[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/22/20

Sat Feb 22 12:44:21 PST 2020

“Election Meltdown, Part 5; Doomsday scenarios and hopeful actions in the final part of our voting-rights series.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109680>
Posted on February 22, 2020 12:41 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109680> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can listen to the fourth episode of the Election Meltdown podcast (in conjunction with Dahlia Lithwick and Slate Amicus) at this link<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/election-meltdown-live-gillum-citron-ho-hasen>. From the Episode Notes:

In the fifth and final part of this special series of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined live on stage in Washington by former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, MacArthur fellow Professor Danielle Citron of Boston University law school, director of the ACLU’s voting-rights initiative Dale Ho, and election law professor Rick Hasen of the University of California, Irvine. Together, they pick themselves up from the rug of despair with a pile of can-do fixes for the stress points threatening the integrity of U.S. elections.

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.

Podcast production by Sara Burningham

I want to offer my deep appreciation to producer Sara Burningham and co-host Dahlia Lithwick for a series that has far exceeded my expectations when I first thought turning my book into a podcast series. Dahlia’s wit and wisdom made the topic as entertaining as it was terrifying and Sara is a brilliant producer who could take a string of random thoughts and make them into a coherent and beautifully produced story. Thanks as well to Gabriel Roth of Slate podcasts for supporting the project. And thanks to all those who gave interviews and participated in the Slate Live! event.

Here is the full list<https://sites.uci.edu/electionmeltdown/podcasts-interviews-and-opeds/> of Election Meltdown episodes (although there will be two more bonus episodes coming for Slate Plus members):

Episode 1<https://megaphone.link/SLT6839728202>, The voter fraud that wasn’t, the voter suppression that is.
Episode 2<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/administrative-incompetence-undermines-elections>, Paper jams, lost forms, and lost boxes—incompetence and elections
Episode 3<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/dirty-tricks-to-disenfranchise-voters>, Delving into the big bag of dirty tricks ahead of the 2020 election
Episode 4<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/election-meltdown-harsh-words>, Rhetoric and reality: When is it OK to say an election was ‘stolen’?
Episode 5<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/election-meltdown-harsh-words>, Doomsday scenarios and hopeful actions in the final part of our voting-rights series.

Bonus Episode 1 <https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/01/widespread-voter-fraud> (Slate Plus) (Interview with Matt Dunlap)
Bonus Episode 2<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/election-meltdown-michigan> (Slate Plus) (Interview with Jocelyn Benson)
Bonus Episode 3<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/not-just-russians-hacking-us-elections> (Slate Plus) (Interview with Brendan Nyhan)
Bonus Episode 4<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2020/02/fish-v-kobach-state-of-voting-rights> (Slate Plus) (Interview with Dale Ho)
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>

“Nevada Democratic Party moves to muzzle election workers; The Democratic Party of Nevada is asking volunteers to sign nondisparagement agreements.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109678>
Posted on February 22, 2020 12:28 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109678> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/21/nevada-ndas/>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D109678&title=%E2%80%9CNevada%20Democratic%20Party%20moves%20to%20muzzle%20election%20workers%3B%20The%20Democratic%20Party%20of%20Nevada%20is%20asking%20volunteers%20to%20sign%20nondisparagement%20agreements.%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Florida Republicans quietly stir up more election mischief”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109676>
Posted on February 22, 2020 12:23 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109676> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Steve Bosquet column<https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/fl-op-com-election-mischief-by-florida-republicans-20200221-btw42xcy2vbdtpnfoz4qz7vf2i-story.html>:

They can’t help themselves.

Republicans in Tallahassee have an insatiable desire to tamper with Florida election laws — especially when President Trump is desperate to win the nation’s largest swing state again. An elections bill moving through the Senate has received almost no attention, which is the way lawmakers like it.

Senate Bill 1372<http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/1372/BillText/c2/PDF> makes some housekeeping changes that election supervisors want. But then it goes beyond what they requested by allowing political parties to assign poll watchers to monitor voting at the polls, no matter where they live in Florida. Current law restricts poll watchers to the county where they vote.

This is an obvious attempt to make it easier to recruit a lot more poll watchers — many of them lawyers — who can legally challenge any voter’s eligibility to cast a ballot.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Orange County Sent Incorrect Voter Registration Data To State Of Florida”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109674>
Posted on February 22, 2020 12:21 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109674> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WLRN:<https://www.wlrn.org/post/orange-county-sent-incorrect-voter-registration-data-state-florida#stream/0>

The Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office is blaming a widely used elections software company for a false report to the state that nearly a quarter million registered voters had been removed from the county’s voting rolls.

