[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/15/19

[Rick Hasen]

“Documents shed light on Russian hacking of Democratic Party leaders”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104182>
Posted on March 14, 2019 8:21 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104182> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/documents-shed-light-on-russian-hacking-of-democratic-party-leaders/2019/03/14/dd00ad68-4694-11e9-8aab-95b8d80a1e4f_story.html?utm_term=.6539130864a0>:

Documents unsealed Thursday in a lawsuit have shed new light on how hackers breached Democratic Party email accounts before the 2016 election.

The documents include a forensic analysis by a former top official in the FBI’s cybercrime division, which concluded that a Web server company owned by a Russian Internet entrepreneur was used by Russian operatives to hack Democratic Party leaders.

The Russian businessman, Aleksej Gubarev, has denied involvement in the hack, and his lawyers argued for months that the forensic analysis should be kept under seal and hidden from public view.

The analysis was completed as part of a federal lawsuit Gubarev filed in Florida against BuzzFeed, the online news outlet. Gubarev argued BuzzFeed defamed him by publishing a dossier written by former British spy Christopher Steele. The dossier alleged that hackers used servers from two of Gubarev’s companies — Webzilla and its parent company XBT Holding.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


9th Circuit Panel Struggles with Constitutionality of Federal Ban on Foreign Contributions in State and Local Elections<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104180>
Posted on March 14, 2019 8:15 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104180> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Josh Gerstein<https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2019/03/14/court-wrestles-with-law-banning-foreign-donations-1222405> for Politico:

The federal government’s claim that it has the authority to ban foreigners from voting and donating in state and local elections prompted sharp questioning from a federal appeals court panel this week.

Three 9th Circuit judges heard challenges Wednesday brought by two men convicted of campaign-finance violations in San Diego.
Lawyers for political consultant Ravneet Singh and Mexican businessman Jose Azano contended in legal briefs that the federal law banning campaign donations by foreigners is unconstitutional when applied to non-federal elections, at least with respect to foreigners who have significant ties to the U.S.

However, the first specific mention of the issue at oral arguments in a San Francisco courtroom on Wednesday came not from lawyers for either side, but when Judge Paul Watford asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Hong to respond to the constitutional question embedded in the case….

Moments later, Singh’s attorney told the panel that the federal government’s position in the case was a threat to the balance of power between the central government on one side and states and localities on the other.

“What they’ve forgotten about is federalism,” said the lawyer, Harold Krent, “It’s up to the state and local government to decide who votes, who can contribute. How ironic that we’re here in San Francisco, which has given the vote to noncitizens in school board elections. And the argument from the government is: ‘Oh yeah, we can overrule that at any time because we have total control of who can participate in governance in terms of voting, in terms of contributions.’”

Krent said it was bizarre that foreigners in the U.S. have the right to write about elections or engage in street protests, but can’t donate money.


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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


“What if top vote-getter became president? Plan would bypass Electoral College”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104178>
Posted on March 14, 2019 8:07 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104178> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

SF Chronicle<https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/What-if-top-vote-getter-became-president-Plan-13689347.php>:

A national effort to bypass the Electoral College and pick the president by popular vote — which may or may not be constitutional — is picking up new support and moving closer to success.

Governors in Colorado, New Mexico and Delaware are poised to sign the National Popular Vote compact, under which states would pledge to give all their electoral votes to the candidate who collects the most votes nationwide. California, 10 other states and the District of Columbia already have joined the compact, which would take effect if states holding 270 electoral votes, the number needed to elect a president, sign on.

Colorado’s nine electoral votes, New Mexico’s five and Delaware’s three will bring the total to 189, more than two-thirds of the way there. However, backers have their toughest work in front of them — the states that haven’t signed on are mostly Republican-controlled ones unwilling to give more clout to large, heavily Democratic states, and there are serious questions about whether such a compact would be constitutional.
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Posted in electoral college<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>


“Election Law and White Identity Politics”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104176>
Posted on March 14, 2019 7:36 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104176> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Joshua Sellers has posted this draf<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3257132>t on SSRN (Fordham Law Review). Here is the abstract:

The role of race in American politics looms large in several election law doctrines. Regretfully, though, these doctrines’ analyses of race, racial identity, and the relationships between race and politics, often lack sophistication, historical context, or foresight. The political status quo is treated as race-neutral, when in fact it is anything but. Specifically, the doctrines rely upon sanguine theories of democracy uncorrupted by white identity-based political calculations, while in fact, such calculations, made on the part of both voters and political parties, are pervasive.

