[EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/25/19

[Rick Hasen]

North Carolina: “Judges weighing initial arguments to strike down 2016 congressional map ahead of 2020 election”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107799>
Posted on October 24, 2019 10:28 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107799> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Melissa Boughton reports.<http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2019/10/24/judges-weighing-initial-arguments-to-strike-down-2016-congressional-map-ahead-of-2020-election/>
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>


Tulsi Gabbard Won’t Run for Congressional Reelection, Focusing Instead on Presidential Run. Will She Run as Third Party Candidate?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107797>
Posted on October 24, 2019 10:23 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107797> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

She’s said in the past that she won’t. But this <https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1187580455731654657> up the stakes
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Justice Dept. Is Said to Open Criminal Inquiry Into Its Own Russia Investigation”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107795>
Posted on October 24, 2019 10:19 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107795> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/politics/john-durham-criminal-investigation.html>

 For more than two years, President Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russia investigation, portraying it as a hoax and illegal even months after the special counsel closed it. Now, Mr. Trump’s own Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into how it all began.
Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move gives the prosecutor running it, John H. Durham, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to convene a grand jury and to file criminal charges.
The opening of a criminal investigation is likely to raise alarms that Mr. Trump is using the Justice Department to go after his perceived enemies. Mr. Trump fired James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director under whose watch agents opened the Russia inquiry, and has long assailed other top former law enforcement and intelligence officials as partisans who sought to block his election.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, Department of Justice<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>


“Biden appears to drop his opposition to a super PAC”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107793>
Posted on October 24, 2019 10:16 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107793> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-appears-to-drop-his-opposition-to-a-super-pac/2019/10/24/c93e7b2a-f693-11e9-a285-882a8e386a96_story.html>

Joe Biden is apparently dropping his long-held opposition to the creation of an outside group that would supply an infusion of money to benefit his campaign, a recognition that financial struggles are becoming a major problem for his presidential prospects.

Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, released a statement Thursday afternoon saying that Biden will reform campaign finance if he is president, but in the meantime, he will open the door to outside money.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


“Civil rights group challenges rejection of George Mason student voter registrations”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107791>
Posted on October 24, 2019 10:15 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107791> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/civil-rights-group-challenges-rejection-of-george-mason-student-voter-registrations/2019/10/24/10e27f60-f66e-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Quotes My Tweet About Mayor Pete and Justice Kennedy Without Naming Me<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107789>
Posted on October 24, 2019 10:10 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107789> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Interesting:<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1187596604972269568>

Mr. Buttigieg criticized Ms. Warren and Beto O’Rourke for being too extreme on health care and guns at last week’s Democratic debate, and now he’s changing on the issue that ignited his unlikely candidacy. In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Mr. Buttigieg cited “Justices like Justice [Anthony] Kennedy or Justice [David] Souter” as additions who would “depoliticize” the Supreme Court.

This isn’t sitting well with liberal activists and intellectuals. Said one law professor on Twitter<https://quotes.wsj.com/TWTR> : “You mean the author of Citizens United allowing unlimited corporate spending in candidate elections and one of the 5 votes in the majority in Shelby County killing a key section of the Voting Rights Act? *That* Justice Kennedy?”
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Posted in Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


Watch the Archived Video Recording of the Recent Harvard Law School Conference on the Electoral College<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107787>
Posted on October 24, 2019 2:06 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107787> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

It was a great conference<http://hlselectoral.wpengine.com/video-recordings/>, and you can watch these videos:

Introductory Remarks & Panel I: The Electoral College and Majority Rule: Past, Present, and Future<https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/html5/html5lib/v2.76/mwEmbedFrame.php/p/1511881/uiconf_id/27047321/entry_id/1_iu5q95mp?wid=_1511881&iframeembed=true&playerId=ddata-e1ed7309-7645-46c8-bc79-eb5e6570122e&entry_id=1_iu5q95mp>

Panel II: Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? A Discussion<https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/html5/html5lib/v2.76/mwEmbedFrame.php/p/1511881/uiconf_id/27047321/entry_id/1_6lk4t121?wid=_1511881&iframeembed=true&playerId=ddata-e4830070-9ed9-4aff-ba85-6847bc0ea13a&entry_id=1_6lk4t121>
Keynote Presentations<https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/html5/html5lib/v2.76/mwEmbedFrame.php/p/1511881/uiconf_id/27047321/entry_id/1_d7rbebgr?wid=_1511881&iframeembed=true&playerId=ddata-60d9435b-1b0a-4d6f-b2aa-a6c013778a32&entry_id=1_d7rbebgr>

Panel III: The National Popular Vote Compact and the Electoral College: End Run or Dead End?<https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/html5/html5lib/v2.76/mwEmbedFrame.php/p/1511881/uiconf_id/27047321/entry_id/1_f5cwofal?wid=_1511881&iframeembed=true&playerId=ddata-3e3a7d7b-d8fd-45a2-94cb-7025a3b79d10&entry_id=1_f5cwofal>

Panel IV: Courting & Selecting the Electoral College & Concluding Remarks<https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/html5/html5lib/v2.76/mwEmbedFrame.php/p/1511881/uiconf_id/27047321/entry_id/1_supg14tk?wid=_1511881&iframeembed=true&playerId=ddata-974b0e4c-f49a-4784-8507-6f08d4824808&entry_id=1_supg14tk>
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Posted in electoral college<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>


“As Trump seeks reelection, immigrant voters stand in his path”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107785>
Posted on October 24, 2019 2:04 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107785> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

LAT<https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-10-23/trump-attacks-immigrants-new-naturalized-citizen-voter-registration>:

This is where a nation changes: a public school auditorium that moonlights as a veritable citizenship factory.

