[EL] Task force, 50-state audit
Michael Latner
mlatner at calpoly.edu
Tue Mar 24 17:34:03 PDT 2020
Hi all,
I'm sure most of you have seen or participated in one of the reports from Brennan, UCLAVRP, Leadership Conference or other org on the process of gearing up for VBM in November. I've been on a few calls with several and it sounds like there is growing support and need (especially for Congressional direction) for an audit or assessment of the capacity of each state, including legal/administrative challenges, and infrastructure needs. Are other folks involved in similar conversations, and if so is there more general interest in collaboration in a very time sensitive but crucial exercise?
ML
Professor Michael Latner
Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Democracy, Union of Concerned Scientists
Faculty Scholar, Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy
Political Science Department
California Polytechnic State University
@mlatner
Mikelatner.com
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On 3/24/20, 12:00 PM, "Law-election on behalf of law-election-request at department-lists.uci.edu" <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu on behalf of law-election-request at department-lists.uci.edu> wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big media,
or who write for big media (Richard Winger)
2. Re: Counting By-Mail ballots is hard (Mark Scarberry)
3. Re: plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big
media, or who write for big media (larrylevine at earthlink.net)
4. Re: plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big
media, or who write for big media (George Korbel)
5. Re: Counting By-Mail ballots is hard (Sean Parnell)
6. Re: plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big
media, or who write for big media (Richard Winger)
7. Re: plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big
media, or who write for big media (Tom at TomCares.com)
8. Re: State-level continuity of governance- (Hugh L Brady)
9. House COVID-19 bill election provisions -- the ACCESS Act
(Mark Scarberry)
10. ELB News and Commentary 3/24/20 (Rick Hasen)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 19:26:48 +0000 (UTC)
From: Richard Winger <richardwinger at yahoo.com>
To: "law-election at uci.edu" <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big
media, or who write for big media
Message-ID: <903510429.825022.1584991608334 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
I perceive that those of us who get quoted in the important news media, especially everyone who ever posts items at electionlawblog, have not mentioned the plight of minor parties.? The Libertarian Party is only on the ballot now in 35 states for president, and the Green Party is only on in 21 states for president.
In 2016 the Libertarian Party ended up on the ballot in all states for president, and the Greens in all states except for 5.? In the normal course of events, they would be petitioning now to get on in more states, but the health crisis has made petitioning virtually impossible.? Petition drives succeed when petitioners are out in public with lots of people in the area.? That is now gone.
As of February 2020, in the states with partisan registration, 2.4% of voters are registered members of minor parties.? Those voters are entitled to voting rights just as much as Republicans, Democrats, and independents are entitled to voting rights, but I don't see any public commentary about the plight of the minor parties this year.? I hope all of you who have the ear of the big press will add this to the list of election law issues.
If I have missed something relevant, please point it out to me.?
Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 13:34:26 -0700
From: Mark Scarberry <mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu>
To: Douglas Johnson <djohnson at ndcresearch.com>
Cc: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] Counting By-Mail ballots is hard
Message-ID:
<CAGN5XUzF5R1g=Xp22FLeb9ESE3ejj1DdHsBeBZXS9EoSf_LhuQ at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
The longer it takes to finish the counting, the greater the likelihood that
the result that some people will question the result. I think that's a real
problem.
Mark
[image: Pepperdine wordmark]*Caruso School of Law*
*Mark S. Scarberry*
*Professor of Lawmark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu
<mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu>*
On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 11:14 AM Douglas Johnson <djohnson at ndcresearch.com>
wrote:
> Thank you for that update - that?s great to hear. Sounds like the problem
> is simply poor communication between the Secretary of State and the County,
> which is problematic but much easier to fix than ballot counting problems!
>
> - Doug
>
> On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 10:53 AM Pedro Hernandez <pedro at fairvote.org>
> wrote:
>
>> For clarification:
>>
>> I've been following SF's canvass pretty closely (as I am a voter in the
>> City and County). San Francisco's last ballot count was on March 13th (see
>> prelim report 13)
>> <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/march-3-2020-election-results-detailed-reports>.
>> On March March 12th there were less than 500
>> <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/article/preliminary-election-results-report-12-and-ballot-processing-update-san-francisco-department> ballots
>> remaining to be counted, and nearly all remaining ballots were counted
>> on the 13th
>> <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/article/preliminary-election-results-report-13-and-ballot-processing-update-san-francisco-department>.
>> The SF DOE stated that it received approximately 34,000 provisional
>> ballots
>> <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/article/preliminary-election-results-report-12-and-ballot-processing-update-san-francisco-department>.
>> I suspect any remaining ballots will be counted when workers can get back
>> to work.
>>
>> On March 12th, the County began the process of selecting it's ballots for
>> the 1% manual tally. No update yet, but given the shelter in place notice,
>> it's not clear when the SF will complete it's canvass. Although
>> counties have until the 30th day after the election to complete their
>> canvass.
>>
>> This is not to take away from concerns over VBM implementation. With any
>> large scale move to VBM, best practices should be adopted.
>>
>> Pedro
>>
>> Pedro Hernandez
>> Pronouns: He/Him/His
>> Senior Policy Coordinator, Voting Rights & Ranked Choice Voting
>> http://fairvote.org
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 9:04 PM Douglas Johnson <djohnson at ndcresearch.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> To reinforce the Detroit and other stories' ideas that managing
>>> large-scale by-mail ballots is hard:
>>>
>>> Today is March 19th, sixteen days after California's primary election.
>>> Yet San Francisco has yet to count over 25% of the ballots cast in the
>>> county. While the time required to process provisional ballots is
>>> understandable, 88,000 of the remaining 110,000 ballots left to count in
>>> San Francisco are by-mail ballots. Granted, San Francisco is using new
>>> voting equipment this election -- and I suspect the learning curve with the
>>> new equipment is why the counting delays there are more there than in other
>>> California counties (disclaimer: I am guessing about that as I have no
>>> inside knowledge into SF's operations) -- but what is proposed in this
>>> debate is new voting equipment on a massive, almost national, scale.
>>>
>>> California is a state that has had no-excuse by-mail voting for many,
>>> many years, and the state has experience processing 25%, 33% and even 50%
>>> of all ballots cast coming in by mail. The state's election officials are
>>> among the most-experienced and most-expert with by-mail voting in the
>>> country. Yet this undertaking remains a difficult logistical challenge.
>>>
>>> I support the massive expansion of by-mail voting for this November
>>> election. But we should not under-estimate how hard that will be to
>>> implement -- and how long it will take to count those votes.
>>>
>>> - Doug
>>>
>>> Douglas Johnson
>>> Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 8:28 PM Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ?Voting by Mail Is the Hot New Idea. Is There Time to Make It Work??
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110125>
>>>>
>>>> Posted on March 19, 2020 8:18 pm
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110125> by *Rick Hasen*
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>>>
>>>> NYT reports.