In this Article, I appraise the doctrine pertaining to majority-minority voting districts, racial gerrymandering doctrine, the doctrine governing ballot access disputes, and campaign finance doctrine, through the lens of white identity politics. Drawing from research in political science, sociology, and history, I argue that these doctrines are blighted by what I identify as “racial blind spots” that are inconsonant with political reality. Given the role that courts play in enunciating these doctrines, their failure to meaningfully engage with the significance of white identity politics renders their governing frameworks and remedial prescriptions inapt. The Article concludes by offering a number of suggestions, both doctrinal and legislative, for how to mitigate white identity politics.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Bipartisan Support for Popular Political Reform Evaporates in Congress”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104174>
Posted on March 14, 2019 7:33 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104174> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Kevin Johnson:<https://ivn.us/2019/03/14/bipartisan-support-political-reform-evaporates-congress/>

Of course Democrats shouldn’t be criticized for their high profile embrace of reform, nor blamed for the fact that, as Rick Hasen states it, “fundamental changes” are needed “in the platform and electoral strategy of the Republican Party” for election reform to gain bi-partisan support.  Nevertheless, one wonders if the Democrats missed opportunities to make HR1 as inclusive in process as it is in substance.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Trump issues warning to opponents: ‘It would be very bad’ if his military, police and biker supporters got ‘tough’”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104169>
Posted on March 14, 2019 10:13 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104169> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Daniel Dale<https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2019/03/14/trump-issues-warning-to-opponents-it-would-be-very-bad-if-his-military-police-and-biker-supporters-got-tough.html> for The Toronto Star:

U.S. President Donald Trump has issued what seems to be a warning of armed pushback against his political opponents, telling a right-wing website on Monday that “it would be very bad, very bad” if his supporters in the military, police and a motorcycle group were provoked into getting “tough.”

Trump uttered the remark in an interview with Breitbart News, a right-wing website that supports him. It came, according to Breitbart<https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/13/exclusive-president-donald-trump-paul-ryan-blocked-subpoenas-of-democrats/>, as Trump was arguing that “the left” plays politics in a “tougher” and more “vicious” manner than the pro-Trump right even though “the tough people” are on Trump’s side.

“I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump — I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad,” Trump said.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


“A Donald Trump coup if he loses in 2020? With all the norms he’s busted, don’t rule it out”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104167>
Posted on March 14, 2019 9:12 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104167> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

USA Today oped<https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/03/14/donald-trump-peaceful-transition-or-coup-if-he-loses-2020-column/3141268002/> by Jerry Goldfeder and Lincoln Mitchell.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“New Georgia voting machines win final vote in state House”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104165>
Posted on March 14, 2019 8:43 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104165> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AJC<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/new-georgia-voting-machines-win-final-vote-state-house/twQCxrn1Cy9bFbLcUEwTlN/>:

The Georgia House gave final legislative approval Thursday to buying a new $150 million touchscreen-and-paper ballot statewide voting system, sending the bill to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature.

The House voted 101-69 on the proposal for Georgia voters to use a combination of voting machines and computer-printed paper ballots<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-voting-machine-debate-pits-election-officials-tech-experts/XcY73sFwlRKQAw7NPoNvRL/>starting with the presidential primary election next year. The bill passed the Senate<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/new-georgia-voting-machines-near-final-approval-after-passing-senate/qDJL8kjrQWaiQEzVVcfN3I/> on Wednesday….

Minority Democrats fought the legislation, House Bill 316<https://legislativenavigator.myajc.com/#bills/HB/316>, saying it would leave Georgia’s elections vulnerable to hacking<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/how-hack-elections-georgia-electronic-voting-machines/K4s5F935330BS6fGDm3CVI/> and tampering.
Democrats wanted Georgia to switch to paper ballots bubbled in by pen, saying those ballots would have better reflected voters’ intentions.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, voting technology<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>


--
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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