[EL] (no subject)

[Pildes, Rick]

Pres. Trump's Tweets on "Mail-in Voting"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113569>
Posted on July 30, 2020 12:42 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113569> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

With all the attention focused on his "delay the election" tweet, I want to highlight another aspect of this morning's tweets about voting.

The President begins by praising absentee voting: "With Universal Mail-in Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good) 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history." But when he goes on in later tweets to offer concrete examples of why "mail-in voting" will supposedly be catastrophic, all the examples involve absentee voting, not "Universal Mail-in Voting" (or what I call full vote-by-mail).

In a later tweet, the most specific example he offers is from New York:

Donald J. Trump at realDonaldTrump<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump>*20h<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1288602262567153664> New York Mail-In voting is in a disastrous state of condition. Votes from many weeks ago are missing - a total mess. They have no idea what is going on. Rigged Election. I told you so. Same thing would happen, but on massive scale, with USA. Fake News refuses to report!

He also offers a video from a local reporter in Philly, which shows how slow the US Postal Service can be.

But New York does not have "Universal Mail-in Voting." Nor does PA. They both have absentee voting, nothing more. In fact, only a handful of states have "Universal Mail-in Voting." Instead, about 28 states now have no-excuse absentee voting - including many that would be considered "red states," such as KS/ID/WY/SD/ND/NC/NV/NE/MT/GA/AK (a few of these states currently have divided government).

To be sure, the current absentee process in New York is a mess, as I have blogged<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113218> about several times. That's not because it's "rigged" (there is no evidence of that so far) but because of bad policy and bad administration. But that's not because NY uses "Universal Mail-in Voting."

In short, there is no logical relationship I can identify between the President's praise of absentee voting, his condemnation of "Universal Mail-in Voting," and the specific examples of problems he offers. But the President does seem to think absentee voting is "good."
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World's Head Explodes: Trump Tweets about "Delaying the Election"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113570>
Posted on July 30, 2020 10:35 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113570> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

If you think it's only American media that's been turned upside down by a tweet like this, I'm already doing interviews on the subject with German and Spanish television, and have turned down requests from still other countries.

              I'm saying the same thing about this that everyone else who knows the law is saying.  Some legal questions are complex, this one is not:  the President has no power to change the date of the election unilaterally.   The current date is fixed by statute.  For Congress to change it, a bill would have to pass the House and survive a filibuster in the Senate.

              On top of that, the Constitution, via the 20th Amendment, terminates the terms of current Senators and Representatives on Jan. 3rd and those of the President and Vice President on Jan. 20th.
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"FBI director Wray warns of China election interference"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113567>
Posted on July 30, 2020 6:45 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113567> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

>From Axios<https://www.axios.com/fbi-counterintelligence-china-election-interference-87aa1353-dd92-4010-baf7-cbb521179aa2.html>:

FBI Director Christopher Wray and other intelligence community officials warned about China's increased capability to interfere in U.S. elections in separate classified hearings with the Senate Intelligence Committee this week, two sources familiar with the hearings tell Axios.

What we're hearing: Wray and other officials cited concerns that China is developing the ability to interfere with local election systems and target members of Congress to influence China policy, the sources said.
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"Intelligence disputes fuel rare public acrimony among Gang of Eight"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113565>
Posted on July 30, 2020 5:08 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113565> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

Troubling story <https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/29/intelligence-disputes-gang-of-eight-387014> from Politico about congressional oversight of potential foreign influence over the election:

The group of congressional leaders responsible for reviewing the nation's most closely held secrets is engaged in an unusual and bitter partisan fight over how much information to share with the public about election interference -all while lawmakers and administration officials seek to prevent 2016-style meddling from foreign countries.

The public spat between the Democratic and Republican sides of the so-called Gang of Eight, less than 100 days before Americans go to the polls, is highly unusual for the group, whose obligations normally rise above the political fray and rarely descend publicly into the partisan squabbles that define Capitol Hill. . . .

