[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/2/20

Wed Jul 1 20:41:33 PDT 2020

“Biden Outraises Trump for Second Straight Month, With $141 Million June Haul”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112756>
Posted on July 1, 2020 8:39 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112756> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/us/politics/trump-fundraising-2020.html>:

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/elections/joe-biden.html> and the Democratic Party outraised President Trump<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/elections/donald-trump.html> and the Republicans for the second straight month in June, announcing a record haul of $141 million on Wednesday night only hours after Mr. Trump’s campaign had trumpeted his own $131 million total.

Both of the presidential candidates’ hauls represented huge spikes from May, when Mr. Biden raised $80.8 million and Mr. Trump $74 million.

The totals were impressive in different ways. For Mr. Biden, the huge sum represented a reversal after he had struggled with fund-raising for much of the primary campaign, as well as a signal that the party’s donors, big and small, have united behind him. For Mr. Trump, it showed the durability of his financial supporters, who delivered his strongest month yet despite a turbulent June and polling showing him trailing Mr. Biden badly.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“In Wisconsin, Every Ruling on Voting Counts; Two critical court decisions gave both parties hope in a state where election margins are often razor thin.<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112754>
Posted on July 1, 2020 8:36 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112754> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT reports<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/us/politics/wisconsin-voter-purge.html>.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Hunt for Biden tapes in Ukraine by Trump allies revives prospect of foreign interference”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112752>
Posted on July 1, 2020 8:33 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112752> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/for-months-trump-allies-hunted-for-tapes-of-biden-in-ukraine-now-theyre-turning-up/2020/06/30/f3aeaba8-a67b-11ea-8681-7d471bf20207_story.html>:

Last week, a Ukrainian lawmaker who was once affiliated with a pro-Russian political party and has met with Giuliani released 10 edited snippets of what appeared to be Biden’s official vice presidential phone calls in 2016 with Petro Poroshenko, then the president of Ukraine. It was the second cache of recordings the lawmaker, who studied under the KGB in Moscow in the early 1990s, has released since May.

The recordings show <https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/ukrainian-lawmaker-releases-leaked-phone-calls-of-biden-and-poroshenko/2020/05/19/cc1e6030-9a26-11ea-b60c-3be060a4f8e1_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_10> that Biden, as he has previously said publicly, linked loan guarantees for Ukraine to the ouster of the country’s prosecutor general. The tapes do not provide evidence to back Giuliani’s long-standing accusation that Biden sought to have him fired to block an investigation of a gas company that had hired his son Hunter.

The authenticity of the audio files, which appear heavily edited, could not be verified. The Ukrainian government is investigating <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/top-aides-to-ukraines-zelensky-outline-plans-to-make-tape-leaks-illegal/2020/06/30/c94ffab0-b549-11ea-9a1d-d3db1cbe07ce_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_12> how they were obtained. Biden’s campaign has said they are part of an effort to concoct conspiracy theories to smear him. Poroshenko has gone further and called them fake.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Michigan issues more than 1 million absentee ballots, sees surge in voter registration”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112750>
Posted on July 1, 2020 8:21 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112750> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Detroit Free Press<https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/07/01/michigan-surge-in-absentee-ballots-new-voter-registrations-underway/5357523002/>:

Amid ongoing uncertainties about coronavirus and with the Aug. 4 primary approaching, Michigan is seeing a surge in new voter registrations and requests for absentee ballots.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office provided data Wednesday showing that local clerks across Michigan have received a total of more than 1.3 million requests for absentee ballots.

The data shared with the Free Press also indicated more than a million absentee ballots have already been sent out.

That’s about 3½ times the number of applications received and ballots issued ahead  of the August primary in the last presidential election cycle in 2016. …

Benson’s office also reported a surge in new voter registrations after seeing numbers drop off sharply during the height of the coronavirus outbreak in Michigan.

During April and May, there were just 12,887 new voter registrations across the state, far less than the 41,222 new registrations recorded in the same period in 2016.

But there were 35,278 new registrations in June, a significant gain on the 23,519 recorded in June 2016.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“How to Prevent an Electoral Crisis: Political leaders and veterans, unite now to ensure confidence in the process”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112746>
Posted on July 1, 2020 2:46 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112746> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

Good Bill Galston piece in the WSJ today<https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-prevent-an-electoral-crisis-11593557041?mod=opinion_lead_pos9> (behind a paywall, I assume). Here’s an excerpt of one suggestion Galston makes:

Beyond these steps, America’s elder statesmen must do all they can to ensure election integrity. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush should spearhead the formation of a bipartisan committee including respected figures such as former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle and Trent Lott, former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice, and former Secretaries of Defense Leon Panetta and Robert Gates, along with lawyers and election experts from both parties who have served in previous presidential campaigns. Committee staff should be ready to investigate charges of fraud as soon as they arise and observe the counting of mail-in ballots if asked. Committee leaders should announce their findings as quickly as accuracy permits and stand united in their defense.

Among the committee leaders’ most important tasks would be meetings soon after Labor Day with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. These leaders should be asked for a public pledge to stand together against unsubstantiated claims that the election has been stolen and to do their utmost to persuade elected officials in their respective parties to stand with them.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Now Forthcoming in the Election Law Journal: Three Pathologies of American Voting Rights Illuminated by the COVID-19 Pandemic, and How to Treat and Cure Them. Latest Draft on SSRN<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112744>
Posted on July 1, 2020 2:10 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112744> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can read it here.<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3604668>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

You Can Hear Interview with Me, and Separate One with Marilyn Marks, About Georgia Voting Problems and Election Meltdown on WABE’s “Closer Look” with Rose Scott<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112742>
Posted on July 1, 2020 2:08 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=112742> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Listen here.<https://www.wabe.org/election-law-expert-voting-integrity-activist-weigh-in-on-fixing-georgias-voting-issues-before-november/>
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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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