[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/30/18

[Rick Hasen]

“Russia ‘will target US mid-term elections’ says CIA chief”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97235>
Posted on January 29, 2018 8:13 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97235> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

BBC:<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42864372>

Mike Pompeo told the BBC there had been no significant diminishing of Russian attempts at subversion in Europe and the US….

Asked if his concerns extended to the upcoming US mid-term elections in November, he replied: “Of course. I have every expectation that they will continue to try and do that, but I’m confident that America will be able to have a free and fair election [and] that we will push back in a way that is sufficiently robust that the impact they have on our election won’t be great.”
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


Quote of the Day: Partisan Gerrymandering Edition<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97233>
Posted on January 29, 2018 8:11 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97233> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

“I liked working for them in ’02,…“because I’d sit down with a lawyer and they’d say, ‘I like competitive maps. When a map is competitive, we can win on the merits.’ By the time I get around to 2011, they’ve changed. I can’t defend this crap.”

Keith Gaddie, on his work with Wisconsin Republicans on redistricting, quoted in NYT’s “Like Abstract Expressionists, They Draw the Free-Form Political Maps Now Under Scrutiny.”<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/us/gerrymander-political-maps-maryland.html?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article>




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


“Court Watchers See Pa. GOP’s Gerrymandering Appeal as a Long Shot”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97231>
Posted on January 29, 2018 7:57 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97231> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Legal Intelligencer reports.<https://www.law.com/thelegalintelligencer/sites/thelegalintelligencer/2018/01/29/court-watchers-see-pa-gops-gerrymandering-appeal-as-a-long-shot/>


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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Not the Onion Dept<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97229>
Posted on January 29, 2018 7:53 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97229> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Names of campaign donors to be flashed during live stream of Trump’s State of the Union speech<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2018/01/29/names-of-campaign-donors-to-be-flashed-during-live-stream-of-trumps-state-of-the-union-speech/?utm_term=.91650bc35873&wpmk=MK0000200>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>


Justice Alito (Belatedly) Calls for Response in PA Congressional Gerrymandering Case<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97227>
Posted on January 29, 2018 2:16 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97227> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

After a strange period of delay which I thought signaled<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97201> a denial of a stay was coming in this case, Justice Alito has requested a response in this case, due Friday Feb. 2 at 4 pm.

(The petitioner Republican legislators wanted a ruling from the Court by 1/31.)

Maybe the response is necessary for someone to write a dissent from the denial of the stay?
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


“The Coming Storm? Hush Money and the Federal Election Campaign Act”–On Trump at That $130K to Stormy Daniels<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97225>
Posted on January 29, 2018 1:13 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97225> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Important analysis by Thomas Frampton<https://blog.harvardlawreview.org/the-coming-storm-hush-money-and-the-federal-election-campaign-act/> at the Harvard Law Review blog:

In August 2016, federal law enforcement and intelligence officials were alerted to an unsettling possibility: then-candidate Trump’s personal indiscretions might leave him susceptible to the threat of Russian blackmail<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/22/us/politics/james-comey-election.html>. We now know that, as the election drew near, those close to Trump were also fretting about other kompromat — albeit of a more homegrown variety<https://perma.cc/E6RB-VF8K>. The threat of one particular disclosure was serious enough that Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen reportedly<https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyer-arranged-130-000-payment-for-adult-film-stars-silence-1515787678> “arranged a $130,000 payment to a former adult-film star” to procure a non-disclosure agreement, funneling the funds through a hastily formed Delaware LLC to a representative of Stormy Daniels.

But in making such a payment, those involved may have broken the law. The watchdog group Common Cause has alleged as much in an FEC complaint<https://perma.cc/F6AZ-3JNM>, relying on the same statutory provisions used by federal prosecutors to indict and try former Senator John Edwards. Edwards ultimately beat the criminal charges<https://perma.cc/7EKJ-VL54>, thanks in part to defense attorney Abbe Lowell, now counsel to Jared Kushner. But if the reports of a secret pre-election payment to Daniels are accurate—and there are still many important unknowns, which I’ll discuss—key obstacles that thwarted federal prosecutors in 2011 will not be in play.

If nothing else, the extraordinary sequence of events in October 2016 sheds light on how aggressively Trump, or those in his immediate orbit, responded to the threatened release of damaging personal information. This behavior alone is notable and should be of interest to those investigating L’Affaire Russeand Trump’s susceptibility to blackmail. But the recent reports are also unsettling because, in their haste to ensure Daniels’s pre-election silence, Trump’s lawyer and others may have violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971<https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2014-title52/pdf/USCODE-2014-title52-subtitleIII-chap301-subchapI-sec30101.pdf> (FECA). After a year dominated by allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, it is collusion between the Trump campaign and a former porn star that may pose the greater legal peril to the presidency….
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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>


Crosscheck Watch: “Eighth State Quietly Quit Free Anti-Voter-Fraud Program Over Security Concerns and ‘Unreliable’ Results”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97222>
Posted on January 29, 2018 12:28 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97222> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Gizmodo:<https://gizmodo.com/eighth-state-quietly-quit-free-anti-voter-fraud-program-1822514538>

The State of Kentucky has pulled out of the Interstate Crosscheck System, Gizmodo has learned, making it the eighth state to quit the program so far—even though it cost nothing to participate.

