[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/15/20

[Rick Hasen]

“What It’s Been Like to Vote in 2020; So Far Long lines. Pizza at the polls. Absentee ballots that never showed up. And that’s just the warm-up to November.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113110>
Posted on July 15, 2020 8:19 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113110> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/politics/voting-lines-2020-elections.html>:

Over the past five months, people have waited in all sorts of lines to vote: some bent around stuccoed store corners, some curving through city parks, others spaced six feet apart.

On Tuesday, voters in Alabama, Texas and Maine went to the polls in primary and runoff contests for one of the final election days<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/elections/2020-presidential-election-calendar.html> before Election Day on Nov. 3.

The coronavirus crisis has upended every aspect of life in 2020, including how people vote. More than a dozen states postponed elections, some more than once, as they scrambled to figure out how to safely conduct voting in the midst of a pandemic. But even before the virus took hold in the United States, caucuses didn’t go according to plan<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/09/us/politics/iowa-democratic-caucuses.html>, and high turnout meant long lines in some states on Super Tuesday.

How much of a hassle it is to vote is generally a matter of design, not accident, according to Carol Anderson, the author of “One Person, No Vote” and a professor of African-American studies at Emory University. “Long lines are deliberate, because they deal with the allocation of resources,” Professor Anderson said. She said it’s frustrating to see long lines reported in the news media as evidence of voter enthusiasm: “What they really show is government ineptness. And oftentimes a deliberate deployment of not enough resources in minority communities.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“As Trump And Biden Battle, Election Officials Are Running Out of Time, Money For November”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113108>
Posted on July 15, 2020 8:10 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113108> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Frontline:<https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/covid-voting-mail-in-ballots-election-officials-running-out-of-time-money-for-november/>

Experts say the coronavirus pandemic has tacked on hundreds of millions of dollars in unexpected costs to this year’s election. And there are clear signs that an emergency federal infusion of $400 million made in March will fall far short of what’s needed.

Money buys the material needed to pull off a free and fair election, said Nathaniel Persily, an election law professor with Stanford Law School. This year, though, “local jurisdictions are literally relying on philanthropy to help pull off this election,” he said, pointing to a Chicago nonprofit that donated $6.3 million to five Wisconsin cities. “It’s like we are holding a bake sale for our democracy.”

Dozens of interviews with local election clerks, state officials and advocates by USA TODAY Network, Columbia Journalism Investigations and FRONTLINE reveal the country’s patchwork election system is already fraying. And a proposal to provide states an additional $3.6 billion in federal money to support cratering election budgets has yet to be voted on by the U.S. Senate.

Academics and experts said the $400 million that has already been allocated is too little and its distribution too slow. In key swing states, cash and resources are only now trickling down to the locals responsible for running elections.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Florida GOP doctors Trump tweet to solve mail-in voting problem”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113106>
Posted on July 15, 2020 8:01 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113106> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico:<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/15/florida-mail-in-voting-trump-362519>

President Donald Trump’s harsh rhetoric against mail-in voting is causing a big problem for Florida Republicans, who once dominated the practice here.

So the state GOP came up with a solution: They doctored one of Trump’s tweets on the issue to remove the stigma.

In a mass-solicitation designed to boost flagging interest in registering to vote by mail, the Republican Party of Florida featured a Trump tweet from June 28 that praised absentee ballots but that had his opposition to mail-in voting strategically edited out.

“Absentee Ballots are fine. A person has to go through a process to get and use them,” Trump said in the tweet<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1277429217190428673>. The rest of the quote was blurred out: “Mail-In Voting, on the other hand, will lead to the most corrupt Election is USA history. Bad things happen with Mail-Ins. Just look at Special Election in Patterson, N.J. 19% of Ballots a FRAUD.”

There’s no difference between mail-in voting and absentee ballot voting. Trump is claiming a distinction that does not exist, all the while exaggerating<https://www.npr.org/2020/07/01/885074932/n-j-election-fraud-case-draws-a-trump-tweet-but-suggests-safeguards-are-working> the fraud risks, prevalence and effects of voting by mail.
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Posted in absentee ballots<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>


“Election Day could turn into ‘Election Week’ with rise in mail ballots”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113102>
Posted on July 15, 2020 7:55 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113102> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CBS News reports.<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/election-day-mail-in-voting-ballots-election-week/>
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


Now Available: 2020 Teachers’ Update for Laycock & Hasen, Modern American Remedies (5th edition)<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113096>
Posted on July 15, 2020 7:49 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113096> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The 2020 Teachers’ Update to Laycock and Hasen, Modern American Remedies<https://www.wklegaledu.com/laycock-remedies5> (5th edition) covers Supreme Court developments through the end of the October 2019 term, including cases touching on the standards for emergency injunctions and rules for disgorgement.  It also discusses current controversies such as disputes over the publication of a book by former National Security Advisor John Bolton, presidential immunity, the continuing debate over universal or nationwide injunctions, and other interesting developments in the lower courts.

