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University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

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Re: University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

#211

Post by president »

ianai wrote: post #36
elliekelly wrote: post #10

I have a colleague who does environmental litigation. (Think Erin Brockovich.) They have a big civil case against a large energy company in a southern, “energy-friendly” state. They had an expert witness all lined up - a professor at the (public!) state university. Well this expert happened to be up for tenure and was (allegedly) told in no uncertain terms that, should they testify as an expert witness in this case,…

Agree. With all the anti-democratic practices being rolled out across the states it’s pretty scary to imagine things even a year from now and a long time forward. Life threats against election officials and all the way up to Senators. Gerrymandering. Even the SCOTUS is biased. Seems civics in the US are about to be rigged for one party rule.

Serious question, does anyone have any insight into how we got into this mess? It seems like the past few years has seen a whirlwind of anti-democratic rule at almost every level of government - state, local, and federal.

Re: University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

#212

Post by justaman »

ceejayoz wrote: post #162
briffle wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oregon just got a new House Rep member, and if you look at the new maps it has created, its pretty obvious this isn't a one party problem.

Gerrrymandering indeed has a long history, and it's a bit like nukes - if the other side is already using them, it's hard to hold off on your side. In 2018, North Carolina saw 50% of the vote go to Republicans, but they received 77% of the Congressional seats. A couple rounds of that is a recipe for a permanent minority for the other party.

Should the region/counties that have a smaller population but different work forces or geographical makeup not have representation? Population alone cannot dictate the house of representatives.

Re: University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

#213

Post by the_snooze »

cmh89 wrote: post #190
andrew_ wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apologies for replying to your question with a question. What is hard and expensive about voting today? I'm interested in your experiences on the topic, as I've personally not had a voting experience that was hard or expensive. For what it's worth, I'm considered a minority in the U.S.

It depends on where you are. In my state (Oregon), voting is easy and secure. We vote by mail as a default and if you move and don't get your ballot, you can go to any voting office and request all the way up until when polls close on election day. Now, if you are in republican held states like Alabama or Georgia, it's going to be a different story. republicans use several methods to disenfranchise voters, voter ID i…

>3. Another tactic is voter roll purges. A lot of folks don't know that they've been unenrolled from the voter rolls till they show up on election day. This particularly effects renters who might not realize they aren't registered at their current address, and miss mail regarding it because its sent to their former address.

I hear this a lot, but states do have to keep their voter rolls up-to-date by law. People move in and out all the time, and not everyone votes in every election. Are there mechanisms that you think are effective in reducing the chances of someone mistakenly getting removed, while still allowing for stale records to be dropped?

Re: University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

#214

Post by clairity »

ianai wrote: post #36
elliekelly wrote: post #10

I have a colleague who does environmental litigation. (Think Erin Brockovich.) They have a big civil case against a large energy company in a southern, “energy-friendly” state. They had an expert witness all lined up - a professor at the (public!) state university. Well this expert happened to be up for tenure and was (allegedly) told in no uncertain terms that, should they testify as an expert witness in this case,…

Agree. With all the anti-democratic practices being rolled out across the states it’s pretty scary to imagine things even a year from now and a long time forward. Life threats against election officials and all the way up to Senators. Gerrymandering. Even the SCOTUS is biased. Seems civics in the US are about to be rigged for one party rule.

we’ve been oligarchic since at least the 90s, so it doesn’t really matter that there are two major parties. in fact, having two parties has been an effective shield against criticism and activism, keeping us distracted (see every comment on hn and beyond that mentions democrat/republican, liberal/conservative, etc.) from the real roots of our growing inequality and stagnation. consolidation of power, wealth and influence is the enemy of the people, as it’s been for all of human history. we keep failing at understanding this throughout that history to our continued collective misery.

we need to (continue to) decentralize governments and markets. we now have the technological means, so it’s largely a matter of popular will at this point.