At the M.O. Campbell Educational Center, where murals honoring the arts and sciences adorn the walls, U.S. immigration officials routinely hold packed naturalization ceremonies. Immigrants approved for citizenship walk in, take the oath of allegiance, and walk out as Americans — and as a small army of new voters.

“It will never, ever be easier to register than it is this morning,” U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison, who presided over a ceremony last month, told the 2,155 immigrants from more than 100 countries who had just taken their citizenship oaths.“The record for registrations is 89% of those who are sworn in…. Let’s see if we can break that record today.”

Amish Soni, a 34-year-old radiologist from India holding a small American flag, was one of the 85% who registered to vote that morning, aided by a volunteer from the League of Women Voters. He “definitely” plans to vote in 2020, partly because he thinks the healthcare system should be fixed, but also: “I’m not a big fan of Donald Trump.” And he’s far from the only one.

At ceremonies like these across the country, hundreds of thousands of immigrants are expected to receive their U.S. citizenship and become eligible to vote before November 2020, gently reshaping—and threatening — the electoral path that President Trump must thread to win reelection.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Today’s Must-Read from Michael Wines: “The Student Vote Is Surging. So Are Efforts to Suppress It.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107783>
Posted on October 24, 2019 7:25 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107783> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Michael Wines<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/voting-college-suppression.html> for the NYT:

The story at Austin Community College is but one example of a political drama playing out nationwide: After decades of treating elections as an afterthought, college students have begun voting in force.

Their turnout in the 2018 midterms — 40.3 percent of 10 million students<https://idhe.tufts.edu/sites/default/files/DemocracyCounts2018.pdf> tracked by Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education — was more than double the rate in the 2014 midterms, easily exceeding an already robust increase in national turnout. Energized by issues like climate change and the Trump presidency, students have suddenly emerged as a potentially crucial voting bloc in the 2020 general election.

And almost as suddenly, Republican politicians around the country are throwing up roadblocks between students and voting booths.
Not coincidentally, the barriers are rising fastest in political battlegrounds and places like Texas where one-party control is eroding. Students overwhelmingly lean Democratic, with three in four supportive of impeaching President Trump, according to an Axios/College Reaction poll released this month<https://collegereaction.com/posts/poll-75-of-college-students-support-impeachment?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top>.

Some states have wrestled with voting eligibility for out-of-state students in the past. And the politicians enacting the roadblocks often say they are raising barriers to election fraud, not ballots. “The threat to election integrity in Texas is real, and the need to provide additional safeguards is increasing,” the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, said last year<https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/files/epress/Issues_Related_to_Interim_Charges_on_Election_Integrity-02-06-090518.pdf> in announcing one of his office’s periodic crackdowns on illegal voting. But evidence of widespread fraud is nonexistent<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/18/us/voter-fraud.html?module=inline>, and the restrictions fit an increasingly unabashed pattern<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/us/some-republicans-acknowledge-leveraging-voter-id-laws-for-political-gain.html?module=inline> of Republican politicians’ efforts to discourage voters likely to oppose them.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Corporate Political Transparency: It’s Optional”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107781>
Posted on October 24, 2019 7:21 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107781> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Dave Levinthal for CPI:<https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/corporate-political-transparency-dark-money/>

Basking in the sunny side of the corporate political disclosure spectrum are household names such as AT&T, HP Inc., Capital One Financial Corp., General Electric Co. and Google parent Alphabet Inc.

Comparatively slinking through the shadows? Netflix Inc., Dollar Tree Inc., M&T Bank Corp., Monster Beverage Corp. and billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

The disparity — detailed in a new report<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6509640-CPA-Zicklin-Index-2019.html> by the Center for Political Accountability and Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School — underscores the flaccidity of federal laws and regulations governing what public corporations must publicly disclose about their politicking.

As the nation enters the teeth of Election 2020, corporations are again largely allowed to volunteer as much — or little — information as they please about, for example, how much cash they’re pouring into secretive, “dark money<https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/what-is-political-dark-money-and-is-it-bad/>” nonprofits that may in turn advocate for the election or defeat of candidates.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>


Republicans Snag Working Families Party Ballot Line Through Write-Ins in Local NY Election<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107779>
Posted on October 23, 2019 6:19 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107779> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

27east.com<http://www.27east.com/news/article.cfm/General-Interest-Southampton/614834/Working-Families-Party-Raises-Concerns-About-Ballot-Representation>:

Working Families Party leadership is telling party members that the two Southampton Town Board candidates who will appear on its line on the November 5 ballot do not represent the party’s values — and they should vote for someone else.

Dahlia McManus, the deputy director of the party, sent a letter to party members asking them to vote for incumbent Town Councilman John Bouvier, who will appear on the Democratic Party line.

Even though the party endorsed Mr. Bouvier earlier this year, a primary was held for two people to run for Town Board under the party line. Mr. Bouvier was listed on the primary ballot, while the other slot was left open for write-in candidates.

As a result, Republican Party candidates Richard Martel and Charles McArdle collected more votes than Mr. Bouvier, and he lost the endorsement on the ballot.
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Posted in ballot access<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>, third parties<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=47>


“Why The DNC Nixed Smartphone Voting In Alaska Democratic Primary”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107777>
Posted on October 23, 2019 10:26 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107777> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Steven Rosenfeld reports.<https://www.nationalmemo.com/why-the-dnc-nixed-smartphone-voting-in-alaska-democratic-primary/?cn-reloaded=1>
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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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