You can find and distribute the Teachers’ Update to the regular edition at this link<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/5th-ed-laycock-2020-supp-final.pdf>.

You can find and distribute the Teachers’ update to the concise edition<https://www.wklegaledu.com/laycock-remediesconcise5> at this link<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/5th-ed-laycock-2020-concise-supp-final.pdf>.
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Posted in Remedies<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=57>


“Spotlight on Texas: Voter Suppression, Latinx, and Youth Voting in 2020 (Boots Optional)”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113094>
Posted on July 15, 2020 7:41 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113094> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Event<https://mailchi.mp/1a7c49cd1e26/lawyers-committee-mcle-2705257> from the Civics Center.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Senior Trump campaign lawyer critical of mail-in ballots voted by mail three times”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113092>
Posted on July 15, 2020 7:40 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113092> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CNN reports.<https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/14/politics/jenna-ellis-mail-voting-kfile/index.html>
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>


“The Cybersecurity 202: DNC’s email voting plan limits hacking risk but can’t eliminate it”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113090>
Posted on July 15, 2020 7:33 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113090> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-cybersecurity-202/2020/07/15/the-cybersecurity-202-dnc-s-email-voting-plan-limits-hacking-risk-but-can-t-eliminate-it/5f0e0a1c88e0fa7b44f746b4/> on DNC convention plan.
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Posted in voting technology<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40>


“Kansas Congressman Steve Watkins charged with three felonies in illegal voting case”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113088>
Posted on July 15, 2020 7:32 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113088> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

KC Star:<https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article244232207.html>

Kansas Rep. Steve Watkins was charged Tuesday with three felonies and a misdemeanor related to an investigation into whether he illegally voted in a 2019 municipal election.

Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay, a Republican, announced the charges about a half-hour before Watkins, a first-term Topeka Republican, <https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article238547843.html> was set to appear on a televised debate with his primary challengers Jake LaTurner and Dennis Taylor on KSNT….

The felony charges are interference with law enforcement by providing false information, voting without being qualified and unlawful advance voting. Watkins also faces a misdemeanor charge for failing to the notify the DMV of his change of address.

Watkins used a Topeka UPS store as his registration address <https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article238033644.html> for the 2019 municipal election and allegedly voted in the wrong city council district. Sources say Watkins was living with parents at the time, but used the UPS address to obscure that fact….

The charges are only one of the legal headaches facing Watkins, who was narrowly elected by less than a percentage point in 2018.

Steve Watkins, Sr., the congressman’s father and a Topeka physician, revealed in March that the Federal Election Commission <https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article240956161.html> was reviewing donations he steered to his son’s 2018 campaign through other individuals, an action prohibited under federal law. The FEC has not taken action in the matter, but Watkins’ campaign has racked up hefty legal bills since 2018.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


MA Voters Will Decide This Fall Whether to Adopt Ranked-Choice Voting<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113086>
Posted on July 15, 2020 6:05 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113086> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

The Secretary of State in MA recently certifi<https://voterchoice2020.org/its-official-massachusetts-voters-to-decide-ranked-choice-voting-on-november-ballot/>ed that a ballot measure asking voters whether they want to adopt RCV had qualified to be on the ballot this fall. Voters in Alaska will also have an opportunity to weigh in on this question this fall.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Florida Files Opposition at Supreme Court in Felon Reenfranchisement Case<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113078>
Posted on July 14, 2020 1:27 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113078> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The brief<https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19A1071/147753/20200714154859432_Raysor%20Stay%20Response%20vf.pdf> relies heavily on the question of timing. So both sides are pushing the Purcell Principle to support their position in this case.

The brief is also remarkably dismissive of the rights of felons, saying they are not qualified voters and so they should get less protection from the Supreme Court. This argument ignores the obvious point that Florida voters (Democrats, Republicans and others) voted overwhelmingly via ballot initiative to restore these rights and it is the Florida legislature, likely for partisan reasons, that is standing in the way of reenfranchisement.
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Posted in felon voting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>, Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


Georgia: “Fulton rejects emailed absentee ballot requests after primary problems”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113076>
Posted on July 14, 2020 1:04 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113076> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AJC<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/fulton-rejects-emailed-absentee-ballot-requests-after-primary-problems/p0LYsStYeF7NdlNhwgsyUK/>:

Election officials in Fulton County are refusing to accept emailed absentee ballot requests, an apparent violation of Georgia voting laws.

