[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/19/19

[Rick Hasen]

“Mueller report confirms Russians ‘compromised’ Illinois State Board of Elections”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104737>
Posted on April 18, 2019 9:31 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104737> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Chicago Sun-Times:<https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/mueller-report-special-counsel-russia-hacking-illinois-state-board-elections/>

The Mueller Report confirms the Russians tried to hack the Illinois Board of Elections website in 2016.

“In one instance in approximately June 2016, the GRU compromised the computer network of the Illinois State Board of Elections by exploiting a vulnerability in the SBOE’s website. The GRU then gained access to a database containing information on millions of registered Illinois voters and extracted data related to thousands of U.S. voters before the malicious activity was identified,” the report states.

This was part of an effort of the Russian intelligence agency — the GRU — to determine “vulnerabilities” on websites of more than two dozen states, including Illinois.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on the hacking attempt<https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/illinois-chapter-in-the-russian-hacking-saga/> in 2017.
The hack had nothing to do with counting votes in elections in Illinois. The hackers looked at voting registration data: name, address, date of birth, gender and the last four digits in the Social Security number. In all, hackers searched through about 80,000 records, with the elections board confirming the records of just under 3,000 voters were viewed by the hackers.

A report on the breach prepared by the Illinois State Board of Elections on Aug. 26, 2016, and obtained by the Sun-Times, details how the hackers were detected by state board information technology staffers.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


“Russians Breached Florida County Computers Before 2016 Election, Mueller Report Says”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104735>
Posted on April 18, 2019 9:16 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104735> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<http://%20https/www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/us/florida-russia-2016-election-hacking.html>

 In the months before the 2016 presidential election, Russia’s military intelligence agency penetrated computer systems in at least one Florida county government and planted malware in systems at a manufacturer of election equipment, the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, said in his office’s final report<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/us/politics/mueller-report-russian-interference-donald-trump.html?module=inline> on Russian interference in the election.

The report did not cite any evidence that the breaches compromised election results in Florida or elsewhere, and said Mr. Mueller had left further investigation of the incidents to the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security.

The disclosure of the suspected breach added to accounts of Russia’s systematic effort to access voter-registration rolls and other election systems outlined last year by American intelligence officials and in federal indictments<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/us/politics/mueller-indictment-russian-intelligence-hacking.html?module=inline>.

The special counsel’s report also cited another attack on computers in Illinois, which had already been reported, while the attack in Florida had not previously been disclosed. The penetration of the election equipment manufacturer, identified elsewhere as VR Systems of Tallahassee, Fla., had been known — but not that malware specifically had been planted. The company makes electronic pollbooks and other devices that help officials run elections, but does not make voting machines.

Flashback to an ELB post from August 2018, Sen. Bill Nelson Gets Four Pinocchios for Claims of Hacking into Florida Election System….But Maybe He Doesn’t Deserve It? [Updated].<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100705>
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


“Kamala Harris takes early lead in the big-money race”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104733>
Posted on April 18, 2019 9:09 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104733> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico<https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/17/kamala-harris-leads-campaign-money-race-1280546>:

Hundreds of the biggest Democratic fundraisers in the past two presidential elections are already picking candidates for 2020 — and Kamala Harris has a significant early edge, while Pete Buttigieg and his from-scratch campaign has scrambled into the second tier.

Harris has already received donations from 176 people or couples who raised at least $100,000, and sometimes many multiples of that, for Hillary Clinton in 2016 or at least $50,000 for Barack Obama in 2012, according to a POLITICO analysis of new campaign finance disclosures and “bundler” data from the Center for Responsive Politics. While the Democratic presidential campaigns have been focused on building small-donor armies this year, bundlers mine their networks for checks to pass along to campaigns six or seven-figures at a time, giving them a potentially massive role in a crowded primary.

Donations from these key fundraisers signal the out-of-the-gate interest the candidates are generating among many of the most wealthy and connected campaign supporters in the country. And while candidates have taken a more muted approach to raising checks from wealthy supporters this cycle as they seek to prove they have grassroots support online, they still benefit greatly big-donor support — and most are pursuing it seriously. Clinton and Obama’s bundlers raised hundreds of millions of dollars for their presidential campaigns, helped rally supporters to their cause, and participated in campaigns as surrogates and volunteers.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>


“Through email leaks and propaganda, Russians sought to elect Trump, Mueller finds”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104731>
Posted on April 18, 2019 9:04 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104731> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/through-email-leaks-and-propaganda-russians-sought-to-elect-trump-mueller-finds/2019/04/18/109ddf74-571b-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html?utm_term=.e80cdf2c7cac>:

In what will stand as among the most definitive public accounts of the Kremlin’s attack on the American political system, the report of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation laid out in precise, chronological detail how “the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.”

