[EL] ELB News and Commentary 9/11/19

Tue Sep 10 20:45:05 PDT 2019

“Republican Bishop beats Democrat McCready in tight NC District 9 race”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107277>
Posted on September 10, 2019 8:27 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107277> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News & Observer<https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article234890702.html>:

Republican Dan Bishop narrowly defeated Democrat Dan McCready on Tuesday in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, with a strong showing in suburban Union County and three rural eastern counties.
With 99% of precincts reporting, Bishop led McCready 50.8% to 48.6% in a race that analysts saw as a harbinger for 2020.

Bishop rolled up big margins in Union County and carried Richmond and Cumberland counties, which McCready had won last fall over Republican Mark Harris. He trailed McCready by just over 200 votes in Robeson County, which McCready won handily in 2018….

The election was the last undecided race of 2018. Last fall’s 9th District election was nullified after state officials found evidence of election fraud in Bladen County.

Steve Kornacki<https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1171621485238206465>:
[cid:image001.png at 01D56818.9F953FC0]<https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki>
<https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki>
Steve Kornacki at SteveKornacki<https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki>

 · 1h<https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1171606085918220288>
<https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1171606085918220288>

Replying to @SteveKornacki<https://twitter.com/_/status/1171602921127120898>

Native Americans from the Lumbee Tribe are a plurality in Robeson County. Their politics are complicated -- they helped make Robeson one of the largest majority-minority counties to vote for Trump in '16 and appear to have come through for Bishop tonight: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/people-have-felt-ignored-ncs-lumbee-watch-florence-and-politicians-response/2018/09/12/827d659c-b4ff-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html?noredirect=on …<https://t.co/9giOKafcuL>
<https://t.co/9giOKafcuL>
[cid:image002.jpg at 01D56818.9F953FC0]<https://t.co/9giOKafcuL>
‘People have felt ignored’: N.C.’s Lumbee watch Florence and politicians’ response<https://t.co/9giOKafcuL>

This heavily Democratic, majority-minority county went for Trump in 2016 and may be key to determining who wins a North Carolina district.<https://t.co/9giOKafcuL>
washingtonpost.com<https://t.co/9giOKafcuL>

[cid:image001.png at 01D56818.9F953FC0]<https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki>
<https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki>
Steve Kornacki at SteveKornacki<https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki>

24-point swing in the Lumbee precincts from ‘18 per @JMilesColeman<https://twitter.com/JMilesColeman> https://twitter.com/jmilescoleman/status/1171601325592862721?s=21 …<https://t.co/8JWhJCz9Hr>
<https://twitter.com/JMilesColeman/status/1171601325592862721>
J. Miles Coleman at JMilesColeman<https://twitter.com/JMilesColeman/status/1171601325592862721>

All but one of the Lumbee Indian precincts are in; they went from McCready (D) +21% in 2018 to Bishop (R) +3% tonight. #nc09 https://twitter.com/JMilesColeman/status/1171228670649913349 …<https://twitter.com/JMilesColeman/status/1171601325592862721>

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Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
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47 people are talking about this<https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1171621485238206465>

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

“Republican Gerrymander Whiz Had Wider Influence Than Was Known”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107275>
Posted on September 10, 2019 8:18 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107275> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/us/republican-gerrymander-thomas-hofeller.html>

But files from the Hofeller backups recently made available to The New York Times offer a much broader view of Mr. Hofeller’s partisan work. The New Yorker reported<https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-secret-files-of-the-master-of-modern-republican-gerrymandering> on the contents of the Hofeller files in an article published on Friday.

Among the highlights from the files obtained by The Times:

Mr. Hofeller played a crucial role in drawing partisan maps nationwide in 2011.

After the Republican Party’s sweep of 2010 elections, documents from his computer files show, Mr. Hofeller and a business partner, Dale L. Oldham, helped draft political maps in an array of states, from G.O.P. strongholds like Texas and Alabama to states trending Republican like West Virginia to swing states like Florida.