The county’s decision to reject emailed absentee ballot applications comes after it struggled<https://www.ajc.com/news/local/virus-lack-preperation-lead-fulton-county-election-disaster/X61R25rc0cDXjCZkTz1ePO/> to manage a flood of requests before the June 9 primary election. Many voters in Fulton, the most populous county in the state, said they never received<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/absentee-ballot-requests-missing-fulton-ahead-georgia-primary/kkXUUbxL0wug5niqAvKTqM/> their absentee ballots, forcing them to wait in line for hours to vote in person during the coronavirus pandemic.

Voters who email absentee requests for the Aug. 11 runoff election are receiving a response from Fulton asking them to instead send paper absentee applications by mail.

Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said the county’s refusal to accept emailed absentee applications highlights the difficulties it has running elections. The secretary of state’s office has said 70% of problems<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-election-problems-blasted-november-election-looms/m7JraAaY5E4hsHc4mFvLHI/> during the primary were concentrated in Fulton.
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Posted in absentee ballots<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


I Talked to WNPR’s “Here and Now” about “Election Meltdown” and the Pandemic<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113074>
Posted on July 14, 2020 12:56 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113074> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can listen here, beginning at the 22 minute mark.<https://www.wnpr.org/post/perfect-storm-surging-virus-and-election-meltdown>
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Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>


“Kanye’s Short-Lived Attempt to Get on the 2020 Ballot”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113071>
Posted on July 14, 2020 9:44 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113071> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ben Jacobs<https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/kanyes-short-lived-attempt-to-get-on-the-2020-ballot.html>:

But this time may — at least for a moment — be different. According to multiple campaign professionals who spoke with Intelligencer, West took early steps last week toward getting his name on the ballot in Florida and other states as a third-party candidate running against Joe Biden and Donald Trump….

The source had been approached about going to Florida on West’s behalf to help gather the signatures needed to make the ballot in the state by the July 15 deadline. This person was offered $5,000 for the week’s work. In order to qualify for the ballot in the Sunshine State, West would need to gather 132,781 valid signatures from Florida voters in less than a week.

On the morning of July 9, TMZ reported<https://www.tmz.com/2020/07/09/kanye-west-bipolar-disorder-episode-president-forbes-interview/> that West’s family was concerned that the billionaire rapper was suffering a bipolar episode based on his presidential aspirations. The well-sourced tabloid website added “our sources say his family and those close to him are worried, but they believe things will stabilize as they have in the past.”

Later that day, I talked to Steve Kramer. He is a get-out-the-vote specialist who runs a firm that also helps candidates get on the ballot. Kramer, who has worked mostly for Democratic candidates but has also had some Republican clients, told me that he had been hired to help West get on the ballot in Florida and South Carolina. He added that his understanding was that West’s team was “working over weekend there, formalizing the FEC and other things that they’ve got to do when you have a lot of corporate lawyers involved.”

The signature-gathering process was described as ongoing, and Kramer said “we had overwhelming support to get him on the ballot.” He added, “Whether anybody is going to vote for him or not is up to them.” Kramer described the effort as including both paid and volunteer efforts to get signatures. “They got a lot of people who they’ve got both on their volunteer side and their contracted side,” said Kramer.

This all seemed real enough, and I reached out to West’s publicist for a response. The initial response was to loop in another spokesperson on the email. West’s team then went dark. As I waited for a response, I followed up with Kramer who told me, “He’s out.”
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Posted in ballot access<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>


Chuckle of the Day<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113069>
Posted on July 14, 2020 9:18 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113069> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sam Levine<https://twitter.com/srl/status/1283030520163717120>:
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


My New One in LA Lawyer Magazine: “California’s Ballot Harvesting Law: A Crop of Trouble?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113067>
Posted on July 14, 2020 9:07 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113067> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I have written this article<https://lalawyer.advanced-pub.com/?issueID=16&pageID=17> for L.A. Lawyer. It begins:

California has been in the vanguard of election reform, passing voting rules that modernize the election process and make it easier to register and vote, such as same day an automatic voter registration via the state Department of Motor Vehicles. These laws, along with availability of no excuse vote-by-mail balloting, make the Golden State among the easiest in the country within which to register and vote. There is, however, one recent voting provision of California law that has become a source of special controversy: Since 2016, California Elections Code Section 3017 has allowed third parties to collect an unlimited number of completed absentee ballots from California voters. Although so far there have not been problems reported with the practice, so-called ‘ballot harvesting” opens the door to potential ballot tampering and election fraud. The practice also can undermine voters’ confidence in the election process even if there is no actual tampering going on.

