[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/27/20

[Rick Hasen]

UCI Conference Friday, Can American Democracy Survive the 2020 Elections?, Will Be Livestreamed; Blogging Will Resume Monday<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109750>
Posted on February 27, 2020 8:01 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109750> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I’ll be taking a blogging break as I run this conference <https://www.law.uci.edu/events/election-law/election-2020/> tomorrow with an incredible lineup.

Can American Democracy Survive the 2020 Elections?

The role of media, law, political norms, and technology in assuring acceptance of election results.
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February 28, 2020
8:15 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
UCI Division of Continuing Education, Yosemite Ballroom

RSVP ><http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=we9w8txab&oeidk=a07egu6hrpncd2fe2bc>

Schedule (PDF)<https://www.law.uci.edu/events/election-law/election-2020/2020-conference-schedule-tentative.pdf>

Livestream ><https://livestream.com/accounts/867536/events/8911014>

This event is presented in conjunction with the UCI Jack W. Peltason Center for the Study of Democracy and with the generous support of the Democracy Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Will your vote count? Veil of secrecy makes it impossible for Florida voters to know”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109748>
Posted on February 27, 2020 7:58 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109748> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Tallahassee Democrat<https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2020/02/25/voting-access-florida-sunshine-state-election-security/4866141002/>:

Florida’s March 17 presidential primary will be a referendum on state and county elections officials’ efforts to build a wall to stop hacking attempts that are constantly bombarding the system.

At a time when 59 percent of the public doesn’t trust the election process, state elections officials have thrown a veil of secrecy over that work, refusing to disclose details about the weaknesses detected in their systems and whether they’ve been fixed.

Florida has doubled down on secrecy since federal officials reported at least four counties were hacked in 2016. The state forced all 67 elections supervisors to sign nondisclosure agreements before they could receive federal funding for elections security, be briefed about vulnerabilities found by cybersecurity experts or even hook up to the state’s voter registration system.

“It just felt coerced,” said Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards, a former member of the Legislature. “We have a broad public records law for a reason, so having to sign a nondisclosure agreement didn’t sit well with me … not only to receive funds, but information too.”

The far-reaching confidentiality pacts, including a nondisclosure agreement that public records experts call bizarre and unenforceable, threaten to make a casualty out of transparency in the Sunshine State.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“AP-NORC poll: Election security, integrity worry Americans”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109745>
Posted on February 27, 2020 7:44 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109745> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP:<https://apnews.com/30f3f90a6e3704bf3995311390b6199e>

Americans have widespread concerns about the security and integrity of elections, with few saying they have high confidence that votes in the 2020 presidential election will be counted accurately.

A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research<http://www.apnorc.org/> finds skepticism about the democratic process in the United States. While a third of Americans say they have high confidence in an accurate count, roughly another third are only moderately confident and a remaining third say they have little confidence.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Judge rejects ballot secrecy case against Georgia voting touchscreens”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109743>
Posted on February 27, 2020 7:41 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109743> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AJC<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/judge-rejects-ballot-secrecy-case-against-georgia-voting-touchscreens/vo188WlAurtpfczx6YgCZN/>:

A South Georgia judge ruled Wednesday that elections can move forward on Georgia’s new voting computers, deciding against plaintiffs who said the large touchscreens failed to keep ballots secret<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/lawsuit-says-georgia-election-system-fails-protect-secret-ballots/2bSjo0c0fwr4LH14FT72pL/>.

The ruling clears the way for voters to cast their ballots on the touchscreen-and-printer voting system when early voting for the presidential primary begins Monday.

Sumter County Superior Court Chief Judge R. Rucker Smith denied an emergency motion to require paper ballots filled out by hand instead of by computer.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“The Primaries Are Just Dumb; There’s a better way to do democracy.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109741>
Posted on February 27, 2020 7:37 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109741> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT editorial<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/opinion/democrats-primary-south-carolina.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage> in favor of instant runoff voting.
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Posted in alternative voting systems<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>


“Court OKs Texas winner-take-all presidential elector system”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109739>
Posted on February 27, 2020 7:34 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109739> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP<https://www.yahoo.com/news/court-oks-texas-winner-presidential-175727554.html>:

The winner-take-all system Texas and 47 other states use to assign Electoral College presidential votes is constitutional, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans unanimously upheld<http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/19/19-50214-CV0.pdf> a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the Texas system. It was the latest defeat for organizations challenging such systems in Texas and three other states. Cases are pending at the appellate level in at least two of those cases.

Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, said he expects the issue to wind up at the Supreme Court.
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Posted in electoral college<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>


Latest Issue of Marc Elias’s “Democracy Docket” Newsletter<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109736>
Posted on February 27, 2020 7:32 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109736> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Available here<https://www.democracydocket.com/2020/02/https-email-perkinscoie-com-27-2266-compose-email-february_draft-aspsidblankform/>. This is a valuable resource if you want to track Democrats’ voting litigation activities. I won’t link to this each month, but there’s a link <https://email.perkinscoie.com/27/2064/landing-pages/subscribe-form.asp?sid=1149d757-d3e8-41d4-88cc-2850784140c3> to subscribe to the newsletter.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Torres-Spelliscy: “The Easy and Not So Easy Fixes to an Election Meltdown” (Balkinization Symposium on Election Meltdown)<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109734>
Posted on February 27, 2020 7:29 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109734> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy<http://balkin.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-easy-and-not-so-easy-fixes-to.html>:

Every voter should read Professor Rick Hasen’s Election Meltdown<https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300248197/election-meltdown> before they vote in 2020, which focuses on the how elections are run and how partisans are less and less likely to accept an electoral loss.

Election Meltdown does a good job of explaining in language accessible to a lay person some of the problems that threaten American democracy like old voting machines and feckless administrators, and just as importantly, placing phantom fears in their proper place.
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>


From the Election Law Journal Archives: Article by Jason Marisam on How the 1918 Flu Epidemic Affected the Election<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109731>
Posted on February 26, 2020 1:11 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109731> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can find Judging the 1918 Election<https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/elj.2009.0052?journalCode=elj> at this link.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“‘Panties in a Bunch’: Kansas Official Blew Off Concerns About 2018 Polling Place Move Dodge City, Kansas”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109729>
Posted on February 26, 2020 12:41 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109729> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

TPM:<https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/house-oversight-kansas-voter-rights-investigation-update>

The House Oversight Committee revealed Wednesday new information about how local election officials in Kansas botched the relocation of a polling place that put Dodge City’s single site for voting at a location more than a mile from the nearest bus stop.

The move by Ford County in 2018 to move the city’s sole polling place outside city limits prompted an ACLU lawsuit and national controversy, particularly because the city’s population is 60 percent Hispanic and the new location was not accessible by public transport or even sidewalk.

The move also prompted an investigation<https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/house-oversight-texas-kansas-voting-rights> from the newly Democratic controlled House Oversight Committee, which also released on Wednesday details of parallel investigations into voting rights debacles in Texas and Georgia.

According to an update to those investigations the committee unveiled Wednesday, Ford County Clerk Debbie Cox dismissed concerns about how the relocation would affect voters, particularly those who don’t drive.

“The ones complaining do not even live here in Ford Co or some in Kansas,” she said in a September 2018 email released Wednesday.<https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Email%20from%20Debbie%20Cox%20to%20Sharon%20Seibel%20%28Oct.%2015%2C%202018%29.pdf>

Here is a link to the emails <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kjjNTwa_04fyzwl4rX1pecMpV-6_bp6F/view> and committee report.<https://drive.google.com/file/d/19xt_xXYjxQ2Vog4eFLIWp4MEHN8lnG3V/view>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Russia, Bloomberg, and Voter Choice”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109727>
Posted on February 26, 2020 12:35 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109727> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Franita and Foley podcast<https://soundcloud.com/freeandfair/russia-bloomberg-and-voter-choice>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Kemp Praise Aides for Purging Voter Rolls”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109725>
Posted on February 26, 2020 12:34 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109725> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Political Wire:<https://politicalwire.com/2020/02/26/kemp-praise-aides-for-purging-voter-rolls/>

The House Oversight Committee released an email<https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Email%20from%20David%20Dove%20to%20Brian%20Kemp%2C%20et.%20al.%20%28Sept.%2023%2C%202017%29.pdf> from then-Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) which told aides “good work” after a newspaper story exposed problems in the way voters were removed from electoral rolls.

He added: “Good work, this story is so complex folks will not make it all the way through it.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“DeKalb illegally canceled dozens of voter registrations, lawsuit says”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109723>
Posted on February 26, 2020 11:52 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109723> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AJC reports.<https://www.ajc.com/news/local/dekalb-illegally-canceled-dozens-voter-registrations-lawsuit-says/8sWX3GCmZTDVeAMFLJCYUM/>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Voting tech gone wrong: How scrambled data upended a Nevada caucus site”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109721>
Posted on February 26, 2020 10:47 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=109721> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Steven Rosenfeld with a cautionary tale<https://www.salon.com/2020/02/25/voting-tech-gone-wrong-how-scrambled-data-upended-a-nevada-caucus-site_partner/> about data entry error and democracy.
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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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