The documents indicate Mr. Hofeller advised Republicans on the boundaries of new congressional maps in Florida in 2011, even though voters had mandated nonpartisan maps for all political offices in an amendment to the State Constitution the previous year. State courts later nullified those congressional maps<http://redistricting.lls.edu/files/FL%20romo%2020140710%20final%20judgment.pdf> as a violation of the constitutional requirement.

Mr. Hofeller’s files are virtually devoid of any paper trail documenting his agenda, but his 2011 efforts to draft congressional maps in Texas offered a rare exception.

It was a Saturday in June, and very late on a Saturday at that. But Mr. Hofeller was still at his computer, mining mounds of Texas demographic data.

“I can give you about .8 percent increase in SSVR within Austin only,” Mr. Hofeller wrote in an email, using an abbreviation that denotes residents with Spanish surnames. With a few keystrokes, Mr. Hofeller apparently was shuttling 30,000 mostly Hispanic residents from a Republican district west of Austin into a Democratic one.

“Every .8 helps at this point,” his fellow strategist, Mr. Oldham, replied.
The map the two men produced at about 7 a.m. the next morning was ungainly, Mr. Oldham wrote. But it did the job, sending fingers from three neighboring Republican districts deep into Austin and giving the party a lock on all but one of the House seats in heavily Democratic Travis County.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Instead of Fixing Their Gerrymander, North Carolina Republicans Are Trolling the Court”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107273>
Posted on September 10, 2019 3:06 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107273> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Mark Joseph Stern<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/09/north-carolina-republicans-gerrymander-trolling-court.html> for Slate.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

“Youth Voting Rights and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107271>
Posted on September 10, 2019 2:56 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107271> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Yael Bromberg has posted this draft<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3442198&dgcid=ejournal_htmlemail_u.s.:constitutional:law:interpretation:judicial:review:ejournal_abstractlink> on SSRN (University of Pa. Journal of Constitutional Law). Here is the abstract:

The Twenty-Sixth Amendment was designed to bring young people into the political process by constitutionalizing their right to vote. However, the last fifty years have shown that ratification has not been enough: the Amendment has remained largely untouched by the courts since the 1970s, even as voter suppression increasingly threatens access to the franchise for students and other young voters.

The handful of courts considering Twenty-Sixth Amendment claims in the modern era have reasoned in dicta that such claims’ analysis should be informed by a discriminatory purpose standard, while acknowledging inherent problems with this assumption. Indeed, courts have reflected on the dearth of guidance on how to handle such claims, admittedly stumbling through their analysis and applying only arguably apposite precedent by analogy. I suggest that the searching approach that has evolved is not necessarily wrong, but that it merely sets the floor to evaluating youth voter claims, rather than the ceiling. Instead, this Article proposes a Twenty-Sixth Amendment standard that draws on both modern right-to-vote and equal protection doctrines. In other words, claims arising under the Twenty-Sixth Amendment may benefit from a hybrid test that incorporates prima facie, intentional discrimination, and “right to vote” balancing analyses.

There exists little scholarship on the appropriate framework for evaluating claims that state action unduly abridges the right to vote on account of age as prohibited by the Twenty-Sixth Amendment; this Article thus offers a new way of thinking of the voting rights of this often-forgotten group and proposes a solution for examining future claims on behalf of this class.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“SYMPOSIUM: Digital Disinformation and the Threat to Democracy: Information Integrity in the 2020 Elections”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107269>
Posted on September 10, 2019 2:53 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107269> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

SYMPOSIUM:

Digital Disinformation and the Threat to Democracy:

Information Integrity in the 2020 Elections

As the technology for manipulation of information steadily advances, and malicious outsiders and foreign influence operators resort to the dissemination of false and altered content, the threat to our democratic process grows. If we collectively fail to contain this problem in 2020, disclosure will be undermined and public faith in our elections may be difficult to restore.

