[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/8/20

Sat Feb 8 09:29:53 PST 2020

“Election Meltdown, Part 3 Delving into the big bag of dirty tricks ahead of the 2020 election.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109438>
Posted on February 8, 2020 9:23 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109438> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can listen to the third episode of the Election Meltdown podcast (in conjunction with Dahlia Lithwick and Slate Amicus) at this link<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/dirty-tricks-to-disenfranchise-voters>. (Episode 1 on voter suppression/voter fraud is here<https://megaphone.link/SLT6839728202> and Episode 2 on election administrator incompetence (timely!) is here<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/administrative-incompetence-undermines-elections>.) In this episode we talk with Joe Bruno, Danielle Citron, Renee DiResta and Brendan Nyhan about dirty tricks, ranging from Russian 2016, to Democrats’ activities in the 2017 U.S. Senate race in Alabama, to the ballot tampering the North Carolina’s 2018 congressional race in the Ninth district, to the potential for deepfakes to disrupt 2020. Plus an Iowa meltdown recap.

Episode Notes<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/dirty-tricks-to-disenfranchise-voters>

In the third part of this special five-part series of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by election law professor Rick Hasen to unpack the bag of dirty tricks that may be deployed in 2020’s election and to examine the debris of the Iowa caucus debacle to find clues to what’s coming.

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 chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>

“Iowa Democrats to undergo independent review of caucus chaos”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109436>
Posted on February 8, 2020 9:17 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109436> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP reports.<https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/07/iowa-democrats-undergo-independent-review-caucus-chaos/41157977/>
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

I Talked Iowa and Election Meltdown on KCRW’s “Left, Right, and Center”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109434>
Posted on February 8, 2020 9:16 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109434> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Listen<https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/left-right-center/iowa>.
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>

Koch Bros. Reportedly Helped Fund Buckley v. Valeo Litigation to Start Early Attack on Campaign Finance Laws<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109432>
Posted on February 8, 2020 9:15 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109432> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Lisa Graves oped<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/07/charles-koch-elections-billions-money-cash> in The Guardian.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Docs: Shadow Inc. Directly Tied to Left-Wing Media Operation”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109430>
Posted on February 7, 2020 4:09 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109430> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This is troubling<https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/dygyaq/docs-shadow-inc-directly-tied-to-left-wing-media-operation>, especially this part:

McGowan said that Courier journalists have full editorial independence. Asked whether they had license to report freely on Democratic politicians or were tasked with, as the document says, “Reach[ing] voters with strategic narratives + information year-round,” she said, “I don’t know what the difference between the two is.”

Asked whether there was a conflict inherent in Shadow doing work on both tabulating the results of a Democratic contest and contributing to Acronym’s media operations, she said, “A for-profit company can work with anyone, legally.”
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“The Lawfare Podcast Special Edition: An ‘Election Meltdown’ in Iowa”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109428>
Posted on February 7, 2020 3:03 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109428> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Great to talk with Ben Wittes for the Lawfare podcast<https://www.lawfareblog.com/lawfare-podcast-special-edition-election-meltdown-iowa> about the Iowa fiasco and my new book, Election Meltdown<https://www.amazon.com/Election-Meltdown-Distrust-American-Democracy/dp/0300248199/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=hasen+election+meltdown&qid=1565015345&s=digital-text&sr=1-1-catcorr>. Listen.<https://www.lawfareblog.com/lawfare-podcast-special-edition-election-meltdown-iowa>
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>

“IRS Urged to Complete Rollback of Donor Disclosure Rules (2)”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109426>
Posted on February 7, 2020 2:58 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109426> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg Law<https://news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report/irs-urged-to-complete-rollback-of-donor-disclosure-rules>:

Conservative groups pressed the IRS to move ahead with its proposal to drop a requirement that certain tax-exempt nonprofits disclose identities of their significant donors.

The groups dominated a list of 16 witnesses set to testify at an agency hearing on the issue Friday. The IRS is trying to remove the requirement that organizations exempt under tax code Section 501(c)<https://irc.bloombergtax.com/public/uscode/doc/irc/section_501>, except for 501(c)(3) charities and Section 527<https://irc.bloombergtax.com/public/uscode/doc/irc/section_527> political organizations, provide the agency with names and addresses of donors who contribute $5,000 or more.

