[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/28/19

Fri Dec 27 13:13:11 PST 2019

“Federal judge to block NC voter ID law temporarily as the lawsuit continues”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108551>
Posted on December 27, 2019 1:06 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108551> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News & Observer:<https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article238747723.html>

North Carolina voters might not have to show a photo ID in the 2020 elections, due to a ruling in federal court that’s expected in the coming days.

A federal judge in North Carolina said Thursday she would block the law, at least temporarily, as the voter ID lawsuit<https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article223375685.html> against the state continues. She said she will make her official ruling next week, but wanted to give advance notice of her decision. The judge, Loretta Biggs, wrote that state elections officials had been planning “a very large statewide mailing” next week to tell voters about the ID law, and she wanted to let them know they wouldn’t need to do that after all.

Details of what exactly the judge is planning to order are still not entirely clear. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Josh Stein, who must now decide how the state will react to the judge’s decision, said his office will wait to see the actual ruling next week before making any decisions on how to proceed.
Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article238747723.html#storylink=cpy
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Partisan Gerrymandering—A Continuing Threat”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108549>
Posted on December 27, 2019 1:01 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108549> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jerry Goldfeder and Myrna Perez<https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2019/12/26/partisan-gerrymandering-a-continuing-threat/?cmp=share_twitter> in the NYLJ.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

“Audit pings state bureau of elections on voter file, training, campaign finance oversight”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108547>
Posted on December 27, 2019 1:00 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108547> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Detroit News:<https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/27/audit-michigan-bureau-elections-voter-file-campaign-finance/2755794001/>

Michigan’s Bureau of Elections failed to properly safeguard the state’s file of 7.5 million qualified voters, a discrepancy that allowed an unauthorized user to access the file and increased the risk of an ineligible elector voting in Michigan, according to a recent report from the Office of Auditor General.

Elections officials lack proper training in more than 14% of counties, cities and townships, the audit also found. And the bureau did not make timely reviews for campaign statements, lobby reports and campaign finance complaints.

The audit conducted between Oct. 1, 2016, and April 30, 2019, found in the qualified voter file “230 registered electors who had an age that was greater than 122 years, the oldest officially documented person to ever live,” according to the Friday report.

The report came 2 1/2 months before the state’s March 10 presidential primary and a little over 10 months before Michigan voters cast ballots in the November general election.

The reviewed information fell largely under the tenure of Republican former Secretary of State Ruth Johnson. Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson took office Jan. 1.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“How Close Did Russia Really Come to Hacking the 2016 Election?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108544>
Posted on December 26, 2019 9:56 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108544> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Kim Zetter<https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/12/26/did-russia-really-hack-2016-election-088171> for Politico:

Public confidence in the integrity of the 2016 election outcome rests largely on the belief that the Russian hackers—who did, in fact, attempt to meddle in the election, according to the U.S. intelligence community—were blocked before they could alter votes or have a direct effect on the results by manipulating voter records. It has been publicly reported, for example, that those hackers superficially probed election-related websites in 21 states<https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/18/mueller-indictments-georgia-voting-infrastructure-219018>and breached a few voter-registration databases<https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2019/4/18/18619441/mueller-report-confirms-russians-compromised-illinois-state-board-of-elections>, but did not alter or delete voter records. And accounts of the Russian interference laid out in a recent Senate Intelligence Committee report<https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume1.pdf> and in Robert Mueller’s lengthy investigative summary<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5955379-Redacted-Mueller-Report.html#document/> released earlier this year assert that there’s no evidence the Russian actors altered vote tallies or even attempted to do so.

But the government has also suggested in one report and asserted outright in others—among them a 2017 National Security Agency document<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3766950-NSA-Report-on-Russia-Spearphishing.html#document/p1> leaked to the press, a 2018 indictment of Russian intelligence officers<http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4598937-Mueller-indictment-of-12-Russian-military-officers.html>, and the Senate Intelligence Committee report and Mueller report—that the hackers successfully breached (or very likely breached) at least one company that makes software for managing voter rolls, and installed malware on that company’s network. Furthermore, an October 2016 email obtained recently by POLITICO, sent by the head of the National Association of Secretaries of State to its members around the country two weeks before the election, states that the Department of Homeland Security “confirmed” to NASS at the time that a “third-party vendor” in Florida that worked with local jurisdictions on their voter registration systems “experienced a breach.

None of the public versions of the government reports, nor the NASS email, identify the hacked company by name. But based on details describing the affected firm in some of the documents, they appear to be referencing VR Systems. VR Systems itself has acknowledged that it appears to be the company mentioned in the government reports but says the FBI has never told it that it was breached by the Russians, which the bureau would be expected to do as part of the victim notification process if VR Systems had been hacked. (The FBI won’t discuss VR Systems, saying any interactions between it and the bureau are part of an ongoing investigation into the Russian election interference efforts.)
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

ElectionLine In-and-Out List Now Available<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108542>
Posted on December 26, 2019 9:33 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108542> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This is fun<https://electionline.org/electionline-weekly/#tab-1> (I contributed a few).
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“U.S. Cybercom contemplates information warfare to counter Russian interference in 2020 election”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108539>
Posted on December 26, 2019 9:03 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108539> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-cybercom-contemplates-information-warfare-to-counter-russian-interference-in-the-2020-election/2019/12/25/21bb246e-20e8-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html>:

Military cyber officials are developing information warfare tactics that could be deployed against senior Russian officials and oligarchs if Moscow tries to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections through hacking election systems or sowing widespread discord, according to current and former U.S. officials.

One option being explored by U.S. Cyber Command would target senior leadership and Russian elites, though probably not President Vladimir Putin, which would be considered too provocative, said the current and former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. The idea would be to show that the target’s sensitive personal data could be hit if the interference did not stop, though officials declined to be more specific.

“When the Russians put implants into an electric grid, it means they’re making a credible showing that they have the ability to hurt you if things escalate,” said Bobby Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “What may be contemplated here is an individualized version of that, not unlike individually targeted economic sanctions. It’s sending credible signals to key decision-makers that they are vulnerable if they take certain adversarial actions.”
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Election officials learn military mindset ahead of 2020 vote”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108537>
Posted on December 26, 2019 9:01 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108537> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP reports.<https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/26/election-security-battlefield-mindset/40888051/>
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

Happy Holidays, Light Blogging, Then Guest Bloggers Through Mid-January<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108534>
Posted on December 24, 2019 9:34 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108534> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Happy holidays to all our #ELB readers! Your tips, feedback, and support make all this worthwhile.

Blogging will be light through the end of the year. From the end of December to January 15, I will be off the grid before the crazy 2020 election season starts in earnest and before the release of my new book, Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy<https://www.amazon.com/Election-Meltdown-Distrust-American-Democracy/dp/0300248199/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=hasen+election+meltdown&qid=1565015345&s=digital-text&sr=1-1-catcorr> and the accompanying book tour<https://sites.uci.edu/electionmeltdown/book-tour/>.

Justin Levitt<https://www.lls.edu/faculty/facultylistl-r/levittjustin/> and Dan Tokaji<https://moritzlaw.osu.edu/faculty/daniel-p-tokaji/> will be guest blogging Dec. 30 to January 15. Please send any tips and feedback to them during that period.

To all the ELB readers, wishing you a safe, happy, healthy, peaceful, and prosperous 2020!
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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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