The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 11, 2025

Nineteen states and several pro-voter groups filed suit against a March 25th executive order by President Donald Trump.  The order appears to override Congressional and state jurisdiction granted by the U.S. Constitution, and its noncitizen voting restrictions could actually disenfranchise millions of eligible Americans.

To be clear, there is NO evidence of widespread noncitizen voting in any state.  But the March 25th order requires documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, which in practice would require it for state elections, too.  States who don’t follow the Trump directive could lose federal funding.  

Problem is, one in nine Americans don’t have ready access to their citizenship papers.  An estimated 69 million married women use a name different from their birth certificate, and only half of Americans have a valid U.S. Passport.

The order also requires states to comb their voter rolls for possible noncitizens, gives states access to federal databases, and mandates states report voting infractions to the U.S. Justice Department.  It requires that mail ballots be received by election day, eliminating grace periods.

The U.S. Constitution assigns administration of elections to the states and Congress, which is the basis of states’ challenge.  The Campaign Legal Center and four other pro-democracy groups also challenged the ruling on similar grounds.

We’ve linked to Trump’s order and the legal challenges at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

The White House – Executive Order:  PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS
NPR – 19 states sue over Trump’s voting executive order, arguing it’s unconstitutional
PBS – Election watchdog groups sue Trump administration over executive order, calling it unconstitutional
Campaign Legal Center – CLC Sues to Block Trump Administration’s Illegal Election Overreach
Campaign Legal Center  – Complaint in U.S. District Court for DC Against Trump Executive Order
U.S. District Court for MA, via State of NY – Complaint by 19 States Against Trump Executive Order

Groups Taking Action:

Campaign Legal Center, State Democracy Defenders Fund, LULAC, Arizona Students’ Association, Secure Families Initiative

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #DonaldTrump #ExecutiveOrders #Unconstitutional #Disenfranchisement

The post Pro-Voter Groups and 19 States Challenge Trump Executive Order on Voting Rules as Unconstitutional and Likely to Disenfranchise Millions appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 2, 2024

Voter list maintenance is a part of our election system.  People die, change their names, or move out of state.   Local, state and county officials use sophisticated voter registration data services such as ERIC, the Electronic Registration Information Center, to aid them, or less effectively, agreements with nearby states and other internal software.

Georgia is preparing to purge an estimated 500,000 of its voters in 2025 – 6% of those registered, employing recommendations from ERIC and other sources. Of those, and estimated 100,000 will be purged not because they’ve moved, but because they haven’t voted recently, under Georgia’s ”use it or lose it” law.  Voters who have not voted for five years are put on an “inactive list.” Then, if there’s no contact with election officials in 9 years and two presidential cycles, those voters are purged from the rolls.

Election officials typically notify voters by mail of such actions.   But several studies have found that since the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder Voting Rights Act decision, purges sometimes target urban communities of color, as found in Ohio’s 2024 purge and a study of 2014 to 2018 purges in Michigan. 

Anti-voter legislatures are doubling down, shortening the “use it or lose it” window, and allowing purges closer to the election.   More on those tactics in an upcoming report.    

We have links to more on the purge in Georgia and other states at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Brennan Center for Justice – (2018) Purges: A Growing Threat to the Right to Vote
States News – (2019) The Messy Politics of Voter Purges
Savannah Tribune – Georgia Set to Purge 100K Voters Under “Use It or Lose It” Law
Brennan Center for Justice – (2024)  Attacks on Voter Rolls and How to Protect Them
NBC News 21 – Do Voter Purges Discriminate Against the Poor and Minorities?
Ohio Capital Journal – (2024) Ohio’s voter purge “disproportionately targets voters of color”, civil rights organizations say

Michigan State University – New MSU Research Sheds Light on Impact and Bias of Voter Purging in Michigan

Groups Taking Action:

Legal Defense Fund,  The Voter Purge Project,  Campaign Legal Center

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VoterPurge #Georgia #VoterSuppression

The post Georgia Prepares to Purge a Half Million Voters – 6% of Its Voter Rolls.  Even if You Haven’t Moved, You Can Be Purged Just For Not Voting. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 28, 2025

President Donald Trump issued an executive order March 25th implementing portions of the likely doomed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or ‘SAVE’ Act.  Among its restrictive provisions are a documentary proof of citizenship to register and vote, potentially disenfranchising millions.

Trump’s new order, entitled PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS,  withholds federal funding from any state which does not implement the use of the National Voter Registration Form and mandates proof of citizenship documents, including a birth certificate, naturalization papers, a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or a U.S. Passport.  A 2024 study found one in nine Americans don’t have ready access to those documents, and when they do, the documents often don’t reflect name and address changes over time.

The order also would force states to end mail-in ballot grace periods, restricting ballot deadlines to election day.  It also demands states report illegal voting to the federal government, and directs the Attorney General to withhold federal grants if they don’t.  Such requirements attempt to circumvent state voting rights expansions, such as Michigan’s 2022 passage of Proposition 2.  It allows states access to any federal agency database, including Homeland Security and Social Security, as a means of verifying voter eligibility.

