The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 21, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

A 2020 Alaska ballot initiative took steps to shine a light on dark money campaign funding. The U.S. Supreme Court just turned down a challenge to that law, and it may be good news for an expected case in Maine.

Alaska voters approved Ballot Measure 2 in 2020, which in addition to implementing open primaries and ranked choice voting, also took steps to disclose dark money funding of campaigns and ballot measures.

It requires candidates and ballot measure organizers to disclose the “true source” of funding for any contribution over $2,000 within 24 hours, limiting the ability of donors using 501c nonprofits and other entities to hide their identities.  For any group whose funding is 50% from out of state, a disclaimer must be added for all communications, including advertising. 

Claiming a violation of First Amendment rights, several groups and contributors sued, but November 18th, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down the case without comment. Great news for voters, and it also could bode well for Maine’s recently passed Question 1, limiting contributions to SuperPACs to $5,000 and requiring disclosure of those donations.  Organizers of that initiative expect it will be challenged, and think the U.S. Supreme Court majority could uphold a state’s power to regulate campaign finance contributions.

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

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Alaskans for Better Elections – Greater Transparency in Campaign Financing
BallotPedia – Alaska Ballot Measure 2, Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting and Campaign Finance Laws Initiative (2020)
U.S. Supreme Court – Appeal Request

Alaska Beacon – U.S. Supreme Court may consider Alaska’s ‘dark money’ disclosure rules
Anchorage Daily News – US Supreme Court rejects challenge to Alaska campaign disclosure rules approved by voters in 2020
Associated Press – A voter-approved Maine limit on PAC contributions sets the stage for a legal challenge

Groups Taking Action:

Alaskans for Better Elections, Maine Citizens to End SuperPACs

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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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 #Alaska #Maine #Dark Money #EndCitizensUnited #SCOTUS

The post SCOTUS Turns Down Case Challenging Alaska’s Dark Money Disclosure Law. Great News for Voters and a Possibly a Future Case in Maine. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 20, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Four Democrat-led counties defied a Pennsylvania state law and counted undated mail-in ballots, a controversy under litigation for years.  At immediate issue is the outcome of the Commonwealth’s U.S. Senate race.

Recounts began November 18th in the Senator Bob Casey – David McCormick race, with McCormick holding on to a 17,000 vote lead – less than half a percent.    

Pennsylvania’s election law does not allow otherwise eligible ballots which are missing a date on the envelope to be counted, an error which disenfranchised as many as 10,000 voters in the 2022 midterms.  

October 5th, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected a case challenging the rule, saying it was too close to the election, so most Pennsylvania counties did NOT count undated ballots.  But in Bucks, Centre, and Philadelphia counties, Democrat-majority county election boards did count the ballots, citing that the date was immaterial to the intent of the voter.  As an automatic recount began November 18th, the commonwealth’s highest court affirmed that those ballots could NOT be counted.

Ironically, while McCormick fought to keep undated ballots from being counted in 2024, a WHYY report points out that he sued to COUNT undated ballots in his failed 2022 U.S. Senate Primary – a race decided by only 972 votes.

We have great local reporting and the groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – The ACLU Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Rule on Undated Pennsylvania Mail-in Ballots Case
Pennsylvania Supreme Court (via Democracy Docket – Nov. 18th Order
Democracy Docket – Pennsylvania Supreme Court Reaffirms Mail-in Ballots With Date Issues Won’t Count
Spotlight PA/Votebeat – Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race is getting a recount. Here’s how it will work.
WHYY – Pa. Senate race goes into recount as Republicans file lawsuits over mail-in ballots
WHYY/AP – (2022) McCormick sues over counting mail ballots in Pa. Senate race
The Keystone – (2022) Judge Sides With McCormick Campaign’s Request to Count Mail-In Ballots

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU, NAACP PA , League of Women Voters PA, Black Political Empowerment Project 

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

Please follow us on Facebook and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Pennsylvania #SenateRace #UndatedBallots #Disenfranchised

The post After Years of Litigation, Undated Ballot Envelopes are Again at Issue in Pennsylvania’s 2024 Election – and Thousands Likely Disenfranchised appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 19, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

The 2020 redistricting cycle featured several examples of egregious, racist gerrymandering to dilute Black voting power in the South, but also Native American voters in the West.  A 2022 Louisiana case is apparently the vehicle chosen by anti-voter states to strike down what’s left of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Louisiana’s population is 33% Black and should have two majority minority Congressional voting districts under the VRA.  Instead, the state legislature manipulated the maps to dilute Black voting power. Voters challenged the map in March 2022, and after appeals, Gov. Jeff Landry signed off on maps with a second majority-Black district in January 2024.

In May 2024, Justice Samuel Alito granted a stay, keeping the maps from being used in November, pending an appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court. The White plaintiffs argue that the majority Black voting districts violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.  In September, 13 attorneys general from southern and western states joined an amicus brief, arguing the VRA had outlived its usefulness, and “clarity” was needed from the high court.

Expect to hear more about the case, now called Robinson v. Callais, in the months to come. It could spell the end of the Voting Rights Act as we know it.

