[EL] ELB News and Commentary 8/31/20

[Rick Hasen]

[Election Law Blog]<https://electionlawblog.org/>
Major Republican firm Holtzman Vogel is Representing Kanye West in His Attempt to Get on the Wisconsin Ballot<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114630>
Posted on August 31, 2020 10:20 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114630> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

In case <https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/1299756113265655809?s=20> anyone still had doubts about what this was all about.
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Posted in ballot access<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>


“Who Gets to Vote in Florida? With the election hanging in the balance, Republican leaders continue a long fight over voting rights.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114628>
Posted on August 31, 2020 10:14 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114628> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Dexter Filkins<https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/07/who-gets-to-vote-in-florida> in the New Yorker.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Will You Have Enough Time to Vote by Mail in Your State? Yes But It’s Risky to Procrastinate”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114626>
Posted on August 31, 2020 10:08 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114626> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT reports.<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/31/us/politics/vote-by-mail-deadlines.html>
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Posted in absentee ballots<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>


“Do not open until Election Day: State laws will delay counting mail-in votes in Trump-Biden race; In 14 states — including some battlegrounds — officials can’t even start authenticating early mail-in ballots until Election Day, much less begin tabulating them”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114623>
Posted on August 31, 2020 9:48 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114623> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Pete Williams of NBC News reports.<https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/do-not-open-until-election-day-state-laws-will-delay-n1238806>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“It’s Crunch Time for Election Litigation”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114621>
Posted on August 31, 2020 9:45 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114621> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CNN reports.<https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/31/politics/election-2020-voting-litigation/index.html>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


One IT Guy’s Spreadsheet-Fueled Race to Restore Voting Rights; This fall, thousands will show up to vote only to find out they’ve been purged. Lots of activists—and one Ohio man with lots of cats—are on a quest to fix that.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114619>
Posted on August 31, 2020 9:34 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114619> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Wired reports<https://www.wired.com/story/election-voting-rights-spreadsheet-patriot/?fbclid=IwAR2x7JqPg0zIrJ9jv-RqxitBvO7Tbo_-UrFbQJV62GNAwvuvwJYfS-Gvsjw>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Tracing the Money Behind the Supreme Court Case Against Obamacare; Most of the state attorneys general suing to dismantle the Affordable Care Act were elected with corporate backing.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114617>
Posted on August 31, 2020 8:37 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114617> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy<https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/tracing-money-behind-supreme-court-case-against-obamacare> for the Brennan Center.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


Sept. 2 Penn Law Event: “Holding the 2020 Election Under Crisis”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114615>
Posted on August 31, 2020 8:36 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114615> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Great lineup:<https://pennlaw.cvent.com/c/express/c11348f7-a2e1-485b-be76-531934fe8079>

 The 2020 presidential election faces unprecedented challenges, from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, threats of foreign interference, and social unrest, to questions about the United States Postal Service’s resources and ability to handle unprecedented volume of ballots by mail. These issues interact with and could amplify existing disparities in access to voting related to race and socioeconomic status. With experts widely predicting that full election results may not be available for many weeks after election night, pivotal states like Pennsylvania must think through and put into place measures to ensure the integrity of the election process.

On Wednesday, September 2, from 12:30-2:00 p.m. EDT, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, in partnership with Keep Our Republic, a non-partisan non-profit composed of citizens, bipartisan former officials and civic leaders who are committed to ensuring the smooth and regular operation of our electoral system, will host a virtual symposium during which a panel of experts from different fields will assess the aforementioned risks to, and potential problems with, the election process, and propose practical responses to mitigate those risks and shortfalls.