Please join me for an exciting and very topical symposium, Digital Disinformation and the Threat to Democracy: Information Integrity in the 2020 Elections. I’m hosting the event with PEN America and the Global Digital Policy Incubator of Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center. The symposium will be held at the FEC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. (1050 First Street, NE) on Tuesday, September 17, from 8:30 AM to 1 PM.

This symposium will bring together leading figures from major tech companies and social media platforms, scholars, researchers, journalists, and national political organizations for an in-depth and solutions-oriented discussion on fighting the disinformation that risks further corroding our democracy. Among the speakers will be Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), who have each advanced proposals addressing deep fakes and enhancing election security, and former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff.  Also participating will be Camille Francois of Graphika, Katie Harbath of Facebook, Kevin Kane of Twitter, Ginny Badanes of Microsoft, Nate Miller of Avaaz, and Laura Rosenberger of the Alliance for Securing Democracy, and Clement Wolf of Google.

Doors open at 8 AM. We encourage you to arrive early to leave time for security procedures.  Please RSVP here by Friday, September 13: https://pen.org/event/digital-disinformation-2020-elections/

The event will be live-streamed at: https://www.fec.gov/disinformation

AGENDA

8:00     Doors open

8:30 – 9:00      Coffee & registration

9:00 – 9:15      Introduction: Framing the challenge

9:15 – 9:45      Keynote: Senator Mark Warner of Virginia

9:45 – 11:00    Session 1: Understanding the challenge: How disinformation and new technologies affect the way we think & what we have learned from the international experience

11:00 – 12:45  Session 2: Facing the challenge in the U.S.: Solutions in the fight to save the 2020 elections

12:45 – 1:00    Closing and next steps
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Trump Admin Pushing Forward With Plan To Enable Anti-Immigrant Redistricting”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107267>
Posted on September 10, 2019 2:49 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107267> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

TPM<https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/census-citizenship-data-redistricting-file>:

The Census Bureau offered new details this week on how it will try to implement President Trump’s plan<https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/dc/census-cave-trump-redistricting-apportionment> to help states diminish the political power of immigrant communities.

The disclosures came in the form of a regulatory notice posted Monday that was tough to decipher unless you’re steeped in the mechanics of the Census Bureau’s role in determining how political power is doled out across the country.

In it, the Census Bureau gave new information about how it will release citizenship data that Trump ordered it to produce. After he lost the legal fight to add a citizenship question to the census, President Trump directed the Census Bureau to collect the data based on existing government records — a project Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had already put in motion.

In doing so, Trump made clear what was long believed to be the endgame of a census citizenship question: to produce data that states can use to draw districts that have an equal number of citizens, rather than an equal total population. Such a change to redistricting — while wonky — would have enormous electoral consequences by allowing GOP-controlled states to shift political representation away from growing immigrant communities and towards whiter, more conservative parts regions.
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Posted in census litigation<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=125>

Deep Dive: “How a decade of voting rights fights led to fewer redistricting safeguards for Texas voters of color”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107264>
Posted on September 10, 2019 10:19 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107264> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Worth your time<https://www.texastribune.org/2019/09/10/texas-enters-2021-redistricting-fewer-safeguards-voters-color/> from Alexa Ura.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Voting Rights Act<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“The Cybersecurity 202: How state election officials are contributing to weak security in 2020”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107262>
Posted on September 10, 2019 7:34 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107262> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-cybersecurity-202/2019/09/10/the-cybersecurity-202-how-state-election-officials-are-contributing-to-weak-security-in-2020/5d76a5a9602ff171a5d73505/>

It’s not just a question of paper ballots. The offices charged with administering elections across the country are falling short on a slew of basic cybersecurity measures that could make the 2020 contest far more vulnerable to hacking, according to a report out this morning.

