[EL] ELB News and Commentary 6/15/18

Fri Jun 15 09:36:58 PDT 2018

D.C. Circuit, in 2-1 Votes, Makes It Much Harder to Challenge Decisions by Republican FEC Commissioners Not to Enforce Federal Campaign Finance Laws<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99563>
Posted on June 15, 2018 9:35 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99563> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This opinion<https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/A0A7C6C35F1863B3852582AD0054B275/$file/17-5049-1736010.pdf> by Senior Judge Randolph, joined by Judge Kavanaugh is most unfortunate. As Judge Pillard suggests in her dissent, the opinion insulates FEC Commissioners’  refusal to enforce certain campaign finance laws from judicial review under the guise of “prosecutorial discretion.”
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal election commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

“Texas woman sentenced five years in prison for voting while on probation”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99561>
Posted on June 15, 2018 9:25 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99561> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CBS News:<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-woman-crystal-mason-sentenced-five-years-prison-voter-fraud/>

A  Texas woman plans to challenge a judge’s decision to deny her a new trial after sentencing her to five years in prison for voter fraud. Crystal Mason was convicted in March of voting illegally in the 2016 presidential election. Texas law makes the 43-year-old ineligible to vote because she was on probation for tax fraud. Mason says she didn’t know about that law.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, felon voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>

Ninth Circuit Revives Challenge to California Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99559>
Posted on June 15, 2018 8:52 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99559> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The district court had tossed<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97736> the case on standing, but the Ninth Circuit has revived the case<https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/memoranda/2018/06/14/18-55455.pdf>. It has given LULAC permission to intervene in the case.

Buckle up!
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Posted in Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

Bob Bauer: “The Disastrous Legal Implications of the Trump Foundation’s Activities”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99557>
Posted on June 15, 2018 8:47 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99557> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bob<https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/the-disastrous-legal-implications-of-the-trump-foundations-activities/562895/> in the Altantic:

The law governing the activity of charitable organizations can be complex, but on the question of whether 501(c)(3) charities can engage in political activity, it could not be more straightforward. They cannot. The IRS enforces an “absolute” prohibition on any intervention in political campaigns.

Whether such an intervention has occurred depends on the facts and circumstances, and sometimes there are close calls. None of those close calls are reflected in the New York attorney general’s complaint against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which tells the tale of a relationship between a charity and a political campaign that flouts in every conceivable way the legal prohibition on 501(c)(3) campaign activity.

Enforcement action at the state level, including this action to dissolve the Foundation, is likely to be followed by repercussions from federal law enforcement. The charity is subject to inquiry, and to the payment of sizeable penalties, for failing by virtue of its political activity to comply with the terms of its exemption. The Federal Election Commission will have little choice but to initiate its own investigation into the illegal corporate contributions from the Trump Foundation to President Donald Trump’s campaign. The New York attorney general has specifically “referred” these matters to the FEC, the Department of Justice, and the IRS for their review.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, tax law and election law<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

“The Right’s Campaign to Expand Voter Purges”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99555>
Posted on June 15, 2018 8:45 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99555> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Eliza Newlin Carney<http://prospect.org/article/rights-campaign-expand-voter-purges> for TAP.
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Posted in NVRA (motor voter)<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>

Rob Richie Talks Ranked Choice Voting in Maine with Ken Rudin of NPR<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99553>
Posted on June 15, 2018 8:43 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99553> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Listen here.<https://www.krpoliticaljunkie.com/episode-233/>

More<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/give-ranked-voting-a-shot-our-democracy-would-benefit/2018/06/14/73c59356-6835-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html?utm_term=.b9b05eee8287> editorials<https://www.pressherald.com/2018/06/14/our-view-ranked-choice-test-run-makes-electoral-history-in-maine/> favoring RCV.
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Posted in alternative voting systems<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>

Update on Ranked-Choice Voting and the SF Mayoral Race<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99550>
Posted on June 14, 2018 1:35 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99550> by Richard Pildes<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

Looks like London Breed, the candidate who ranked first on a plurality of ballots in the first round of SF’s ranked-choice election, is the new mayor of SF.  This despite earlier reports that suggested the candidate who initially ranked second, Mark Leno, looked poised to overtake her once the vote-transfer process had been completed.

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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
Read the Letter from NY AG to Federal Election Commission Referring Trump Foundation Issues for Possible Violations of Federal Campaign Finance Law<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99548>
Posted on June 14, 2018 12:00 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99548> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This<https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/fec_final_letter.pdf> would be a big deal, IF the FEC were a functioning agency with Commissioners who would actually enforce the law.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
North Carolina General Assembly Continues to Look for Ways to Tamp Down African-American, Democratic Vote<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99546>
Posted on June 14, 2018 10:05 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=99546> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News and Observer:<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article213158669.html>

One of the most popular days for early voting would be eliminated under a proposal that supporters say is meant to bring uniformity to the 100 North Carolina counties’ one-stop voting schedules.

Rep. David Lewis, a chief architect in the House of elections laws, said the proposal in the legislature would make it easier for elections officials to pivot from running early voting to Election Day preparations, and make it easier for people to know when and where they can vote early.

The proposal would set a 17-day early voting period that ends the Friday before Election Day.

Democracy North Carolina, a nonprofit concerned with election law, said nearly 200,000 people cast ballots on the last Saturday of early voting in 2016, and that the last Saturday is disproportionately used by African-American voters.
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Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

--
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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