[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/3/21

[Rick Hasen]

“Georgia Takes Center Stage in Battle Over Voting Rights”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121047>
Posted on March 3, 2021 6:19 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121047> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/03/us/politics/georgia-voting-laws.html>

After record turnout flipped Georgia blue for the first time in decades, Republicans who control the state Legislature are moving swiftly to implement a raft of new restrictions on voting access, mounting one of the biggest challenges to voting rights in a major battleground state following the 2020 election.

Two bills, one passed by the House on Monday and another that could pass the Senate this week, seek to alter foundational elements of voting in Georgia, which supported President Biden in November and a pair of Democratic senators in January — narrow victories attributable in part to the array of voting options in the state.

The Republican legislation would undermine pillars of voting access by ending automatic voter registration, banning drop boxes for mail ballots and eliminating the broad availability of absentee voting. The bills would restrict early voting on the weekends, limiting the longstanding civic tradition of “Souls to the Polls” in which Black voters cast ballots on Sunday after church services.

Taken together, the new barriers would have an outsize impact on Black voters, who make up roughly one-third of the state’s population and vote overwhelmingly Democratic.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Former VP Mike Pence Attacks 2020 Election Integrity, Pointing to Supposed Independent State Legislature Doctrine Violations and “Irregularities” (Not Voter Fraud)<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121045>
Posted on March 3, 2021 6:14 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121045> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

From an oped<https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/03/03/election-integrity-is-a-national-imperative/> attacking HR 1:

After an election marked by significant voting irregularities and numerous instances of officials setting aside state election law, I share the concerns of millions of Americans about the integrity of the 2020 election.

That’s why when I was serving as presiding officer at the joint session of Congress certifying the Electoral College results, I pledged to ensure that all objections properly raised under the Electoral Count Act would be given a full hearing before Congress and the American people.

The tragic events of Jan. 6—the most significant being the loss of life and violence at our nation’s Capitol—also deprived the American people of a substantive discussion in Congress about election integrity in America.

Under the Constitution, elections are governed at the state level. And each state is required to appoint presidential electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.”

Many of the most troubling voting irregularities took place in states that set aside laws enacted by state legislatures in favor of sweeping changes ordered by governors, secretaries of state, and courts.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


New Freedom House Report Finds American Democracy on the Decline<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121043>
Posted on March 3, 2021 6:09 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121043> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can find the new report here<https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2021/democracy-under-siege>.

[Disclosure: I served as an advisor reviewing the portion of the report dealing with the United States.]
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Call for Papers: New Voices in Election Law<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121041>
Posted on March 3, 2021 5:53 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121041> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Law and Political Process Study Group (a related group of APSA) will be putting together a panel on “New Voices in Election Law” for the APSA Annual Meeting <https://connect.apsanet.org/apsa2021/> being held Sept. 28-Oct. 3 (for virtual panels). All related panel groups, including this one, will be virtual (so there is no need to participate in person).

The group will be putting together a “New Voices in Election Law” panel, which will take place some time over APSA. Papers in election law, broadly defined, are eligible. We encourage doctrinal, theoretical, and empirical contributions. Papers must not have been published before the meeting. Paper authors must be full-time professors for seven or fewer years (if co-authored, all authors must meet these criteria).

Send your contact information and abstract to Rick Hasen (rhasen-at-law.uci.edu) by no later than Monday, March 8.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“The Long Fuse: Misinformation and the 2020 Election” (Report and Event)<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121039>
Posted on March 2, 2021 4:54 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121039> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Big new report<https://www.eipartnership.net/report>:

Please join us on Wednesday March 3, 2021 from 3:00-4:30 pm EST (12:00-1:30 PST) for the public launch of our comprehensive report. Hear researchers from the Stanford Internet Observatory<https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/io>, Graphika<https://graphika.com/>, the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public<https://www.cip.uw.edu/>, and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab<https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/programs/digital-forensic-research-lab/>, and special guest Chris Krebs<https://www.cisa.gov/christopher-c-krebs>. Panelists will discuss the origins and amplification of voting-related misinformation, charting how these narratives evolved over time. The Partnership was set up to monitor false information about the process and results of the 2020 election, in line with the Department of Homeland Security’s designation of elections as critical infrastructure in democracies. In particular, the EIP identified and traced the false “stolen election” narrative which would culminate in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Gensler: SEC should consider corporate political spending disclosures”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121037>
Posted on March 2, 2021 3:10 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121037> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico<https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/02/gensler-sec-corporate-political-spending-472607>:

Gary Gensler, President Joe Biden’s pick to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, signaled Tuesday that the agency would raise pressure on corporations to disclose their political spending activities, a long-running tension between SEC officials, big business and Democrats.

At a Senate confirmation hearing, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) asked the nominee for the SEC’s chair role whether political contributions by publicly traded companies represented “material” information to investors and should be disclosed. In response, Gensler said there was growing investor appetite for the information.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


March 9 Election Law Journal Roundtable: Restoring Trust in the Voting Process<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121035>
Posted on March 2, 2021 9:29 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=121035> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Looking forward to this:<https://home.liebertpub.com/lpages/elj-roundtable-restoring-trust-in-the-voting-process/268/>

[cid:image002.png at 01D70FF5.692E86E0]March 9, 2021 8-9:15 PM ET   |  Add to your calendar<http://home.liebertpub.com/images/ROUNDTABLE%20Restoring%20Trust%20in%20the%20Voting%20Process.ics>

The democratic process in the United States was sorely tested in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Our electoral institutions survived that test, but the fragility of our democracy was exposed. With national polls showing that a third of all Americans and two-thirds of Republicans believe that Joe Biden was not legitimately elected, how do we restore trust in the voting process? Do we need fundamental changes in how we conduct our elections and count our votes?

Please join us on March 9th from 8-9:15 p.m. Eastern time for a panel discussion from the nation’s leading experts on election administration and election law to help answer these questions. Our distinguished panel will be led by David Canon, Editor-in-Chief of Election Law Journal and professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

A live Q&A session will follow the roundtable, offering you a chance to pose questions to our expert panelists.

JOIN THE ROUNDTABLE<https://liebertpub.zoom.us/j/91580294431>
[Guy-Uriel Charles]
Guy-Uriel Charles (Presenter)

Edward and Ellen Schwarzman Professor of Law
Duke University Law School
[Edward Foley]
Edward Foley (Presenter)

Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law
Director, Election Law at Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
[Richard Hasen]
Richard Hasen (Presenter)

Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California
Irvine School of Law
[Lisa Manheim]
Lisa Manheim (Presenter)

Charles I. Stone Associate Professor of Law
University of Washington, School of Law
[Charles Stewart III]
Charles Stewart III (Presenter)

Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
[Daniel Tokaji]
Daniel Tokaji (Presenter)

Fred W. & Vi Miller Dean and Professor of Law
University of Wisconsin Law School
[David Canon]
David Canon (Moderator)

David Canon (Moderator) Editor-in-Chief, Election Law Journal
Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin
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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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