[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/6/18

Mon Nov 5 20:20:52 PST 2018

“Scholar Warns of ‘Politicized’ Survey as Census Trial Kicks Off”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102009>
Posted on November 5, 2018 8:15 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102009> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Adam Klasfeld<https://www.courthousenews.com/scholar-warns-of-politicized-survey-as-census-trial-kicks-off/> for Courthouse News:

Opening a day before the U.S. midterm elections, a long-anticipated trial over the 2020 census kicked off Monday with a scholar warning that the addition of a citizenship question will discourage participation by Hispanics and noncitizens.

“The Census Bureau itself designates it as a sensitive question,” testified D. Sunshine Hillygus, a professor from Duke University.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“House Dem candidates snag free rent; Party lawyers get creative with campaign finance law.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102007>
Posted on November 5, 2018 7:44 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102007> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico:<https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/05/house-free-rent-959983>

House Democrats have exploited campaign finance law to pay rent for dozens of campaign offices used by their candidates in 2018 — an arrangement that’s further padded the party’s massive financial advantage in the midterms even as Republicans cry foul.

A number of House Democratic candidates haven’t paid a dime to rent the buildings where they based their campaign operations, according to a POLITICO review of Federal Election Commission records. Others rented space earlier this year but suddenly stopped some or all of the payments after winning their primaries. In their place, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee picked up the tab — paying over $1 million in office rent to property managers and limited liability companies in 22 states over the past two years, the committee’s FEC reports show.

The spending on 52 offices around the country, known internally as DCCC “Battlestations,” comes from a special fund established under a 2014 law that the DCCC can use only to maintain party headquarters buildings — not for other conventional campaign activities. The FEC has never issued regulations interpreting the law and saying exactly how the “headquarters funds” can be used, or whether this use of them is appropriate.

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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Voting Machines: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102005>
Posted on November 5, 2018 7:33 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102005> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jennifer Cohn<https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/11/05/voting-machines-what-could-possibly-go-wrong/> in NYRB.
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Posted in voting technology<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>

“Without evidence, Trump and Sessions warn of voter fraud in Tuesday’s elections”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102003>
Posted on November 5, 2018 5:39 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102003> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/without-evidence-trump-and-sessions-warn-of-voter-fraud-in-tuesdays-elections/2018/11/05/e9564788-e115-11e8-8f5f-a55347f48762_story.html?utm_term=.12d8768d1ee7>

President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday issued strong warnings about the threat of voter fraud in Tuesday’s elections, echoing the president’s baseless claims that massive voter fraud marred his 2016 election and prompting accusations that his administration is trying to intimidate voters.

In a tweet early Monday, Trump said that law enforcement has been “strongly notified” to watch for “ILLEGAL VOTING.” He promised that anyone caught voting improperly would be subjected to “Maximum Criminal Penalties.” Sessions, in a statement laying out the Justice Department’s plans to monitor ballot access on Election Day, said “fraud in the voting process will not be tolerated. Fraud also corrupts the integrity of the ballot.”

In remarks to reporters on his way to a campaign rally in Cleveland, Trump also falsely claimed that voter fraud is commonplace.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

The EAC is MIA on Election Cybersecurity, and We Can Blame Kobach’s Former Underling, Brian Newby, and EAC Commissioner Christy McCormick, Who Served on Trump’s “Fraud” Commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102000>
Posted on November 5, 2018 5:18 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102000> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Devastating for an agency that’s had such promise, from Jessica Husema<https://www.propublica.org/article/election-assistance-commission-came-not-to-care-so-much-about-election-security>n:

One of the EAC’s commissioners has dismissed the threat of foreign governments undermining American elections in private meetings with state election officials, and often personally appealed to individual officials not to waste their time on the idea that election systems might be vulnerable to outside meddling.

The election officials assert that the EAC’s executive director, Brian Newby, has blocked the travel of key staffers at the EAC who specialize in cybersecurity, preventing them from attending what training sessions have taken place….

Those interviewed — a mix of Democrats and Republicans ranging from the county to national levels of their parties — said that while DHS had been trying its best to fill the vacuum, the agency’s controversial role in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration initiatives had left some state and local officials wary of working with it — or even being seen as working with the agency.

“The EAC is appropriately positioned as a nonpartisan federal entity to demonstrate leadership on this issue,” Amber McReynolds, the former elections director in Denver and current executive director of Vote At Home, which advocates for vote by mail options. McReynolds said that cyber security is the top issue facing elections officials, and that the EAC “has missed a tremendous opportunity to advance their mission to support state and local election officials in the administration of our elections.”

An EAC spokesperson did not respond to ProPublica’s inquiries concerning the complaints of elections officials, including the claim by some officials that an EAC commissioner, Christy McCormick, was effectively thwarting election security efforts. The spokesperson also did not respond to the claim that its executive director prevented staffers from traveling to visit local election officials. Neither McCormick nor the executive director, Newby, responded to repeated requests for comment.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Assistance Commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>

“Missouri leads the country in removing voters for ‘mental incapacity”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101998>
Posted on November 5, 2018 2:09 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101998> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

APM reports.<https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/11/05/missouri-purges-voters-mental-incapacity>
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“There Are No Actual Set Rules for Counting Disputed Ballots; Here are some good ones.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101996>
Posted on November 5, 2018 1:52 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101996> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ned Foley and Steve Huefner<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/ballot-counting-rules-voting-2018-midterms.html> at Slate:

This year, in particular, the temptation may be especially strong to distort the vote-counting process to achieve a victory for one side or the other. Given the refrain that the current elections are uniquely important to the fate of the nation, it may be easy to convince oneself that “the ends justify the means” and that the count must be conducted to maximize the prospect that the preferred party prevails, or otherwise the country will go to ruin.
But if either side succumbs to this temptation, democracy itself will seriously suffer. The losing side loses faith in the result, and the lesson is ultimately to fight fire with fire by manipulating the counting of ballots whenever one has the opportunity.