The order will be challenged.  The U.S. Constitution grants the states the power to determine the “Places and Manner of holding Elections”  not the President.   

Find the text of the order at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

The White House – Executive Order:  PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS
U.S. Congress – U.S. Constitution ArtI.S4.C1.2 States and Elections Clause
Campaign Legal Center – Voting Is an American Freedom. The President Can’t Change That

Brookings – The SAVE Act: An attempt to restrict voting rights
U.S. Elections Assistance Commission – The National Mail Voter Registration Form
NPR – Legal challenges are expected for President Trump’s voter registration executive order

Groups Taking Action:

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, League of Women Voters US, National Partnership for New Americans, 

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #DonaldTrump #ExecutiveOrder #NoncitizenVoting #Disenfranchised

The post New Trump Executive Order Attempts to Bypass Congress & States to Require Proof of Citizenship Documents & Mandate Election Deadlines appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 25, 2025

Prior to the  2024 election, President Donald Trump made baseless allegations of widespread noncitizen voting, spurring election officials in Iowa and other states to identify suspected noncitizens on their voter rolls.  It also generated restrictive proof of citizenship legislation in Iowa and 18 other states.

Two weeks before the election, the Iowa Secretary of State directed county election officials to challenge 2,176 registered voters it suspected were noncitizens, and therefore not eligible to vote by state or federal law. Iowa, like Virginia and Alabama, found most of its alleged illegal voters were actually naturalized citizens.  It’s unclear how many were disenfranchised. 

Of the 277 Iowa noncitizens found to be illegally registered, only 35 voted. Illegal to be sure, but only 0.00209% of the over 1.67 million ballots cast.  Eighteen voted in person, 15 by mail, and 2 cast provisional ballots.  Five others had their ballots rejected, and 22 did not vote.  The 277 have been referred to law enforcement, while Senate Bill 550, requiring citizenship documents at registration, advances in the      legislature.

New Hampshire’s new proof of citizenship law is already in effect.  More on how it negatively impacted eligible Granite State voters in a future report.

We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Iowa Secretary of State – Iowa Secretary of State’s audit of voter registration lists finds 277 confirmed noncitizens registered to vote
Iowa Capital Dispatch – Iowa secretary of state says 277 noncitizens confirmed to be on Iowa’s voter rolls
Des Moines Register – After flagging 2,000+ ballots, Iowa secretary of state says 35 noncitizens voted in 2024

Iowa Secretary of State – 2024 General Election Turnout Report
Brennan Center for Justice – Why the Myth of Noncitizen Voting Persists
Voting Rights Lab – The Truth about False Claims of Noncitizen Voting

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU, League of United Latin American Citizens

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Iowa #NoncitizenVoting #VoterPurge 

The post Iowa’s Secretary of State Challenged 2,176 Suspected Noncitizen Voters in 2024.  Only 35 Noncitizens Actually Voted. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 7, 2025

In a brief to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, a bipartisan group of former county election directors urged the court to reject a claim that as many as 65,000 voters were ineligible last November.  And a former state supreme court justice is arguing in another appeals case that gerrymandering by the state legislature is akin to ‘stuffing the ballot box.” 

We’ve followed the claims from state supreme court candidate Jefferson Griffin that as many as 65,000 registered, eligible voters had incomplete registrations in a race he lost by 734 votes to incumbent justice Allison Riggs.  The race is the only unresolved election in the country.   

In late February, a bipartisan group of 42 former county election directors filed a brief outlining why the voters should be considered valid, and concluding:  “The citizens of North Carolina who obeyed the laws and the direction of the elections administrators should not have their votes discarded.” 

In another North Carolina case, former state supreme court justice Bob Orr is arguing in state appeals court that the legislature’s gerrymandered voting districts manipulate election outcomes.  By ‘packing’ voters by party into a district, he argues, it violates the state constitution’s guarantee of free elections with a fair count.  Orr told the Charlotte News & Observer, “If they can’t stuff the ballot box, how can they stuff the voter pool?”

We have more on both cases at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – Appeals Continue in 2024 NC Supreme Court Race Challenge
NC Newsline – NC Supreme Court rejects requests to have GOP Judge Griffin’s case skip appeals court
NC Newsline – (Commentary) Documenting the damage of Judge Jefferson Griffin’s Supreme Court election challenge
North Carolina Court of Appeals – Brief by Bipartisan Group of 42 Former County Election Directors

News & Observer – Bob Orr pushes NC courts to answer an essential question: Do we have a right to fair elections? | Opinion

Groups Taking Action:

Democracy North Carolina, ACLU NC, League of Women Voters NC

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #NorthCarolina #FairMaps #EndGerrymandering

The post North Carolina: Former Election Directors Weigh In On Unresolved Supreme Court Race; Former Justice Argues Partisan Gerrymandering Akin to ‘Stuffing the Ballot Box’ appeared first on American Democracy Minute.