[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/30/19

[Levitt, Justin]

10 and 2 on the wheel<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108555>
Posted on December 30, 2019 12:52 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108555> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

Hi. Justin here. As Rick mentioned<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108534>, I'll be at the helm of the Election Law Blog from now through January 7, then turning things over to Dan Tokaji<https://moritzlaw.osu.edu/faculty/daniel-p-tokaji/> for the next stretch.

Please send the tips to me and the hate mail to Dan for the next few days, and then please switch it up the week after.  Thanks!
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

"Federal Judge Won't Undo Georgia Voter Purge"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108589>
Posted on December 30, 2019 1:04 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108589> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

On Friday, the federal court rejected a preliminary injunction<https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Georgia.pdf> seeking to reinstate about 98,000 registration entries who had not responded to notices or contacted election officials since January 1, 2012 - declining (under Pennhurst) to issue a federal order enforcing state law, and otherwise finding insufficient proof of severe constitutional burden.  More here<https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/12/27/us/ap-us-voter-purge-georgia.html> and here<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/us/elections/georgia-voters-purge.html>.
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Posted in NVRA (motor voter)<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>, voter registration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>

While in Wisconsin, a purge sits temporarily on hold...<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108587>
Posted on December 30, 2019 1:04 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108587> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

The lede from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel<https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/30/wisconsin-elections-commission-deadlocks-keeps-voters-rolls/2773817001/>:


"The Wisconsin Elections Commission deadlocked Monday over whether to remove the voter registrations of more than 200,000 people in response to a judge's order.  The commission's inability to reach a consensus means the voters will stay on the rolls for at least the time being."

There are dueling cases here - a state case with an order from a trial judge to remove voters from the rolls, currently on appeal, and a federal case seeking an order to keep the voters on the rolls.  It appears that approximately 88,000 or so of the entries correspond to people who have moved within the same municipality.  Wisconsin, with same-day registration, is exempt from federal NVRA provisions limiting purges of the rolls.
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Posted in NVRA (motor voter)<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>, voter registration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>

"Suit on ex-offender voting filed in close-divided N Carolina"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108585>
Posted on December 30, 2019 1:03 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108585> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

The AP covers a lawsuit<https://apnews.com/5747bb5667a418a1f7094dab8d2a3b54>, filed in November under the state constitution, challenging disenfranchisement after incarceration, for terms of probation or parole or until payment of fines and fees.  The case documents are here<https://protectdemocracy.org/project/community-success-initiative-v-moore/#section-1> (the early-December amended complaint<https://protectdemocracy.org/resource-library/document/community-success-initiative-v-moore-amended-complaint/> is here).
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Posted in political equality<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=69>

"Native Americans, the census' most undercounted racial group, fight for an accurate 2020 tally"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108583>
Posted on December 30, 2019 1:02 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108583> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

A compelling report<https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/native-americans-census-most-undercounted-racial-group-fight-accurate-2020-n1105096> on the abundant challenges facing Native Americans seeking an accurate count, and the extraordinary stakes for some of the smaller and more isolated communities.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

"Massachusetts voters may consider ranked-choice voting on 2020 ballot"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108581>
Posted on December 30, 2019 1:02 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108581> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

The threshold signatures are in<https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/12/25/mass-voters-may-consider-ranked-choice-voting/EsY70uLiA720ZEOl3vWfZI/story.html>, and under Massachusetts' system, now the legislature gets to decide<https://www.mass.gov/info-details/the-initiative-petition-process> whether to adopt the measures before putting them before the voters.
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Posted in alternative voting systems<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>

"Ranked Choice, Fair Choice: Recapping the RCVictories of the Last Decade"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108579>
Posted on December 30, 2019 1:01 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108579> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

And Maura Reilly has a ranked-choice decade recap<https://msmagazine.com/2019/12/27/ranked-choice-fair-choice-recapping-the-rcvictories-of-the-last-decade/> on the locations Massachusetts may be joining.
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Posted in alternative voting systems<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>

"Decade in review: Citizens United and campaign spending"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108577>
Posted on December 30, 2019 1:01 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108577> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

SCOTUSblog has a running decade-in-review series<https://www.scotusblog.com/category/special-features/2010-2019-decade-in-review/>, and Citizens United<https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/12/decade-in-review-citizens-united-and-campaign-spending/> occupies 14% of the space so far.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

Partisan gerrymandering and the 2010s<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108575>
Posted on December 30, 2019 1:00 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108575> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

And for David Daley<https://www.salon.com/2019/12/30/the-decade-republicans-hijacked-our-democracy-via-gerrymandering/>, one of the biggest stories of the decade-in-review is partisan gerrymandering.
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Posted in political parties<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

I'm shocked - shocked - to find that gambling is going on in here.<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108573>
Posted on December 30, 2019 1:00 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108573> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

