[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/17/19

Thu Jan 17 08:56:00 PST 2019

“Cohen Hired IT Firm to Rig Early CNBC, Drudge Polls to Favor Trump”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103208>
Posted on January 17, 2019 8:50 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103208> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Latest WSJ bombshell:<https://www.wsj.com/articles/poll-rigging-for-trump-and-creating-womenforcohen-one-it-firms-work-order-11547722801?mod=hp_lead_pos1>

In early 2015, a man who runs a small technology company showed up at Trump Tower to collect $50,000 for having helped Michael Cohen, then Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, try to rig online polls in his boss’s favor before the presidential campaign.

In his Trump Organization office, Mr. Cohen surprised the man, John Gauger, by giving him a blue Walmart<https://quotes.wsj.com/WMT> bag containing between $12,000 and $13,000 in cash and, randomly, a boxing glove that Mr. Cohen said had been worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter, Mr. Gauger said.
Mr. Cohen disputed that he handed over a bag of cash. “All monies paid to Mr. Gauger were by check,” he said, offering no further comment on his ties to the consultant.

Mr. Gauger owns RedFinch Solutions LLC and is chief information officer at Liberty University in Virginia, where Jerry Falwell Jr., an evangelical leader and fervent Trump supporter, is president….

In January 2014, Mr. Cohen asked Mr. Gauger to help Mr. Trump score well in a CNBC online poll to identify the country’s top business leaders by writing a computer script to repeatedly vote for him. Mr. Gauger was unable to get Mr. Trump into the top 100 candidates. In February 2015, as Mr. Trump prepared to enter the presidential race, Mr. Cohen asked him to do the same for a Drudge Report poll of potential Republican candidates, Mr. Gauger said. Mr. Trump ranked fifth, with about 24,000 votes, or 5% of the total.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“‘Our machines stink.’ Blevins seeking millions for new voting machines in Lexington.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103206>
Posted on January 17, 2019 8:38 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103206> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports<https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article224506285.html>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“GE is shedding more light on its political donations”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103204>
Posted on January 17, 2019 8:35 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103204> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Boston Globe reports. <https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/01/16/chesto/JAe76njjbr8F4ky4zpBWjI/story.html>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Michigan: “Benson weighs gerrymandering case, Whitmer ad complaint”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103202>
Posted on January 16, 2019 1:08 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103202> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Detroit News.<https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/16/benson-gerrymandering-whitmer-ad-complaint/2593483002/>

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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Voting rights: Rep. Marcia Fudge is on a mission and coming to a state near you”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103200>
Posted on January 16, 2019 10:09 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103200> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

USA Today:<https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/15/voting-rights-rep-marcia-fudge-sets-sights-free-fair-elections/2574378002/>

Rep. Marcia Fudge is quick to acknowledge you only have to look to her home state of Ohio to talk about voting rights concerns .

So, in the Democrat’s new role as chairwoman of a revived House subcommittee on elections, Ohio will be one of six states where the panel will host field hearings starting as early as next month. The other states include Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, North Dakota and Texas.

The hearings come in the wake of concerns that some voters, particularly in those states, faced problems during the midterms, including proposed poll closures in a predominately black county in Georgia.<https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/08/24/georgia-officials-vote-not-close-polling-sites-randolph-county/1078513002/>
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Posted in Voting Rights Act<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

--
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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