We have links to documents for this important case at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
U.S. Supreme Court – Application for Stay in  Robinson v. Callais
SCOTUS Blog – Timeline and Documents for Robinson v. Callais
U.S. Supreme Court – Amicus brief by 13 State Attorneys General in Robinson v. Callais

U.S. District Court – GALMON PLAINTIFFS’ REPLY IN SUPPORT OF THEIR MOTION TO
RECONSIDER DISMISSAL RULING AND TO SCHEDULE REMEDIAL
PROCEEDINGS
Democracy Docket – Louisiana Congressional Redistricting Challenge (Robinson)

U.S. Justice Department –  Jurisdictions Previously Covered By Section 5 Preclearance Requirements

Groups Taking Action:

NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ACLU Louisiana,  Power Coalition for Equity and Justice

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

Please follow us on Facebook and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Louisiana #Gerrymandering #BlackVotingPower #SCOTUS

The post Anti-Voter States Line Up for Showdown on 1965 Voting Rights Act at the U.S. Supreme Court appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 18, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

President Donald Trump was not a fan of crypto currency.  That is, until crypto magnates started pouring money into SuperPACs supporting his candidacy and select Congressional candidates to the tune of $133 million dollars.

Trump said on Twitter in 2019.  “I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity,” he wrote.

In May, Trump’s campaign became the first to accept Bitcoin contributions, reporting $7.5 Million in crypto currency donations.  Money in politics tracking organization Open Secrets reports that three SuperPACs, Fairshake, Protect Progress, and Defend American Jobs, were funded primarily by crypto companies and entrepreneurs.  As of October’s filings, they had spent over $133 Million dollars to support Trump, and for and against Senate candidates, including $40 million supporting Republican Bernie Moreno against Democrat Sherrod Brown in Ohio.   Half of Fairshake’s contributions came from just two crypto companies, CoinBase and Ripple, totaling over $107 Million dollars.   

Trump has now changed his tune.  Speaking to a Bitcoin conference in July, Trump promised, “From now on, rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry.”   

We have links to Open Secrets’ data and more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Donald Trump – (2019) Cryptocurrency comment on X/Twitter
CNBC – Trump PAC has raised about $7.5 million in crypto donations since early June
NBC News – Here’s what Trump promised the crypto industry ahead of the election
Open Secrets – Pro-crypto super PACs pouring tens of millions into 2024 elections

Open Secrets – The crypto trio: How the cryptocurrency industry has made its mark on 2024 elections

Public Citizen – (Aug. 2024) Big Crypto, Big Spending: Crypto Corporations Spend an Unprecedented $119 Million Influencing Elections
CNN – The crypto industry plowed tens of millions into the election. Now, it’s looking for a return on that investment

Groups Taking Action:
Public Citizen, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), End Citizens United

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

Please follow us on Facebook and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #MoneyinPolitics #BigMoneyCorruption #Crypto #Bitcoin #SuperPACs

The post Colossal Crypto Contributions Change Trump’s Mind, Likely Leading to Friendly Regulation – Or None at All appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 15, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Cleta Mitchell, a 2020 Trump election lawyer who later pushed so-called ‘election integrity’ laws in states around the U.S., is calling for all U.S. Department of Justice voting rights and civil rights lawyers to be fired. 

Mitchell served in Trump’s team of lawyers trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 election.  Since then, her Election Integrity Network group helped state legislatures make it harder to vote by mail and to register and vote on election day.  She also called for states to leave the ERIC, the interstate Electronic Registration Information Center, because of a conspiracy theory that it was run by George Soros.  And most recently, she championed Trump’s debunked claims of widespread voting by undocumented immigrants.

November 13th, the same day Rep. Matt Gaetz was nominated for U.S. Attorney General by President-elect Trump, Mitchell wrote in a social media post, QUOTE, “Every lawyer in the Voting Section and likely in the Civil Rights Division needs to be terminated.   They are not supportive of Pres Trump or MAGA.  There has to be a reckoning.  These are leftwing activists who have come from and should return to their leftwing organizations. UNQUOTE

It’s unclear whether Mitchell’s influence is enough to dismantle the DOJ’s Voting Rights and Civil Rights units, but it’s indicative of the voting rights challenges ahead.

We have more on Mitchell and her so-called ‘election integrity’ projects at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Cleta Mitchell on X – “Every lawyer in the Voting Section and likely in the Civil Rights Division needs to be terminated.”

Mitchell’s Only Citizens Vote Coalition – No country can survive that allows guests and illegals
Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network – Election Integrity Network website
The New Republic – The Shadowy Right-Wing Group That’s Suppressing the 2024 Vote
The Guardian – She was a firebrand Democrat. Now, Cleta Mitchell is a rising star of Republican election denialism
The Hill – (2023) The 39 people the Georgia special grand jury recommended charges against
Free Speech for People – Letter to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Regarding Cleta Mitchell

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

Please follow us on Facebook and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #USDOJ #CletaMitchell #BigLie

The post Trump ‘Election Integrity’ Lawyer Cleta Mitchell Calls for the Firing of All DOJ Voting & Civil Rights Lawyers appeared first on American Democracy Minute.