A source with direct knowledge of the decision told Gizmodo that Kentucky never used the data that it received from Crosscheck for the purpose of purging voter rolls because the data was “unreliable.” Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Grimes also expressed concern about the security of the program, the source said.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Common Cause Files & Coordinates Bipartisan Amici in Landmark Supreme Court Challenge to Maryland Democrats’ Partisan Gerrymander”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97220>
Posted on January 29, 2018 12:27 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97220> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release:<http://www.commoncause.org/press/press-releases/common-cause-files-and-coordinates-amici-in-challenge-to-maryland-democrats-partisan-gerrymander.html>

Today, Common Cause joined an ideologically diverse group of governors, members of Congress, local government leaders, and others in filing amicus briefs urging the Supreme Court to put an end to partisan gerrymandering. On March 28, the Court will hear arguments in Benisek v. Lamone<http://www.commoncause.org/issues/voting-and-elections/redistricting/litigation/benisek-v-lamone/benisek-v-lamone.html>, a First Amendment challenge to Maryland’s Sixth Congressional District, which Democrats drew after the 2010 census in a successful attempt to defeat a longtime Republican incumbent. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, it could result in a nationwide prohibition against the manipulation of legislative boundaries for political advantage.

In addition to its own brief, Common Cause coordinated multiple amici briefs by a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. House of Representatives, current and former Democratic and Republican Governors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Kasich, Gray Davis and Larry Hogan, and another by local government leaders.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


Republican Party Funds Amicus Brief of Six Republican Secretaries of State (Including AL SOS John Merrill) Seeking to Stop Pennsylvania Redistricting Ordered by State Supreme Court to Cure Partisan Gerrymandering<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97218>
Posted on January 29, 2018 12:09 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97218> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Great find from Richard Winge<http://ballot-access.org/2018/01/29/officials-from-six-states-file-amicus-with-u-s-supreme-court-in-pennsylvania-partisan-gerrymander-case/>r:

The Secretaries of State of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and South Carolina have filed this amicus curiae brief<https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17A795/33542/20180129130841548_Amicus%20Submission%20of%20Secretaries%20of%20State.pdf> in the U.S. Supreme Court in the Pennsylvania U.S. House lawsuit over partisan gerrymandering. This is the case in which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated the U.S. House district boundaries based on the Pennsylvania constitution. The Secretaries of State of these other six states want the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The Secretary of State of South Carolina, Mark Hammond, who signed this brief, is not even responsible for election administration in his state. In South Carolina the State Election Commission handles elections.

U.S. Supreme Court rules require that amicus briefs disclose who paid for the filing. This brief reveals that units of the Republican Party paid for it.

I’ve explained why I expect the Court to deny the request for a stay, especially given Justice Alito’s failure<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97201> to ask for a response.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>


House Democrats Want Trey Gowdy to Issue Subpoena to DHS to Reveal Data on Attempted Russian Cyberhacking of 2016 Election Systems<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97215>
Posted on January 29, 2018 10:09 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97215> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Letter.<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/dems-gowdy-dhs.pdf>
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“North Carolina Mismanaged Itself Into Electoral Chaos”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97213>
Posted on January 29, 2018 10:06 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97213> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg Businessweek:<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-29/north-carolina-mismanaged-itself-into-electoral-chaos>

What sets North Carolina apart, though, is the breadth of institutions that have been thrown against a wall. As the state prepares for 2018 campaign filing deadlines in February, congressional and Statehouse maps and even the district boundaries for the judges who handle garden-variety divorces and drunken driving cases are all in flux. Candidates for North Carolina’s 13 U.S. House seats<https://www.congress.gov/search?q=%7B%22member-is-current%22%3A%22Y%22%2C%22source%22%3A%22members%22%2C%22congress%22%3A%22115%22%2C%22member-state%22%3A%22North+Carolina%22%2C%22chamber%22%3A%22House%22%7D> are poised to run for the fourth election cycle in a row under maps deemed unconstitutional by federal courts. State legislature candidates don’t know who their voters are in at least nine districts<http://www.wral.com/us-supreme-court-tosses-nc-legislative-districts-no-special-election-ordered/16743271/>. Judges have had their primaries canceled<https://carolinianuncg.com/2017/10/25/nc-2018-judicial-primaries-cancelled/> and are threatened with a constitutional amendment throwing them out of office at the end of this year.
 Meanwhile, the state elections board charged with overseeing voting in the state has been vacant for seven months. After Democrat Roy Cooper was elected governor in 2016, Republicans in the Statehouse passed a law effectively stripping the governor’s office of its authority to appoint a majority of its members. The board has been empty ever since, as the fight has moved through the courts<http://www.wral.com/judges-elaborate-on-decision-to-dismiss-lawsuit-over-nc-elections-board/17076112/>. On Jan. 26 the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional for a second time, handing a political victory to Cooper, who can now go about filling the vacancies. The board has a lot of problems waiting for it. For the past seven months, aging voting equipment couldn’t be replaced, ethics complaints weren’t investigated, and no one had the authority to decertify voting software that malfunctioned in 2016 and whose vendor has been a target<https://www.npr.org/2017/08/10/542634370/russian-cyberattack-targeted-elections-vendor-tied-to-voting-day-disruptions> of Russian cyberattacks.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


--
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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