>>>> <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/politics/voting-by-mail-coronavirus.html>
>>>>
>>>> [image: Share]
>>>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110125&title=%E2%80%9CVoting%20by%20Mail%20Is%20the%20Hot%20New%20Idea.%20Is%20There%20Time%20to%20Make%20It%20Work%3F%E2%80%9D>
>>>>
>>>> Posted in absentee ballots <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, election
>>>> administration <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Must-read from Nate Persily and Charles Stewart: ?Ten Recommendations
>>>> to Ensure a Healthy and Trustworthy 2020 Election?
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110119>
>>>>
>>>> Posted on March 19, 2020 2:14 pm
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110119> by *Rick Hasen*
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>>>
>>>> Over
>>>> <https://www.lawfareblog.com/ten-recommendations-ensure-healthy-and-trustworthy-2020-election> at
>>>> Lawfare:
>>>>
>>>> *This past week has provided ample evidence that states are in need of
>>>> reliable plans to carry out elections without interruption in the face of
>>>> the unfolding medical crisis. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine caused alarm when
>>>> he decided
>>>> <https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/03/ohio-polls-remain-closed-following-overnight-ruling-from-ohio-supreme-court.html> to
>>>> postpone the presidential primary the day before it was scheduled to occur.
>>>> DeWine?s action may have been justified on public health grounds, but it
>>>> illustrated the confusion that can arise when states are caught between
>>>> opening polling places and endangering the health of citizens. Meanwhile,
>>>> the governor of Arizona and the director of elections for Maricopa
>>>> County fought
>>>> <https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2020/03/13/court-stops-county-recorder-from-sending-ballots-to-all-voters-for-tuesday-election/> over
>>>> whether the county could send out mail-in ballots even to voters who have
>>>> not requested them. Their battle illustrates that without a definitive
>>>> statewide plan, state and local election officials can be locked in
>>>> litigation when they should be cooperating to face serious challenges to
>>>> the continuity of elections.*
>>>>
>>>> *Despite the challenge presented by COVID-19, the 2020 elections must
>>>> go forward. The elections to be held on Nov. 3 are not optional. They
>>>> cannot be postponed, even if dangers to public health remain as great as
>>>> they are likely to get over the next few weeks. The nation must act now to
>>>> ensure that there will be no doubt, regardless of the spread of infection,
>>>> that the elections will be conducted on schedule and that they will be free
>>>> and fair.*
>>>>
>>>> *Doing so requires an effort in election resilience that is
>>>> unprecedented in American history. However, there are some clear paths
>>>> toward achieving the desired result. We offer 10 steps in that direction.*
>>>>
>>>> [image: Share]
>>>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110119&title=Must-read%20from%20Nate%20Persily%20and%20Charles%20Stewart%3A%20%E2%80%9CTen%20Recommendations%20to%20Ensure%20a%20Healthy%20and%20Trustworthy%202020%20Election%E2%80%9D>
>>>>
>>>> Posted in Uncategorized <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ?Coronavirus threatens the November election, can vote by mail save it??
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110117>
>>>>
>>>> Posted on March 19, 2020 12:20 pm
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110117> by *Rick Hasen*
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>>>
>>>> Evan Halper
>>>> <https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-03-19/calls-mount-making-november-mail-in-ballot> for
>>>> the LAT.
>>>>
>>>> [image: Share]
>>>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110117&title=%E2%80%9CCoronavirus%20threatens%20the%20November%20election%2C%20can%20vote%20by%20mail%20save%20it%3F%E2%80%9D>
>>>>
>>>> Posted in Uncategorized <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> National Vote at Home Issues Its Report on Scaling Up Absentee
>>>> Balloting for November in Light of COVID-19
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110105>
>>>>
>>>> Posted on March 19, 2020 7:09 am
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110105> by *Rick Hasen*
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>>>
>>>> You can read the report here
>>>> <https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/VAHScale_StrategyPlan.pdf>
>>>> .
>>>>
>>>> [image: Share]
>>>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110105&title=National%20Vote%20at%20Home%20Issues%20Its%20Report%20on%20Scaling%20Up%20Absentee%20Balloting%20for%20November%20in%20Light%20of%20COVID-19>
>>>>
>>>> Posted in election administration <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Steven Rosenfeld Looks Under the Hood at Detroit?s Absentee Ballot
>>>> Processing, and It is Not Pretty
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110101>
>>>>
>>>> Posted on March 19, 2020 7:04 am
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110101> by *Rick Hasen*
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>>>
>>>> For those like me who want and expect expanded absentee balloting in
>>>> November, a reminder
>>>> <https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/why-nationwide-voting-by-mail-isnt-a-silver-bullet-in-a-pandemic/> that
>>>> there?s a lot of work to do.
>>>>
>>>> [image: Share]
>>>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110101&title=Steven%20Rosenfeld%20Looks%20Under%20the%20Hood%20at%20Detroit%E2%80%99s%20Absentee%20Ballot%20Processing%2C%20and%20It%20is%20Not%20Pretty>
>>>>
>>>> Posted in absentee ballots <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, 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
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/401+E.+Peltason+Dr.,+Suite+1000+%0D%0A+Irvine,+CA+92697?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>>
>>>> Irvine, CA 92697
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/401+E.+Peltason+Dr.,+Suite+1000+%0D%0A+Irvine,+CA+92697?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>> -8000
>>>>
>>>> 949.824.3072 - office
>>>>
>>>> rhasen at law.uci.edu
>>>>
>>>> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
>>>>
>>>> http://electionlawblog.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Law-election mailing list
>>>> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
>>>> https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> - Doug
>>>
>>> Douglas Johnson
>>> National Demographics Corporation
>>> djohnson at NDCresearch.com
>>> phone 310-200-2058
>>> fax 818-254-1221
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Law-election mailing list
>>> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
>>> https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>>
>>
>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/401+E.+Peltason+Dr.,+Suite+1000+%0D%0A+Irvine,+CA+92697?entry=gmail&source=g>
>
> --
> - Doug
>
> Douglas Johnson
> National Demographics Corporation
> djohnson at NDCresearch.com
> phone 310-200-2058
> fax 818-254-1221
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
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Message: 3
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 13:47:43 -0700
From: <larrylevine at earthlink.net>
To: "'Richard Winger'" <richardwinger at yahoo.com>,
<law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in
big media, or who write for big media
Message-ID: <002401d60154$4d952930$e8bf7b90$@earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Also dealing with this are signature gatherers for ballot measures attempting to qualify for the November ballot. Not quite the same, but still a reality.
Larry
From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> On Behalf Of Richard Winger
Sent: Monday, 23 March 2020 12:27 PM
To: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big media, or who write for big media
I perceive that those of us who get quoted in the important news media, especially everyone who ever posts items at electionlawblog, have not mentioned the plight of minor parties. The Libertarian Party is only on the ballot now in 35 states for president, and the Green Party is only on in 21 states for president.
