[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/12/21

Mon Apr 12 07:16:24 PDT 2021

Please Take This Survey to Help Plan the Future of the Election Law Blog (Survey Closes April 18)<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121574>
Posted on April 12, 2021 7:13 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121574> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

[Bumping to the top]

On January 21, I announced <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=120597> a slowdown at ELB, as I finished a book project, worked on the ALI Torts: Remedies project, and undertook my courses with 200 students this semester.

I am now considering the future of the blog, and whether and how I can continue to support and sustain it.

To that end, it would be very helpful to me to learn about how people use ELB, what they want to see more of and less of, and how things can improve. Survey responses are anonymous.

The survey is here,<https://uci.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Lj62923JCHVhVc> and it will remain open through April 18. Thanks for reading and completing the survey!
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“How the corporate backlash to Georgia’s new voting law is shaping other fights around the country over access to the polls”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121595>
Posted on April 12, 2021 7:12 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121595> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/georgia-voting-law-backlash/2021/04/11/3074ef34-9893-11eb-a6d0-13d207aadb78_story.html>

The fast-moving drama reveals just how powerful and combustible the issue of voting has become in U.S. politics — and how fraught it appears to be for Republicans contending with the legacy of Trump’s attacks on the 2020 election. Even as many of his supporters continue to embrace his relentless claims that the vote was stolen, those false accusations have also primed his opponents to vigorously challenge further efforts to undermine the vote.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Some Thoughts on the Deliberate Mildness of Biden’s Supreme Court Commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121593>
Posted on April 12, 2021 7:08 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121593> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

A discussion on Twitter<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1380647587158532100> with Jamal Greene.

(Note that the post below<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121578> about joining the Commission is from Rick Pildes—there has been some confusion.)
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Posted in Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Supreme Court’s Bridgegate Ruling Casts Shadow on Federal Fraud Cases”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121591>
Posted on April 12, 2021 7:05 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121591> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WSJ:<https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-courts-bridgegate-ruling-casts-shadow-on-federal-fraud-cases-11618232407?mod=politics_lead_pos5>

A Supreme Court decision that threw out the fraud convictions<https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-throws-out-bridgegate-convictions-11588860632?mod=article_inline> of two political aides to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is rippling through other white-collar cases, possibly buttressing appeals by other defendants who say federal prosecutors have become too aggressive in using antifraud laws to go after dishonest conduct.

In the New Jersey scandal known as Bridgegate, the high court ruled last year that a political-retribution scheme that involved crippling a town with traffic jams didn’t constitute federal fraud. The decision already has prompted the reversal of most charges in a high-profile insider-trading case<https://www.wsj.com/articles/insider-trading-case-cites-alleged-health-funding-tips-1495647260?mod=article_inline>, and could hurt prosecutors’ efforts to preserve convictions in a case that exposed ethical failures at one of the Big Four accounting firms<https://www.wsj.com/articles/kpmg-to-pay-as-much-as-50-million-to-settle-sec-probe-11560474967?mod=article_inline>.

At issue in both cases is when underhanded conduct may be considered criminal fraud. The Supreme Court affirmed in the New Jersey case that federal fraud charges apply only when a scheme seeks to obtain money or property by deceptive means.

In the insider-trading case, Manhattan federal prosecutors said on April 2 that because of the New Jersey case, most of the charges should be wiped out. They recommended to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that the entire case against Christopher Worrall, one of the defendants, be dismissed. Mr. Worrall, a former technical adviser at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was accused of sharing secrets about government-funding levels with a consultant working for a hedge fund.