That incorrect number made it into a monthly data report by the Florida Division of Elections. The report lists 257,698 “active” voters that were removed from the voting rolls across the state in January. Out of that total number, 239,147 of the removed voters were from Orange County alone.

The published data would have meant that Orange County removed more than 150 times the total number of voters as compared to the county with the second-most voters removed. It also would have meant that more “active” voters were removed from voting rolls from a single county and during a single month than the total number of voters removed from across the entire state annually going back to 2017, according to state data<https://www.dos.myflorida.com/elections/data-statistics/voter-registration-statistics/voter-registration-monthly-reports/voter-registration-new-and-removed/new-and-removed-archive/>.

Questioned about the outlier data, the Orange County Supervisor of Elections said the information it sent to the state was incorrect. The office pointed the finger at software from VR Systems, a third-party company that started handling the county’s voter registration system in mid-December
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Twitter is suspending 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts, citing ‘platform manipulation’”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109672>
Posted on February 22, 2020 12:17 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109672> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

LAT reports.<https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-02-21/twitter-suspends-bloomberg-accounts>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D109672&title=%E2%80%9CTwitter%20is%20suspending%2070%20pro-Bloomberg%20accounts%2C%20citing%20%E2%80%98platform%20manipulation%E2%80%99%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“FBI Arrests Hacker Linked to Former Rep. Katie Hill’s Campaign”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109669>
Posted on February 22, 2020 12:11 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109669> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Intercept:<https://theintercept.com/2020/02/21/fbi-arrests-hacker-linked-to-katie-hill-campaign/>

Federal agents have arrested Arthur Dam in connection with a hacking spree that disrupted the 2018 Democratic California primary that ultimately nominated Katie Hill, according to a new criminal complaint.

Dam, in the criminal complaint<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6782920-USA-v-Dam.html>, is linked directly to the Hill campaign. Hill won the general election in California’s 25th District and then later resigned from Congress amid controversy<https://www.thecut.com/2019/10/katie-hill-congress-scandal.html>.

“Dam was found to be connected to the cyber attacks through subscriber information, IP addresses, geolocation history, and open sources, including through his employer and his wife, K.O., who worked for one of the Victim’s opponents,” the complaint reads.

Dam’s wife is Kelsey O’Hara, Hill’s fundraiser during the campaign and her district director after she won office. O’Hara was also the subject of a sexual remark made by Hill and caught on tape<https://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-may-2018-htmlstory.html#vice-news-special-on-california-candidate-katie-hill-offers-unvarnished-sometimes-uncomfortable-look-at-campaigning-in-2018> by Vice News in 2018. In Hill’s Federal Election Commission records, she lists a $500 in-kind contribution from Dam on March 25, 2018, for “graphic design and website security consultation.”…

During the campaign, the websites of Hill’s opponents, Democrats Jess Phoenix and Bryan Caforio, who was supported by Justice Democrats, were both attacked, though Hill’s never was, raising suspicions at the time that Hill’s campaign was behind them. One major attack on Caforio’s campaign website came at a crucial moment, just an hour before the biggest debate of the primary, the complaint notes. Hill eventually won the California primary by fewer than 3,000 votes.

The FBI launched a probe<https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/california-congressional-race-hack-745519/> that zeroed in on the Hill campaign in 2019, according to FBI correspondence reviewed by The Intercept. Hill did not immediately respond for comment.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Bernie Sanders briefed by U.S. officials that Russia is trying to help his presidential campaign”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109667>
Posted on February 22, 2020 12:05 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109667> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/bernie-sanders-briefed-by-us-officials-that-russia-is-trying-to-help-his-presidential-campaign/2020/02/21/5ad396a6-54bd-11ea-929a-64efa7482a77_story.html>

U.S. officials have told Sen. Bernie Sanders that Russia is attempting to help his presidential campaign as part of an effort to interfere with the Democratic contest, according to people familiar with the matter.

President Trump and lawmakers on Capitol Hill also have been informed about the Russian assistance to the Vermont senator, those people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

It is not clear what form that Russian assistance has taken. U.S. prosecutors found a Russian effort in 2016 to use social media to boost Sanders’s campaign against Hillary Clinton, part of a broader effort to hurt Clinton, sow dissension in the American electorate and ultimately help elect Donald Trump.