The fundamental disagreement between the Democratic and Republican sides of the Gang of Eight centers on how much information about foreign threats should be made public. While Democrats have urged more transparency, Republicans have warned about the potentially dangerous precedent that would set. As a result, the Democratic and Republican sides of the group have issued dueling statements and demands on subjects on which they are normally unified.
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VP Pence Endorses Absentee Voting, Distinguishes it From Full Vote by Mail<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113563>
Posted on July 30, 2020 4:59 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113563> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

In an interview<https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/mike-pence-on-heated-barr-hearing-federal-response-to-violence-in-portland-mail-in-voting-reopening-schools> on Fox News two nights ago, Vice President Pence endorsed absentee voting for this fall and drew a distinction between that and full vote by mail. Below is the relevant portion from a transcript of that interview. In reproducing it, I am not endorsing, of course, anything said here. But I think the VP's endorsement of absentee voting is newsworthy.

According to the Washington Post<https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/vote-by-mail-states/>, as of now, 77% of Americans will have the option of voting at home this fall.

Transcript -

MACCALLUM: With regard to the election, even a question raised today, two big issues that were raised today, one is the issue of mail-in ballots and here is what Representative Greg Stanton of Arizona said about that today. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GREG STANTON, D-ARIZ.: There are fears that you and the President are laying the foundation to interfere with the upcoming election specifically with vote by mail, as my colleagues have previously noted, because both of you have advanced false conspiracy theories about mail-in voting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: There are so many states in the country that already have mail- in voting, they've had it for a long time. Is there any reason not to accelerate or offer that opportunity to people given the COVID-19 pandemic? Is there anything that's wrong with that in your mind?

PENCE: Well Martha look, what we've had in this country for a long time is absentee ballot voting by mail. We've had in the State of Indiana, I've voted in absentee myself since I get this job in Washington D. C.

MACCALLUM: Yes, you are right.

PENCE: And look, that requires a person request the ballot and then the signature is verified and we protect the vote. The integrity of the vote is paramount. I mean through the generations, Americans have worn the uniform, fought and died to protect all of our freedoms and the right to vote is at the heart of this democracy, and absentee balloting is a time honored tradition.

But what you see across this country in Democrat led states is an effort for universal distribution of ballots. Without the accountability that you have with absentee balloting, and when you combine that with states like California that actually allow what is called vote bundling or vote harvesting, you see where the entire ability for widespread fraud is very real.

And what you're hearing from President Trump and you will continue to hear from this administration is a commitment to protect the one person, one vote, integrity of our electoral system, and we are going to stand strong on that.
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House Democrats grill "Census director on Trump order to exclude undocumented immigrants from apportionment Former Census directors warn the directive could result in flawed count"<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113561>
Posted on July 30, 2020 4:40 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=113561> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

>From the Washington Post<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/house-democrats-grill-census-director-on-trump-order-to-exclude-undocumented-immigrants-from-apportionment/2020/07/29/9c7da852-d1e1-11ea-8c55-61e7fa5e82ab_story.html>:

At an often contentious emergency hearing Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers pressed the director of the Census Bureau on how he will follow last week's presidential directive<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/trump-administration-seeks-to-bar-undocumented-immigrants-from-a-portion-of-the-2020-census/2020/07/21/9af682ee-c87f-11ea-a99f-3bbdffb1af38_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_1> to change the way the decennial census is used for congressional apportionment.

Bureau Director Steven Dillingham told the House Oversight Committee that he had no advance notice of President Trump's memorandum, which directs the Commerce Department to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted next year when Congress reapportions a decade's division of House seats. . . .

Committee Democrats also questioned Dillingham about fears that the government has reversed its stance on a deadline extension<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/trump-administration-asks-congress-to-push-back-census-by-months/2020/04/13/f6303052-7de7-11ea-a3ee-13e1ae0a3571_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_12> for census data to be delivered. In April, when much of the country was shut down by the coronavirus<https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/28/what-you-need-know-about-coronavirus/?itid=lk_inline_manual_12> pandemic, the bureau suspended many of its survey operations and asked for a four-month extension to deliver the data to the president.

By law, the deadline for its delivery is Dec. 31 of the census year, but because the bureau has had to postpone its door-to-door knocking by several months, several of its top officials have said it is no longer possible to meet that deadline. Census experts say the count could be compromised if the bureau is rushed to meet the December date.

A four-month delay could hamstring any plan to exclude undocumented immigrants if Trump is defeated and a new administration takes over in January, before the data becomes available to use for reapportionment.
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Best,
Rick

Richard H. Pildes
Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law
NYU School of Law
40 Washington Square So.
NYC, NY 10014
212 998-6377

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