[EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/24/18

Tue Oct 23 20:10:56 PDT 2018

“In Leaked Audio, Brian Kemp Expresses Concern Over Georgians Exercising Their Right to Vote”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101702>
Posted on October 23, 2018 7:58 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101702> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Rolling Stone:<https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/brian-kemp-leaked-audio-georgia-voting-745711/>

Not long after Kemp began his remarks, the candidate expressed worry about early voting and “the literally tens of millions of dollars that they [the Abrams camp] are putting behind the get-out-the-vote effort to their base.”

Kemp then asserted that much of that Abrams effort is focused on absentee ballot requests. “They have just an unprecedented number of that,” he said, “which is something that continues to concern us, especially if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote — which they absolutely can — and mail those ballots in, we gotta have heavy turnout to offset that.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Posts Facebook Video Ostensibly Instructing How to Commit Voter Impersonation Fraud, a Kind of Fraud Which Hasn’t Been Used to Try to Swing an Election We Know About Since at Least the 1980s<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101698>
Posted on October 23, 2018 7:47 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101698> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP:<https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article220517875.html>

Amid a push to pass a photo ID requirement for North Carolina elections, the state’s lieutenant governor appears in a video that offers instructions on how to commit voter fraud in the state.

The video , posted on Facebook, features Lt. Gov. Dan Forest telling how a group could collect the identifying information of infrequent voters before Election Day and then impersonate those voters at the polls, which is a crime under state law.

Forest says in the video, titled Voter Fraud 101, “Committing voter fraud is easy in our state. Just for fun, here’s one way an organized group could commit voter fraud in North Carolina.”

The video was paid for by the North Carolina Republican Council of State Committee, a political action committee chaired by Forest and largely funded by Greg Lindberg, a major political donor currently under federal investigation, according to WRAL-TV in Raleigh.

As I’ve said many times, for my 2012 book, The Voting Wars<http://thevotingwars.com/>, I tried to find a single election anywhere in the US that there were plausible allegations that impersonation fraud was used to try to swing an election. I could not find any. But I could find other kinds of fraud attempts, like absentee ballot fraud, for every year since 1980. Impersonation fraud must be the perfect crime.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

Justice Gorsuch’s Bad Faith in Discussing Deposing Wilbur Ross on Ross’s Bad Faith<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101695>
Posted on October 23, 2018 7:27 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101695> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Thread<https://twitter.com/marty_lederman/status/1054562255952588801> from Marty Lederman:
[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/565309970460057600/krqCm_t3_bigger.jpeg]<https://twitter.com/AHoweBlogger>
<https://twitter.com/AHoweBlogger>
Amy Howe at AHoweBlogger<https://twitter.com/AHoweBlogger>

 · Oct 22, 2018<https://twitter.com/AHoweBlogger/status/1054552343574966272>
<https://twitter.com/AHoweBlogger/status/1054552343574966272>

More on tonight's order in #census<https://twitter.com/hashtag/census?src=hash> citizenship dispute blocking the deposition of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, but allowing other discovery to go forward: http://amylhowe.com/2018/10/22/justices-block-ross-deposition-in-census-dispute/ …<https://t.co/I4u8JN022S>
<https://t.co/I4u8JN022S>
Justices block Ross deposition in census dispute<https://t.co/I4u8JN022S>

The Supreme Court gave the federal government a partial victory tonight in a dispute over discovery in the challenge to the government’s decision to reinstate a question about citizenship on the 2020...<https://t.co/I4u8JN022S>
amylhowe.com<https://t.co/I4u8JN022S>

[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/753695042712264704/l7BQS76M_bigger.jpg]<https://twitter.com/marty_lederman>
<https://twitter.com/marty_lederman>
Marty Lederman at marty_lederman<https://twitter.com/marty_lederman>