Who:          A diverse panel of experts, moderated by Ted Ruger, Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and including:

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold

Former Congressman Charlie Dent (R-PA)

Former United States Senator Gary Hart (D-CO)

Daniel Gillion, Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt Presidential Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania

Kristen Clarke, President & Executive Director, National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Josh Geltzer, Visiting Professor of Law, Executive Director, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy at Georgetown University

Following the panel will be an interactive Q&A discussion, which will feature additional prominent guests. Media questions can be submitted in advance to press at law.upenn.edu<mailto:press at law.upenn.edu>

When:        Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Where:       Registration required: https://pennlaw.cvent.com/HoldingElectionUnderCrisis2020<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpennlaw.cvent.com%2FHoldingElectionUnderCrisis2020&data=01%7C01%7Crovinem%40law.upenn.edu%7Cb8a109bc13994234640b08d8490dcae9%7C6cf568beb84a4e319df6359907586b27%7C1&sdata=kikQToeQJ2TgOmN1MfKNZQW4I3GFWSskq4w%2F7LATeJU%3D&reserved=0>

Time:         12:30-2:00 p.m. EDT
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


September Symposium on Excellent New Book, “Social Media and Democracy” (Edited by Persily and Tucker)<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114613>
Posted on August 31, 2020 8:28 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114613> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

As part of my own book project, I read the edited volume “Social Media and Democracy<https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/social-media-and-democracy/E79E2BBF03C18C3A56A5CC393698F117>” the day it came out. This is a must-read for researchers who care about the extent to which social media has changed and may further change campaigns and elections. It’s really three books in one: the first six chapters are reviews of the literature on various topics (like misinformation and echo chambers); the next six chapters discuss potential reforms: and the final chapter by Persily and Tucker explains how much more there is to learn about how social media is changing democracy if researchers could get fuller access to social media platforms. Highly recommended.

In conjunction with the book release, Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center is putting together this event on Sept. 8 with a terrific lineup.<https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/events/social-media-and-democracy%C2%A0%C2%A0-state-field-and-prospects-reform> Registration required.
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Posted in cheap speech<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=130>, social media and social protests<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=58>


I’ll Be Joining CNN as an Election Law Analyst Through the End of the Election Season (Along with Jonathan Diaz, Jessica Huseman, Rick Pildes, and Franita Tolson)<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114611>
Posted on August 31, 2020 8:12 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114611> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Very much looking forward to being able to speak on issues of election law as the election season kicks into high gear, and excited to work with these terrific colleagues.

This fall, I’ll still be at UCI Law working on a new book, and teaching a mini-course on campaign finance at Georgetown Law.
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Posted in election law biz<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>


Super Election Lawyer Ben Ginsberg Retire from Jones Day<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114608>
Posted on August 31, 2020 8:09 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114608> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Scoop from Politico Playbook:

NOTE FROM LONGTIME REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER BEN GINSBERG: “I am retiring today from Jones Day, a truly special place I’ve been fortunate to have been a part of for the past six years. It’s been a wonderful 38-year legal career where I’ve been in the arena for some of the greatest political and legal matters of our time. I’ve had more interesting representations and worked with more amazing people than I ever could have dreamed. But my timing is not accidental and I look forward to writing, teaching, consulting, commenting and, most of all, playing with our four wonderful grandchildren.”

Superstar election lawyer Ben, who served as national counsel for the Romney 2012 campaign, has been an important voice in recent years in bipartisan approaches to improving elections. (He and Bob Bauer headed a bipartisan commission that issued a key report<http://web.mit.edu/supportthevoter/www/the-commission/> on improving American elections.)

I hope that with him no longer working for Jones Day (which has represented President Trump’s campaign—though I don’t think ben had anything to do with that), he will be free to speak his mind on important election integrity issues of the day. In any case I look forward to what he has to say and to in coming years.
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Posted in election law biz<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>


“Twitter flags GOP video after activist’s computerized voice was manipulated”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114603>
Posted on August 30, 2020 9:34 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114603> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/30/ady-barkan-scalise-twitter-video/>

Twitter flagged a video shared by the second-ranking House Republican on Saturday as “manipulated,” as it spliced quotes together from an activist who speaks through computer voice assistance, making it sound as though he’d convinced Joe Biden<https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/joe-biden/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2> to defund police departments.

“I have lost my ability to speak, but not my agency or my thoughts,” Ady Barkan wrote<https://twitter.com/AdyBarkan/status/1300159116942274560> to Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House minority whip, in a Sunday tweet. “You and your team have doctored my words for your own political gain. Please remove this video immediately. You owe the entire disability community an apology.”

