[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/24/20

[Rick Hasen]

“Trump Administration Approves Start of Formal Transition to Biden”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119025>
Posted on November 23, 2020 7:53 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119025> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/us/politics/trump-transition-biden.html>:

President Trump’s government on Monday authorized President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to begin a formal transition process after Michigan certified Mr. Biden as its winner, a strong sign that the president’s last-ditch bid to overturn the results of the election was coming to an end.

Mr. Trump did not concede, and vowed to persist with efforts to change the vote, which have so far proved fruitless. But the president said on Twitter on Monday night that he accepted the decision by Emily W. Murphy, the administrator of the General Services Administration, to allow a transition to proceed.

In his tweet<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1331013908971261953>, Mr. Trump said that he had told his officials to begin “initial protocols” involving the handoff to Mr. Biden “in the best interest of our country,” though his announcement followed weeks of trying to subvert a free and fair election<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/us/politics/trump-election.html> with false claims of fraud.

Ms. Murphy’s designation of Mr. Biden as the apparent victor provides the incoming administration with federal funds and resources and clears the way for the president-elect’s advisers to coordinate with Trump administration officials.

The decision from Ms. Murphy came after several additional senior Republican lawmakers, as well as leading figures from business and world affairs, denounced the delay in allowing the peaceful transfer of power to begin, a holdup that Mr. Biden and his top aides said was threatening national security<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/us/politics/biden-security-transition.html> and the ability of the incoming administration to effectively plan for combating the coronavirus pandemic.

And it followed a key court decision in Pennsylvania, where the state’s Supreme Court on Monday ruled against the Trump campaign and the president’s Republican allies, stating that roughly 8,000 ballots with signature or date irregularities must be counted.

In Michigan, the statewide canvassing board, with two Republicans and two Democrats, voted 3 to 0 to approve the results, with one Republican abstaining. It officially delivered to Mr. Biden a key battleground that Mr. Trump had wrested away from Democrats four years ago, and rebuffed the president’s legal and political efforts to overturn the results.

By Monday evening, as Mr. Biden moved ahead with plans to fill out his cabinet<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/us/politics/biden-nominees.html>, broad sectors of the nation had delivered a blunt message to a defeated president: His campaign to stay in the White House and subvert the election, unrealistic from the start, was nearing the end.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


“Mich. Supreme Court rejects appeal, but 2 justices urge looking into election fraud claims”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119023>
Posted on November 23, 2020 7:45 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119023> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Detroit Free Press:<https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/11/23/michigan-supreme-court-justices-reject-appeal-examine-election-fraud-claims/6401370002/>

In what is likely a final blow to the effort to delay the certification of election results in Michigan, the Michigan Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal in a lawsuit<https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/11/13/judge-rules-against-separate-audit-wayne-county-election/6272704002/> filed against Detroit and Wayne County election officials.

With all but Justice David Viviano agreeing, the court denied the request to stop the certification of Wayne County’s election results, writing in its order  “we are not persuaded that the question presented should be reviewed by this Court.” The Wayne County Board of Canvassers certified the county’s results Nov. 17.

But in a concurring statement to the court’s order, Justice Brian Zahra, joined by Justice Stephen Markman, urged the Wayne County Circuit Court to move quickly and “meaningfully assess” the plaintiffs’ allegations of electoral fraud.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>



“IA-02: Three counties use voting machines to assist hand recount, defying Secretary of State opinion”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119021>
Posted on November 23, 2020 7:36 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119021> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Iowa City Press-Citizen<https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/23/scott-johnson-clinton-county-defies-secretary-state-machine-assisted-hand-recount/6386162002/>:

Three county recount boards are defying a recent legal opinion from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office and using a machine to aid the recount of ballots in the ultra-close 2nd District congressional race.

Recount boards in Scott, Johnson and Clinton counties — the three most populous in the district — justified the move, saying it is necessary to ensure that the recount board’s three members have time to examine ballots the machines couldn’t read for voter intent to see if any were filed for Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks or Democrat Rita Hart but were not tallied accordingly.

