[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/30/19

[Rick Hasen]

LULAC Sues Texas Under Voting Rights Act for Directive About SOS Letter on Supposed Non-Citizen “Voter Fraud;” More Lawsuits May Be Coming<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103381>
Posted on January 30, 2019 7:39 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103381> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can find the complaint here<https://electionlawblog.org/?attachment_id=103380>. Here is an earlier Texas Tribune story<https://www.texastribune.org/2019/01/28/civil-rights-groups-warn-texas-voter-citizenship-check-could-be-illega/>, suggesting there may be more lawsuits coming.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“GOP Congressman Says Long Lines At The Polls Should Be ‘Applauded’”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103378>
Posted on January 30, 2019 7:34 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103378> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sam Levine reports<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/doug-collins-poll-lines_us_5c50b238e4b0f43e410bcd6f?d3i> for HuffPost.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


“Judiciary Hearing on Democrats’ Election Bill Turns Into Partisan Brawl”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103376>
Posted on January 30, 2019 7:30 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103376> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT reports.<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/us/politics/house-democrats-election-ethics-bill.html>

It says something about the Republicans’ views of election administration reform and improvement that they put up von Spakovsky and Adams as witnesses rather than credible Republican voices who have been working hard for sensible election reform. These voices would not have supported big parts of H.R. 1, but they would have engaged in a reasoned and productive conversation.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“NAACP Challenge to 2020 Census Preparations Moves Forward”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103373>
Posted on January 30, 2019 7:27 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103373> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release:<https://naacp.org/latest/naacp-challenge-2020-census-preparations-moves-forward/>

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and its allies today won a major court ruling that allows them to proceed with a federal lawsuit challenging the government’s inadequate preparations for the 2020 Census.
“[T]he census must be conducted in a way that will not thwart the goal of equal representation,” wrote U.S. District Judge Paul Grimm, in an opinion granting in part and denying a motion to dismiss brought by the Census Bureau. The ruling allows the case to proceed to discovery and potentially to trial.

You can find the judge’s opinion at this link<https://electionlawblog.org/?attachment_id=103374>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Kansas drops Kris Kobach’s appeal of contempt ruling, ACLU accepts $20,000 for legal fees”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103371>
Posted on January 30, 2019 7:23 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103371> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Topeka Capital-Journal:<https://www.cjonline.com/news/20190129/kansas-drops-kris-kobachs-appeal-of-contempt-ruling-aclu-accepts-20000-for-legal-fees>

The Kansas attorney general said Tuesday the state agreed to drop former Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s appeal of a federal court judge’s contempt order in exchange for the American Civil Liberties Union accepting only $20,000 for attorney fees and expenses.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt said the negotiated deal reduced from $26,200 the state’s obligation to the ACLU. U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson had found Kobach in contempt of court while he was serving as secretary of state in Kansas. Robinson sanctioned Kobach for failure to comply with her instructions.

Mediation involving ACLU lawyers and the attorney general’s office Jan. 25 also led to dismissal of Kobach’s appeal of the contempt ruling. It didn’t alter status of the state’s appeal of Robinson’s underlying election law decision, which found Kansas’ proof-of-citizenship statute unconstitutional.

The $20,000 payment to the ACLU must be drawn from accounts at the secretary of state’s office led by Scott Schwab, who was elected in November to replace Kobach. In January, Kobach left the statewide office after losing the 2018 campaign for governor.

Kobach was found in contempt while fighting the ACLU’s challenge of a state law requiring Kansans to show a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Robinson found the law unconstitutional, but her decision has been appealed to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Schmidt said the appeal of Robinson’s striking of Kansas’ proof-of-citizenship statute was scheduled for oral argument March 18.
“The bottom line is that a state statute, which was duly enacted by large bipartisan majorities in the Kansas Legislature, has been declared invalid by a federal court,” Schmidt said. “As long as the Legislature leaves that law on the books, we think the state’s authority to enact the statute requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote deserves a full and vigorous legal defense.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Texas quietly informs counties that some of the 95,000 voters flagged for citizenship review don’t belong on the list”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103369>
Posted on January 29, 2019 1:45 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103369> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Texas Tribune<https://www.texastribune.org/2019/01/29/texas-voter-citizenship-list-problems-state-tells-counties/>:

After flagging tens of thousands of registered voters for citizenship reviews, the Texas secretary of state’s office is now telling counties that some of those voters don’t belong on the lists it sent out.
Officials in five large counties — Harris, Travis, Fort Bend, Collin and Williamson — told The Texas Tribune they had received calls Tuesday from the secretary of state’s office indicating that some of the voters whose citizenship status the state said counties should consider checking should not actually be on those lists.
The secretary of state’s office incorrectly included some voters who had submitted their voting registration applications at Texas Department of Public Safety offices, according to county officials. Now, the secretary of state is instructing counties to remove them from the list of flagged voters.
“We’re going to proceed very carefully,” said Douglas Ray, a special assistant county attorney in Harris County, where 29,822 voters were initially flagged by the state. A “substantial number” of them are now being marked as citizens, Ray said.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>


State of Utah and Utah Democratic Party Respond in Utah Republican Political Party Rights Case in Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103367>
Posted on January 29, 2019 1:40 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103367> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Utah Democratic Party brief.<http://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-450/82124/20190129124625517_18-450%20BIO%20Utah%20Democratic%20Party.pdf>

Lt. Gov. Brief<http://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-450/82135/20190129132840869_18-450%20BIO%20Utah.pdf>.