With the emergence of COVID-19 leading to the apparent inevitability of increased vote-by-mail in November, with President Donald Trump and others’—without evidence—attacking vote-by-mail in general and ballot harvesting in particular as rife with fraud, now may be the time for California to impose reasonable limits on the third-party absentee ballot collection while taking care not to place additional burdens on minority voters and voters meeting special assistance along the way.
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Posted in absentee ballots<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>


“Newsroom or PAC? Liberal group muddies online information wars”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113064>
Posted on July 14, 2020 8:21 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113064> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/14/newsroom-pac-liberal-info-wars-356800>:

The articles and Facebook ad dollars look like the efforts of a run-of-the-mill political group. But they are actually from a news outlet: CourierNewsroom.com, also known as Courier, which was created and funded by the Democratic-aligned digital organization Acronym. Courier has spent over $1.4 million on Facebook ads this election cycle, mostly to promote its flattering articles and videos about more than a dozen endangered House Democrats at the top of the Democratic Party’s priority list this November, according to Facebook’s political ad tracker<https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=political_and_issue_ads&country=US&impression_search_field=has_impressions_lifetime&q=rose&view_all_page_id=110749446963570&sort_data%5bdirection%5d=desc&sort_data%5bmode%5d=relevancy_monthly_grouped>.

But because Courier is organized as a media outlet, it does not have to disclose its donors or the total money it spends promoting Democratic politicians.

The $1.4 million in Facebook ads is likely just a fraction of the money behind the Courier project, which includes a newsroom of at least 25 people and eight separate websites with content often focused on local issues in presidential swing states. But this activity — creating an unregulated advertising stream promoting Democratic officeholders, more akin to a PAC than a newsroom — diverges from other partisan news outlets that are proliferating online as local newspapers struggle.

And in setting up the enterprise, Acronym — which is financed by some of the deepest pockets in progressive politics, such as liberal billionaires Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, and Laurene Powell Jobs, the majority owner of The Atlantic — has stirred outrage and provoked debate about the ethics of such political tactics and the future of the press.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, social media and social protests<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=58>


“Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting could lead to nightmare scenario, election expert warns”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113062>
Posted on July 14, 2020 8:12 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113062> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jon Ward<https://news.yahoo.com/trumps-attacks-on-mailin-voting-could-lead-to-nightmare-scenario-elections-expert-warns-213417202.html> for Yahoo News:

Anyone can spin out a worst-case scenario for the presidential election, but it’s worth paying particular attention to those that keep experts like Richard Hasen up at night.

Hasen, a law and political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, has written multiple books on elections, including one that was released just before the COVID-19 pandemic, “Election Meltdown<https://www.amazon.com/Election-Meltdown-Distrust-American-Democracy/dp/0300248199>.”

Even before the pandemic made it likely that there will be a historic number of mail-in ballots in this fall’s election, Hasen was worried<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/trump-jokes-rigged-elections-chaos.html> that if the election were close, President Trump might declare victory before all the votes were counted.

That concern is now much greater for Hasen. Since the emergence of the coronavirus, Trump has made numerous wild claims<https://news.yahoo.com/trump-ramps-up-attack-on-mailin-voting-with-a-warning-about-false-ballots-sent-by-foreign-countries-180918215.html> — without any evidence and in contradiction to known facts — that mail-in voting will lead to widespread fraud and cheating.

If most Republicans vote in person and most Democrats vote by mail, Hasen said, that could create a scenario well suited to Trump’s tendency to make unfounded accusations of wrongdoing.

“As Trump drives more and more of his supporters to vote in person and away from vote-by-mail, it’s quite likely that we’ll see Trump getting many more votes on election night, the votes that are counted on Election Day,” Hasen said in an interview on “The Long Game,” a Yahoo News podcast.<https://play.acast.com/s/thelonggame/theelectionnightmarescenariothatkeepsrickhasenupatnight>

“Then, four or five days later, [if] Biden becomes the winner as the absentee ballots are counted in Philadelphia or Detroit, that’s a recipe, if it’s close, for a really ugly election scenario,” he said.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>


“20 groups from across political spectrum urge Donald Trump and Joe Biden to reveal information about their campaign fundraisers”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113060>
Posted on July 14, 2020 8:08 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113060> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Good idea<https://www.issueone.org/20-groups-from-across-political-spectrum-urge-donald-trump-and-joe-biden-to-reveal-information-about-their-campaign-fundraisers/?platform=hootsuite> from Issue One.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>


--
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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