The dispute came down to two words from an interview Biden gave Barkan at the start of July. Barkan, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), speaks with the use of a device that reads his eye movements and translates them to an artificial voice. The interview, one of many that Barkan had done with Democratic presidential candidates<https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/politics/2020-presidential-hopefuls/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5>, turned at one point to whether Biden would shift some funding from armed policing to social welfare.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Shift on Election Briefings Could Create an Information Gap for Voters”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114601>
Posted on August 30, 2020 9:29 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114601> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/us/politics/2020-election-security-briefings.html>

The decision by the nation’s top intelligence official to halt classified, in-person briefings to Congress<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/us/politics/election-security-intelligence-briefings-congress.html> about foreign interference in a presidential election that is just nine weeks away exposes the fundamental tension about who needs to know this information: just the president, or the voters whose election infrastructure, and minds, are the target of the hacking?

The intelligence agencies are built to funnel a stream of secret findings to the president, his staff and the military to inform their actions.

President Trump has made it abundantly clear that he does not believe the overwhelming evidence, detailed in thousands of pages of investigative reports by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/us/politics/senate-intelligence-russian-interference-report.html> and indictments of Russian intelligence officers by his own Justice Department, that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election, and is at it again.

One of the bitter lessons of the last election is that intelligence about hacking into voter registration systems and the spreading of disinformation must be handled in a very different way. Those defending against misinformation include state and city election officials; Facebook, Twitter and Google; and voters themselves, who need to know who is generating or amplifying the messages they see running across their screens.

And if they do not understand the threat assessments, they will enter the most critical phase of the election — those vulnerable weeks when everything counts and adversaries have a brief window to take their best shot — without understanding the battle space.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“The Big Question: Can the U.S. Hold a Fair Election? A Q&A with election law expert Richard L. Hasen on how to avoid a democratic meltdown.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114599>
Posted on August 30, 2020 9:22 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114599> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I talked <https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-08-30/failure-to-prepare-for-a-mail-in-voting-surge-puts-democracy-at-risk?srnd=premium&sref=MsfQQ8WD> with Frank Wilkinson of Bloomberg View.
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>



“A November Nightmare Part I: What If Mailed Ballots Are Never Counted?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114597>
Posted on August 30, 2020 9:17 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114597> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ned Foley<https://blog.harvardlawreview.org/a-november-nightmare-part-i-what-if-mailed-ballots-are-never-counted/>:

President Trump and Attorney General Barr can continue to attack the use of vote-by-mail ballots for November’s election, but the rules were largely set even before the pandemic struck, and they are unlikely to change significantly before voting actually begins in a few weeks. Key battleground states — including Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin (the three that Hilary Clinton lost<https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/michigan-hillary-clinton-trump-232547> so narrowly in 2016) — all currently have “no excuse<https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/vopp-table-1-states-with-no-excuse-absentee-voting.aspx>” vote-by-mail laws, which means any eligible voter in the state has a right to choose according to the voter’s own preference (and without need for any additional justification) a mail-in ballot rather than voting in-person. Consequently, there is every reason to expect that when Americans vote in this fall’s presidential election, many millions<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/11/us/politics/vote-by-mail-us-states.html> of them will be voting by mail despite President Trump’s efforts to the contrary<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/07/conservative-groups-sue-to-make-pandemic-voting-even-harder.html>.

But will these mailed ballots be counted? That is a separate question. Answering it shows the acute vulnerability to mischief of the constitutional and congressional rules for conducting presidential elections.