Critics say the change could transform the nonprofit sector, leading to a flood of anonymous donations—”dark money”—to political organizations. But the hearing began with supporters of the change, including Institute for Free Speech attorney Ryan Morrison, who said the agency “should collect only information that it needs to enforce the tax code.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Inside the Iowa Democratic Party’s “boiler room” meltdown; A review of materials left on desks revealed it was unprepared on many levels for Monday’s meltdown.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109424>
Posted on February 7, 2020 1:32 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109424> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Steven Rosenfeld reports.<https://www.salon.com/2020/02/07/inside-the-iowa-democratic-partys-boiler-room-meltdown_partner/>
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>

“On The Trail: Iowa disinformation hints at a challenging year ahead”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109422>
Posted on February 7, 2020 1:30 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109422> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Reid Wilson for The Hill.<https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/482017-on-the-trail-iowa-disinformation-hints-at-a-challenging-year-ahead>
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>

“Campaign Finance: Federal Framework, Agency Roles and Responsibilities, and Perspectives”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109420>
Posted on February 7, 2020 1:28 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109420> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

New GAO report.<https://www.gao.gov/mobile/products/GAO-20-66R>
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Partisan Gerrymandering: Weeds in the Political Thicket”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109418>
Posted on February 7, 2020 1:26 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109418> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Richard Engstrom has written this article<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ssqu.12743#.Xj21YJlg2cM.email> for Social Science Quarterly. Here is the abstract:

Abstract

Objective

To highlight the extent of the partisan gerrymandering problem in the United States.

Methods

Bring both original and secondary sources to bear on the problem of partisan gerrymandering, through the examination of election results under them, and federal and state court reactions to them.

Results

Evidence shows that gerrymandering in seven states accounted for the Republican Party’s manufactured majority in the U.S. House of Representatives following the 2012 election, and that it took judicial intervention by courts in some states and the Democratic wave election of 2018 to loosen the grip of those gerrymanders to undo that “spurious” majority.

Conclusion

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2019 to withdraw federal courts from partisan gerrymandering litigation, just as the district courts were proving themselves able to deal with the issue in a nonpartisan and effective manner, is likely to result in another decade of extensive and excessive gerrymandering in the United States.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

My Wall Street Journal “Saturday Essay” Cover Story: “How to Prevent the Next Election Meltdown; As the Iowa fiasco suggests, the most likely reason that your 2020 vote may not be counted isn’t fraud, suppression or hacking—it’s incompetence”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109416>
Posted on February 7, 2020 8:36 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109416> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I have written this piece<https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-prevent-the-next-election-meltdown-11581091661> as the Saturday Essay for the weekend Wall Street Journal. It begins:

Will your vote be fairly and accurately counted in the 2020 elections? It’s a question on a lot of people’s minds after this week’s fiasco in the Iowa Democratic caucuses, and it reminds us of a troubling fact: Nearly two decades after the Florida debacle over the 2000 presidential vote, too many places in the U.S. are still vulnerable to an election meltdown. Such anxieties add to well-founded concerns about the possibility of cyberattacks on our voting systems, by Russia or other malign actors. What’s worse, in today’s hyperpolarized, social-media-driven environment, such voting problems provide sensational grist for conspiracy theories that may further undermine Americans’ confidence in the fairness and accuracy of the 2020 elections.

Over the past decade, a familiar frame has developed in the contentious debate over voting rules: Republicans express concern about voter fraud and enact laws supposedly intended to combat it; Democrats see these laws as an attempt to suppress Democratic votes, press for measures to expand voting access and rights, and worry about cyberattacks intended to help the GOP at the polls. It is an important debate, in which I have taken part<https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/how-the-trump-administrations-attempt-to-perpetuate-the-voter-fraud-failed-miserably?mod=article_inline>, but it misses a deeper, more urgent reality: Most American voters in 2020 are much more likely to be disenfranchised by an incompetent election administrator than by fraud, suppression or Russian hacking.

While most election officials who set the rules and count the votes do a good job, often under serious budget constraints, we cannot ignore the weakest links in the chain: those bureaucrats who increase the chances of a protracted and divisive 2020 election meltdown. Fortunately, it is not too late to take steps to try to fix the problems.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>

--
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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