A few stories about incumbent government officials weighing the merits of redistricting reform, finding reason to put up the strongest resistance coincidentally right when they unilaterally control the partisan levers of power.  In Virginia<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/some-virginia-democrats-want-to-hit-the-brakes-on-nonpartisan-redistricting-plan/2019/12/29/6fd97e38-2279-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html>, it's Democrats; in Idaho<https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article238679788.html>, Republicans.
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Posted in political parties<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

"Gerrymandering is alive and well. The coming battle will be bigger than ever."<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108571>
Posted on December 30, 2019 12:59 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108571> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

And Jane Timm at NBC News previews the 2020 redistricting cycle<https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/gerrymandering-alive-well-coming-battle-will-be-bigger-ever-n1106951> these partisan fights are about.
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Posted in political parties<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

"Inside the Biggest 2020 Advertising War Against Trump"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108569>
Posted on December 30, 2019 12:58 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108569> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

The NYT reviews Bloomberg's ad blitz<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-trump-advertising.html>:

The effort, which is targeting seven battleground states where polls show Mr. Trump is likely to be competitive in November, is just one piece of an advertising campaign that is unrivaled in scope and scale. On Facebook and Google alone, where Mr. Bloomberg is most focused on attacking the president, he has spent $18 million on ads over the last month, according to Acronym, a digital messaging firm that works with Democrats.

That is on top of the $128 million the Bloomberg campaign has spent on television ads, according to Advertising Analytics, an independent firm, which projects that Mr. Bloomberg is likely to spend a combined $300 million to $400 million on advertising across all media before the Super Tuesday primaries in early March.

Those amounts dwarf the ad budgets of his rivals, and he is spending at a faster clip than past presidential campaigns as well. Mr. Bloomberg is also already spending more than the Trump campaign each week to reach voters online. And if the $400 million estimate holds, that would be about the same as what President Barack Obama's campaign spent on advertising over the course of the entire general election in 2012.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

"By the Numbers: A 2019 Money-in-Politics Index"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108567>
Posted on December 30, 2019 12:57 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108567> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

The Center for Public Integrity<https://publicintegrity.org/politics/by-the-numbers-a-2019-money-in-politics-index/> with year-end facts and figures.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

"2020 Democrats are naming their fund-raising 'bundlers' amid a fight over big money in politics"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108565>
Posted on December 30, 2019 12:57 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108565> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

The Philadelphia Inquirer digs into presidential primary bundler disclosure<https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/2020-democratic-primary-bundlers-campaign-fundrasing-20191226.html>.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

"The Supreme Court Is Killing Contribution Limits Softly; A Few Years from Now They Likely Will Be Dead."<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108563>
Posted on December 30, 2019 12:56 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108563> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy offers a cheery take on the Thompson v. Hebdon contribution limits case out of Alaska, in the Harvard Law Review blog<https://blog.harvardlawreview.org/the-supreme-court-is-killing-contribution-limits-softly-a-few-years-from-now-they-likely-will-be-dead/>.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

Racial disparities in waits at the polls<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108561>
Posted on December 30, 2019 12:56 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108561> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

Kareem Haggag and Devin Pope<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/there-are-stark-racial-disparities-in-voting-times-heres-how-to-fix-them/2019/12/16/5fb4948a-1c5b-11ea-b4c1-fd0d91b60d9e_story.html>, following up on their study using smartphone data<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107218>, offer some suggestions in the WaPo for reducing wait times at the polls.

I offered my own suggestions a few years ago<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2246973>.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

9 Iowans suspected of voting twice in 2018<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108559>
Posted on December 30, 2019 12:55 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108559> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

The cases have been referred<https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/9-people-suspected-of-voting-twice-in-2018-in-iowa-20191227> for further investigation. The initial flag apparently comes from ERIC (the Electronic Registration Information Center), which is more careful than other systems at screening for false positives.
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Posted in absentee ballots<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

"Dixville Notch, N.H., may have to give up tradition of midnight voting"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108557>
Posted on December 30, 2019 12:54 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108557> by Justin Levitt<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

One piece of sad news for presidential primary human-interest stories: Dixville Notch, NH, allows voting at the stroke of midnight, and had the first voters in the country's first primary for years.  But they're essentially out of people - if I'm reading the article correctly<https://www.vnews.com/Tiny-Dixville-Notch-may-have-to-forfeit-midnight-voting-31530853>, there are four residents in town, and that leaves too few people to serve as local officials to run the election.
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Posted in primaries<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>

Happy Holidays, Light Blogging, Then Guest Bloggers Through Mid-January<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108534>
Posted on December 30, 2019 10:45 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=108534> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

(Bumping to the top)

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>


Justin Levitt   (he/him/his)
Associate Dean for Research
Professor of Law / Gerald T. McLaughlin Fellow

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