The following exercise in “what if” imagination is not offered on the grounds that any of its specific scenarios are likely to happen — readers can assess the odds for themselves — but instead to point out basic vulnerabilities in the nation’s existing constitutional and statutory framework for handling this kind of situation if it were to occur. Identifying risk is the necessary first step to evaluating what steps, if any, can and should be taken to mitigate the risk. In the absence of constitutional or statutory reform, moreover, there is inevitable need to rely on norms and not just law as part of any risk mitigation strategy, and that is a key lesson of this “what if” analysis.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


NY Post Runs Extensive Uncorroborated Story From Unnamed Supposed Democratic Operative Explaining His Alleged Extensive Use of Voter Fraud in New Jersey and Other States<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114593>
Posted on August 30, 2020 9:12 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114593> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Not clear why this supposed Bernie Sanders supporter would be going to the right-leaning tabloid with this story<https://nypost.com/2020/08/29/political-insider-explains-voter-fraud-with-mail-in-ballots/>, and no corroboration that any of the alleged fraud happened. The Post offers only that they corroborated the person’s identity, rap sheet, and work as a “consultant to various campaigns.”

The story, despite the lack of evidence this fraud actually took place in any election is already getting some traction on the right, including being RT’d by Donald Trump Jr.<https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1300046545975468034>
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>


“Senior intelligence officials will no longer brief Congress in person on foreign threats to the 2020 election”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114591>
Posted on August 30, 2020 9:05 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114591> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/senior-intelligence-officials-will-no-longer-brief-congress-in-person-on-foreign-threats-to-the-2020-election/2020/08/29/2ec10112-ea35-11ea-97e0-94d2e46e759b_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_electiondni643pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans>

Senior intelligence officials will no longer brief Congress in person on foreign interference in the 2020 election. Instead, they will inform lawmakers of threats in writing, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Saturday.

The decision, made with Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe’s assent, arose out of concerns that briefings to lawmakers have resulted in leaks of classified information, an ODNI official said.

But the change threatens to undermine the community’s pledge to be transparent with Congress and the public at a time when three foreign adversaries<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/senate-intelligence-trump-russia-report/2020/08/18/62a7573e-e093-11ea-b69b-64f7b0477ed4_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_4>, including Russia, are seeking to influence the American political process….

Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), immediately cried foul.

“This is a shocking abdication of its lawful responsibility to keep the Congress currently informed, and a betrayal of the public’s right to know how foreign powers are trying to subvert our democracy,” she said in a joint statement with Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Intelligence Committee.

“The ODNI had requested the opportunity to brief the intelligence committees and the full U.S. House of Representatives in mid-September and has now cancelled those briefings and said it would hold no others,” the pair wrote. “This is shameful and — coming only weeks before the election — demonstrates that the Trump Administration is engaged in a politicized effort to withhold election-related information from Congress and the American people.”
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


“Election Day could mean big changes for Southern high courts”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114589>
Posted on August 30, 2020 8:58 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114589> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Facing South reports.<https://www.facingsouth.org/2020/08/election-day-could-mean-big-changes-southern-high-courts?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=b601baf1-65a9-4ec1-b348-c2c5074c9cbf>
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Posted in judicial elections<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>


“Ignoring FBI And Fellow Republicans, Trump Continues Assault On Mail-In Voting”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114566>
Posted on August 28, 2020 5:57 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114566> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NPR reports.<https://www.npr.org/2020/08/28/906676695/ignoring-fbi-and-fellow-republicans-trump-continues-assault-on-mail-in-voting>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“For second time, federal judge finds Texas is violating voter registration law”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114564>
Posted on August 28, 2020 5:51 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114564> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Texas Tribune:<https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/28/texas-voter-registration-laws/>

A persistent Texas voter, twice thwarted when he tried registering to vote while renewing his driver’s license online, has for the second time convinced a federal judge that the state is violating federal law.

In a 68-page ruling Friday<https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6b8af86bf5b3c171fc593cea816c5152/GarciaRulingStringerII.pdf>, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia of San Antonio found that Texas continues to violate the federal National Voter Registration Act by not allowing residents to register to vote when they update their driver’s license information online.

Garcia found that DPS is “legally obligated” to allow voters to simultaneously register to vote with every license renewal or change-of-address application, and ordered the state to set up a “fully operable” online system by Sept. 23. The Texas attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the state is likely to appeal the ruling.