“I don’t care, frankly, who [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wants to be president,” Sanders said in a statement. “My message to Putin is clear: Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Call for Papers for Elon Law Review September Conference: “Access to the Ballot on the Eve of the 2020 Election: What Barriers Still Exist?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109665>
Posted on February 22, 2020 12:02 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109665> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Details on both paper submissions and the symposium at this link.<https://www.elon.edu/u/law/academics/experiential/elon-law-review/call-for-symposium-submissions/>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“This could be Microsoft’s most important product in 2020. If it works; ElectionGuard isn’t designed to make voting machines safe from hackers. It’s meant to make hacking them pointless.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109663>
Posted on February 22, 2020 12:00 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109663> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CNET reports.<https://www.cnet.com/features/this-could-be-microsofts-most-important-product-in-2020-if-it-works/>
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Posted in voting technology<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>

“Wrong Primary Date Sent to Washington, DC, Voters”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109661>
Posted on February 21, 2020 11:31 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109661> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Weak links folks.<https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/wrong-primary-date-sent-washington-dc-voters>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Election Officials Are Already Raising Flags About Nevada’s Results”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109659>
Posted on February 21, 2020 10:08 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109659> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Steven Rosenfeld reports.<https://www.truthdig.com/articles/election-officials-are-already-raising-flags-about-nevadas-results/>

Despite Mahler’s enthusiasm, there were signs that delays or problems counting early votes could shadow 2020’s third Democratic presidential nominating contest. These complications would unfold behind closed doors at vote-counting hubs run by the Nevada State Democratic Party (NSDP). The possible problems concern the system used to scan and count tens of thousands of paper early ballots, as well as the database tracking all of the voters and their votes.

Nearly 75,000 people voted early, the NSDP said. That process continues on Saturday, February 22, with precinct caucuses across the state.

Top party officials have not responded to numerous requests to comment about the last-minute voter-tracking and vote-counting system that it will be using after it jettisoned the same reporting and counting technology that failed in Iowa’s Democratic Party presidential caucuses on February 3.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Democrats could face a disaster at a brokered convention. Here’s how the DNC can avoid it: They could stop potential chaos in Milwaukee before it starts by having delegates cast ranked choice ballots”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109657>
Posted on February 21, 2020 10:05 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109657> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Dave Daley and Rob Richie for Salon<https://www.salon.com/2020/02/21/democrats-could-face-a-disaster-at-a-brokered-convention-heres-how-the-dnc-can-avoid-it/>.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D109657&title=%E2%80%9CDemocrats%20could%20face%20a%20disaster%20at%20a%20brokered%20convention.%20Here%E2%80%99s%20how%20the%20DNC%20can%20avoid%20it%3A%20They%20could%20stop%20potential%20chaos%20in%20Milwaukee%20before%20it%20starts%20by%20having%20delegates%20cast%20ranked%20choice%20ballots%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Second North Carolina Court Blocks State Voter ID Law, Prompts Ethics Complaint from Conservative Group<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109655>
Posted on February 21, 2020 10:02 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109655> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

See here<https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/news/33744/state-appeals-court-blocks-voter-id-jeopardizing-use-in-general-election> and here<https://abc11.com/politics/conservative-group-files-ethics-complaint-against-voter-id-judges/5948534/>.
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Posted in voter id<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>

“Calm down, America. If election results aren’t instant, it doesn’t mean they’re ‘rigged.'”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109653>
Posted on February 21, 2020 9:54 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109653> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Josh Douglas<https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/02/21/nevada-south-carolina-2020-democrats-results-take-time-column/4808436002/> for USA Today.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D109653&title=%E2%80%9CCalm%20down%2C%20America.%20If%20election%20results%20aren%E2%80%99t%20instant%2C%20it%20doesn%E2%80%99t%20mean%20they%E2%80%99re%20%E2%80%98rigged.%27%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Trump Ads Will Take Over YouTube’s Homepage on Election Day”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109651>
Posted on February 21, 2020 9:52 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109651> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg:<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-21/donald-trump-youtube-ads-will-dominate-election-day>

In the immediate run up to the U.S. presidential election and on Election Day, the homepage of YouTube is set to advertise just one candidate: Donald Trump.

The president’s re-election campaign purchased the coveted advertising space atop the country’s most-visited video website for early November, said two people with knowledge of the transaction. The deal ensures Trump will be featured prominently in the key days when voters across the country prepare to head to the polls Nov. 3.

While the bulk of digital ad spending typically focuses on targeting specific messages to certain audiences, the top spot on YouTube is more akin to a Super Bowl TV ad. About three-quarters of U.S. adults say they use YouTube, exceeding the reach of even Facebook, according to the Pew Research Center.
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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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