Assistant Scott County Attorney Robert Cusack offered a legal opinion for his board writing that using a machine to assist the hand count is consistent with the recount board’s charge from Iowa Code to “tabulate all votes” and that a hand recount of all 60,000 votes is not required in light of the confidence in voting machines and the code’s own time constraint. …
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, recounts<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50>


More Election Administration Problems in NY: “Absentee ballots in limbo over lost sticky notes in Brindisi-Tenney House race”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119018>
Posted on November 23, 2020 7:28 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119018> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Syracuse.com:<https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2020/11/absentee-ballots-in-limbo-over-lost-sticky-notes-in-brindisi-tenney-house-race.html>

The fate of 39 absentee ballots in the election between Rep. Anthony Brindisi<https://www.syracuse.com/topic/22nd%20Congressional%20District/> and Claudia Tenney<https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2020/11/tenney-all-but-declares-victory-over-brindisi-absentee-ballots-to-decide-house-race.html> is up in the air after election officials admitted in court today that they lost sticky notes attached to some of the ballots.

Oneida County’s election commissioners told state Supreme Court Justice Scott J. DelConte that the color-coded notes explained how the ballots were handled and whether they were counted.

The ballots could be important in deciding the winner of the 22nd Congressional District election, one of three remaining undecided House races in the nation.

Tenney, a Republican from New Hartford, leads Brindisi, D-Utica, by somewhere betwene 100 and 300 votes, according to unofficial returns from eight counties in the district.

Oneida and Oswego counties have not made their final ballot counts public, leading to confusion over how many votes separate the candidates<https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2020/11/brindisi-tenney-house-race-shrouded-in-secrecy-confusion-as-campaigns-battle-over-ballots.html>.

DelConte asked each of the eight counties in the district to securely deliver hundreds of disputed absentee and affidavit ballots<https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2020/11/judge-counties-must-report-final-vote-totals-monday-in-brindisi-tenney-house-race.html> to his Oswego courtroom today, beginning a process that could ultimately determine who wins the election.

It became clear early in the hearing with Oneida County officials that DelConte and the candidates’ attorneys were confused about certain ballots and the way the county’s elections commissioners organized them.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>


“How Misinformation ‘Superspreaders’ Seed False Election Theories”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119016>
Posted on November 23, 2020 4:52 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119016> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/technology/election-misinformation-facebook-twitter.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage>

On the morning of Nov. 5, Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, asked his Facebook followers to report cases of voter fraud with the hashtag, Stop the Steal. His post was shared over 5,000 times.

By late afternoon, the conservative media personalities Diamond and Silk had shared the hashtag along with a video claiming voter fraud in Pennsylvania. Their post was shared over 3,800 times.l

That night, the conservative activist Brandon Straka asked people to protest in Michigan under the banner #StoptheSteal. His post was shared more than 3,700 times.

Over the next week, the phrase “Stop the Steal” was used to promote dozens of rallies that spread false voter fraud claims about the U.S. presidential elections.

New research from Avaaz, a global human rights group, the Elections Integrity Partnership and The New York Times shows how a small group of people — mostly right-wing personalities with outsized influence on social media — helped spread the false voter-fraud narrative that led to those rallies.

That group, like the guests of a large wedding held during the pandemic, were “superspreaders” of misinformation around voter fraud, seeding falsehoods that include the claims that dead people voted<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/technology/dead-voters-false-claims.html>, voting machines had technical glitches<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/technology/no-dominion-voting-machines-did-not-delete-trump-votes.html>, and mail-in ballots were not correctly counted<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/technology/postal-worker-withdraws-claim-that-ballots-were-backdated-in-pennsylvania-officials-say.html>.