It’s the second time Garcia has sided with the voter, former English professor Jarrod Stringer. Garcia’s first ruling was overturned on appeal on a technicality.
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Posted in NVRA (motor voter)<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>, voter registration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>


“Kanye West campaign files lawsuit to try to get on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114562>
Posted on August 28, 2020 5:41 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114562> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel<https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/08/28/kanye-west-campaign-sues-get-presidential-ballot-wisconsin/5662310002/>:

The campaign for rapper Kanye West filed a lawsuit Friday against the state Elections Commission in a bid to get on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin this November.

The 12-page suit was filed in Brown County Circuit Court.

The state Elections Commission voted 5-1 last week<https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/08/20/kanye-west-not-allowed-wisconsins-november-election-ballot/5621327002/> to keep West off the ballot because it found that his campaign had filed its nomination papers shortly after the 5 p.m. deadline Aug. 4.

West is running on the Birthday Party ticket with vice presidential candidate Michelle Tidball.
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Posted in ballot access<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>


“Top general says no role for military in presidential vote”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114560>
Posted on August 28, 2020 5:38 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114560> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP:<https://apnews.com/a979ad8beceacd77c692e42448cf7b82>

The U.S. armed forces will have no role in carrying out the election process or resolving a disputed vote, the top U.S. military officer told Congress in comments released Friday.

The comments from Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, underscore the extraordinary political environment in America, where the president has declared without evidence that the expected surge in mail-in ballots will make the vote “inaccurate and fraudulent,” and has suggested he might not accept the election results if he loses.

Trump’s repeated complaints questioning the election’s validity have triggered unprecedented worries about the potential for chaos surrounding the election results. Some have speculated that the military might be called upon to get involved, either by Trump trying to use it to help his reelection prospects or as, Democratic challenger Joe Biden has suggested, to remove Trump from the White House if he refuses to accept defeat. The military has adamantly sought to tamp down that speculation and is zealously protective of its historically nonpartisan nature.

“I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military,” Milley said in written responses to several questions posed by two Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee. “In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military. I foresee no role for the U.S armed forces in this process.”
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>


“‘Cases and Controversies’ Podcast: The 2020 Election”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114558>
Posted on August 28, 2020 5:33 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114558> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I spoke<https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/cases-and-controversies-podcast-the-2020-election> with Bloomberg Law’s Kimberly Robinson and Jordan Rubin:

Challenges to election laws have poured into the Supreme Court and more are likely as the 2020 campaign season really heats up after Labor Day.

Election law expert Rick Hasen<https://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/>, of the University of California, Irvine, joins Bloomberg Law’s “Cases and Controversies” podcast to discuss how the justices will approach these questions and what it may mean for voters.
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>, Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


“Controversial organization led by Trump allies has tax-exempt status revoked by IRS”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114556>
Posted on August 28, 2020 1:43 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114556> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CNN<https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/28/politics/urban-revitalization-coalition-irs-tax-exempt-status/index.html>:

A nonprofit organization started by two Trump administration allies that stirred up controversy earlier this year for holding cash giveaways<https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/30/politics/trump-surrogates-cash-giveaway-black-voters/index.html> in predominantly Black communities had its tax exempt status auto-revoked after failing to provide legally required forms to the Internal Revenue Service for three years in a row.

The organization, called the Urban Revitalization Coalition, Inc. and created to support President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies, was started by Pastor Darrell Scott, the co-chair of Black Voices for Trump, and Kareem Lanier, who works in real estate and business development. Both Scott and Lanier lead the National Diversity Coalition for Trump.

According to public information on the IRS website, the organization’s tax exemption status “was automatically revoked for not filing a Form 990-series return or notice for three consecutive years” effective May 15, 2020 and was placed on the “Automatic Revocation List” on August 11, 2020.
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Posted in tax law and election law<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>


“Google greenlights ads with ‘blatant disinformation’ about voting by mail”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114554>
Posted on August 28, 2020 1:22 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114554> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/08/28/google-ads-mail-voting/>:

Google has declined to remove ads from a shadowy group echoing President Trump’s misleading claim that there is a meaningful difference between voting by mail and absentee voting<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/18/whats-difference-between-absentee-mail-in-voting/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2>.