In the same case, prosecutors also agreed to toss out insider-trading and theft charges against two hedge-fund traders and David Blaszczak, the political-intelligence consultant<https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-king-of-political-intelligence-faces-a-reckoning-1471530464?mod=article_inline> whom they allege passed on the information from Mr. Worrall.
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Posted in bribery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>, Supreme Court<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Trump Appears to Have a New Zuckerberg Variation in His Lies About the Election Being Stolen<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121589>
Posted on April 12, 2021 7:00 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121589> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Per the NYT<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/10/us/politics/trump-republicans-donors.html>:

As donors and G.O.P. leaders looked on Saturday night, Mr. Trump quickly cast aside his prepared remarks and returned to his false claims that the election was stolen from him. He referenced “Zuckerberg” and $500 million spent on a “lockbox” from which, he said, every vote was marked, according to remarks described by an attendee. “Biden. Saintly Joe Biden,” he said….

Late in his remarks, Mr. Trump praised the crowd that attended his rally on Jan. 6, admiring how large it was, the attendee said. Mr. Trump added that he wasn’t “talking about the people that went to the Capitol,” though hundreds of the rally attendees left the rally at the Ellipse to go to the Capitol.
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

“New York GOP groups sue over Working Families petitions”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121587>
Posted on April 12, 2021 6:54 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121587> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Times-Union:<https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/County-GOP-groups-sue-over-WFP-petitions-16092807.php>

County Republican organizations around the state have filed lawsuits trying to remove Democrats from the state Working Families Party line ahead of the June primaries.

The move comes as local Republicans in at least three counties have also tried to co-opt the WFP line – a move they made after other minor parties they relied on to boost their voting totals in elections were booted from the ballot under new state election thresholds.

Lawsuits in state Supreme Court have been filed in Albany, Onondaga<https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=017476104391584697148:spcza9hgdok&q=https://www.syracuse.com/news/2021/04/gop-lawmakers-in-onondaga-county-sue-to-block-2nd-ballot-line-for-democrats.html&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjmzM_91PbvAhVBGVkFHaJLBKMQFjAAegQIBhAC&usg=AOvVaw1bwVo1Zqt8ydNAqgNUDSXB>, Monroe, Niagara<https://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/gop-sues-to-keep-democrats-off-working-families-line/Content?oid=13051921>, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjR-Miu1fbvAhVGEFkFHfVGBCQQFjABegQIAhAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesunion.com%2Fnews%2Farticle%2FWorking-Families-Party-Republican-try-to-block-16089360.php&usg=AOvVaw20ySZodqpo6C5av_q5vySc> counties, according to court records and media reports. The lawsuits allege that the Working Families Party’s executive committee did not properly authenticate petitions from Democrats seeking to run on the WFP line.
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Posted in ballot access<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>

North Carolina: “Editorial: Find ways to ease voting, not restrict it”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121585>
Posted on April 12, 2021 6:43 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121585> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WRAL editorial:<https://www.wral.com/editorial-find-ways-to-ease-voting-not-restrict-it/19617716/>

State Sen. Paul Newton may have tried to talk a good game in the Senate Election Committee<https://www.wral.com/gop-lawmakers-absentee-ballots-received-after-election-day-shouldn-t-count/19603911/> saying Senate Bill 326<https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2021/S326>, “The Elections Integrity Act” was nothing more than an effort to “shore up … leakage around the edges of our system.”

But numbers tell the story. The leakage he and his fellow Republicans are concerned about has nothing to do with election integrity but everything to do with helping GOP candidates.

Both nationally, and particularly in North Carolina, voting in the 2020 elections was conducted fairly, openly and with few problems under the most challenging of circumstances. Election turnout – both in total voters and share of eligible voters – was the most ever. Every properly cast ballot was collected and counted accurately.

What happened in 2020 – while based on the state results in particular – should have left Republicans with no complaints. But there obviously was concern that mail-in ballots didn’t tilt far enough toward the GOP.