1/ Amy: Please help me out, as I don't understand the Gorsuch/Thomas objection. "There’s nothing unusual," they write, "about a new cabinet secretary coming to office inclined to favor a different policy direction, ... at FirstMondaysFM<https://twitter.com/FirstMondaysFM>
7:36 PM - Oct 22, 2018<https://twitter.com/marty_lederman/status/1054562255952588801>

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4<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1054562255952588801>

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See Marty Lederman's other Tweets<https://twitter.com/marty_lederman>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>

Mark Joseph Stern:<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/10/neil-gorsuch-trump-census-lawsuit.html>

Gorsuch conveniently leaves out Furman’s most critical finding: that Ross lied about <https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/07/25/trump-administrations-deception-on-census-should-be-a-major-scandal/?utm_term=.c544e7d4ee8e> his reasons<https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/07/25/trump-administrations-deception-on-census-should-be-a-major-scandal/?utm_term=.c544e7d4ee8e> for adding the citizenship question. Initially, Ross insisted—under oath before Congress—that he began considering the question in response to the DOJ’s request. A document obtained in discovery, however, reveals that Ross himself pushed the DOJ<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/wilbur-ross-actively-pushed-to-add-citizenship-question-to-2020-census-documents-show/2018/07/24/5601b3b6-8f65-11e8-bcd5-9d911c784c38_story.html?utm_term=.f02d5e15ce5f> to submit this request, contradicting his earlier sworn testimony. Furman, quite sensibly, found that Ross’ dishonesty could indicate that his “proffered rationale for the decision … may have been pretextual.” He rested his decision to permit the depositions on that conclusion. Yet Gorsuch elided Ross’ falsehood, a sleight of hand that conveniently erases the heart of Furman’s ruling
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

About Those 900,000 Voters Potentially Disenfranchised by Ga’s ‘Exact Match’ Law? Not So Much<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101693>
Posted on October 23, 2018 7:19 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101693> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Following up on this post<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101656>, see this Michael McDonald thread starting here<https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/1054208208519217162>:
[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/764533167416016897/LsXkTx5I_bigger.jpg]<https://twitter.com/ElectProject>
<https://twitter.com/ElectProject>
Michael McDonald at ElectProject<https://twitter.com/ElectProject>

<https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/1054208208519217162>

@monkeycageblog<https://twitter.com/monkeycageblog> has become its namesake, a blog lacking vetting of the claims put forth. Quite sad, really, since it used to showcase peer-reviewed scholarship. Case in point: this post wildly inflates the number of persons affected by GA's exact match https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1054053795829813249 …<https://t.co/3HaiS3vDfI>
<https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1054053795829813249>
Ari Berman<https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1054053795829813249>
✔@AriBerman<https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1054053795829813249>

Brian Kemp's discriminatory & inaccurate "exact match" system could disenfranchise 30% of eligible voters in Georgia, a whopping 909,540 people https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/10/20/georgias-exact-match-law-could-disenfranchise-3031802-eligible-voters-my-research-finds/?utm_term=.716ad9062f35 …<https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1054053795829813249>

8:09 PM - Oct 21, 2018<https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/1054208208519217162>

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289<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1054208208519217162>

·         <https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/1054208208519217162>

157 people are talking about this<https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/1054208208519217162>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>

The truth about Georgia’s exact match law is bad enough<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/10/brian-kemp-kris-kobach-voter-suppression.html>.

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

Electoral Integrity in America—Now with a Discount<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101690>
Posted on October 23, 2018 4:22 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101690> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Hot off the presses is the edited volume, Electoral Integrity in America: Securing Democracy Edited by Pippa Norris, Sarah Cameron, and Thomas Wynter.<https://global.oup.com/academic/product/electoral-integrity-in-america-9780190934170?q=electoral%20integrity&lang=en&cc=us&utm_source=Electoral+Integrity+Project+Merged+-+Newsletters&utm_campaign=a88016ddc3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_400f51c567-a88016ddc3-54747089>

You can order from Oxford U. Press at a 30% discount using the code: ASFLYQ6.