In 2016 the Libertarian Party ended up on the ballot in all states for president, and the Greens in all states except for 5. In the normal course of events, they would be petitioning now to get on in more states, but the health crisis has made petitioning virtually impossible. Petition drives succeed when petitioners are out in public with lots of people in the area. That is now gone.
As of February 2020, in the states with partisan registration, 2.4% of voters are registered members of minor parties. Those voters are entitled to voting rights just as much as Republicans, Democrats, and independents are entitled to voting rights, but I don't see any public commentary about the plight of the minor parties this year. I hope all of you who have the ear of the big press will add this to the list of election law issues.
If I have missed something relevant, please point it out to me.
Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
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Message: 4
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 20:52:07 +0000
From: George Korbel <korbellaw at hotmail.com>
To: "larrylevine at earthlink.net" <larrylevine at earthlink.net>, "'Richard
Winger'" <richardwinger at yahoo.com>, "law-election at uci.edu"
<law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in
big media, or who write for big media
Message-ID:
<DM6PR14MB3567DC9A11585C35706C710AA8F00 at DM6PR14MB3567.namprd14.prod.outlook.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
What would remedy be without opening flood gates
Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
________________________________
From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> on behalf of larrylevine at earthlink.net <larrylevine at earthlink.net>
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2020 3:47:43 PM
To: 'Richard Winger' <richardwinger at yahoo.com>; law-election at uci.edu <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big media, or who write for big media
Also dealing with this are signature gatherers for ballot measures attempting to qualify for the November ballot. Not quite the same, but still a reality.
Larry
From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> On Behalf Of Richard Winger
Sent: Monday, 23 March 2020 12:27 PM
To: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big media, or who write for big media
I perceive that those of us who get quoted in the important news media, especially everyone who ever posts items at electionlawblog, have not mentioned the plight of minor parties. The Libertarian Party is only on the ballot now in 35 states for president, and the Green Party is only on in 21 states for president.
In 2016 the Libertarian Party ended up on the ballot in all states for president, and the Greens in all states except for 5. In the normal course of events, they would be petitioning now to get on in more states, but the health crisis has made petitioning virtually impossible. Petition drives succeed when petitioners are out in public with lots of people in the area. That is now gone.
As of February 2020, in the states with partisan registration, 2.4% of voters are registered members of minor parties. Those voters are entitled to voting rights just as much as Republicans, Democrats, and independents are entitled to voting rights, but I don't see any public commentary about the plight of the minor parties this year. I hope all of you who have the ear of the big press will add this to the list of election law issues.
If I have missed something relevant, please point it out to me.
Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
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Message: 5
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 16:57:00 -0400
From: "Sean Parnell" <sean at impactpolicymanagement.com>
To: "'Mark Scarberry'" <mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu>, "'Douglas
Johnson'" <djohnson at ndcresearch.com>
Cc: 'Election Law Listserv' <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] Counting By-Mail ballots is hard
Message-ID:
<038a01d60155$997dba50$cc792ef0$@impactpolicymanagement.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Especially if it changes the election-night leader. It?s one of the many, many problems with National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (though I?d argue it doesn?t crack the top-20, and a less-conspiracy-theory-prone electorate would erase the problem, but I don?t see that developing any time soon). Imagine if Donald Trump had ?won? the popular vote on election night by 2 million votes (i.e., he received 2.2 million more popular votes than he actually did ? maybe that Access Hollywood tape doesn?t happen and therefore doesn?t depress his support?) and the votes counted after that were pretty much as they actually happened. Anybody want to guess what?s going to happen in late November when Clinton takes the lead and builds it over the next few weeks, mostly on the basis of late-counted ballots in California and New York? Hoo boy.
Sean Parnell
From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> On Behalf Of Mark Scarberry
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2020 4:34 PM
To: Douglas Johnson <djohnson at ndcresearch.com>
Cc: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] Counting By-Mail ballots is hard
The longer it takes to finish the counting, the greater the likelihood that the result that some people will question the result. I think that's a real problem.
Mark
<https://www.pepperdine.edu/_resources/images/email/pepperdine.png>
Caruso School of Law
Mark S. Scarberry
Professor of Law
mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu <mailto:mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu>
On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 11:14 AM Douglas Johnson <djohnson at ndcresearch.com <mailto:djohnson at ndcresearch.com> > wrote:
Thank you for that update - that?s great to hear. Sounds like the problem is simply poor communication between the Secretary of State and the County, which is problematic but much easier to fix than ballot counting problems!
- Doug
On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 10:53 AM Pedro Hernandez <pedro at fairvote.org <mailto:pedro at fairvote.org> > wrote:
For clarification:
I've been following SF's canvass pretty closely (as I am a voter in the City and County). San Francisco's last ballot count was on March 13th (see prelim report 13) <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/march-3-2020-election-results-detailed-reports> . On March March 12th there were less than 500 <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/article/preliminary-election-results-report-12-and-ballot-processing-update-san-francisco-department> ballots remaining to be counted, and nearly all remaining ballots were counted on the 13th <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/article/preliminary-election-results-report-13-and-ballot-processing-update-san-francisco-department> . The SF DOE stated that it received approximately 34,000 provisional ballots <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/article/preliminary-election-results-report-12-and-ballot-processing-update-san-francisco-department> . I suspect any remaining ballots will be counted when workers can get back to work.
On March 12th, the County began the process of selecting it's ballots for the 1% manual tally. No update yet, but given the shelter in place notice, it's not clear when the SF will complete it's canvass. Although counties have until the 30th day after the election to complete their canvass.
This is not to take away from concerns over VBM implementation. With any large scale move to VBM, best practices should be adopted.
Pedro
Pedro Hernandez
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Senior Policy Coordinator, Voting Rights & Ranked Choice Voting
http://fairvote.org
On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 9:04 PM Douglas Johnson <djohnson at ndcresearch.com <mailto:djohnson at ndcresearch.com> > wrote:
To reinforce the Detroit and other stories' ideas that managing large-scale by-mail ballots is hard:
Today is March 19th, sixteen days after California's primary election. Yet San Francisco has yet to count over 25% of the ballots cast in the county. While the time required to process provisional ballots is understandable, 88,000 of the remaining 110,000 ballots left to count in San Francisco are by-mail ballots. Granted, San Francisco is using new voting equipment this election -- and I suspect the learning curve with the new equipment is why the counting delays there are more there than in other California counties (disclaimer: I am guessing about that as I have no inside knowledge into SF's operations) -- but what is proposed in this debate is new voting equipment on a massive, almost national, scale.