Numerous state election offices aren’t patching their computer systems against known digital attacks and rely heavily on outdated, weak software, the report<https://www3.normshield.com/election-report> from the cybersecurity company NormShield found. They’re not fully protecting their websites against attacks or taking technical steps that would help prevent hackers from impersonating employees over email. And employee emails and passwords have leaked online.

Any one of those vulnerabilities could be the weak spot that allows hackers to compromise a swath of election systems — especially since several states with the worst security practices were swing states, the company’s Chief Security Officer Bob Maley told me. He declined to disclose how specific states fared at this time.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, voting technology<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>

“Trump’s critics are targeting his donors, sparking fears of a backlash against disclosure”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107260>
Posted on September 10, 2019 7:32 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107260> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-trumps-critics-are-weaponizing-information-about-his-donors-raising-concerns-about-federal-donor-disclosure-requirements/2019/09/10/b0b60ff8-cfe4-11e9-87fa-8501a456c003_story.html?wpmk=MK0000200>
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107258>
Posted on September 10, 2019 7:31 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107258> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release:

Thirteen U.S. states closed a staggering 1,688 polling locations in just six years, according to a new report from The Leadership Conference Education Fund. The report, “Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote<https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/wf/click?upn=G62jSYfZdO-2F12d8lSllQBzZbyhq0km1Zn-2Bcl5PbDX96491ZUY9lBldPUcxaI96cUw8onBTkiy9oJzoBHz69Ltw-3D-3D_MxsnV1nFJ0N6iaI6ROK3eERHn3LdCNHdSOXIWZIS7emdCL7qgLxomjj8kUTWmnLqivtU1uvjyHhIRItNuGWmup2Cp35qHyMV2OBNrjDwdt61p95zyqtTS0Av-2F1EVJ9BN4E3dJphiEPmNFQPFyj2WNsyg-2BdpAc5t9PzyygN0R4ihDprt1oAkQMcTS4d02umJiaO3yTT1JirHv7nRdEcxHGH2eyxoUh1yNBGWm9j-2BaSqdYR-2BduFJfhBqzWL57eNe1dDM3Olz4K0zEzCtUl9NTm4qZFo-2F3XnL5-2F1jU4NZuuhDA5GsskfcHfvwWMDms0wTsGaLLTQj5Yqk-2Fy-2FsY-2BeKW2NssVRHmP9jqje4pdyCL4w8g-3D>,” notes that 1,173 of the closures occurred between the 2014 and 2018 midterm elections – underscoring the scale of this assault on U.S. democracy. Texas, Georgia, and Arizona top the list of highest closure rates between 2012 to 2018.

The report’s authors detail the detrimental impacts that polling place closures have on historically disenfranchised communities, especially communities of color, voters with disabilities, and other populations that already face notable levels of discrimination. They also urge journalists, advocates, and voters to use the data to scrutinize the impact of poll closures in their respective communities, to understand their impact on voters of color, and to create a more just electoral system for all.

“Polling places must be accessible to all. Moving or closing a polling place – particularly without considering the impact on communities of color – disrupts our democracy. Voters deserve better,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference Education Fund. “While there may be valid reasons for polling place closures, we must recognize that closures are taking place at alarming speed amid broader efforts to prevent people of color from voting. And meanwhile, states are under no obligation to evaluate the discriminatory impacts of such closures. This is exactly why we need to restore the Voting Rights Act and all of its protections. Failure to do so will only lead to more of the same: a democracy for some, but not for all.”

An update of original research published in 2016, the report analyzes 757 of 861 counties and county-level equivalents previously covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which the U.S. Supreme Court gutted in its Shelby County v. Holder decision. The report found:
·         1,173 of the 1,688 closures occurred between the 2014 and 2018 midterm elections
·         Of the 757 counties analyzed, 298 (39 percent) reduced the number of polling places between 2012 and 2018
·         States with the largest numbers of polling place closures were Texas (-750), Arizona (-320), and Georgia (-214)

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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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