“Because of how Facebook’s algorithm functions, these superspreaders are capable of priming a discourse,” said Fadi Quran, a director at Avaaz. “There is often this assumption that misinformation or rumors just catch on. These superspreaders show that there is an intentional effort to redefine the public narrative.”
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Posted in cheap speech<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=130>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>


Trump Campaign Files in Third Circuit an Odd Appellate Brief and Request for Temporary Restraining Order (Which You Can’t Get from an Appeals Court)<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119013>
Posted on November 23, 2020 2:10 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119013> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can read my thread on both documents, starting here<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1330986697786462208?s=20>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Michigan Certifies Presidential Vote, with One Member Abstaining<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119011>
Posted on November 23, 2020 2:09 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119011> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/23/us/joe-biden-trump?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage#michigan-certifies-its-election-results-making-bidens-win-official-and-rebuffing-trump>

Michigan’s statewide electoral board approved its presidential vote tally on Monday, resisting pressure from President Trump to delay the process and paving the way for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to receive the state’s 16 electoral votes.

The Michigan vote was one of the biggest setbacks yet for Mr. Trump, who had directly intervened in the state’s electoral process to voice support for Republican officials who had made false claims about the integrity of the vote, and invited Michigan G.O.P. legislative leaders to the White House on Friday. Those leaders said afterward that they would allow the normal certification process to play out.

After reviewing the state Bureau of Elections’ report, which showed Mr. Biden winning the state by 154,000 votes over Mr. Trump, the Michigan board, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, voted 3 to 0 with one abstention to certify the results.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Disturbing News, Even Though It Does Not Affect PA Certification<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119007>
Posted on November 23, 2020 12:36 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119007> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

Philly Inquirier:<https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-certification-election-results-third-circuit-trump-counties-20201123.html>

Pennsylvania counties rushed Monday to certify their results from the Nov. 3 election, even as President Donald Trump and his Republican allies continued their increasingly long-shot legal effort to disrupt the cementing of the state’s final vote tally.

But as county boards of elections convened for what is normally little more than a sleepy formality, the impact of the president’s campaign to undermine trust in the integrity of the vote repeatedly reared its head.

In at least three of the state’s most populous counties, the boards split their votes along party lines. And small groups of voters speaking at public meetings urged elections administrators to reject vote tallies in several others. Many speakers cited unsupported allegations of widespread fraud, malfunctioning voting machines and claims about mail-in ballots that Trump and his supporters have spread without evidence in recent weeks….

Board votes in Allegheny and Luzerne — which Trump carried by 14 points — also split along partisan divides. But in all three counties, the dissenters were among the minority and the certifications were ultimately approved.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Over Partial Dissents, Pennsylvania Supreme Court (Relying on Democracy Canon) Holds That Counties Should Count Mail Ballots with Minor Technical Errors [links to opinions]<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119002>
Posted on November 23, 2020 12:20 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=119002> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Read the plurality opinion<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Opinion-Announcing-the-Judgment-of-the-Court.pdf> and two partially concurring<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Concurring-and-Dissenting-Opinion.pdf> and dissenting<https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Concurring-and-Dissenting-Opinion-1.pdf> opinions. There are not enough ballots here to matter for the Presidential race.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“How Trump placed a ticking time bomb at the center of our system”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118999>
Posted on November 23, 2020 10:16 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118999> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Important point <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/23/how-trump-placed-ticking-time-bomb-center-our-system/> from Greg Sargent:

So is this really how it’s going to be? Will it now become a fact of our political life that Democrats will be required to win future presidential elections by steal-proof margins in order to prevail?

With President Trump’s attempts to overturn the election continuing in Michigan and Wisconsin, more Republicans are distancing themselves. They are “subtly urging<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/22/us/politics/republicans-trump-biden.html>” Trump to accept reality and are “losing patience<https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/23/politics/donald-trump-republicans-transition/index.html?utm_term=image&utm_content=2020-11-23T12%3A32%3A05&utm_source=twCNNp&utm_medium=social>” with his antics, we are told.

But in the very formulation that some of these Republicans have adopted — and in the sheer numbers who have refrained from going even this far — there is grounds for serious pessimism about what all this portends.