The Russians’ goal, Mueller emphasized at several points, was to assist Donald Trump’s run for the White House and to damage Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. And the Republican candidate took notice, looking for ways to turn leaks of stolen emails to his advantage and even telling campaign associates to find people who might get their hands on Clinton’s personal emails.

“The Trump Campaign showed interest in WikiLeaks’ releases of hacked materials throughout the summer and fall of 2016,” Mueller’s investigators wrote. The anti-secrecy website became the major outlet for Russia’s pilfered material, and Trump campaign staffers were engaged in discussions about pending leaks and how to capi­tal­ize on them, Mueller found.

Investigators did not establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians. But both sides used similar tactics. Through social media and selective leaking, the Russians stoked deep societal divisions and aroused Americans’ suspicions of politicians and the integrity of the electoral process, Mueller found.

Trump, too, tried to divide voters, exacerbating political fault lines, and he insisted that something was rotten in the way the country elects its president, calling the process a “rigged” system.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


“Galveston County registrar refers ‘non-citizens’ for voter fraud investigation”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104729>
Posted on April 18, 2019 8:57 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104729> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Houston Chronicle:<https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Galveston-County-registrar-refers-13776292.php>

Galveston County’s top election official, currently being sued in federal court for removing naturalized citizens from voter rolls, has referred five “potential non-citizens” to the local district attorney’s office to be investigated for possible voter fraud.

Cheryl Johnson, the county’s tax assessor and collector, made the referral to District Attorney Jack Roady weeks after reviewing her office’s policy on processing jury summons lists that indicate a voter might not be a U.S. citizen.

Johnson, who doubles as county registrar overseeing the county’s voter rolls, will now use a person’s voluntary declaration that they are a non-citizen on a jury summons exemption as a precursor for possible criminal investigation for voter fraud.

The policy revision, dated March 12, states that if a potential non-citizen is flagged and does not submit proof of citizenship or voluntarily remove him- or herself from voter rolls within 35 days of notification from the registrar’s office, the registrar will drop that person from the voter rolls and refer the matter to county prosecutors for investigation.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


“John Roberts rejects requests for same-day audio of census citizenship arguments”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104727>
Posted on April 18, 2019 8:51 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104727> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CNN reports.<https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/17/politics/supreme-court-census-citizenship-media/index.html>
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Posted in census litigation<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=125>, Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


“Burr apparently briefed White House on FBI election probe, Mueller report says”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104725>
Posted on April 18, 2019 3:28 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104725> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News and Observer<https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article229429739.html>:

Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence<https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/>, “appears to have” briefed the White House as to the targets of an FBI probe, according to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

A redacted version of the report<https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf> was released Thursday by the U.S. Justice Department.

Then-FBI director James Comey briefed congressional leaders, including Burr, about the bureau’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election on March 9, 2017. The briefing included “identification of the principal U.S. subjects of the investigation,” according to the Mueller report.

The week after that briefing, on March 16, 2017, the White House Counsel’s Office “was in contact with” Burr and “appears to have received information about the status of the FBI investigation,” according to the report.

Ann Donaldson, the chief of staff to the White House counsel, said the White House Counsel’s Office was briefed by Burr on the existence of four or five targets, the Mueller report states.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


“All the Mistakes Mueller Made in Declining to Prosecute Donald Trump Jr.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104723>
Posted on April 18, 2019 10:59 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104723> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I have written this piece<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/04/donald-trump-jr-mueller-report-campaign-finance.html> for Slate. It begins:

Robert Mueller let Donald Trump Jr. off the hook too easily for potential campaign finance violations that arose from the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower with Russian operatives. Mueller’s questionable exercise of prosecutorial discretion is bad news for how campaigns and foreign entities might conduct themselves in the runup to the 2020 elections.

Like many others, I am still poring over Mueller’s 448-page partially redacted report<https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf>. My initial general impression of Volume 1—the part dealing with Russian interference in the 2016 elections and the connections between Trump—is that Mueller and his team did a thorough and fair job in investigating what happened and in describing the facts. But on the potential campaign finance violations, Mueller fell short in numerous ways…..

I’m afraid that this flagging of the issue does more harm than good. Mueller has now given campaigns credible reason to believe they can accept help from foreign governments because they may have a constitutional right to do so. That’s even more troubling for what it says about 2020 than what it says about 2016.
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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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