The mail-in ballot share of all votes cast skyrocketed to 18%. Part pandemic related but also many voters found it a more convenient.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“CEOs Plan New Push on Voting Legislation”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121583>
Posted on April 12, 2021 6:41 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121583> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WSJ:<https://www.wsj.com/articles/ceos-plan-new-push-on-voting-legislation-11618161134?mod=djemalertNEWS&mkt_tok=ODUwLVRBQS01MTEAAAF8ZQxsXetN-3_nyJOmLYVEffBpX3V3OjLEQ9ajJ-Y8-6oM-z6S6awAbpKyWV6_-epMrb6GfAIQJib6eZookhqfmj37ZzIcySdKwdWNhMfkBJzr>

Dozens of chief executives and other senior leaders gathered on Zoom this weekend to plot what several said big businesses should do next about new voting laws under way in Texas and other states.

Kenneth Chenault, the former chief executive of American Express<https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/AXP> Co. , and Kenneth Frazier, CEO of Merck<https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/MRK> & Co., urged the leaders to collectively call for greater voting access, according to several people who attended. Messrs. Chenault and Frazier cautioned businesses against dropping the issue and asked CEOs to sign a statement opposing what they view as discriminatory legislation on voting, the people said.

A statement could come early this week, the people said, and would build on one that 72 Black executives signed last month<https://www.wsj.com/articles/black-executives-put-pressure-on-companies-to-battle-state-voting-laws-11617211058?mod=article_inline> in the wake of changes to Georgia’s voting laws. Mr. Chenault told executives on the call that several leaders had signaled they would sign on, including executives at PepsiCo<https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/PEP> Inc., PayPal<https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/PYPL> Holdings Inc., T. Rowe Price Group<https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/TROW> Inc. and Hess<https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/HES> Corp. , among others, according to the people. PayPal confirmed it has signed the statement. PepsiCo, T. Rowe Price and Hess didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

As more companies and their leaders have spoken out on the issue in recent weeks, their stands have drawn the ire of Republican state and federal legislators who say companies are miscasting the matter and shouldn’t act as shadow lawmakers. Meanwhile, progressive activists and others who oppose the laws have said that the actions leaders are taking aren’t strong enough. Many CEOs now feel a duty, or pressure, to make their views explicitly known to employees and others, executive advisers said.

Plenty of companies remain wary of wading into politically charged areas.<https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-georgia-voting-law-the-business-of-business-becomes-politics-11618027250?mod=article_inline> One executive from a Fortune 100 consumer-products company said board members, employees and vendors are pressing leaders to speak out, but doing so could put a bull’s-eye on the company.

“It’s really a no-win situation from a corporate standpoint,” the executive said.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Why Are Republicans Upset About Corporate Free Speech All of a Sudden?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121581>
Posted on April 12, 2021 6:38 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121581> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is a guest of Dahlia Lithwick on Slate’s “Amicus” podcast.<https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2021/04/corporate-influence-politics>
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

Honored to be Appointed to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121578>
Posted on April 10, 2021 11:36 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121578> by Richard Pildes<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

President Biden’s Commission on the Supreme Court includes several academic figures with ties to the election-law field, including Guy-Uriel Charles, Michael Kang, Heather Gerken, Bertrall Ross, and me, as well as the Commission’s Co-Chair, Bob Bauer. It’s a terrific group overall, and I look forward to the Commission’s substantive work.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“In 5-2 ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court keeps thousands of voters on the rolls”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121576>
Posted on April 9, 2021 8:33 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121576> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Patrick Marley<https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/09/wisconsin-supreme-court-keeps-thousands-voters-rolls/7145342002/> for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that state election officials do not have to quickly take people off the voter rolls when they suspect they may have moved.

The 5-2 ruling<https://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&seqNo=355119> means the Wisconsin Elections Commission will not force tens of thousands of people off the rolls near a major election, such as the 2022 contest for governor and U.S. Senate.

From the outset, the case has been fraught with politics. Conservatives who brought the lawsuit said they wanted to make sure the state’s voter lists are accurate, while Democrats and election officials warned a change in state policy could result in some voters being bumped off the rolls when they shouldn’t be.