What happens if the last-ditch tactic Trump’s team has adopted — trying to get rogue GOP-controlled state legislatures to appoint pro-Trump electors to the electoral college in defiance of their state’s voters — becomes seen as a conventional tool of political warfare, akin to more typical voter suppression efforts?
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


“Trump repeats unfounded election fraud claims in late-night posts flagged by Twitter”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118997>
Posted on November 23, 2020 9:04 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118997> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/23/trump-election-fraud-tweets-flagged/>

As more Republicans<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-christie-trump-concede/2020/11/22/05c280e6-2cda-11eb-bae0-50bb17126614_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_2> joined a chorus urging President Trump to concede the election and his legal team splintered over far-fetched conspiracy theories<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/22/giuliani-releases-statement-distancing-trump-campaign-lawyer-sidney-powell/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2>, President Trump spent Sunday<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-quiet-defeat/2020/11/22/c2a714be-2cdb-11eb-9c71-ccf2c0b8d571_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_2> at his private golf course in Virginia.

Then, just before midnight, he took to Twitter to repeat more of the unfounded claims of mass voter fraud that have animated his weeks-long resistance to acknowledging defeat to President-elect Joe Biden.

Trump’s tweets, which included another false claim that he “won” the election, were quickly flagged by Twitter with disclaimers.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“National security experts call on GOP leaders to rebuke Trump’s election claims”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118995>
Posted on November 23, 2020 8:57 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118995> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-concede-republicans-national-security/2020/11/23/af5e6a36-2d3c-11eb-860d-f7999599cbc2_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social>

A group of leading GOP national security experts — including former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-cybersecurity-202/2020/06/16/the-cybersecurity-202-first-dhs-chief-tom-ridge-knocks-trump-s-attacks-on-voting-by-mail/5ee79c0a88e0fa32f823abd2/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2> — urged congressional Republicans on Monday to demand President Trump concede the election and immediately begin the transition to the incoming Biden administration.

“President Trump’s refusal to permit the presidential transition poses significant risks<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/defense-transition-trump-election/2020/11/11/7ca500a2-21ff-11eb-8599-406466ad1b8e_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_4> to our national security, at a time when the U.S. confronts a global pandemic and faces serious threats from global adversaries, terrorist groups, and other forces,” said a statement signed by more than 100 GOP luminaries<https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-the-statement-from-100-plus-former-national-security-officials/a559eb00-6e6c-4671-ab49-7bc9ccb967dc/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4>.

The signers included Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor who served as Homeland Security secretary under President George W. Bush, former CIA Director Michael Hayden<https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/on-leadership-gen-michael-hayden-on-leading-the-cia-and-nsa/2011/07/19/gRgA7tMZ0i_video.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_5> and John D. Negroponte, who served as director of national intelligence.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Third Circuit Orders Expedited Briefing, Concluding by Tomorrow, in PA Trump Voting Suit<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118993>
Posted on November 23, 2020 8:52 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118993> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Order.<https://twitter.com/johnkruzel/status/1330911345391362049>

On why this claim has little chance for success, see my post last night: Breaking: In Federal Case in Pennsylvania, Trump Campaign Seeks Very Limited Emergency Remedy in Third Circuit, and Does Not Ask for a Delay in Certification<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118980>.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Senator Rob Portman Oped Calls for Treating Biden as President-Elect<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118991>
Posted on November 23, 2020 8:49 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118991> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Cincinnati Enquirer oped:<https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2020/11/23/portman-no-proof-mass-fraud-would-change-election-result/6389605002/>

This process has now been going on for about three weeks. The Trump campaign has taken steps to insist that only lawful votes were counted in key states, including filing numerous lawsuits. At this point, the vast majority of these lawsuits have been resolved and most of the remaining ones are expected to be resolved in the next couple of weeks. There were instances of fraud and irregularities in this election, as there have been in every election. It is good that those have been exposed and any fraud or other wrongdoing should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but there is no evidence as of now of any widespread fraud or irregularities that would change the result in any state….

