[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/4/20

[Rick Hasen]

Trump Tweets Without Evidence That He is Winning But Democrats Will Try to “STEAL the Election”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118154>
Posted on November 3, 2020 9:52 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118154> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here’s the tweet<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1323863787825438720>:

There is no evidence of anyone stealing the vote, or of votes being cast after the polls are closed. (He could be referring to state rules for late arriving ballots, but those are not being cast after polls are closed.)

UPDATE: Twitter has now put a warning on this tweet.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D118154&title=Trump%20Tweets%20Without%20Evidence%20That%20He%20is%20Winning%20But%20Democrats%20Will%20Try%20to%20%E2%80%9CSTEAL%20the%20Election%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Lawsuit to Watch If It Comes Down to Pennsylvania<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118150>
Posted on November 3, 2020 8:41 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118150> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Hamm v. Boockvar<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/PA-Hamm-v-Boockvar-Commonw-Ct.pdf>, a state court case attacking some PA Secretary of State curing procedures. Hearing<https://twitter.com/johnkruzel/status/1323846082208632835> on Wednesday.

Keep your eye on this one, and the other suit I wrote about<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/election-day-2020-gop-lawsuit-pennsylvania-ballot-cures.html> earlier today.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D118150&title=Lawsuit%20to%20Watch%20If%20It%20Comes%20Down%20to%20Pennsylvania>
Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Nevada Supreme Court rejects Trump campaign emergency request to limit mail ballot counting in Clark County”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118146>
Posted on November 3, 2020 7:35 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118146> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Nevada Independent:<https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/trump-campaign-nv-gop-file-emergency-appeal-to-state-supreme-court-to-limit-mail-ballot-counting-in-clark-county>

The Nevada Supreme Court has denied an emergency request by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and the state Republican Party to immediately order Clark County election officials to stop processing mail ballots.

The appeal, filed Tuesday in the state Supreme Court, was a last-minute request for the state’s highest court to block Clark County’s mail ballot process. Carson City District Court Judge James Wilson on Monday issued an order flatly rejecting<https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/judge-rejects-trump-campaign-effort-to-slow-down-amend-clark-county-mail-ballot-counting-and-processing-system> all of the requests to modify the county’s mail ballot processing plan as lacking standing to warrant last-minute judicial intervention in the state’s election process.

The order, signed by all seven members of the court, stated that the appeal failed to demonstrate a “sufficient likelihood of success to merit a stay or injunction” and that the request failed to identify any “mandatory statutory duty” or “manifest abuse of discretion” that would warrant judicial intervention at this point on Election Day.

“Appellants motion, on its face, does not identify any mandatory statutory duty that respondents appear to have ignored,” Justice Kristina Pickering wrote in the order. “Further, appellants fail to address the district court’s conclusion that they lack standing to pursue this relief.”
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D118146&title=%E2%80%9CNevada%20Supreme%20Court%20rejects%20Trump%20campaign%20emergency%20request%20to%20limit%20mail%20ballot%20counting%20in%20Clark%20County%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


Georgia: “Fulton election results delayed after pipe bursts in room with ballots”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118144>
Posted on November 3, 2020 4:39 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118144> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AJC:<https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/fulton-election-results-delayed-after-pipe-bursts-in-room-with-ballots/4T3KPQV7PBEX3JVAIGJBNBSVJY/>

Fulton County’s absentee-by-mail processing operation at State Farm Arena was delayed four hours today after a water pipe burst in a room with ballots.

No ballots were harmed thanks to the slant of the room, voting officials told the elections board Tuesday night. But that likely ruins the hope by officials of having a three-quarters count by 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.

“There was a pipe that burst in the room where we actually had ballots, thank goodness that none of those ballots were damaged,” said Dwight Brower, with Fulton County elections.ExploreFulton election update: Delivery snafu, shorter lines, few tech problems<https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/fulton-election-update-delivery-snafu-shorter-lines-few-tech-problems/JMOMRHHAVZAIHPRXAM7MSV4U2Q/>

Board members asked when the public would have results from Georgia’s most populated county.

“It’s going to be later than what we would like it to be,” said Ralph Jones, a top Fulton elections manager.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D118144&title=Georgia%3A%20%E2%80%9CFulton%20election%20results%20delayed%20after%20pipe%20bursts%20in%20room%20with%20ballots%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


Mercifully, A Relatively Boring Election Day<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118142>
Posted on November 3, 2020 3:36 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118142> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Me<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/election-day-2020-live-coverage-joe-biden-donald-trump.html#boring-smooth-vote-so-far>, over at the Slate live blog.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D118142&title=Mercifully%2C%20A%20Relatively%20Boring%20Election%20Day>
Posted in Election Meltdown<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=127>


“In the Messiest Contested Election, One Man Saved the System From Itself”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118137>
Posted on November 3, 2020 12:14 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118137> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Do yourself a favor and read Franita Tolson in the NYT<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/03/us/samuel-randall-1876-election.html> on the 1876 election and Samuel Randall:

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s election, scholars and political commentators have been busy gaming out doomsday scenarios on the small, but unlikely, chance that there is a contested result. Despite the existence of laws designed to mediate such disputes, concerns abound because of the tremendous uncertainty in the constitutional and statutory framework governing federal elections.

More than any other contest, the 1876 election shows us that our laws and democratic institutions have not always been up to the task of resolving an election crisis. We still face the prospect that consequential decisions may fall to a single person — be it a candidate, a governor, a legislator or an election official — who may have to decide between party and country in resolving a contested election.

In 1876, that person was Samuel Randall, who played a key role in avoiding dueling inaugurations where the Republican nominee, Rutherford B. Hayes, and the Democratic nominee, Samuel J. Tilden, each presented themselves as the lawfully elected president of the United States. Decisions that Randall, a Democrat, made as the speaker of the House might have forestalled the violent conflict — both inside and outside of the congressional chamber — by supporters on both sides if their candidate was not declared the winner.

With its heady mix of voter disenfranchisement, election fraud and extreme partisanship, the Hayes-Tilden dispute was a political maelstrom for which the U.S. Constitution had no specific remedy. The Constitution leaves significant discretion in the hands of officials who are tasked with facilitating the selection of the president. This discretion was often misused, and the years leading up to 1876 would set the stage for such abuse.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D118137&title=%E2%80%9CIn%20the%20Messiest%20Contested%20Election%2C%20One%20Man%20Saved%20the%20System%20From%20Itself%E2%80%9D>
Posted in electoral college<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>

--
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/>


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20201104/a5ea8906/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2021 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20201104/a5ea8906/attachment.png>