Google took five days to reach its decision to leave the ads in place, alarming voting rights advocates as well as researchers in the University of Washington’s Human Centered Design and Engineering department who had alerted Google to the ads last week.

“This is active and blatant disinformation,” said Himanshu Zade, a doctoral student in the department. “I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a misleading narrative.”

The ads “stand to promote confusion for the public at a time when clarity is needed,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “And so it is deeply troubling.”

A Google spokeswoman, Charlotte Smith, declined to answer specific questions about the ads or explain how they complied with the company’s policies, saying only in an emailed statement: “We have zero tolerance for ads that employ voter suppression tactics or undermine participation in elections. When we find those ads, we take them down.”

Facebook removed similar ads from the same group in response to a Washington Post article<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/disinformation-campaign-stokes-fears-about-mail-voting-using-lebron-james-image-and-boosted-by-trump-aligned-group/2020/08/20/fcadf382-e2e2-11ea-8181-606e603bb1c4_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_10> last week.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, cheap speech<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=130>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


“Texas tells Harris County to halt plan to send all voters applications for mail-in ballots”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114552>
Posted on August 28, 2020 12:55 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114552> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Texas Tribune<https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/28/mail-in-ballots-texas-harris-county/>:

Until now, the fight over voting by mail in Texas during the coronavirus pandemic has focused on which voters are eligible to cast an absentee ballot. Now, the battle has progressed to an argument between the state and its most populous county over who can even receive the form to apply for a mail-in ballot.

In a letter dated Aug. 27<https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/9078f160593df832d2704969c73628c5/SOSLetter_HarrisCountyVBM.pdf>, Keith Ingram, director of elections for the Texas secretary of state, toldHarris County to “immediately halt” its plans to send every registered voter in the county an application for a mail-in ballot for the general election. Ingram demanded the county drop its planby Monday to avoid legal action by the Texas attorney general.

Sending out the applications “would be contrary to our office’s guidance on this issue and an abuse of voters’ rights under Texas Election Code Section 31.005,” Ingram wrote, citing a provision of state law that gives the secretary of state’s office power to take such action to “protect the voting rights” of Texans from “abuse” by local officials responsible for administering elections.

Earlier this week, the Harris County Clerk’s office announced it would be sending every registered voter<https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/25/texas-vote-by-mail-harris/> an application for a mail-in ballot for the general election. With more than 2 million residents on the voter rolls, the move to proactively send out applications that voters must otherwise request or find online put Harris in line with an initiative that several states have carried out<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/11/us/politics/vote-by-mail-us-states.html> for primary elections during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Providing more information and resources to voters is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins said in response to the state’s letter. “We have already responded to the Secretary of State’s Office offering to discuss the matter with them.”
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Posted in absentee ballots<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>


“Voting in Person in the 2020 Elections”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114547>
Posted on August 28, 2020 11:51 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114547> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Humphrey School<https://www.hhh.umn.edu/event/voting-person-2020-elections> event Sept. 1:

Vote-by-Mail is dominating news headlines, but tens of millions of Americans will vote in person out of habit and to ensure that their ballot is counted. But in-person voting poses daunting challenges for election officials. The coronavirus makes it harder to recruit poll workers and may require election officials to find alternatives to the familiar poll locations of senior facilities and schools. Matthew Weil moderates a distinguished panel of election officials on September 1 at noon CT.

Register for webinar<https://umn.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jp0kUDHXS0ahVUDBIvKV5Q>

Adrian Fontes (County Recorder, Maricopa County, Arizona)
Sherry Poland (Executive Director, Hamilton County Board of Elections, Ohio)
Michael Winn (Director, Harris County Elections, Texas)
Moderator: Matthew Weil (Director, Elections Project, Bipartisan Policy Center)

This webinar is hosted in partnership with the Bipartisan Policy Center.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


BPC Event Monday: “Socially Distanced Voting: How We Can Vote at the Polls This November”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114545>
Posted on August 28, 2020 11:49 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114545> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Details:<https://bipartisanpolicy.org/event/socially-distanced-voting-how-we-can-vote-at-the-polls-this-november/>

More than 50 million Americans are expected to cast their November ballots in person this election. The debate over expanding by-mail voting options has overshadowed the fact that state and local election officials must also adapt to provide socially distant and safe voting opportunities at the polls.

