[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/15/19

[Rick Hasen]

“North Carolina elections officials will give U.S. attorney vastly fewer records than he sought in voter probe”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103622>
Posted on February 14, 2019 5:47 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103622> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/north-carolina-elections-officials-will-give-us-attorney-vastly-fewer-records-than-he-sought-in-voter-probe/2019/02/14/c6ae0746-2fe6-11e9-813a-0ab2f17e305b_story.html?utm_term=.8fcedac3c7b9>:

Six months after a grand jury demanded millions of North Carolina voting records, state officials have announced they will release fewer than 800 voter files — a potentially significant setback for a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who has targeted noncitizen voting as one of his top priorities.

The state Board of Elections last week instructed 44 county election offices that received wide-ranging subpoenas for millions of voting records in August to hand over the files for only 289 voters. The state will turn over registration records for an additional 500 voters.

It is unclear whether the vastly reduced volume of records is the result of a court order or an agreement between the board and U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon Jr., who sought the records in August, shortly after he announced the arrest of 19 noncitizens on charges that they had illegally voted in the 2016 presidential election.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Democrats Swear off Big Money, but Will It Hurt Their 2020 White House Chances?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103619>
Posted on February 14, 2019 1:02 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103619> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Good Amanda Becker piece<https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2019-02-14/democrats-swear-off-big-money-but-will-it-hurt-their-2020-white-house-chances> for Reuters:

Legally, Super PACs are supposed to operate independently of candidates and cannot contribute to them directly. In reality, they often are run by donors close to the candidates and their campaigns.

David Donnelly, president of Every Voice, a campaign finance watchdog group, said candidates are smart to “think twice about winking and nodding at the Super PACs that are set up for themselves.” They “may be more of an albatross than a benefit” with Democratic primary voters, Donnelly said.

Promising to reject all Super PAC support, however, could cause consternation. Super PACs supporting Trump, the presumed Republican nominee, have continued raising money throughout his presidency.
Donnelly said that “you’d see a lot of hand-wringing in Washington about a candidate” who would forsake any Super PAC support, saying such a stance could be read as a “signal you’re not serious about winning.”
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D103619&title=%E2%80%9CDemocrats%20Swear%20off%20Big%20Money%2C%20but%20Will%20It%20Hurt%20Their%202020%20White%20House%20Chances%3F%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

--
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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