The state law at the heart of the lawsuit over when to take voters off the rolls does not apply to the Elections Commission, the majority concluded.

“There is no credible argument that it does,” Justice Brian Hagedorn wrote for the majority.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“JetBlue Cites Business Ties in Donations to Election Objector”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121572>
Posted on April 9, 2021 7:16 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121572> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg Government<https://about.bgov.com/news/jetblue-cites-business-ties-in-donations-to-election-objector/>:

JetBlue Airways Corp<https://www.bgov.com/core/companies/app/#!/386948>. is defending its decision to make a PAC contribution to a lawmaker who objected to the presidential vote certification in January, saying it was resuming donations to candidates who are relevant to its business.

The company had “temporarily paused candidate contributions to understand how PAC contributors wanted to move forward in the current political climate,” said a statement, noting the corporate political action committee’s money comes from voluntary employee contributions. “We found, like the public in general, that contributors have a wide range of opinions and beliefs about current issues.”

The company’s statement was emailed by JetBlue spokeswoman Tamara Young to Bloomberg, which first reported the company’s contribution to Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) Malliotakis was among nearly 150 Republican lawmakers who objected to Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, the day pro-Trump rioters tried to interrupt the presidential vote count.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“After Georgia, Voting Fight Moves to Texas”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121570>
Posted on April 8, 2021 11:00 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121570> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WSJ:<https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-georgia-voting-fight-moves-to-texas-11617890124?mod=hp_lead_pos11>

The battle over voting rules has shifted to Texas, following recent legislation in Georgia<https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-in-the-georgia-voting-law-11617883732?mod=article_inline> that led to a backlash from civil-rights groups<https://www.wsj.com/articles/georgia-voting-law-masters-augusta-national-boycott-11617723470?mod=article_inline> and some major corporations.

The Texas legislature is advancing a bill that would limit early voting hours, place more restrictions on people who provide assistance with voting, control the number of voting machines at each location and allow partisan poll watchers to record video or photos of people voting, among other measures. The Texas State House is expected to begin hearings on the bill soon, which passed the state Senate around 2 a.m. on April 1 in an 18-13 party-line vote.

Republican state leaders said the omnibus elections bill would improve confidence in elections and set uniform standards across the state’s 254 counties. Democrats said it would make it more difficult to vote, particularly in urban areas and minority districts, and could allow voter intimidation.

The bill, along with others filed in Texas, comes as Republican lawmakers across the country have proposed new limits for mail-in voting and other electoral changes. Georgia emerged as an early hot spot<https://www.wsj.com/articles/fight-over-voting-access-revs-up-in-georgia-11612780203?mod=article_inline> after Republicans passed a bill along party lines in late March that added vote-by-mail identification requirements and limited ballot drop boxes.

Passage of the bill prompted Major League Baseball to pull<https://www.wsj.com/articles/mlb-removes-2021-all-star-game-from-atlanta-because-of-georgia-voting-law-11617394748?mod=article_inline> this year’s All-Star game from Atlanta and garnered opposition from companies including Delta Air Lines<https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/DAL> Inc. and Coca-Cola<https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/KO> Co. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who signed the bill<https://www.wsj.com/articles/georgia-election-changes-signed-into-law-by-governor-11616715033?mod=article_inline>, called the criticism partisan.

Opponents to the Texas legislation are trying to build on the Georgia experience by pushing major corporations<https://www.wsj.com/articles/georgia-voting-law-masters-boycott-augusta-national-chairman-11617811655?mod=article_inline> to come out earlier in opposition to the bill.
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Posted in The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Census Delay Spells Election Chaos for States”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121568>
Posted on April 8, 2021 8:03 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121568> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Stateline reports.<https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/04/07/census-delay-spells-election-chaos-for-states?utm_campaign=2021-04-07+SD&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Pew>
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Posted in census litigation<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=125>, redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

--
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
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rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
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http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>

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