[EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/9/19

Wed May 8 20:25:57 PDT 2019

Connecticut: “Senate Republicans urged by conservative base to oppose early voting”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105080>
Posted on May 8, 2019 8:20 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105080> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Hartford Courant<https://www.courant.com/politics/hc-pol-gop-early-voting-20190508-fewvddoqyzgrpbg4efbk5fkyeu-story.html>:

A group of key conservatives is urging Senate Republicans to oppose an early voting measure, which the House overwhelmingly approved on a bipartisan basis earlier this year to bring Connecticut into line with most other states.

Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have some form of early voting, which proponents say would boost turnout and remove the hardships for groups such as senior citizens, college students, parents of young children and people having to take time off of work.

The change would require an amendment the state constitution. which requires legislative approval and a public referendum. A previous effort failed to win public approval in 2014, but Democrats have revived the effort during the current legislative session and culled enough votes from Republicans to pass it with a super-majority in the House….

Markley said early voting diminishes the significance of Election Day and binds voters to candidates before potential late-breaking developments in an election. He cited the withdrawal of fellow Southington Republican Steven Baleshiski from the 30th House District race with just over three weeks before the election last fall for criticizing the victims of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting online.

“Once you get away from the idea that there’s an Election Day, then you get on a constant slippery slope,” Markley said. “The votes are cast if something changes on the ballot. The votes are cast if something happens in the news.”
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Will Sign Controversial Felons’ Voting Measure”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105077>
Posted on May 8, 2019 8:12 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105077> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CBS Miami:<https://miami.cbslocal.com/2019/05/07/florida-governor-ron-desantis-felons-voting-measure/>

 Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he will sign a controversial measure that would require repayment of financial obligations before felons’ voting rights are restored.

“I’ll sign it,” DeSantis said while at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science to discuss environmental issues from the legislative session that ended Saturday.

“The (constitutional) amendment says, if you read it, you have to complete your sentence,” DeSantis continued. “And I think most people understand you can be sentenced to jail, probation, restoration if you harm someone. You can be sentenced with a fine. People that bilk people out of money, sometimes that is an appropriate sentence. That’s what the constitutional provision said. I think the Legislature just implemented that as it’s written.”

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Posted in felon voting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>

“FBI to meet with Florida delegation to discuss Russian hacking”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105075>
Posted on May 8, 2019 4:51 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105075> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico:<https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2019/05/08/fbi-to-meet-with-florida-delegation-to-discuss-russian-hacking-1010480>

The FBI will hold a classified briefing with members of the Florida congressional delegation next week about suspected Russian hacking during the 2016 elections.

The FBI is scheduled to meet with House members May 16. The agency will sit down Republican Sen. Rick Scott<https://cd.politicopro.com/member/175586> ahead of the delegation meeting.

The FBI briefings were confirmed by three people with knowledge of the meetings who weren’t authorized to discuss them publicly.
Special counsel Robert Mueller last month revealed the suspected hacking in a report<https://subscriber.politicopro.com/f/Justice_Department_redacted_ve.pdf?&id=0000016a-3105-d50f-a96a-f957087d0001> on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The disclosure jolted Florida officials, who had previously insisted the Russians had been unsuccessful in their hacking efforts.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“In Michigan & Ohio, Justice Delayed Could Mean Justice Denied; Is There A Better Way?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105073>
Posted on May 8, 2019 4:38 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105073> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Mike Parsons<https://moderndemocracyblog.com/2019/05/08/in-michigan-ohio-justice-delayed-could-mean-justice-denied-is-there-a-better-way/>:

In the past two weeks, federal district courts have struck down partisan gerrymanders in both Michigan<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/michigan-gerrymandering.pdf> and Ohio<https://www.scribd.com/document/408562889/Ohio-Redistricting-decision>.  As a matter of legal doctrine, these decisions are important.  As Nick Stephanopoulos states, they reveal an emerging consensus among lower courts<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104888> on the standards for partisan gerrymandering and they show that judges across the political spectrum can faithfully apply these standards even in an era of growing judicial polarization<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104996>.  In short, they belie the arguments that judicially manageable standards do not exist or cannot be applied in a relatively apolitical manner.  (The Ohio court even suggests that partisan-gerrymandering claims cannot be rendered categorically nonjusticiable<https://twitter.com/GMikeParsons/status/1126130434948194305> consistent with Article III.)

