[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/26/19

Tue Feb 26 07:33:31 PST 2019

“The popular vote could decide the 2020 presidential election, if these states get their way”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103756>
Posted on February 26, 2019 7:28 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103756> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/26/popular-vote-could-decide-presidential-election-if-these-states-get-their-way/?utm_term=.0432a654981e>:

Colorado is set to become the latest member of a group of states banding together to bypass the electoral college system.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/colorado-democrats-push-changes-to-presidential-electors/2019/02/12/a427b466-2f0e-11e9-8781-763619f12cb4_story.html?utm_term=.e65f6d3d7dc6> — which already has 11 states and the District of Columbia on board — would hand the 2020 presidential election to whoever wins the popular vote. But it would only take effect if states representing at least 270 electoral college votes pass the law.
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Posted in electoral college<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>

“Brennan Center Report Shows Why New York State’s Democracy Needs Small Donor Public Financing”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103754>
Posted on February 26, 2019 7:21 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103754> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release:<https://www.brennancenter.org/press-release/brennan-center-report-shows-why-new-york-state%E2%80%99s-democracy-needs-small-donor-public>

In a new report<https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/small-donor-public-financing-ny>, the Brennan Center provides research and analysis demonstrating New York State’s urgent need to reform its campaign finance system, as well as the most effective solution: small donor public financing. The policy outlined in the Brennan Center report, The Case for Small Donor Public Financing in New York, would use public funds to match donations of $175 or less to state candidates 6 to 1.
This proposal is part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget legislation, and it has strong champions in both legislative chambers. Negotiations over the budget’s contents are underway with a final deadline of April 1.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“The continuing “Price of Power”: How the political parties leaned on legislative leaders for cash during the 115th Congress”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103752>
Posted on February 26, 2019 7:18 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103752> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

New report<https://www.issueone.org/the-continuing-price-of-power-how-the-political-parties-leaned-on-legislative-leaders-for-cash-during-the-115th-congress/> from Issue One.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, legislation and legislatures<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>

“Forget federal races. Democrats are targeting a key state office”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103750>
Posted on February 25, 2019 3:32 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103750> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Roll Call<https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/secretary-of-state-democrats-elections> reports.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Michigan gerrymandering lawsuit now up to judges”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103748>
Posted on February 25, 2019 3:07 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103748> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Detroit News<https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/25/michigan-gerrymandering-lawsuit-now-up-judges/2982649002/>:

A three-judge panel is weighing the fate of a high-profile federal lawsuit alleging gerrymandering by Republican mapmakers who drew Michigan political boundaries in 2011.
Plaintiffs who sued over the maps and Republicans who are defending them on Friday filed lengthy “proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law” that amount to closing arguments in the case, which included oral arguments in early February
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

AOC Wrongly Relies on Brad Smith’s Article to Make the Opposite Point to the One He Was Making<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103746>
Posted on February 25, 2019 8:28 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103746> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Brad Smith<https://www.ifs.org/blog/ifs-chairman-brad-smith-corrects-aoc-on-campaign-finance-law/> fairly criticizes AOC’s use of his hush money article in the WSJ in her now viral video<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJlpS4vhKP0>about campaign money and Washington. I don’t think this undermines many of the points AOC made in her discussion of the money system in Washington–I agree with much of it. But she really mangled the point of Brad’s WSJ piece (more about which I‘ve written here<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102839>.) Brad’s argument was that hush money payments could NOT be paid with campaign expenses (and therefore Trump could not have violated the law by failing to report the payments as campaign expenditures). AOC said Brad had said it was not illegal to use campaign funds for hush money expenditures. [This last sentence has been edited for clarity.]
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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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