Subject: Re: [EL] Wisconsin update
From: Larry Levine
Date: 4/7/2011, 5:32 PM
To: Paul Lehto
CC: Election Law <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>

It was a joke - kind of. Bet those who were yelling fraud yesterday don't 
see fraud today.
And why wouldn't any voter have standing to allege fraud? Or any election 
official? Or Fox News?
Larry

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Lehto" <lehto.paul@gmail.com>
To: "Larry Levine" <larrylevine@earthlink.net>
Cc: <rick.hasen@lls.edu>; "Election Law" <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 5:21 PM
Subject: Re: [EL] Wisconsin update


On 4/7/11, Larry Levine <larrylevine@earthlink.net> wrote:
Fraud is in the eyes of the loser.
Larry

C'mon Larry, winners of course don't look gift horses in the mouth and
in any event will never contest their own win, and you say fraud is
only in the eyes of the loser?  Under this "sore loser" view, there's
nobody left to contest an election and that leaves democracy itself
defenseless.  Is this good?

Only "sore losers" with a cognizable injury have standing and
motivation to litigate.  If they are to be deterred or ridiculed into
silence then both fraud and error have a free hand to go forward
undetected.

Paul Lehto, J.D.

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Rick Hasen
  To: Election Law
  Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 4:51 PM
  Subject: [EL] Wisconsin update


  April 07, 2011
  As the WI Supreme Court Election Moves Beyond the Margin of Litigation
Toward Prosser, What Will Become of Republican Fraud Claims?
  With news reports indicating that human error was responsible for a
failure to include 7,582 votes in favor of Justice Prosser in the vote
totals, I breathe a sigh of relief from the point of view of election
administration. Though it is possible that there will be other,
countervailing errors, it seems doubtful that they could make up this 
huge
gain.

  Over the last day and a half, I have been collecting and blogging links
showing Republican concerns about voter fraud. Here's Ann Althouse, 
before
the new numbers were revealed, responding to my Politico piece:


    So... because past claims of fraud have been "methodically 
debunked" --
have they? -- we should stop even looking for fraud? We'll only suffer if 
we
keep checking for cheaters? This sounds way too preemptive to me. I've 
spent
the last 2 months in a vortex of political ugliness and saw it grafted 
onto
the judicial election. I saw frantically impassioned protesters grasping 
at
the symbolism of this election and building an intense shared feeling of
entitlement to shift the politics of this state. I heard the phrase "by 
any
means necessary" more than once.

    In this context, Prosser proponents have every right to drag us 
through
the search for fraud one more time. I hope they don't find it, and 
Professor
Hasen can add this new example to his next there-is-no-fraud column. But
there's a 204 vote margin in this crazy election. We need to feel 
confident
that the outcome is correct.

  There's John Fund too before this calling out the fraud.

  Here's what I expect: With Prosser in the lead, the claims of fraud on 
the
Republican side will stop. The Democrats will not raise claims of fraud 
even
if they contest the election.

  Posted by Rick Hasen at 04:49 PM
  "Predictable: Right-Wing Media Respond To WI Supreme Court Election 
With
Baseless Voter Fraud Allegations"
  Media Matters for America has put up this post, which further validates 
my
prediction.


  Posted by Rick Hasen at 09:54 AM
  --
  Rick Hasen
  Visiting Professor
  UC Irvine School of Law
  401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
  Irvine, CA 92697-8000
  949.824.3072 - office
  949.824.0495 - fax
  rhasen@law.uci.edu

  William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
  Loyola Law School
  http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html
  http://electionlawblog.org



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  election-law mailing list
  election-law@mailman.lls.edu
  http://mailman.lls.edu/mailman/listinfo/election-law



-- 
Paul R Lehto, J.D.
P.O. Box 1
Ishpeming, MI  49849
lehto.paul@gmail.com
906-204-4026 (cell)


_______________________________________________
election-law mailing list
election-law@mailman.lls.edu
http://mailman.lls.edu/mailman/listinfo/election-law