Therefore, if we want to maintain a commitment to democracy, we must adhere to impartiality in the adjudication of vote-counting disputes and commit to the proposition that controversies over counting be settled insofar as possible by rules and principles in place before the casting of ballots. The best way to do that, particularly after such a venomous campaign as this latest one, is for those resolving an election dispute to employ the kind of ahead-of-time principles that the American Law Institute has developed. The need for such principles is more acute than ever.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, recounts<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Women Step Up: Record Number of Women Candidates in 2018 Midterm Races”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101994>
Posted on November 5, 2018 1:44 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101994> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Follow the Money blog.<https://www.followthemoney.org/research/blog/women-step-up-record-number-of-women-candidates-in-2018-midterm-races>
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

Must-read: “Georgia Officials Quietly Patched Security Holes They Said Didn’t Exist”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101992>
Posted on November 5, 2018 1:11 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101992> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

ProPublica:<https://www.propublica.org/article/georgia-officials-quietly-patched-security-holes-they-said-did-not-exist>

On Sunday morning, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp unleashed a stunning allegation: State Democrats had committed “possible cyber crimes” after a tipster told party officials he had found gaping security holes in the state’s voter information website. The affair quickly degenerated into volleying charges about whether Democrats had promptly informed officials of the possible security breach.

A representative for Kemp, the state’s Republican candidate for governor, denied vulnerabilities existed in the state’s voter-lookup site and said the problems alleged could not be reproduced. But in the evening hours of Sunday, as the political storm raged, ProPublica found state officials quietly rewriting the website’s computer code.

ProPublica’s review of the state’s voter system followed a detailed recipe created by the tipster, who was described as having IT experience and alerted Democrats to the possible security problems. Using the name of a valid Georgia voter who gave ProPublica permission to access his voter file, reporters attempted to trace the security lapses that were identified.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Democrats Outspending Republicans Two-to-One in Final Independent Spending Push”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101990>
Posted on November 5, 2018 12:11 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101990> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CFI Analysis.<http://www.cfinst.org/Press/PReleases/18-11-05/DEMOCRATS_OUTSPENDING_REPUBLICANS_TWO-TO-ONE_IN_FINAL_INDEPENDENT_SPENDING_PUSH.aspx>
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Brian Kemp, if you’re running in an election, you shouldn’t be running the election”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101988>
Posted on November 5, 2018 12:08 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101988> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Josh Douglas<https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/05/opinions/partisan-elections-futility-josh-douglas-opinion/index.html> for CNN Opinion.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Why adopting proportional voting may bring back the big-tent political party”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101986>
Posted on November 5, 2018 12:06 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101986> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jack Santucci blogs.<http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2018/11/05/why-adopting-proportional-voting-may-bring-back-the-big-tent-political-party/>
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Posted in alternative voting systems<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>

“National Civil Rights Group Condemns Justice Department’s Election Monitoring Plan”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101984>
Posted on November 5, 2018 10:15 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101984> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release via email:

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law issued the following statement in response to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s latest announcement<http://email.prnewswire.com/wf/click?upn=YV-2Bgt-2Foio5E3bS9XkKrQGu4-2BoQJ2L8mvzoJgkzhgrfFKirgx55gJA-2BleVKu1yJwa6lS-2B3kQo1sKtC963rW3RYo-2F0g5T0Ju0C7L3A4oOUIyraPUVmaCGULW5janKpTHyI0GMkgTyQ-2F6oy8E2uFRLQky3wJJV1uZyNPPpNRxmTh31k8-2F7TIZaFvL5Lvrk4fDHw03re2gSmkATQiGVtNd4ic8vTp-2FsiTlsw55rsoIrMM-2FGhBI3rwPSwCGuPfKg5oIhi_MxsnV1nFJ0N6iaI6ROK3eERHn3LdCNHdSOXIWZIS7ekEoqe0xiUYCeWVdORMAMem-2B19Lhs-2FDcclrExfpKPTCsoBdLl2me2ywIfGMYbrcviFAs69MhHBik0FS-2FZ9W5O4Aw8-2FK1zJ4j0hwp3mY-2F6orxF-2Bh7B8I-2BGNELlASd-2FgK-2BYF90EMnE0CHDnU3JiB-2BWGQu4f2AFBiaf1Vv1qsRwLH1VAvDOMD8mR1pg-2BmZh-2FND9rWcojWTb-2Bqy6v0tB2AT4GkeLzmmLZjE3rGogYWDFlG3Cg75Smdh2se3bBaTLNmj6G19-2B9aJ5vzV9UapSs1gDn0v> regarding plans for the deployment of federal personnel to polling sites on Election Day:

“In stark contrast to how federal personnel have been deployed in the past, Attorney General Jeff Sessions does not have his eyes set on voter suppression and last minute intimidation but is instead using this moment to further promote a false narrative about voter fraud,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “At every turn, this Justice Department has failed to take action to enforce the Voting Rights Act and protect the interests of minority voters.”

Clarke continued, “As the record makes clear, this Justice Department has been and continues to remain silent on voter suppression efforts unfolding in Georgia and elsewhere. In fact, the silence from this Justice Department in the face of the significant threats and obstacles that minority voters have faced has been deafening. In abandoning this work, they have left minority voters increasingly vulnerable. We will be watching the actions of the Justice Department’s personnel with great skepticism tomorrow, and given Sessions’ focus on fraud, will be vigilant for any federally-driven attempt to intimidate voters at the polls. We urge voters who require trusted help to also contact our non-partisan Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE with any complaints regarding voting through Election Day.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://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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