As a practical matter, however, the decisions might have little impact.  Both the Michigan<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104949> and Ohio<https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/05/ohio-appeals-to-us-supreme-court-in-gerrymandering-case.html> decisions were quickly appealed, and stays have been requested in both<https://mitechnews.com/politics/republicans-request-emergency-stay-on-redistricting-ruling/> cases<https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/05/ohio-appeals-to-us-supreme-court-in-gerrymandering-case.html>.  As Rick Hasen suggests, the Supreme Court seems likely to grant stays in both<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=104993> pending its ruling in the North Carolina and Maryland cases.  If the remedial process is dragged out long enough, the plaintiffs might miss their chance at relief before the 2020 election even if the Supreme Court affirms in the North Carolina and/or Maryland cases.  Plaintiffs in a racial gerrymandering case from North Carolina faced a similar fate<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/06/28/the-supreme-court-is-in-no-hurry-to-protect-voters-from-gerrymandering/?utm_term=.cc341e90ec03> a few years ago when the Supreme Court held a case for months without action.

Nowadays, Plaintiffs in redistricting cases face an obstacle course of procedural rules (the Lipscomb principle, the Growe principle, the Abrams/Perry principle, the Upham principle, and the Purcell principle<https://ssrn.com/abstract=2545676>) that make rolling appeals/stays an effective strategy for legislators trying to parlay their ill-gotten gains into the next election cycle.  The Supreme Court made this obstacle course even more difficult<https://ssrn.com/abstract=3384700> with its decisions last term in Abbott v. Perez<https://casetext.com/case/abbott-v-perez-2> and North Carolina v. Covington<https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-1364_h3dj.pdf>.

Is there anything district courts can do to help prevent such legislative gamesmanship when they find redistricting plans unconstitutional?  Perhaps.  In a forthcoming essay<https://ssrn.com/abstract=3384700> in the Journal of Law in Society, I offer a few strategic case-management suggestions for district courts looking to provide timelier relief.  One that might’ve helped in Michigan and Ohio: provide declaratory relief alone when issuing a merits decision, and defer imposing any injunctive relief until a backup remedial plan has been generated<https://ssrn.com/abstract=3384700>.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Trump slammed opponents for being in ‘cahoots’ with super PACs. Now, he’s endorsed a group supporting him.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105071>
Posted on May 8, 2019 4:29 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105071> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Michelle Ye He Lee for WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-endorsed-a-super-pac-supporting-him--and-heres-why-that-might-not-be-a-legal-problem/2019/05/08/b7555786-710e-11e9-8be0-ca575670e91c_story.html?utm_term=.191cf1ef9242>.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal election commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

Michigan Will Allow “Ballot Selfies”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105069>
Posted on May 8, 2019 7:15 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105069> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release<https://pillaroflaw.org/2019/05/08/pillar-of-law-ballot-selfie-case-settles-for-free-speech/>:

Joel Crookston and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson submitted a stipulated order to dismiss<https://pillaroflaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CrookstonStipulation.pdf> to Judge Janet T. Neff of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan today, asking her to recognize settlement in a lawsuit<https://pillaroflaw.org/cases/> brought by Crookston that challenged state prohibitions on photographing and displaying one’s own marked ballot outside of polling places, including on social media.

“Michigan voters will be free to photograph their own marked ballots at the polls in future elections,” said Stephen Klein, of counsel to the Pillar of Law Institute and lead counsel for Crookston. “It’s a big win for a simple act of free speech, voting integrity, and common sense.”

Under the terms of the settlement<https://pillaroflaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CrookstonSettlement.pdf>, Secretary Benson agrees that Michigan law does not prohibit a voter from displaying a marked ballot as long as it is outside of a polling place and the 100-foot “buffer zone” around a polling place. By the next election in August, Secretary Benson will revise Michigan’s polling place instructions to specifically guide voters as to how to photograph their own ballots in voting stations. Crookston withdrew his other challenges to the polling place photography ban and ballot exposure laws.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Data Disprove the ‘Voter Suppression’ Myth; Democrats scapegoat photo-ID laws for losses in states where minority turnout rose in 2018.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105067>
Posted on May 8, 2019 7:07 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105067> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jason Riley WSJ column<https://www.wsj.com/articles/data-disprove-the-voter-suppression-myth-11557268819?emailToken=d124e2d67db60d58fe4084efd28052b58CaUs17CFVI2aVlRgOzNk4tsJONSIgFZ05olwgpsAys6+htuwJEveb7kZjzdK9u03/V7zWbmLAQNjtNzDhgp3NWt4Z7MVK+qWoKjwfA+f9U%3D&reflink=article_email_share>.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

--
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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