[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/30/18

[Rick Hasen]

“Wilbur Ross’s false claim to Congress that the census citizenship question was DOJ’s idea”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100353>
Posted on July 30, 2018 8:37 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100353> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Four Pinnochios for this one. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/07/30/wilbur-rosss-false-claim-to-congress-that-the-census-citizenship-question-was-dojs-idea/?utm_term=.2f64d686e500>

The bigger question is whether there will be consequences for Secretary Ross lying to Congress.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


“Alabama expanding voter fraud probe in Black Belt”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100351>
Posted on July 30, 2018 8:31 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100351> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AL.com:<https://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/alabama_expanding_voter_fraud.html>

The Alabama Secretary of State’s probe into absentee voting irregularities during the July 17 primary runoff could be expanded to include more Black Belt counties.

Secretary of State John Merrill said that Wilcox and Perry counties, initially named last week in a state investigation into potential absentee voter fraud<https://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/alabama_investigating_absentee.html>, may be joined by other counties.

“We started with those two but we’re not ending with those two,” said Merrill on Thursday.

His comments come after an election that saw some of the state’s smallest, and poorest counties experience a surge in voter turnout that nearly doubled or – in the case of tiny Wilcox County — tripled the state’s approximately 14 percent turnout rate….

Richard Fording, a political science professor at the University of Alabama, said he’s heard directly from Perry County community leaders who complain about political corruption. Fording said he’s involved in a university program that does service work in Perry County.

“The spike in absentee ballots is certainly unusual,” Fording said. “I think Secretary Merrill is doing the right thing to look into this, but I think he must be careful to conduct this investigation in a way that does not serve to intimidate people from voting in the future.”

Said Fording: “And I think he must also be sure that he is enforcing the law equally across the state and not focusing on counties that are largely African American. It seems doubtful that it is only the African-American majority counties that have suspicious voting practices.”
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


“Texas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Releases Advisory Memorandum on Voting Rights in Texas”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100349>
Posted on July 30, 2018 8:10 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100349> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release via email:

The Texas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has issued an Advisory Memorandum<https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/07-23-TX-Voting-Rights.pdf> examining potential barriers to voting in Texas that may have a discriminatory impact on voters based on race, color, sex, disability status, and national origin. The memorandum, informed by a series of public panel discussions held by the Committee in March of this year, offers an in-depth examination of potential barriers to voter registration, access to and administration of polling locations, and language access concerns. The findings and recommendations included in the memorandum will provide state-level input to the Commission’s planned 2018 Statutory Enforcement Report on voting rights in the U.S.

The Committee identified a number of concerns, including: widespread confusion and misinformation among Texas voters about voter registration; state voter registration procedures are not compliant with the National Voter Registration Act; widespread noncompliance and lack of uniform implementation of the State’s high school voter registration mandate; the State’s strict Voter Deputy Registrar rules are a barrier to registering voters; potential disenfranchisement of voters due to changes in polling location and voting procedures; inadequate poll workers training on how to address the needs voters with disabilities; and numerous counties appear to be failing to comply with federal requirements regarding language assistance at polling locations. In an effort to help remedy these concerns, the Committee developed recommendations directed to the U.S. Department of Justice, Texas Secretary of State and its Election Division, Legislature, and County Election Administrators.

Committee Chair Mimi Marziani said, “Even with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints, our Committee agrees that voter registration and access to the polls must be fair, secure and equally available to all eligible Texans. Unfortunately, our findings demonstrate that Texas has a long way to go before these ideals are a reality. We hope that policy-makers take seriously the many concerns we heard from Texans of all stripes and work together to strengthen our democracy.”
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Posted in The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>


“Liberal secret-money network hammers House GOP”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100347>
Posted on July 30, 2018 8:08 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100347> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico:<https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/29/democrats-dark-money-midterms-house-745145>

A network of secret-money nonprofit groups has spent millions of dollars attacking swing-seat House Republicans on health care and taxes, quietly becoming one of the biggest players in the 2018 political landscape.

The groups have local members and names like Floridians for a Fair Shake, Michigan Families for Economic Prosperity and North Carolinians for a Fair Economy. But they are all linked to one obscure nonprofit in downtown Washington, D.C.: the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which has funneled millions of dollars to progressive causes in recent years and set up each of the new groups, according to D.C. corporation records.

Added together, the Sixteen Thirty Fund groups have been among the most prolific political advertisers of 2018. They have aired 6,885 broadcast TV ads since Jan. 1, according to Advertising Analytics, a TV tracking firm — more than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and almost as many as Americans for Prosperity, two of the five biggest nonprofit political advertisers<https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/12/secret-money-funds-more-than-40-percent-outside-congressional-tv-ads-midterm-elections/777536002/> focused on the House and Senate in the first half of this year.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, tax law and election law<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>


“What’s Good for Democracy Is Also Good for Democrats”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100345>
Posted on July 29, 2018 9:39 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100345> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Adam Bonica NYT oped<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/opinion/sunday/democracy-democrats-voters-disenfranchisment.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=30&pgtype=sectionfront>:

Once again, the nation is on the cusp of a generational revolution. As a group, millennials favor Democrats by nearly a 2 to 1 margin<http://www.people-press.org/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/2_8-8/>. Millennials are unlikely to trend Republican as they age so long as the current hyper-polarized political environment persists. However, they will become more likely to vote. (A general rule of thumb is that turnout increases by about one percentage point with each year of age.) This makes it possible to in essence fast-forward the electorate to forecast how the generational advantage will change over the next decade.

The Republican Party, after years of ascendancy, is about to fall off an electoral cliff. By 2026, according to an analysis of data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study<https://cces.gov.harvard.edu/>, millennials are expected to account for 19 percent of votes cast, up from 12 percent in 2014, with Democratic-leaning Gen Xers and Gen Zers accounting for an additional 34 percent. As this happens, the Republican-leaning Silent Generation is projected to account for 8 percent of votes cast in 2026, down from 23 percent in 2014.
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Posted in political polarization<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>


“11th Circuit Hears NAACP Challenge to Alabama Voter ID Law”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100343>
Posted on July 29, 2018 9:36 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=100343> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Courthouse New Service reports.<https://www.courthousenews.com/11th-circuit-hears-naacp-challenge-to-alabama-voter-id-law/>
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


--
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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