[Lnc-business] Proposed amicus brief: Husted v. APRI

Nicholas J. Sarwark chair at lp.org
Tue Aug 8 08:35:59 EDT 2017


FYI, the DOJ has shifted their argument in this case since the grant of cert. It's worse now.  See:  https://twitter.com/_justinlevitt_/status/894692213564690432

-Nick

> On Aug 8, 2017, at 12:07 AM, Aaron Starr <starrcpa at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Colleagues,
>  
> How this ruling impacts us in this particular case in one particular state is not the litmus test for whether we ought to be involved in a court case.
>  
> There are times where we might prefer the number of registered voters be lower because the number of signatures required to qualify for the ballot is based on a percentage of the number of registered voters, not the number of votes cast. If we believe in consistency in thought, how are we later going to argue based on some Libertarian principle that in that circumstance the state ought to be more aggressive in purging the voter rolls?
>  
> I am actually facing this issue right now. I am working to qualify a recall for the ballot. The required number of signatures is 15% of the registered voters as of February 10, 2017. However, the county purged about 5% of the voters from the voter rolls subsequent to that date, so it is now more difficult for me to gather signatures to qualify for the ballot. My preference would be for the law to adjust the number required to the post-purge figures. However, I don’t see an underlying Libertarian principle that supports a judicial intervention here.
>  
> I accept that there will be times when the mechanisms of administrative process in government simply do not lend  themselves to challenge based on a Libertarian approach to justice and ought to remain a product of legislative or executive process. I can see how one could argue that we ought to lobby for a particular change in legislation; however, for us to involve the judiciary branch, which is not meant to be legislative or administrative in nature, does not seem appropriate just because we don’t like how a particular process impacts us under one specific set of conditions.
>  
>  
> Aaron Starr
> (805) 583-3308 Home
> (805) 404-8693 Mobile
> starrcpa at gmail.com
>  
> From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of Tim Hagan
> Sent: Monday, August 07, 2017 8:38 PM
> To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] Proposed amicus brief: Husted v. APRI
>  
> I checked with the LP of Ohio's Political Director on this lawsuit. Purging voter rolls decreases their petition signature validity. People who believe they are registered may have been purged. She's pleased we may join. From my quick check, Ohio ballot access is based on a certain percentage of votes for Governor or President.
>  
> Tim Hagan
>  
>  
> From: Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com>
> To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org 
> Sent: Friday, August 4, 2017 1:41 AM
> Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] Proposed amicus brief: Husted v. APRI
>  
> I agree that there is no clear libertarian philosophical issue here.  There may be times that a voter purge makes things harder for us, but there are times it cuts the other way as well.  
> 
> Without periodic purges of people who have disappeared, when the number of petition signatures we have to collect is based on a certain percentage of the registered voters in a district, the purges keep the total registrations from perpetually growing to numbers which make our petition goals essentially unattainable.
> 
> -Alicia
> 
>  
> 
>  
> On Thu, Aug 3, 2017 at 2:56 PM, Starchild <sfdreamer at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
>  
> Dan,
>  
> Thanks for writing and sharing your concerns. While I agree there isn't a clear (philosophical) libertarian angle in this case, I tend to think that giving the authorities more tools and discretion in when to purge voters from the rolls increases, rather than decreases, the likelihood of fraud.
>  
> I can give a personal example from a few years ago when I was volunteering as a vote counting observer during a runoff election in San Francisco which, although I don't know that it was a deliberate attempt at fraud, certainly raised questions in my mind about the integrity of the process. My goal as an observer consisted largely of trying to ensure that votes for him via provisional ballot were properly counted when possible and not improperly disqualified on technicalities, and while observing I noticed a case in which one of his voters, upon finding that his name missing from the rolls at his polling place, had apparently asked for a provisional ballot and voted. Upon consulting the registered voter data, an Elections Department staffer found that the individual had been purged from the rolls after not voting in the past three elections and a postcard mailed to him being returned undelivered. 
>  