Please join the Bipartisan Policy Center and the MIT Election Data and Science Lab for a discussion of logistical issues, resource allocation, and ways to make in-person voting work in the midst of a pandemic.

Featured Participants:

Juan Gilbert
The Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Professor Department Chair, University of Florida

Gretchen Macht
Assistant Professor, University of Rhode Island

Charles Stewart
Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science, MIT

Michael Vu
Registrar of Voters, San Diego County

Moderated by:

Matthew Weil
Director of the Elections Project, BPC
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


“Fearing Delays and Chaos, Swing States Weigh Early Counting of Mail-In Ballots”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114543>
Posted on August 28, 2020 11:48 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114543> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP<https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/08/28/fearing-delays-and-chaos-swing-states-weigh-early-counting-of-mail-in-ballots?utm_campaign=08-28-2020+SD&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Pew>:

The cumbersome and sometimes slow counting of an expected record number of mail-in ballots — especially in some crucial swing states — could delay results and open the door to challenges in this year’s elections.

In 13 states and the District of Columbia, including the closely contested battlegrounds of Pennsylvania and Michigan, election officials can’t start processing absentee ballots until Election Day, and in three more states they can’t start until the polls close. With millions of such ballots anticipated, that’s a daunting, if not impossible, task to perform quickly.

And with many more voters using mail-in ballots for the first time, mistakes such as failing to sign the envelope or sending it too late likely will lead to a larger share of rejected ballots.

The possible result: vote counts that aren’t complete for days or even weeks, creating an opportunity for candidates, parties, members of the media or others to sow doubts about the legitimacy of the process.

Election officials and lawmakers in some states, including Michigan and Pennsylvania, are trying to alter counting procedures to avoid that outcome. But time is running short to alter the rules, and changing election procedures on the fly may create confusion.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D114543&title=%E2%80%9CFearing%20Delays%20and%20Chaos%2C%20Swing%20States%20Weigh%20Early%20Counting%20of%20Mail-In%20Ballots%E2%80%9D>
Posted in absentee ballots<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>


“A new lawsuit against Trump’s Section 230 executive order argues it chills speech about voting”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114541>
Posted on August 28, 2020 7:17 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114541> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Protocol<https://www.protocol.com/lawsuit-trump-section-230>:

A coalition of voting rights and watchdog groups is suing<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7046941-Social-Media-EO-Complaint-as-Filed.html> the Trump administration over its recent executive order<https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-preventing-online-censorship/>, which aims to curb liability protections for tech platforms under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. They argue that the order was retaliatory, seeking to limit voters’ right to receive information about the election.

Like an earlier lawsuit<https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/1-2020-cv-01456-0001-COMPLAINT-against-DONALD-J-TRUMP-filed-by-CENTER-FO-et-seq.pdf> filed against the order, which came just days<https://www.protocol.com/donald-trump-twitter-executive-order> after Twitter applied fact-checking labels to President Trump’s misleading tweets about mail-in ballots, this case charges the Trump administration with violating the First Amendment rights of tech platforms. But it also crucially accuses the administration of infringing on the First Amendment rights of everyone else who might receive information from those platforms. In First Amendment law, this is known as the “right to receive.”

The plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed Thursday in the Northern District of California, include voting advocacy groups Rock the Vote, Voto Latino and Common Cause, as well as the watchdog organizations MapLight and Free Press.

“The executive order is fundamentally incompatible with the First Amendment. It deprives users of their right to receive information curated by online platforms, including information critical of President Trump or corrective of his falsehoods,” the suit reads. “It is unlawfully retaliatory and coercive, sending a clear and chilling message: question President Trump and face retribution from the entire Executive Branch.”

