hoffman was spent on a deceptive social media campaign to aid Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate, who barely defeated the Republican, Roy Moore.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


Chaos in Resolving #NC09 North Carolina Congressional Race, as Court Dissolves Elections Board and Perhaps No New Board Until the End of January<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103005>
Posted on December 28, 2018 8:25 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103005> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WRAL:<https://www.wral.com/cooper-to-appoint-temporary-elections-board/18090784/>

With the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement disbanding at noon Friday under a court order, Gov. Roy Cooper said he would appoint an interim board to continue investigating allegations of election fraud in the 9th Congressional District race until a new law at the end of January.

A three-judge panel ruled Thursday that they would no longer stay their ruling declaring the current structure of the elections board unconstitutional, meaning the board is ordered to dissolve.

Meanwhile, lawmakers on Thursday passed legislation over Cooper’s veto that sets a new structure for the board, but it doesn’t go into effect until Jan. 31 so that the existing board could complete its investigation into the 9th District race.

Meanwhile, Mark Harris may try to move<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV/status/1078494348302606339> the issue to federal court<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV/status/1078687241126449152>:
[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/911629117531017216/dKrIX35b_bigger.jpg]<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>
<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>
Nick Ochsner<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>
✔@NickOchsnerWBTV<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>

<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV/status/1078494348302606339>


Just in from Republican sources: @MarkHarrisNC9<https://twitter.com/MarkHarrisNC9> campaign will ask NCSBE to certify race tomorrow. If/when that doesn’t happen, Harris campaign will seek a ruling in Federal Court ordering state to verify election #NC09<https://twitter.com/hashtag/NC09?src=hash> #ncpol<https://twitter.com/hashtag/ncpol?src=hash>
<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1078494348302606339>
78<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1078494348302606339>
7:34 PM - Dec 27, 2018<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV/status/1078494348302606339>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
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94 people are talking about this<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV/status/1078494348302606339>

Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/911629117531017216/dKrIX35b_bigger.jpg]<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>
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Nick Ochsner<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>
✔@NickOchsnerWBTV<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>

 · 12h<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV/status/1078494348302606339>
<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV/status/1078494348302606339>


Just in from Republican sources: @MarkHarrisNC9<https://twitter.com/MarkHarrisNC9> campaign will ask NCSBE to certify race tomorrow. If/when that doesn’t happen, Harris campaign will seek a ruling in Federal Court ordering state to verify election #NC09<https://twitter.com/hashtag/NC09?src=hash> #ncpol<https://twitter.com/hashtag/ncpol?src=hash>
[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/911629117531017216/dKrIX35b_bigger.jpg]<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>
<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>
Nick Ochsner<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>
✔@NickOchsnerWBTV<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>


As expected, the Harris campaign has filed its emergency petition to certify the election prior to noon today w/ the current @NCSBE<https://twitter.com/NCSBE> #ncpol<https://twitter.com/hashtag/ncpol?src=hash> #nc09<https://twitter.com/hashtag/nc09?src=hash> pic.twitter.com/WZRetI5Lz1<https://t.co/WZRetI5Lz1>
<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1078687241126449152>

8:20 AM - Dec 28, 2018<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV/status/1078687241126449152>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
[View image on Twitter]<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV/status/1078687241126449152/photo/1>
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See Nick Ochsner's other Tweets<https://twitter.com/NickOchsnerWBTV>

Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>

And it may be that the decision on who gets seated in the race eventually will depend upon resolution by the U.S. House<https://twitter.com/deregulator/status/1078456187035836416>.


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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, recounts<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>


“Voters Rejected Gerrymandering In 2018, But Some Lawmakers Try To Hold Power”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103003>
Posted on December 28, 2018 8:16 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103003> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NPR reports.<https://www.npr.org/2018/12/28/675763553/voters-rejected-gerrymandering-in-2018-but-some-lawmakers-try-to-hold-power?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=politics&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2058>
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>


The Hill: EAC Commissioners Expected to Be Confirmed Soon, Giving the Agency a Quorum Again<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103001>
Posted on December 27, 2018 11:09 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103001> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Hill:<https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/422563-election-agency-prepares-to-tackle-foreign-interference>

The agency has been unable to tackle major policy actions since March when one of the commissioner’s terms expired. And that came on the heels of criticism for not initially taking election interference seriously in 2016.

But two agency nominees have been making their way through the Senate, and their expected confirmation, either this year or next, will fully staff the four-member commission and help the EAC start a new chapter helping states administer and secure their elections from outside interference….

Senate Rules and Administration Committee Chairman Roy Blunt<https://thehill.com/people/roy-blunt> (R-Mo.) said after a vote on the two EAC nominees that he had wanted to eliminate the agency in the past.

“I do think the commission has now found a new mission and it’s an important one,” Blunt said. “And I look forward to our oversight responsibility, but also working with the commission as they do everything they can to help give state and local election officials the kind of help they need from the federal government to do their job.”…

Nominees Benjamin Hovland and Donald Palmer were advanced<https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/419939-senate-panel-advances-trump-nominees-for-election-agency> by a Senate committee earlier this month.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Assistance Commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>


“Disinformation campaign targeting Roy Moore’s Senate bid may have violated law, Alabama attorney general says”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102999>
Posted on December 27, 2018 10:32 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102999> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/27/disinformation-campaign-targeting-roy-moores-senate-bid-may-have-violated-law-alabama-attorney-general-says/?utm_term=.1c8a73c523ce>:

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Thursday that his office is exploring whether disinformation tactics deployed against Republican Roy Moore during last year’s special election violated state campaign laws and said he was worried that the operation could have affected the closely fought Senate race…

Marshall said in the interview that the rapidly changing nature of campaigning on social media has made it difficult for authorities to know how to address disinformation tactics in elections.

