[EL] ELB News and Commentary 02/02/2020

Sun Feb 2 07:52:02 PST 2020

“Election Meltdown, Part 2: Paper jams, lost forms, and lost boxes—incompetence and elections.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109266>
Posted on February 2, 2020 7:42 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109266> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can listen to the second episode of the Election Meltdown podcast (in conjunction with Dahlia Lithwick and Slate Amicus) at this link.<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/administrative-incompetence-undermines-elections> (Episode 1 is here.<https://megaphone.link/SLT6839728202>) This episode focuses on issues of election administration in Detroit, speaking to journalist Joel Kurth and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. (Slate Plus members can hear an extended interview with Benson here.<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/election-meltdown-michigan>)

Episode 2 description:

In the second part of a special five-part series of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by election law professor Rick Hasen to take a close look at what happened with Michigan’s failed recounts in 2016, exploring how small mistakes can cause big problems in elections, and why democratic areas seem much more prone to incompetence in election administration.

Rick Hasen’s new book Election Meltdown<http://www.amazon.com/dp/0300248199/?tag=slatmaga-20> forms the basis for this special series of Amicus.

Join Slate for the Election Meltdown live show<https://slate.com/live/amicus-live-w-dahlia-lithwick-andrew-gillum-and-more.html> on Feb. 19 in Washington.

Podcast production by Sara Burningham.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>

“Sweeping changes to Pennsylvania election law could make early voting a norm”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109264>
Posted on February 2, 2020 7:18 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109264> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Trib Live:<https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/sweeping-changes-to-pennsylvania-election-law-could-make-early-voting-a-norm/>

The heat is on — and it’s getting hotter for election officials across Pennsylvania as the April 28 presidential primary approaches.

A new state election law<https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/governor-wolf-signs-election-reform-bill-including-new-mail-in-voting/> that allows, among other things, no-excuse mail-in balloting 50 days before an election, coupled with the introduction of new voting machines in 22 counties, including Allegheny and Westmoreland, could prove the perfect storm this spring.

In letters posted Friday, a coalition of civil rights and voting integrity groups voiced concerns that some Pennsylvania voters could be disenfranchised if county election officials don’t act quickly to comply with provisions of the new law.

The new law that eliminated straight-ticket voting changed the deadline for voter registration from 30 to 15 days prior to an election and requires counties to establish a permanent mail-in and absentee ballot roster. Now, those who opt to be placed on the roster are to be mailed applications for ballots by the first Monday in February every year.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Even Democracy Is Partisan Now; Remember when the League of Women Voters didn’t have to take sides to support voting rights and other democratic values?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109262>
Posted on February 2, 2020 7:14 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109262> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Frank Wilkinson<https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-02-02/with-trump-in-the-white-house-even-democracy-is-partisan-now?sref=MsfQQ8WD> for Bloomberg View.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Now Available: Revised Version of Hasen & Litman, “Thin and Thick Conceptions of the Nineteenth Amendment Right to Vote and Congress’s Power to Enforce It”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109260>
Posted on February 1, 2020 1:05 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109260> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can find a revised version of this paper by Leah Litman and me, part of a Georgetown Law Journal symposium on the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, at this link<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3501114>. Here is the abstract:

This Article, prepared for a Georgetown Law Journal symposium on the Nineteenth Amendment’s 100-year anniversary, explores and defends a “thick” conception of the Nineteenth Amendment right to vote and Congress’s power to enforce it. A “thin” conception of the Nineteenth Amendment maintains that the amendment merely prohibits states from enacting laws that prohibit women from voting, once the state decides to hold an election. And a “thin” conception of Congress’s power to enforce the Nineteenth Amendment maintains that Congress may only supply remedies for official acts that violate the Amendment’s substantive guarantees.

This piece argues the Nineteenth Amendment does more. A thick understanding of the Nineteenth Amendment’s substantive right is consistent with the Amendment’s text and history, as well as with a synthetic interpretation of the Constitution and its expanding guarantees of voting rights. The thick understanding of the Nineteenth Amendment would allow voting rights plaintiffs to attack restrictive voting laws burdening women, especially when those laws burden young women of color, who are guaranteed nondiscrimination in voting on the basis of age and race as well. And a thick understanding of Congress’s power to enforce the Nineteenth Amendment offers a way to redeem the Amendment from some of its racist origins and entanglement with the sexism that limited the Amendment’s reach, and to reinforce the democratic legitimacy of the Constitution. The thick understanding of Congress’s enforcement power would give Congress the ability to pass laws protecting women from voter discrimination and promoting their political equality. Nonetheless, the current Court is unlikely to embrace a thick understanding of the Nineteenth Amendment.
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Posted in 19th Amendment<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=128>

--
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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