[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/31/20

Tue Mar 31 08:58:32 PDT 2020

11th Circuit Denies Rehearing En Banc in Florida Felon Disenfranchisement Case; Full Trial in April Over Felon Rights Likely to Lead to Greater Voting Rights<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110331>
Posted on March 31, 2020 8:54 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110331> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The 11th Circuit has denied rehearing en banc<https://twitter.com/markpgaber/status/1245000219315646465> in a case concerning whether the Florida legislature’s attempt to make felons pay all fines and fees before having their voting rights restored under Florida’s Amendment 4 is unconstitutional.

The ruling so far applies only to the named plaintiffs, but there will be a trial in April about extending the ruling<https://twitter.com/dale_e_ho/status/1245010857932853249> to the over one million former felons in Florida. Without that extension, there will be legal uncertainty and confusion that surely would depress the vote from this population.
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Posted in felon voting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>

“Biden Faces a Cash Gap With Trump. He Has to Close It Virtually.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110329>
Posted on March 31, 2020 8:48 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110329> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT reports.<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/us/politics/biden-trump-campaign-fundraising.html>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110329&title=%E2%80%9CBiden%20Faces%20a%20Cash%20Gap%20With%20Trump.%20He%20Has%20to%20Close%20It%20Virtually.%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“The Cybersecurity 202: Coronavirus response is officially a new front in the election security fight”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110327>
Posted on March 31, 2020 8:46 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110327> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-cybersecurity-202/2020/03/31/the-cybersecurity-202-coronavirus-response-is-officially-a-new-front-in-the-election-security-fight/5e822d3488e0fa101a75604a/>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110327&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20Cybersecurity%20202%3A%20Coronavirus%20response%20is%20officially%20a%20new%20front%20in%20the%20election%20security%20fight%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Voting rights groups sue state over extended Ohio primary”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110325>
Posted on March 31, 2020 8:44 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110325> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Columbus Dispatch<https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200330/voting-rights-groups-sue-state-over-extended-ohio-primary>:

Voting rights advocates sued the state Monday over a new primary election plan state lawmakers adopted last week after polls were closed because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The League of Women Voters, A. Philip Randolph Institute and four individual voters filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging the plan violates the National Voter Registration Act and the First and Fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Immediate action is needed from the court “to prevent the state from compounding the current public health crisis into a crisis for democracy in Ohio,” the lawsuit said.

“Under the General Assembly’s undemocratic election scheme, thousands, if not millions, of Ohioans will not get to vote through no fault of their own,” said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, in a prepared statement.

“Ohio’s inefficient absentee voting system wasn’t designed for this massive scale, especially under such an impossible time frame. We call on the justice system to ensure that Ohio’s primary is constitutional and accessible.”

The Ohio General Assembly last week unanimously adopted a bipartisan plan to extend absentee voting until April 28, with limited opportunities for in-person voting that day.

The first sheet of the 26-page lawsuit says lawmakers “ignored the pleas of bipartisan state and local elections officials, and imposed a cumbersome multi-step, multi-mailing process that will be impossible for elections officials and voters to complete in the time left before the election concludes.”

Research indicates that these changes “may hit Black and brown voters the hardest,” the lawsuit said.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Coronavirus cripples voter registration efforts. Millions could be denied.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110323>
Posted on March 31, 2020 8:39 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110323> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NBC News reports.<https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/coronavirus-cripples-voter-registration-efforts-millions-could-be-denied-n1170796>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“State elections and DMV officials offer free online voter registration in North Carolina”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110321>
Posted on March 31, 2020 8:38 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110321> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

More of this<https://www.journalnow.com/news/elections/state-elections-and-dmv-officials-offer-free-online-voter-registration-in-north-carolina/article_d81dcc58-9e3c-5b5c-9910-14f1ee124da8.html> please.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the country must move toward vote by mail, setting up a fight with Trump”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110319>
Posted on March 31, 2020 8:33 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110319> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CNBC reports.<https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/31/coronavirus-update-pelosi-says-country-must-move-to-vote-by-mail-taking-aim-at-trump.html>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“How Russia’s Troll Farm Is Changing Tactics Before the Fall Election”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110317>
Posted on March 31, 2020 8:30 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110317> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT reports.<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/technology/russia-troll-farm-election.html>
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, social media and social protests<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=58>

“Wisconsin polling places are closing because there’s not enough people to work the April 7 election”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110315>
Posted on March 31, 2020 8:25 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110315> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:<https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/03/31/wisconsin-voting-sites-closing-due-coronavirus-poll-worker-shortage/5090003002/>

Some election clerks are so short of workers because of the coronavirus pandemic that they are planning to shutter polling places around Wisconsin — including many of them in Milwaukee.

And at least one clerk is warning that some voters in the April 7 election won’t be able to return their absentee ballots in time to have them counted.

Milwaukee needs about 1,400 poll workers to run its election but so far has fewer than 400, according to Neil Albrecht, director of the Milwaukee Election Commission. Another 300 workers are needed for the central location where absentee ballots are processed, but fewer than 50 had been hired as of last week.

Training those poll workers is difficult because health officials say people must stay 6 feet away from one another to slow the spread of coronavirus.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“Wisconsin’s voter purge lawsuit is a major issue in Supreme Court race between Daniel Kelly, Jill Karofsky”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110313>
Posted on March 31, 2020 8:18 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110313> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports<https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/03/31/wisconsin-voter-purge-supreme-court-race-daniel-kelly-jill-karofsky-ethics-fight-recuse/5091095002/>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Virtual Conventions: Health Crisis Forces Both Parties, Particularly The Democrats, to Envision the Possibility”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110311>
Posted on March 31, 2020 7:59 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110311> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Lou Jacobson<http://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/virtual-conventions-health-crisis-forces-both-parties-particularly-the-democrats-to-envision-the-possibility/> for Crystal Ball.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110311&title=%E2%80%9CVirtual%20Conventions%3A%20Health%20Crisis%20Forces%20Both%20Parties%2C%20Particularly%20The%20Democrats%2C%20to%20Envision%20the%20Possibility%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

--
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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