California is a state that has had no-excuse by-mail voting for many, many years, and the state has experience processing 25%, 33% and even 50% of all ballots cast coming in by mail. The state's election officials are among the most-experienced and most-expert with by-mail voting in the country. Yet this undertaking remains a difficult logistical challenge.
I support the massive expansion of by-mail voting for this November election. But we should not under-estimate how hard that will be to implement -- and how long it will take to count those votes.
- Doug
Douglas Johnson
Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College
On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 8:28 PM Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu <mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu> > wrote:
<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110125> ?Voting by Mail Is the Hot New Idea. Is There Time to Make It Work??
Posted on <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110125> March 19, 2020 8:18 pm by <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/politics/voting-by-mail-coronavirus.html> NYT reports.
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110125&title=%E2%80%9CVoting%20by%20Mail%20Is%20the%20Hot%20New%20Idea.%20Is%20There%20Time%20to%20Make%20It%20Work%3F%E2%80%9D>
Posted in <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53> absentee ballots, <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> election administration
<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110119> Must-read from Nate Persily and Charles Stewart: ?Ten Recommendations to Ensure a Healthy and Trustworthy 2020 Election?
Posted on <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110119> March 19, 2020 2:14 pm by <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen
<https://www.lawfareblog.com/ten-recommendations-ensure-healthy-and-trustworthy-2020-election> Over at Lawfare:
This past week has provided ample evidence that states are in need of reliable plans to carry out elections without interruption in the face of the unfolding medical crisis. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine caused alarm when he <https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/03/ohio-polls-remain-closed-following-overnight-ruling-from-ohio-supreme-court.html> decided to postpone the presidential primary the day before it was scheduled to occur. DeWine?s action may have been justified on public health grounds, but it illustrated the confusion that can arise when states are caught between opening polling places and endangering the health of citizens. Meanwhile, the governor of Arizona and the director of elections for Maricopa County <https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2020/03/13/court-stops-county-recorder-from-sending-ballots-to-all-voters-for-tuesday-election/> fought over whether the county could send out mail-in ballots even to voters who have not requested them. Their battle illustrates that without
a definitive statewide plan, state and local election officials can be locked in litigation when they should be cooperating to face serious challenges to the continuity of elections.
Despite the challenge presented by COVID-19, the 2020 elections must go forward. The elections to be held on Nov. 3 are not optional. They cannot be postponed, even if dangers to public health remain as great as they are likely to get over the next few weeks. The nation must act now to ensure that there will be no doubt, regardless of the spread of infection, that the elections will be conducted on schedule and that they will be free and fair.
Doing so requires an effort in election resilience that is unprecedented in American history. However, there are some clear paths toward achieving the desired result. We offer 10 steps in that direction.
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110119&title=Must-read%20from%20Nate%20Persily%20and%20Charles%20Stewart%3A%20%E2%80%9CTen%20Recommendations%20to%20Ensure%20a%20Healthy%20and%20Trustworthy%202020%20Election%E2%80%9D>
Posted in <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1> Uncategorized
<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110117> ?Coronavirus threatens the November election, can vote by mail save it??
Posted on <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110117> March 19, 2020 12:20 pm by <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen
<https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-03-19/calls-mount-making-november-mail-in-ballot> Evan Halper for the LAT.
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110117&title=%E2%80%9CCoronavirus%20threatens%20the%20November%20election%2C%20can%20vote%20by%20mail%20save%20it%3F%E2%80%9D>
Posted in <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1> Uncategorized
<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110105> National Vote at Home Issues Its Report on Scaling Up Absentee Balloting for November in Light of COVID-19
Posted on <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110105> March 19, 2020 7:09 am by <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen
You can read the report <https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/VAHScale_StrategyPlan.pdf> here.
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110105&title=National%20Vote%20at%20Home%20Issues%20Its%20Report%20on%20Scaling%20Up%20Absentee%20Balloting%20for%20November%20in%20Light%20of%20COVID-19>
Posted in <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> election administration
<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110101> Steven Rosenfeld Looks Under the Hood at Detroit?s Absentee Ballot Processing, and It is Not Pretty
Posted on <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110101> March 19, 2020 7:04 am by <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen
For those like me who want and expect expanded absentee balloting in November, <https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/why-nationwide-voting-by-mail-isnt-a-silver-bullet-in-a-pandemic/> a reminder that there?s a lot of work to do.
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110101&title=Steven%20Rosenfeld%20Looks%20Under%20the%20Hood%20at%20Detroit%E2%80%99s%20Absentee%20Ballot%20Processing%2C%20and%20It%20is%20Not%20Pretty>
Posted in <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53> absentee ballots, <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> election administration
--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/401+E.+Peltason+Dr.,+Suite+1000+%0D%0A+Irvine,+CA+92697?entry=gmail&source=g>
Irvine, CA 92697 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/401+E.+Peltason+Dr.,+Suite+1000+%0D%0A+Irvine,+CA+92697?entry=gmail&source=g> -8000
949.824.3072 - office
<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu> rhasen at law.uci.edu
<http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
<http://electionlawblog.org/> http://electionlawblog.org
_______________________________________________
Law-election mailing list
Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu <mailto:Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
--
- Doug
Douglas Johnson
National Demographics Corporation
djohnson at NDCresearch.com <mailto:djohnson at NDCresearch.com>
phone 310-200-2058
fax 818-254-1221
_______________________________________________
Law-election mailing list
Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu <mailto:Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
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--
- Doug
Douglas Johnson
National Demographics Corporation
djohnson at NDCresearch.com <mailto:djohnson at NDCresearch.com>
phone 310-200-2058
fax 818-254-1221
_______________________________________________
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Message: 6
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 21:01:47 +0000 (UTC)
From: Richard Winger <richardwinger at yahoo.com>
To: "larrylevine at earthlink.net" <larrylevine at earthlink.net>,
"law-election at uci.edu" <law-election at uci.edu>, George Korbel
<korbellaw at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in
big media, or who write for big media
Message-ID: <1588472279.914771.1584997307928 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
No state needs to ever require more than 5,000 signatures, to avoid a crowded ballot, where "crowded ballot" means 8 or fewer candidates for a single office.? I have documented this in several lawsuits, and judges have accepted my evidence.? My evidence is massive and runs to hundreds of pages, and goes back to the beginning of government-printed ballots.
I got the definition of "crowded ballot" from Justice Harlan's concurrence in Williams v Rhodes.? He said he didn't think 8 candidates for a single office was a problem.? He is right.? Having over a dozen Democratic presidential candidates on presidential primary ballots earlier this year didn't seem to confuse anyone.? Ditto with Republican presidential primary ballots in 2016.
Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
On Monday, March 23, 2020, 1:52:10 PM PDT, George Korbel <korbellaw at hotmail.com> wrote:
What would remedy be without opening flood gates
Get Outlook for iOSFrom: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> on behalf of larrylevine at earthlink.net <larrylevine at earthlink.net>
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2020 3:47:43 PM
To: 'Richard Winger' <richardwinger at yahoo.com>; law-election at uci.edu <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big media, or who write for big media?<!-- _filtered {} _filtered {} _filtered {}#yiv6193593968 p.yiv6193593968x_MsoNormal, #yiv6193593968 li.yiv6193593968x_MsoNormal, #yiv6193593968 div.yiv6193593968x_MsoNormal {margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri", sans-serif;}#yiv6193593968 span.yiv6193593968x_EmailStyle19 {font-family:"Calibri", sans-serif;color:windowtext;}#yiv6193593968 .yiv6193593968x_MsoChpDefault {font-size:10.0pt;} _filtered {}#yiv6193593968 div.yiv6193593968x_WordSection1 {}-->
Also dealing with this are signature gatherers for ballot measures attempting to qualify for the November ballot. Not quite the same, but still a reality.
Larry
?
From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>On Behalf Of Richard Winger
Sent: Monday, 23 March 2020 12:27 PM
To: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big media, or who write for big media
?
I perceive that those of us who get quoted in the important news media, especially everyone who ever posts items at electionlawblog, have not mentioned the plight of minor parties.? The Libertarian Party is only on the ballot now in 35 states for president, and the Green Party is only on in 21 states for president.
?
In 2016 the Libertarian Party ended up on the ballot in all states for president, and the Greens in all states except for 5.? In the normal course of events, they would be petitioning now to get on in more states, but the health crisis has made petitioning virtually impossible.? Petition drives succeed when petitioners are out in public with lots of people in the area.? That is now gone.
?
As of February 2020, in the states with partisan registration, 2.4% of voters are registered members of minor parties.? Those voters are entitled to voting rights just as much as Republicans, Democrats, and independents are entitled to voting rights, but I don't see any public commentary about the plight of the minor parties this year.? I hope all of you who have the ear of the big press will add this to the list of election law issues.
?
If I have missed something relevant, please point it out to me.?
?
Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
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Message: 7
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 21:09:08 +0000
From: "Tom at TomCares.com" <Tom at tomcares.com>
To: George Korbel <korbellaw at hotmail.com>
Cc: "law-election at uci.edu" <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in
big media, or who write for big media
Message-ID:
<CADE9kw8sn0JX+9_WYXSahYAKVt8edEAcDaoYHz9wk4amTL36Pg at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
An easy remedy for minor parties would be to give them a pass. If they
qualified in 2016, just let them on the ballot for 2020.
Ballot measures would be tougher but I?ve always believed online
petitioning would be much more democratic. The grocery store signature
gatherers are very deceptive anyway. I?ll never forget when I was asked to
sign something to ?end the Iraq war? and saw it was to extend term limits
for the CA legislature (Prop 93). It?s never seemed right to me that
getting something on the ballot is simply a matter of having money to pay
people to lie to voters at grocery stores.
-Tom Cares
On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 8:53 PM George Korbel <korbellaw at hotmail.com> wrote:
> What would remedy be without opening flood gates
>
> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> on
> behalf of larrylevine at earthlink.net <larrylevine at earthlink.net>
> *Sent:* Monday, March 23, 2020 3:47:43 PM
> *To:* 'Richard Winger' <richardwinger at yahoo.com>; law-election at uci.edu <
> law-election at uci.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in
> big media, or who write for big media
>
>
> Also dealing with this are signature gatherers for ballot measures
> attempting to qualify for the November ballot. Not quite the same, but
> still a reality.
>
> Larry
>
>
>
> *From:* Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> *On
> Behalf Of *Richard Winger
> *Sent:* Monday, 23 March 2020 12:27 PM
> *To:* law-election at uci.edu
> *Subject:* [EL] plea to all members of this list who are quoted in big
> media, or who write for big media
>
>
>
> I perceive that those of us who get quoted in the important news media,
> especially everyone who ever posts items at electionlawblog, have not
> mentioned the plight of minor parties. The Libertarian Party is only on
> the ballot now in 35 states for president, and the Green Party is only on
> in 21 states for president.
>
>
>
> In 2016 the Libertarian Party ended up on the ballot in all states for
> president, and the Greens in all states except for 5. In the normal course
> of events, they would be petitioning now to get on in more states, but the
> health crisis has made petitioning virtually impossible. Petition drives
> succeed when petitioners are out in public with lots of people in the
> area. That is now gone.
>
>
>
> As of February 2020, in the states with partisan registration, 2.4% of
> voters are registered members of minor parties. Those voters are entitled
> to voting rights just as much as Republicans, Democrats, and independents
> are entitled to voting rights, but I don't see any public commentary about
> the plight of the minor parties this year. I hope all of you who have the
> ear of the big press will add this to the list of election law issues.
>
>
>
> If I have missed something relevant, please point it out to me.
>
>
>
> Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
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Message: 8
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 20:52:39 -0500
From: Hugh L Brady <hugh.brady at utexas.edu>
To: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>,
law-legislation at department-lists.uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] State-level continuity of governance-
Message-ID:
<CAMfg_69SS4n+8pu=E5hmVeL9-WuNk55cD_r5oFvuRC--tP2U5g at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
cross-posted to Legislation listserv
Remote voting by legislators raises several questions that require careful
consideration of the long-term consequences -- I have spent the past few
days thinking about this for Texas. Daniel Schuman of Demand Progress (who
has an excellent weekly round-up e-mail titled First Branch Forecast) has
made some recommendations and some of my more relevant thoughts follow
those recommendations below. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all
the considerations that go in to remote proceedings of a legislature.
*"Amend their rules to deem legislators to be present if they are present
via electronic means, such as by video-conference."
*" Provide for a skeleton staff in the Capitol complex in circumstances
where Constitutional rules require in-person presence at the seat of
government."
This would require a constitutional amendment in Texas. No fair reading of
the state constitution would permit the legislature to do this by rule
because it requires the legislature to hold its sessions in Austin and only
permits suspension of this requirement during an enemy attack or the
imminent threat of one. The constitutional language requiring a quorum
plainly contemplates the physical presence of a quorum. For the Congress,
Schuman looks to U.S. v. Ballin (1892) as authority for the proposition
that either House may count electronic "presence" as a physical presence.
Ballin examined Speaker Reed's breaking of the silent quorum -- that is, a
quorum was physically present but a minority sufficient to cause the lack
of a quorum refused to answer the roll call and the Speaker directed the
clerk to enter the names of the silent members as required under the House
rules. The Court *did not* hold that members not present could be counted
as part of a quorum.
-->If more than a majority of the members participate electronically, they
could deprive the House of a quorum simply by logging off. How would the
House execute a call on those absent electronically, especially if they are
in their home districts? How would the House maintain a call if ordered
before the disappearance of a quorum?