Re: University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

#215

Post by vkou »

AlexandrB wrote: post #106
endisneigh wrote: post #16

this doesn't sound like a big deal. UF is saying that professors cannot both receive compensation for your testimony and testify as a member of the university. in other words, they can testify for free, or they cannot use their the fact that they're UF professors as part of their credentials without prior approval, or do anything that's a "conflict of interest" as defined by UF themselves. the article itself admits t…

> the article itself admits that plenty of professors at UF serve as expert witnesses, but this particular case is unique because UF professors want to testify against the State of Florida, which funds UF. > obviously UF wouldn't want that. This part is ridiculous. The "State of Florida" doesn't fund the UF, the Florida taxpayers do! And it's in the taxpayers' interest to get good, equitable laws - not whatever the l…

> The fact that there's a possibility that Florida lawmakers would retaliate against another public institution to the possible detriment of the taxpayers of Florida is the real scandal if this is true.

You must be new to southern politics, if you think this is a scandal.

Re: University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

#216

Post by notacoward »

andrew_ wrote: post #168
jaywalk wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>factions of that same ideology planned the kidnapping and public execution of democratically elected leaders Are you talking about the plot the FBI cooked up against Whitmer? The one that's in the process of being laughed out of court? Your bias has completely blinded you to reality.

Sad to see this downvoted. Shows just how many have accepted the propaganda fed to them without doing any of their own diligence on the topic. This was an egregious abuse of power by federal law enforcement [1], regardless of the heinousness of the scheme. [1] https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2021/08/dark-shadow-...

Also sad to see a defense attorney's unsubstantiated and self-serving claims presented as Absolute Truth. "Diligence" doesn't mean just cherry-picking whatever source or narrative suits you.

Re: University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

#217

Post by dd36 »

zackmorris wrote: post #172

Probably what's going on is that someone on the board of trusties gets money from the political establishment in Florida and is worried that they'll lose it if the voting barriers are fixed and different leadership is elected. This has similarities with the shenanigans pulled by Sinema and Manchin around the Build Back Better plan. Political horse trading to advance the agendas of special interests, at great expense…

It surely exists in private. It should exist in public and be a condition of public service.

Re: University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

#218

Post by matthewdgreen »

_-david-_ wrote: post #200
matthewdgreen wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a national level, Senate Democrats have been trying to pass laws that place general limits on the practice. It would be nice for "both sides" arguments if some version of this project enjoyed bipartisan support: unfortunately it does not.

I don't think the federal government has the authority to stop states from gerrymandering? Am I mistaken? It seems like the Democrats are just virtue signalling.

I think the "elections clause" (Article 1, Section 4, clause 1) gives Congress broad authority to override state laws regarding how its own representatives are elected. (Note: edited to simplify...)

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-1/section-4...

Re: University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

#219

Post by dragonwriter »

AlexandrB wrote: post #106
endisneigh wrote: post #16

this doesn't sound like a big deal. UF is saying that professors cannot both receive compensation for your testimony and testify as a member of the university. in other words, they can testify for free, or they cannot use their the fact that they're UF professors as part of their credentials without prior approval, or do anything that's a "conflict of interest" as defined by UF themselves. the article itself admits t…

> the article itself admits that plenty of professors at UF serve as expert witnesses, but this particular case is unique because UF professors want to testify against the State of Florida, which funds UF. > obviously UF wouldn't want that. This part is ridiculous. The "State of Florida" doesn't fund the UF, the Florida taxpayers do! And it's in the taxpayers' interest to get good, equitable laws - not whatever the l…

> The fact that there's a possibility that Florida lawmakers would retaliate against another public institution to the possible detriment of the taxpayers of Florida

Like banning mask mandates by school districts and defunding them as punishment?

Re: University of Florida bars professors from testifying in a voting rights case

#220

Post by clairity »

president wrote: post #211
ianai wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. With all the anti-democratic practices being rolled out across the states it’s pretty scary to imagine things even a year from now and a long time forward. Life threats against election officials and all the way up to Senators. Gerrymandering. Even the SCOTUS is biased. Seems civics in the US are about to be rigged for one party rule.

Serious question, does anyone have any insight into how we got into this mess? It seems like the past few years has seen a whirlwind of anti-democratic rule at almost every level of government - state, local, and federal.

as hinted at in my sibling comment, there’s a natural gradient toward the consolidation of power, propelled by individual actions to that end. we’ve reached a tipping point in the past 40–50 years where enough consolidation has happened that politicians no longer need to genuinely care about the populace at large, but rather only the plutocratic class.
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