Here’s my earlier coverage<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=101447>.
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Posted in political parties<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>


Must-Watch: Sherrilyn Ifill Lays Into Von Spakovsky and Christian Adams on Voter Fraud and the Fraudulent Fraud Squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103365>
Posted on January 29, 2019 11:44 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103365> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Watch this:<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF/status/1090302997467488256>
<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF/status/1090302997467488256>
[Embedded video]<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF/status/1090302997467488256>
[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/876809758535057408/6ATTTiwy_normal.jpg]<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF>
<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF>
Legal Defense Fund<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF>
✔@NAACP_LDF<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF>

<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF/status/1090302997467488256>


WATCH: @Sifill_LDF<https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF> calls out misleading testimony and how "shading the reality of what it takes for lawyers and communities to challenge discriminatory voting practices...is the reason that we need #HR1<https://twitter.com/hashtag/HR1?src=hash>." #ForThePeople<https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForThePeople?src=hash> #WomenLead<https://twitter.com/hashtag/WomenLead?src=hash>
<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1090302997467488256>
2,815<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1090302997467488256>
9:37 AM - Jan 29, 2019<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF/status/1090302997467488256> · Washington, DC<https://twitter.com/search?q=place%3A01fbe706f872cb32>
<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF/status/1090302997467488256>
1,525 people are talking about this<https://twitter.com/NAACP_LDF/status/1090302997467488256>

Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“The Blue Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania’s Election Security Report Release”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103363>
Posted on January 29, 2019 7:01 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103363> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release<https://www.cyber.pitt.edu/electionsecuritypressrelease>:

The Blue Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania’s Election Security today released a final report<http://www.cyber.pitt.edu/report> recommending legislators consider bond issuances to help counties purchase voting systems with paper ballots and implement mandatory post-election audits and election emergency plans before the 2020 presidential election.
In September, the commission<https://www.cyber.pitt.edu/commission> released interim recommendations<https://www.cyber.pitt.edu/interim-recommendations> to replace insecure Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting systems with those that incorporate voter-marked paper ballots, such as optical scan machines, and for state and federal governments to help counties cover associated costs. The final report reiterates those top priorities and provides a framework for swift legislative action.  …

Recommendations in the report include:
The Department of State should decertify DRE voting systems after Dec. 31, 2019, if not sooner, and should not certify DRE machines — not even with voter-verifiable paper audit trails. Only systems that tabulate voter-marked paper ballots, which are retained for recounts and audits, should be certified.
Pennsylvania’s governor, general assembly and counties should explore creative financing mechanisms such as a bond issuance to help counties fund the cost of replacing voting systems.
The general assembly should require transparent risk-limiting audits after each election.
The general assembly should revise the Pennsylvania Election Code to provide clear authority for the suspension or extension of elections due to widescale cyber-related attacks, natural disaster or other emergencies disruptive of voting.
The Pennsylvania Department of State and counties should include cybersecurity as a key selection factor when selecting election-related vendors.
The Commonwealth and counties should provide cybersecurity awareness training for election officials where it is not already in place.
The auditor general and Commonwealth’s Inter-Agency Election Preparedness and Security Workgroup should review the Commonwealth’s cyber incident response plans for improvements.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, voting technology<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>


Florida: “Suspended elections chief Susan Bucher resigns rather than take fight to GOP-controlled Senate”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103361>
Posted on January 29, 2019 6:59 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103361> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sun-Sentinel:<https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-ne-susan-bucher-resignation-20190128-story.html>

Susan Bucher resigned Monday as Palm Beach County’s suspended supervisor of elections, claiming she was a victim of “political agendas” and that as a former Democratic legislator she could never get a fair hearing in a Republican-controlled state Senate.
Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Bucher<https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-ron-desantis-suspends-susan-bucher-20190118-story.html> from office on Jan. 18, accusing the veteran elections official of incompetence. DeSantis’ suspension order was based largely on a highly detailed three-page summary compiled by former Secretary of State Michael Ertel<https://www.sun-sentinel.com/topic/politics-government/michael-ertel-PEGPF00349-topic.html>, who cited “trust in our elections” as a hallmark of the republic.
Ertel, who accused Bucher of “combative incompetence,” himself abruptly left office last Thursday after photos surfaced showing him dressed in blackface and wearing a T-shirt that said “Katrina victim” at a 2005 Halloween party. Ertel, a former supervisor of elections in Seminole County in suburban Orlando, confirmed that the photos were of him and he immediately resigned.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


--
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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