I have a chapter in the book. Here is the Table of Contents:

[https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/electoral-integrity.png]<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/electoral-integrity.png>
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

Michigan: “Conservative group spending $1.2M to defeat Proposal 2 redistricting commission”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101688>
Posted on October 23, 2018 4:14 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101688> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Detroit News:<https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/10/23/devos-proposal-2-redistricting-opposition/1743725002/>

A conservative group with ties to the powerful DeVos family of West Michigan is pumping at least $1.2 million into an effort to fight a ballot measure for an independent redistricting commission.

The spending by the Michigan Freedom Fund was disclosed Monday in a late contribution report<https://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cfr/idr/466886.html> filed by Protect My Vote, a committee that is already running radio ads<http://justvotenoon2.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/PMV18R01_Mumbo.mp3> against Proposal 2 and is set this week to launch television ads.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

“Why Geography Makes It Difficult for Democrats to Get Along”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101686>
Posted on October 23, 2018 8:00 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101686> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

That’s the title the Washington Post gave this op-ed<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-geography-makes-it-difficult-for-democrats-to-get-along/2018/10/22/afe7d4d0-cd6f-11e8-a360-85875bac0b1f_story.html?utm_term=.ba80494c3011> that Jonathan Rodden and I published today.  Here is an excerpt:

Democrats have engaged in a passionate debate leading into the midterms on Nov 6. “Progressives” argue that the path to victory this year and beyond lies in motivating their youthful urban base by moving the party to the left. “Pragmatic” centrists, on the other hand, argue that victory requires ideological moderation that will attract independents.

Paradoxically, both sides might be right, which is why this tension is unavoidable and likely to endure. To understand this, we must grasp how electoral geography shapes politics. President Trump won 230 congressional districts to Hillary Clinton’s 205<https://www.forbes.com/sites/billwhalen/2018/08/12/go-ahead-and-the-change-the-electoral-college-but-theres-still-a-trump-presidency/#64c4289b14ca>, even though she outpolled him by more than 3 million votes nationwide. This reflects, in part, the fact that progressive voters are increasingly concentrated in the areas that make up urban congressional and state legislative districts, while moderates and conservatives are more evenly dispersed in exurban and rural districts.

As a result, in competitive states, the decisive voter in a statewide election is to the left of the decisive district. This means that a Democrat with a relatively progressive platform might be able to facilitate high turnout and win the statewide popular vote. But an identical platform would be too far left for the pivotal districts that determine the make-up of the state’s congressional delegation or state legislature.

To win control of Congress and state legislatures, Democrats must capture relatively conservative districts that support Republicans in presidential elections. Structurally, this is nothing new. Democrats have been relatively concentrated in urban districts since the New Deal, and for decades, their geography made it necessary for them to field congressional candidates who could win on “Republican” turf in the suburbs and countryside.

The Democrats achieved this not by nudging their platform to the left or right, but by avoiding a coherent platform altogether. . . .Democrats controlled Congress for decades, including during Republican presidencies, not because their party chose the right national platform, but because they allowed their candidates to craft local “brands” that differentiated them from the party’s urban candidates.

To be sure, the nationalization and polarization of elections might benefit Democrats in this cycle if enough Republicans and independents in pivotal districts cast “anti-Trump” votes for Democrats who would otherwise seem too far left. An exceptionally powerful wave election can overcome Democrats’ underlying geography problem and Republican partisan gerrymandering and thus enable victories in suburban districts that typically vote for Republican presidential candidates.

But any such wave is unlikely to wash the Democrats’ geography problems out to sea.. . .

To maintain control of the House or state legislatures beyond the isolated wave election, self-styled exurban and rural Democrats will feel the pressure to craft local brands that distance themselves from their party’s liberal reputation, even if that reputation serves the party well in winning the national or statewide popular vote.

Political geography — not just ideological conflict on its own — thus makes it likely that tensions between the progressive and centrist wings of the Democratic Party will endure.
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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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