-->Unlike the Congress, where much of the business is highly scripted, the
floor in Texas is still a place where a good speech and a carefully drawn
amendment can pass or defeat a bill. There are practically no special rules
governing the consideration of bills. How can members participate in a
debate electronically? How will they read the room? How can they work for
or against a bill? This would require a major change in business and I'm
not sure it would improve legislative deliberations.
-->Who determines who stays in the Capitol complex in a state where the
Legislature is not organized by party? How do you replace those people if
they get sick?
*"Permit the counting of votes cast by members present via electronic
means." Schuman suggests live roll-calls with members voting when their
name is called. In Texas, any member can demand a roll call vote under the
House Rules and any three can demand a vote under the state constitution if
the House rule is repealed. This could gum up the works quickly. It might
be possible to deploy the chamber vote software remotely, but then you have
problems with who is voting -- could staff, family, or lobbyists somehow
vote for the member remotely? How would you verify a vote, as we do when a
vote is close? In 1991, a member died in his apartment on a Saturday
afternoon, but he "voted" on every bill into the evening.
Provide for these amendments or suspension of chamber rules to be in effect
only upon the declaration of legislative leadership; be in effect only for
a limited time, such as 30 days; and be renewable by a vote of the
legislative body as remotely assembled.
As far as this goes, okay. However, you probably need to tie the initial
declaration to a third-party declaration such as the governor or the
president to avoid gamesmanship.
*Purchase and provide equipment to all members of the chamber and provide
video-conference software to committee and chamber clerks.
This is doable especially where the state has already issued equipment to
every member, officer, and committee staff.
*Ensure live-streaming of all official proceedings and press access to the
Capitol complex.
I think the issue here is bandwidth -- if citizens and lobbyists can't
access the building, then you are going to have a lot of demand for the
streaming video, especially if you are running 10-15 committee hearings
simultaneously as happens here. Permitting witnesses to testify by video
conference presents some challenges, especially to prevent astroturf
witness registrations.
On Sun, Mar 15, 2020 at 4:27 PM Jeff Wice <jmwice at gmail.com> wrote:
> The National Conference of State Legislature's (NCSL) website is posting
> information on what state governments are doing on the shutdowns and
> emergency measures. About 15 state legislatures have already suspended or
> delayed sessions. The website can be accessed via www.ncsl.org or
> NCSL Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources
> <https://share.polymail.io/v1/z/b/NWU2ZTljOWVhMGFl/s4dBQpSrMVfFYqbI_NNIGRwDqvMEPeZyIlOkqer9uBCpiRzijtpmAnPsIyweKoYI8BJ2_17KFk7Y9HfWy8tZkdift-X7o93DqF4lwn27QsZmS2tdkqpOFdf0nxDA0wYrX6qrjPFfXcL5CeqLHcnD8Gxjasaosq7V_MDcIZLLI3G-21SjbiAf1LGbUZabFLa3nemkGuw_FyZyCeClYWC4yaoMb6GAWJOhsL1FBEojmRvyBZxd-8YrU2Lz4MXl>
> The spread of the coronavirus continues to be a top concern and, while the
> federal government leads the national response to COVID-19, state lawmakers
> are taking extra steps to respond to and anticipate impacts of the virus.
> NCSL is committed to providing our members with timely responses to state
> research requests and the essential knowledge needed to guide state action.
> This page is updated daily to reflect new resources in policy areas ranging
> from education to health care costs and access.
> <https://share.polymail.io/v1/z/b/NWU2ZTljOWVhMGFl/s4dBQpSrMVfFYqbI_NNIGRwDqvMEPeZyIlOkqer9uBCpiRzijtpmAnPsIyweKoYI8BJ2_17KFk7Y9HfWy8tZkdift-X7o93DqF4lwn27QsZmS2tdkqpOFdf0nxDA0wYrX6qrjPFfXcL5CeqLHcnD8Gxjasaosq7V_MDcIZLLI3G-21SjbiAf1LGbUZabFLa3nemkGuw_FyZyCeClYWC4yaoMb6GAWJOhsL1FBEojmRvyBZxd-8YrU2Lz4MXl>
> WWW.NCSL.ORG
> <https://share.polymail.io/v1/z/b/NWU2ZTljOWVhMGFl/s4dBQpSrMVfFYqbI_NNIGRwDqvMEPeZyIlOkqer9uBCpiRzijtpmAnPsIyweKoYI8BJ2_17KFk7Y9HfWy8tZkdift-X7o93DqF4lwn27QsZmS2tdkqpOFdf0nxDA0wYrX6qrjPFfXcL5CeqLHcnD8Gxjasaosq7V_MDcIZLLI3G-21SjbiAf1LGbUZabFLa3nemkGuw_FyZyCeClYWC4yaoMb6GAWJOhsL1FBEojmRvyBZxd-8YrU2Lz4MXl>
> <https://share.polymail.io/v1/z/b/NWU2ZTljOWVhMGFl/s4dBQpSrMVfFYqbI_NNIGRwDqvMEPeZyIlOkqer9uBCpiRzijtpmAnPsIyweKoYI8BJ2_17KFk7Y9HfWy8tZkdift-X7o93DqF4lwn27QsZmS2tdkqpOFdf0nxDA0wYrX6qrjPFfXcL5CeqLHcnD8Gxjasaosq7V_MDcIZLLI3G-21SjbiAf1LGbUZabFLa3nemkGuw_FyZyCeClYWC4yaoMb6GAWJOhsL1FBEojmRvyBZxd-8YrU2Lz4MXl>
>
> I'll update the listserv on NCSL's activities regarding election law and
> state law/process changes as soon as I have the information.
>
> Jeff Wice
>
> Sent from Polymail
> <https://share.polymail.io/v1/z/b/NWU2ZTljOWVhMGFl/s4dBQpSrMVfFYqbI_NNIGRwDqvMEPeZyIlOkqer9uBCpiRzijtpmAnPsIyweKoYI8BJ2_17KFk7Y9HfWy8tZkdift-X7o93DqF4lwn27QsZmS2tdkqpOFdf0nxDA0wYrX6qrjPFfXcL-EfHcHsvZ8Gxld464tb_LxtLBN4iHLimv2EyyLC8Vy_vDRpS2Fr2ygvW7Uu13Eix2EuXkdizh1pAcYbmCWp-18OFFHVVm9PMFYZElJO2YVh-V-x7CJ62AAc8R>
>
> On Sun, Mar 15th, 2020 at 12:29 PM, Rob Richie <rr at fairvote.org> wrote:
>
>> I am surprised by the silence on David's very reasonable query.
>>
>> AEI's Norm Onstein has addressed the issue of continuity of governance
>> with important thinking and reports for years. He had this piece in the
>> Atlantic
>> <https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/congress-needs-contingency-plan-right-now/607933/>a
>> couple days addressing this issue through the lens of Congress. It
>> includes: "There is no plan in place for Congress to hold remote meetings
>> or otherwise conduct its business if it becomes impossible for its members
>> to meet together, face to face in the Capitol or at another site in the
>> District of Columbia. And that needs to change, right now."
