[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/13/19

Tue Mar 12 21:40:36 PDT 2019

“Citizen grand jury disbands in Kobach case without returning indictment”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104136>
Posted on March 12, 2019 9:29 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104136> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Lawrence Journal-World<http://www2.ljworld.com/news/public-safety/2019/mar/06/citizen-grand-jury-disbands-in-kobach-case-without-returning-indictment/>:

A citizen-initiated grand jury that was impaneled in January to investigate alleged election-related crimes by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office has adjourned without bringing an indictment, according to a court document in the case.

After reviewing the citizen petition, exhibits and testimony of witnesses, the grand jury found “no cognizable crime under the laws of the State of Kansas,” said the document, obtained Wednesday by the Journal-World.
Otherwise, as with any type of grand jury, the panel’s proceedings were secret and closed to the public, from jury selection to investigative actions it may have taken.

Steven Davis, the Lawrence resident who petitioned to convene the grand jury, said Wednesday that he was disappointed in the outcome but that he respected the process.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

“California Teen Voter Pre-registration Lags”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104134>
Posted on March 12, 2019 9:18 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104134> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Laura Brill<https://thecivicscenter.org/blog/2019/3/12/oa7m0gkdcon7xc11y6jk2s4zdua2mk>:

High school students in California can pre-register to vote when they are 16 or 17 years old.  Students who pre-register are automatically registered to vote when they turn 18.

But according to a new analysis released today by The Civics Center, as of February 2019, only 14% of 16- and 17-year olds in the state are pre-registered to vote.  The Civics Center<https://thecivicscenter.org/> is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes voter registration, pre-registration and civic engagement in high schools.
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Posted in voting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>

City of Santa Monica Files Writ Petition in CA Court of Appeal to Clarify Whether It Must Hold New District Elections During Pendency of Appeal over California Voting Rights Act<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104131>
Posted on March 12, 2019 9:16 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104131> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This is a side issue but could tell us something about the ultimate merits of the case. Petition here<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2019.3.8_Petition-for-writ-of-supersedeas.pdf>.

Note that I am adding this to a new blog category, CVRA, given that this issue is heating up. (Most earlier posts on this topic appear in the Voting Rights Act topic, which I’ll now use just for federal VRA claims.)
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Posted in CVRA<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=124>

Texas: “DA under pressure to probe more voter fraud cases”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104129>
Posted on March 12, 2019 3:03 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104129> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Monitor:<https://www.themonitor.com/2019/03/10/da-pressure-probe-voter-fraud-cases/>

A Houston attorney filed a criminal complaint last week accusing a candidate in the upcoming McAllen municipal election of voting illegally in Mission, and a few days later, he published a video on social media accusing the Hidalgo County District Attorney of being selective in prosecuting these cases.

Attorney Jared Najvar filed the complaint against Tania Ramirez with the Mission Police Department March 1 after news surfaced that she voted at least three different times in 2018 Mission elections — this despite swearing under oath in her District 4 candidacy application that she has been living continuously in McAllen since early 2017.

“Voting where you know you don’t reside and you’re not eligible to vote is a second-degree felony under Texas law,” Najvar said in a video he posted to his law firm’s Facebook page on Tuesday.

The allegations against Ramirez are of special interest to Najvar for two reasons — he’s representing a group of individuals accused of committing voter fraud in the 2017 Edinburg Municipal Election; and because of Ramirez’s ties to DA Ricardo Rodriguez.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“ACLU Sues Georgia Counties Over Inadequate Election Resources”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104127>
Posted on March 12, 2019 3:01 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104127> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

HuffPost reports.<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/aclu-georgia-election-suit_n_5c880e72e4b0fbd7661e927e>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Chuzpah Dep’t: North Carolina Republican Legislative Leader Phil Berger Criticizes Democratic Governor Cooper for Not Appointing Republican to State Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104125>
Posted on March 12, 2019 7:25 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104125> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This coming <https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article227405429.html> from someone who has done more to make North Carolina a partisan battleground is too, too rich:

One of the state’s top Republican politicians, Senate leader Phil Berger, criticized Cooper for not appointing a Republican to the court so that there would be a less lopsided political balance.

“It seems that Governor Cooper’s primary criteria for appointing judges is their political affiliation,” Berger said. “For years, Governor Cooper has called for a nonpartisan judiciary and partisan balance to government. By expanding the Democratic supermajority on the Supreme Court, he has shown that it was just empty rhetoric. Governor Cooper is the hyper-partisan he has long condemned.”

From an extreme partisan gerrymander which was defended solely on grounds that it helps Republicans, to voter id amendment put on the ballot after the last law was struck down as unconstitutional (targeting African-American voters “with almost surgical precision”) to multiple attempts to deprive the Democratic governor of the power governors have had to multiple attempts to try to change the partisan power of state election boards in Republicans’ favor, Berger has had a hand in all of them.

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

--
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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