> It seemed clear that one of two things had occurred: Either the voter was legitimately attempting to vote after several cycles of not voting for whatever reason – perhaps he had been on an extended vacation, or in jail, or there was simply a postal error, etc., or someone else was attempting to fraudulently vote in his name. It seemed to me that in either case the matter called for further investigation, but that in the meantime, the vote should be accepted (innocent until proven guilty). However the staffer processing the votes was planning to simply discard the ballot! When I brought the matter to the attention of a supervisor, I was told that this was the standard and proper procedure. There would not be any investigation or even any notification of the voter! I found this quite disturbing and along with other things I observed, it deepened my doubts about the integrity of the process. In hindsight I wondered whether staff really were following proper procedure, and probably should have tried to make more of an issue of it, but being there by myself at the time it didn't feel like there was much I could do.
>  
> The main danger of electoral fraud, it seems to me, is not random people casting illegitimate votes on a scatter-shot basis, but malfeasance on the part of insiders with access to the vote-counting process. As Josef Stalin infamously observed, who votes matters very little, but who counts the votes matters a great deal. I'm therefore inclined to feel that as a practical if not an ideological libertarian matter, it is in the Libertarian Party's interest to oppose anything that gives those counting the votes more opportunity to disqualify some of those votes.
>  
> I do agree that revenge against the bad actor(s) in the Ohio Secretary of State's Office would not, in itself, be a good reason to get involved.
>  
> Love & Liberty,
>  
>                                     ((( starchild )))
> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>                          RealR eform at earthlink.net
>                                   (415) 625-FREE
>                                     @StarchildSF
>  
>  
> On Aug 3, 2017, at 11:54 AM, Daniel Wiener wrote:
> 
> 
> Hello everyone,
>  
> Regaring Nick's email below, is this really an issue that the LP should involve itself in, much less support impediments to cleaning up the voter rolls?  Nick's description of the case as "challenging Ohio's practice of purging voters from the rolls when they don't vote in two successive election cycles" is very incomplete, according to the legal briefs he links to.  The process ALSO requires that notices be mailed out to voters at their last known voting addresses, and only allows voters to be purged if BOTH criteria are met (i.e., lack of voting and failure to respond to confirmation notices).
>  
> The legal dispute appears to turn on whether the failure to vote in recent elections can trigger the confirmation notices, or whether confirmation notices must first be sent out and then be supported by past failures to vote.  While that may be an interesting controversy based on conflicting interpretations of several federal laws, it hardly seems like any kind of fundamental Libertarian issue.  I personally don't see why it should matter which comes first, as long as both criteria must still be met.
>  
> From a practical standpoint, the Libertarian Party should generally favor an honest and well-run system for registering voters and holding elections.  We should generally be in favor of processes which minimize the potential for voter fraud, in that such fraud (besides the ethical considerations) is likely to favor the major political parties at our expense (i.e., the big parties are much more likely to commit voter fraud than the LP is).  Purging registration rolls of people who are dead or have moved away or are otherwise ineligible to vote is one important factor in closing off the avenues to such fraud.
>  
> Emotionally, we'd like to take on the Ohio Secretary of State because of the way they've screwed us in the past.  But the desire for revenge may not be a good enough reason to join an amicus brief in this particular case.
>  
> Dan Wiener
>  
>  
> Nicholas Sarwark chair at lp.org 
> Wed Aug 2 11:42:55 CDT 2017
>  
> Dear All,
>  
> The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Husted v. APRI,
> challenging Ohio's practice of purging voters from the rolls when they
> don't vote in two successive election cycles, allegedly in violation
> of HAVA, the Help America Vote Act.  Background on the case can be
> found at: http://www.scotusblog.com/ case-files/cases/husted-v- philip-randolph-institute/
>  
> We have an opportunity to be an amicus in support of not purging
> voters from the rolls, noting especially that it has a negative effect
> on political parties that may have been prevented from fielding
> candidates for an election cycle or two.
>  
> Our financial obligation would be limited to printing costs or less,
> as we've already lined up an attorney willing to draft the brief
> without cost to the LNC.
>  
> I intend to ask the Executive Committee to approve joining as an
> amicus in this case, but wanted to answer any questions any LNC
> members have about the case first.  Mr. Hall is also on the list and
> may be able to answer questions that I cannot.
>  
> Yours truly,
> Nick
>  
> 
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