“Technology has put us in a difficult position in many respects in terms of the applicability of our current laws,” Marshall said.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


It’s Time for Electionline’s Annual “In and Out” List<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102997>
Posted on December 27, 2018 9:35 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102997> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Enjoy!<https://electionline.org/electionline-weekly/#tab-1>
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Posted in election law "humor"<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=52>


“Gehrke: What BYU’s David Magleby learned in his four decades studying Utah politics, and why he thinks we live in a scary time”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102995>
Posted on December 27, 2018 9:05 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102995> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Salt Lake Tribune<https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/12/27/gehrke-what-byus-david/>:

After nearly 40 years teaching political science at Brigham Young University, David Magleby taught his last class just before Christmas break….

Gehrke: “Peering into the crystal ball, what do you see the future to hold? Can you give us your best forecast on that?”

Magleby: “Well that’s very hard because I would never have thought that a person with as limited a set of credentials or political experience as Trump would win. …

“I think most political scientists would say what I’m just saying, that all of our normal ‘expectations’ about candidacy and presidency, he’s violated. Having said that I think as the midterms showed his very low favorability rating, and not being able to have that move up over time in any periodic way even, suggests that if the Democrats nominate an electable candidate he could very readily be a one-term president.

“A lot is going to happen between now and November of 2020. But a lot of what could happen between now and then could be bad for him as well. … But we have become so polarized and so negative and so doubtful of respected media that we’re just in uncharted waters. And that’s why in [my] closing lecture I wanted the students to realize things we’d been studying that Madison and others established and that Lincoln through the Civil War reinforced about division and not secession are what give me a hope for the future. But I can tell you… I’m more worried now than I’ve ever been about the country’s future. I think it’s a very scary, very scary time.”
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Posted in election law biz<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>


“The 2018 Midterms Weren’t Hacked. What Does That Mean For 2020?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102993>
Posted on December 27, 2018 9:00 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102993> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Miles Park<https://www.npr.org/2018/12/27/678631047/the-2018-midterms-werent-hacked-what-does-that-mean-for-2020?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2057> for NPR.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, voting technology<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>


“Updated: The Hidden Money Funding the Midterms”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102991>
Posted on December 27, 2018 7:39 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102991> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

ProPublica:<https://www.propublica.org/article/the-hidden-money-funding-the-midterms>

Allies of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell used a blind spot in campaign finance laws to undercut a candidate from their own party this year — and their fingerprints remained hidden until the primary was already over.

Super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money in elections, are supposed to regularly disclose their funders. But in the case of Mountain Families PAC, Republicans managed to spend $1.3 million against Don Blankenship, a mustachioed former coal baron who was a wild-card candidate for a must-win West Virginia Senate seat, in May without revealing who was<https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/15/west-virginia-senate-blankenship-525094> supplying the cash.

The move worked like this: Start a new super PAC after a deadline for reporting donors and expenses, then raise and spend money before the next report is due. Timed right, a super PAC might get a month or more undercover before being required to reveal its donors. And if a super PAC launches right before the election, voters won’t know who’s funding it until after they go to the polls.

The strategy — which is legal — is proving increasingly popular among Democrats and Republicans. The amount of super PAC spending during the 2016 congressional primaries in which the first donor disclosure occurred after the primary election totaled $9 million. That figure increased to more than $15.6 million during the 2018 congressional primaries and special elections.

Backers of Mountain Families PAC didn’t respond to a request for comment. It is one of 63 super PACs this election cycle that have managed to spend money to influence races and postpone telling voters who funded them, according to an analysis by Politico and ProPublica of Federal Election Commission data.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>


“Janus Unleashed; In 2018, SCOTUS went after public-sector unions. Next up: a case that could decide the fate of public election financing.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102989>
Posted on December 26, 2018 3:31 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102989> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Mark Joseph Stern<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/12/seattle-democracy-vouchers-elster-janus.html> for Slate:

Last Monday, the Washington Supreme Court agreed to hear<https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/washingtons-supreme-court-agrees-to-review-case-against-seattles-democracy-vouchers/> a challenge to Seattle’s “democracy vouchers,” an innovative public financing scheme<https://www.vox.com/2018/11/5/17058970/seattle-democracy-vouchers> that’s already spreading<https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/08/more-cities-want-to-embrace-democracy-dollars/566801/> to other cities. The measure has already allowed<https://everyvoice.org/press-release/report-seattle-democracy-vouchers-success> more young people, women, racial minorities, and low-income voters to contribute to candidates. But state courts have taken the constitutional challenge to the program seriously—and the U.S. Supreme Court may eventually conclude that the law violates the First Amendment. Indeed, this case could test how much damage the court’s decision<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/janus-v-afscme-supreme-court-crushes-public-sector-unions-thanks-to-neil-gorsuchs-decisive-vote-and-samuel-alito.html> in Janus v. AFSCME<https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-1466_2b3j.pdf> will do to campaign finance reform.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>


--
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>
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http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
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