I voted for President Trump, was a co-chair of his campaign in Ohio, and I believe his policies would be better for Ohio and the country. But I also believe that there is no more sacred constitutional process in our great democracy than the orderly transfer of power after a presidential election. It is now time to expeditiously resolve any outstanding questions and move forward. …

On or before Dec. 8, any ongoing efforts to ensure an accurate count must be concluded and the 2020 election brought to a close. In the meantime, the General Services Administration (GSA) should go ahead and release the funds and provide the infrastructure for an official transition, and the Biden team should receive the requested intelligence briefings and briefings on the coronavirus vaccine distribution plan. This is only prudent. Donald Trump is our president until Jan. 20, 2021, but in the likely event that Joe Biden becomes our next president, it is in the national interest that the transition is seamless and that America is ready on Day One of a new administration for the challenges we face.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Election Case Risks Awkward About-Face for Biden Administration”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118989>
Posted on November 23, 2020 8:46 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118989> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg Law<https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/election-case-risks-awkward-about-face-for-biden-administration>:

President-elect Joe Biden’s top lawyer at the Supreme Court may have no choice but to change the government’s position in an election dispute out of Arizona, the sort of pivot that is awkward for lawyers and irritates the justices.

The case, Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee<https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/ballot-harvesting-gets-supreme-court-review>, takes aim at voting restrictions passed by the state to limit out-of-precinct voting and restrict who can collect and return mail-in ballots. Republicans say the law is designed to prevent voter fraud while Democrats say it disenfranchises minority voters, who disproportionately vote outside their precincts and rely on others to handle their mail-in ballots.

That case is one in which the incoming Biden administration may do an about face, said Paul Bender<https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/274462>, who was the second in command in the solicitor general’s office during the Clinton administration.

The new solicitor general will try to do as much as possible to avoid that, Bender said. “But sometimes, you just can’t.”

If pushed to change positions it could hurt the incoming solicitor general’s reputation as an apolitical actor, making arguments based on the law rather than political considerations….

Opening briefs are due Nov. 30, meaning that a Trump administration brief in support of the laws would be filed in early December—just weeks before Biden takes office.

While not unheard of, that timing may convince the Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall to stay his hand. The Justice Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.

If Wall does file a friend-of-the-court brief, however, “it would be a big problem for the Biden administration,” Bender said.
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Posted in Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting Rights Act<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>


New York: “Brindisi-Tenney House race shrouded in secrecy, confusion as campaigns battle over ballots”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118987>
Posted on November 23, 2020 8:42 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=118987> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Syracuse.com:<https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2020/11/brindisi-tenney-house-race-shrouded-in-secrecy-confusion-as-campaigns-battle-over-ballots.html>

Central New Yorkers who voted in one of the most competitive House races in the nation still don’t know the results 18 days after the election, whether their vote counted, or exactly what’s happening in a courtroom where the outcome may be decided next week.

Since the polls closed Nov. 3, the 22nd Congressional District election between Rep. Anthony Brindisi <https://www.syracuse.com/topic/22nd%20Congressional%20District/> and Claudia Tenney<https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2020/11/tenney-all-but-declares-victory-over-brindisi-absentee-ballots-to-decide-house-race.html> has been shrouded in secrecy as lawyers for the campaigns fight behind the scenes over hundreds of absentee ballots that could tip the election.

Some counties declined to disclose updated absentee ballot counts this past week, or how many ballots have been disputed by the two campaigns.

It’s not even clear exactly how many votes separate Brindisi, D-Utica, and Tenney, a Republican from New Hartford. The two faced each other in a hotly contested rematch of a 2018 election that Brindisi won by about 4,400 votes….

On Friday, the judge met privately<https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2020/11/judge-counties-must-report-final-vote-totals-monday-in-brindisi-tenney-house-race.html> for about 90 minutes in an online video conference with lawyers for the Brindisi and Tenney campaigns. Lawyers and election officials for all eight counties, as well as reporters, were in a separate “virtual” room shut out from the judge’s conference.

When the judge emerged, he offered no explanation about what happened in the private meeting. DelConte said he would order disputed absentee and affidavit ballots to be delivered to his Oswego County courtroom on Monday for two days of review.

DelConte did not reveal how many ballots are in dispute. His law secretary, Eric Van Buren, said the judge would not agree to an interview, nor is a transcript available of the hearing.
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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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