>>
>> I'm wondering if anyone might know what other nations are doing with this
>> challenge as well.
>>
>> Rob
>>
>>
>> Rob
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 10:34 PM David Segal <david at demandprogress.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Two NY lawmakers just tested positive. This is all about to spiral.
>>
>> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/nyregion/coronavirus-ny.html
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 8:39 PM David Segal <david at demandprogress.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi, everybody-
>>
>> One thing I'm trying to sound the alarm about:
>>
>> Many, or perhaps most, state legislatures have no contingencies in place
>> to allow for things like remote voting by lawmakers.
>>
>> This could be disastrous, as it will be harder and harder to get quorums
>> to meet in person. And such meetings will be necessary to pass things like
>> budgets -- *and changes to voting laws to help make sure that elections
>> take place at scale and with integrity. *
>>
>> I'd urge anybody who has contacts with state officials to raise this
>> issue with them ASAP so they can seek to make changes to their own
>> procedures to allow for continuity of governance. It's disconcerting, but
>> not shocking, that there's been almost no thought put into this here in RI.
>>
>> (This is also a concern for Congress, but I know they are at least
>> thinking about it now.)
>>
>> -David
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Law-election mailing list
>> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
>> https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Rob Richie
>> President and CEO, FairVote
>> 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 240
>> Takoma Park, MD 20912
>> rr at fairvote.org (301) 270-4616 http://www.fairvote.org
>> *FairVote Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/FairVoteReform>* *FairVote
>> Twitter <https://twitter.com/fairvote>* My Twitter
>> <https://twitter.com/rob_richie>
>>
>> Thank you for considering a *donation
>> <http://www.fairvote.org/donate>. Enjoy our video on ranked choice voting
>> <https://youtu.be/CIz_nzP-W_c>!*
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
> >> This message is from an external sender. Learn more about why this <<
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>
--
Hugh L. Brady
T (512) 289-0535 | F (512) 857-1016
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Message: 9
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 19:01:06 -0700
From: Mark Scarberry <mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu>
To: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] House COVID-19 bill election provisions -- the ACCESS
Act
Message-ID:
<CAGN5XUwFxfE+QF=Fctn72YEL+d903-uW5DDhcrAdfbSstLZCcw at mail.gmail.com>
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The House version of the emergency bill is the ??Take Responsibility for
Workers and Families Act." Via NPR (
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/23/820155258/read-house-democrats-release-3rd-coronavirus-response-bill),
you can find the bill here:
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6817711/Updated-House-Bill.pdf
Division L of the House bill is entitled the ??American
Coronavirus/COVID?19 Election Safety and Security Act?? (the ??ACCESS
Act??).
The ACCESS Act is at pp. 856-918 of the bill. I haven't read it completely.
It appears to include some provisions that will be controversial, such as
same-day voter registration, online voter registration, and a prohibition
on state limits on the number of vote-by-mail ballots that can be gathered
by any person for mailing.
Comments?
Is there a sufficient need to adopt such provisions now that they should be
included in a must-pass emergency bill?
As a political matter, I'm not sure who will be blamed if the emergency
bill is held up indefinitely because of a difference of opinion in Congress
on inclusion of such provisions (and others that Republicans claim are
unrelated to the basic purposes of the bill).
Mark
[image: Pepperdine wordmark]*Caruso School of Law*
*Mark S. Scarberry*
*Professor of Lawmark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu
<mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu>*
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Message: 10
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2020 02:59:52 +0000
From: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>
To: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/24/20
Message-ID: <25FC0014-7349-413D-85CB-3CE59D2F8F24 at ad.uci.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
?Democrats throw down the gauntlet on vote-by-mail?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110191>
Posted on March 23, 2020 7:45 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110191> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Greg Sargent<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/23/democrats-throw-down-gauntlet-vote-by-mail/?utm_campaign=wp_opinions&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter> WaPo column.
Here is a link<https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6817711/Updated-House-Bill.pdf> to the Democrats? House bill, which includes voting provisions, beginning at page 856.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110191&title=%E2%80%9CDemocrats%20throw%20down%20the%20gauntlet%20on%20vote-by-mail%E2%80%9D>
Posted in absentee ballots<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
?Five GA Supreme Court justices remove themselves from election dispute?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110189>
Posted on March 23, 2020 7:36 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110189> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
AJC<https://www.ajc.com/news/local/five-supreme-court-justices-remove-themselves-from-election-dispute/LFAw0Gfn4W41SAuz2Hzr3L/>:
Five of the eight justices on the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday disqualified themselves from a case calling for an open election for Justice Keith Blackwell?s seat.
Justices Charles Bethel, Michael Boggs, John Ellington, Nels Peterson and Blackwell recused themselves from hearing appeals filed by former U.S. Rep. John Barrow and former state Rep. Beth Beskin. Both contend there should be an election that allows voters to choose a successor to Blackwell<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/barrow-beskin-ask-judge-revive-election-for-georgia-supreme-court/dfSmnA53nfLt9eQqQ1uvOJ/>, who announced in February that he is resigning from the court in November.
Atlanta lawyer and former state legislator Beth Beskin, who has filed suit for an election to be held for a seat on the Georgia Supreme Court. (Alyssa Pointer/alyssa.pointer at ajc.com)Photo: Alyssa Pointer / AJC
Barrow and Beskin are appealing an order by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Emily Richardson<https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/judge-denies-legislators-request-open-supreme-court-election/UZs017FOo80oczV6LXuo5L/>, who ruled that Blackwell?s seat officially became vacant when Gov. Brian Kemp accepted Blackwell?s resignation. Per Richardson?s decision, an election is unnecessary because Kemp gets to appoint Blackwell?s successor.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110189&title=%E2%80%9CFive%20GA%20Supreme%20Court%20justices%20remove%20themselves%20from%20election%20dispute%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
?Democratic Convention Planners Look at Contingency Options?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110187>
Posted on March 23, 2020 4:35 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110187> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/politics/democratic-convention-milwaukee-coronavirus.html>
Planners for the Democratic National Convention are looking at ?contingency options? in case the mid-July gathering in Milwaukee can?t take place because of the coronavirus, officials said on Monday for the first time.
?As we navigate the unprecedented challenge of responding to the coronavirus, we?re exploring a range of contingency options to ensure we can deliver a successful convention without unnecessary risk to public health,? said Katie Peters, a convention spokeswoman. ?This is a very fluid situation ? and the convention is still more than three months away. We are committed to sharing updates with the public in the coming weeks and months as our plans continue to take shape.?