The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the executive order unconstitutional and invalid and to prohibit anyone from implementing or enforcing it. The defendants in the case include: President Trump; Attorney General William Barr; Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross; associate administrator of the Office of Telecommunications and Information Douglas Kinkoph; and Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

According to Danielle Citron, a Section 230 scholar and professor of law at Boston University, the plaintiffs will have to prove there has been some harm done as a result of the president’s actions. “The self-governance approach contends that free speech matters because it lets listeners figure out the kind of government that they want to live under,” Citron said. “But you need a concrete and particularized legal injury, not just a generalized grievance, that can be redressable by the suit.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“What if Facebook Is the Real ‘Silent Majority’?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114539>
Posted on August 28, 2020 7:15 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114539> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Kevin Roose<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/27/technology/what-if-facebook-is-the-real-silent-majority.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top> for the NYT:

Listen, liberals. If you don’t think Donald Trump can get re-elected in November, you need to spend more time on Facebook.

Since the 2016 election, I’ve been obsessively tracking how partisan political content is performing on Facebook, the world’s largest and arguably most influential media platform. Every morning, one of the first browser tabs I open is CrowdTangle — a handy Facebook-owned data tool that offers a bird’s-eye view of what’s popular on the platform. I check which politicians and pundits are going viral. I geek out on trending topics. I browse the previous day’s stories to see which got the most reactions, shares and comments.

Most days, the leader board looks roughly the same: conservative post after conservative post, with the occasional liberal interloper. (If you want to see these lists for yourselves, you can check out @FacebooksTop10<https://twitter.com/facebookstop10>, a Twitter account I created that shows the top 10 most-interacted-with link posts by U.S. Facebook pages every day.)

It’s no secret that, despite Mr. Trump’s claims of Silicon Valley censorship, Facebook has been a boon to him and his allies, and hyperpartisan Facebook pages are nothing new. (In fact, my colleague John Herrman wrote about them<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/magazine/inside-facebooks-totally-insane-unintentionally-gigantic-hyperpartisan-political-media-machine.html> four years ago this month.)

But what sticks out, when you dig in to the data, is just how dominant the Facebook right truly is. Pro-Trump political influencers have spent years building a well-oiled media machine that swarms around every major news story, creating a torrent of viral commentary that reliably drowns out both the mainstream media and the liberal opposition.

The result is a kind of parallel media universe that left-of-center Facebook users may never encounter, but that has been stunningly effective in shaping its own version of reality. Inside the right-wing Facebook bubble, President Trump’s response to Covid-19 has been strong and effective, Joe Biden is barely capable of forming sentences, and Black Lives Matter is a dangerous group of violent looters.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, cheap speech<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=130>


“How to Run An Election – the ABA Way”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114537>
Posted on August 28, 2020 7:09 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=114537> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sept. 2 webinar<https://americanbar.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Nj9NZNnUSoaoGJCWyafPBg>:

In August 2020, the American Bar Association passed updated Election Administration Guidelines that we encourage election officials to adopt. The panelists will discuss several of the guidelines, including voting during emergencies, absentee ballots, and voter purging.

CART services will be available.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS PROGRAM IS NOT FOR CLE CREDIT.

Welcome Remarks:
– Trish Refo – President, American Bar Association; Partner, Snell & Wilmer

Panelists:
– Charles H. Bell, Jr. – Senior Partner, Bell, McAndrews & Hitachk, LLP; Member, ABA Standing Committee on Election Law
– Jason Kaune – Partner, Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni, LLP; Member, ABA Standing Committee on Election Law
– Paul M. Smith – Vice President for Litigation & Strategy, Campaign Legal Center; Professor from Practice, Georgetown Law
– Megan Wolfe – Administrator, Wisconsin Elections Commission
– Estelle H. Rogers (Moderator) – Chair, ABA Standing Committee on Election Law

Joint Sponsors: ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, ABA Standing Committee on Election Law

Co-Sponsors: Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice, Commission on Disability Rights, Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities, Criminal Justice SectionTime

Sep 2, 2020 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)<javascript:;>
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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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