One person with knowledge of the discussions said Monday that ?intensive scenario-planning? was taking place among officials from the Democratic National Committee, the convention committee and the Milwaukee host committee, who were all determining what to do about the convention, which is scheduled for July 13 to July 16 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
Among the complicating factors are the uncertain nature of the professional basketball season ? the arena hosting the convention is home to the Milwaukee Bucks, a top N.B.A. team likely to play deep into the playoffs if the league?s season were to restart ? and how the party?s delegates will be selected. Delegates in most states are elected to the national convention from state conventions, but many state conventions, scheduled for late spring and early summer, are also being postponed.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110187&title=%E2%80%9CDemocratic%20Convention%20Planners%20Look%20at%20Contingency%20Options%E2%80%9D>
Posted in political parties<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>
?The RNC Stopped Paying a Data Firm After A Serious Breach. Then It Paid A Mysterious LLC With the Same Address.?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110185>
Posted on March 23, 2020 4:28 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110185> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
ProPublica reports.<https://www.propublica.org/article/the-rnc-stopped-paying-a-data-firm-after-a-serious-breach-then-it-paid-a-mysterious-llc-with-the-same-address>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110185&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20RNC%20Stopped%20Paying%20a%20Data%20Firm%20After%20A%20Serious%20Breach.%20Then%20It%20Paid%20A%20Mysterious%20LLC%20With%20the%20Same%20Address.%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
?UCLA Voting Rights Project Urges Congress and States to Consider a Universal Vote By Mail Program Amid Coronavirus Pandemic?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110183>
Posted on March 23, 2020 3:47 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110183> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
New report here.<https://latino.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/VRP-VBM-red..pdf>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110183&title=%E2%80%9CUCLA%20Voting%20Rights%20Project%20Urges%20Congress%20and%20States%20to%20Consider%20a%20Universal%20Vote%20By%20Mail%20Program%20Amid%20Coronavirus%20Pandemic%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
?The Cybersecurity 202: Democrats see coronavirus stimulus as last, best chance for vote-by-mail push?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110181>
Posted on March 23, 2020 9:21 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110181> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-cybersecurity-202/2020/03/23/the-cybersecurity-202-democrats-see-coronavirus-stimulus-as-last-best-chance-for-vote-by-mail-push/5e77a03988e0fa101a74f127/>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110181&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20Cybersecurity%20202%3A%20Democrats%20see%20coronavirus%20stimulus%20as%20last%2C%20best%20chance%20for%20vote-by-mail%20push%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
?Ex-Field Organizer Sues Bloomberg Campaign, Alleging Breach of Contract?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110179>
Posted on March 23, 2020 8:59 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110179> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/politics/bloomberg-employee-lawsuit.html>
A former field organizer for Michael R. Bloomberg filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against his presidential campaign Monday, arguing that she and thousands of others laid off this month had been tricked into taking jobs<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-dnc.html> they were told would last until November.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York City, argued that the campaign had breached its contract with the at-will employees, recruiting them to work on Mr. Bloomberg?s bid under false pretenses and failing to pay them necessary overtime.
In dismissing the workers eight months earlier than promised, the complaint said, the campaign had ?deprived them of promised income and health care benefits, leaving them and their families potentially uninsured in the face of a global pandemic.?
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110179&title=%E2%80%9CEx-Field%20Organizer%20Sues%20Bloomberg%20Campaign%2C%20Alleging%20Breach%20of%20Contract%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
Supreme Court, Without Noted Dissent, Denies Cert. in John Doe v. FEC Campaign Disclosure Case<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110177>
Posted on March 23, 2020 8:58 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110177> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Docket <https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19-484.html> at SCOTUS, and here?s more from CREW<https://www.citizensforethics.org/lawsuit/john-doe-1-2-v-fec/> on the case.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110177&title=Supreme%20Court%2C%20Without%20Noted%20Dissent%2C%20Denies%20Cert.%20in%20John%20Doe%20v.%20FEC%20Campaign%20Disclosure%20Case>
Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
?The Coronavirus Supercharges Vote-by-Mail Efforts, But Barriers Remain?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110175>
Posted on March 23, 2020 8:51 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110175> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Carrie Levine<https://publicintegrity.org/health/coronavirus-and-inequality/the-coronavirus-supercharges-vote-by-mail-efforts-but-barriers-remain/> for CPI:
In extraordinary circumstances and with enough money and resources, anything is possible, said Audrey Kline, national policy director of the National Vote at Home Institute<https://www.voteathome.org/about/>, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for vote-by-mail options.
?Based off what we are seeing right now, with a very popular election, a very in-tune electorate and a pandemic, we think that states are going to see a pretty massive shift toward mail balloting no matter what,? and they need to get ready, Kline said.
There are signs she?s right. Maryland, for example, declared<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/17/maryland-postpones-april-28-primary-election-over-coronavirus-133776> that a special election for a House seat would be conducted entirely by mail. In West Virginia<https://www.dominionpost.com/2020/03/18/secretary-of-state-opens-absentee-voting-to-virtually-all-voters-to-address-coronavirus-challenges/>, the secretary of state issued emergency rules that will provide virtually every voter access to an absentee ballot for its May 12 primary.
Phil Keisling<https://www.pdx.edu/cps/phil-keisling>, who was secretary of state in Oregon from 1991 to 1999 ? when the state was transitioning<https://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Documents/statistics/vote-by-mail-timeline.pdf> to voting primarily by mail ? said technology is better now than it was then. A vote-by-mail advocate who chairs<https://www.voteathome.org/about/> the board of the National Vote At Home Institute, Keisling said making changes for November ?will take some ingenuity and some planning, but a lot of that is called for anyway in this crisis.?
In 2018, ?31 states saw fewer than 15 percent of voters cast ballots by mail,? the Bipartisan Policy Center?s Matthew Weil wrote<https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/voting-by-mail-in-the-age-of-coronavirus-a-good-idea-but-not-a-total-solution/> recently. Some states still require voters to have an excuse to cast an absentee ballot. The five states that now vote nearly entirely by mail phased in the change over multiple elections, not all at once, investing in equipment and tweaking processes along the way.
States need specialized equipment and a lot of preparation to process mail ballots. Nothing is impossible, Kline said, given money and extraordinary circumstances, but she cautioned: ?I do not have a situation in my mind that would get everyone a mail ballot in this country? for the November election.
Rick Hasen<https://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/>, a professor of law and political science at the University of California at Irvine and the author of a new book, ?Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy,? said it?s important to distinguish between all-mail elections and an expansion of mail ballots. ?I think it would be extremely difficult to move to all-mail elections for November,? he said. ?But every state has at least an excuse-based absentee balloting system that could be expanded.?
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110175&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20Coronavirus%20Supercharges%20Vote-by-Mail%20Efforts%2C%20But%20Barriers%20Remain%E2%80%9D>
Posted in absentee ballots<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, 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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