The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 21, 2025

Today’s Script

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

Mississippi has one of the country’s worst records for protecting voting rights and advancing democracy reforms.  So when pro-voter bills emerge from the state house and senate like in-person early voting and the ability to cure a mismatched absentee signature, democracy advocates take notice.

Mississippi is one of only three states without some form of in-person early voting, along with Alabama & New Hampshire. The Mississippi Free Press reports that February 12th, the Mississippi Senate passed SB 2654, allowing 15 days of early voting, ending the Saturday before the election at noon.  The Republican-sponsored bill passed 39 to 12, but even if the House advances it, it may still be vetoed by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, who accused the bill’s sponsor of making the state’s elections less secure.

The Mississippi House also took some positive steps.   HB 1419 prohibits moving or closing a polling place location within 60 days of an election, sometimes used as a voter suppression tactic. 

HB 163 sets rules for absentee ballots where the signature on file doesn’t match the signed outer ballot envelope, and would give a voter the chance to “cure” the problem.    And HB 288 would make each county’s five election commissioners nonpartisan positions.  Candidates would be prohibited from campaigning based on party affiliation.  All three bills now move to the Senate. 

We have the text of the bills and local reporting at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Mississippi Free Press – Mississippi Senate Passes Early Voting, Felony Disenfranchisement Bill
Mississippi Legislature – House Bill 1419
Mississippi Legislature – House Bill 163
Mississippi Legislature – House Bill 288
The Marshall Project – (2024) How Mississippi’s Jim Crow Laws Still Haunt Black Voters Today
Democracy Docket – (2023) Stripping Away The Power of a Vote In Mississippi

Groups Taking Action:

League of Women Voters MS, Disability Rights Mississippi, ACLU Mississippi

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 #Mississippi #DemocracyReform #ProVoter

The post A Glimmer of Hope in Mississippi:  State Senate Advances Early Voting Bill; House Moves Forward Signature Mismatch Curing & Other Bills  appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 20, 2025

Today’s Script

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

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill February 18th which would have restricted how and when mail-in ballots could be returned, and hobbled the state’s long-running permanent vote-by-mail list. Republicans argue it would speed up election results. 

Arizona bipartisanly adopted a no excuse mail-in voting law in 1991, then added a permanent vote-by-mail list in 2007.  An estimated 75% of Arizona voters used mail-in voting in 2022, with few abuses over decades.

Yet HB 2703 would have required voters on the permanent mail-in voting list to confirm their address each election cycle or be dropped. It changed in-person return rules for mail ballots, restricting returns to a county recorder’s office by the Friday before election day, or instead wait in line election day to personally scan the ballot. In 2024, 264,000 Arizonans returned their ballot on election day, according to the Arizona Mirror.

The bill also gave counties the right to commandeer schools for election precincts. We reported last year that some districts declined to use schools as polling locations, fearing armed vigilantes and other political violence on school grounds.

Not to be denied, Arizona House Republicans proposed a constitutional amendment, HCR 2013, using HB 2703’s restrictions.  If passed by the House and Senate, it’s not subject to veto, and would appear on the 2026 state ballot.

We linked Governor Hobb’s veto statement at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Arizona Legislature – HOUSE BILL 2703

Gov. Katie Hobbs – Veto Statement for House Bill 2703
Arizona Mirror – Hobbs vetoes Republican plan to end Election Day ballot drop-offs
Arizona Mirror – (2024)  More than 75% of voters use early ballots. Every AZ House Republican voted to take that away.
American Democracy Minute (2024) Fearing Violence, Schools Opt Out as Polling Places

Groups Taking Action:

Common Cause AZ, Arizona Democracy Resource 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 #ArizonaNews #MailInVoting #VoterSuppression

The post Arizona Governor Vetoes Bill Restricting Mail-In Voting, But House Republicans Attempt to Bypass It With Constitutional Amendment appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 19, 2025

Today’s Script

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

A federal judge sentenced former New Jersey U.S. Senator Bob Menendez January 29th to 11 years in prison for corruption charges and acting as a foreign agent. Menendez, a Democrat, was contrite in the courtroom, but blasted the process as “political,” and “corrupted to the core” in a not-so-subtle appeal to President Donald Trump.

Menendez was convicted July 16th on all federal charges of conspiracy, bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction and acting as a foreign agent in schemes involving an Egyptian-American businessman and a New Jersey developer.   

In exchange for cash, a Mercedes convertible, and gold bars, Menendez used his influence as chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee to procure exclusive import of halal processed meat products into Egypt.  The New Jersey Monitor reports that Menendez then signed off on billions in U.S. military aid to the government of Egypt, despite the country’s deteriorating human rights record.

But times have changed.  February 11th, the U.S. Justice Department ordered the Southern District of New York to drop bribery and corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.  He was accused of taking illegal campaign donations from foreign nationals and businessmen, and doing favors in exchange for luxury travel. The apparent quid pro quo with the Trump administration prompted six SDNY attorneys to resign in protest.

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

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – (2024) ‘This wasn’t politics as usual, this was politics for profit.’  U.S. Senator Robert Menendez Convicted of Bribery & Conspiracy Charges.
U.S. Attorney – Southern District of NY – Former U.S. Senator Robert Menendez Sentenced To 11 Years In Prison For Bribery, Foreign Agent, And Obstruction Offenses
NJ Monitor – Former Sen. Bob Menendez sentenced to 11 years in bribery scheme
U.S. Justice Department – New York City Mayor Eric Adams Charged With Bribery And Campaign Finance Offenses
U.S. Department of Justice  via CNN – Dismissal Without Prejudice of Prosecution of Mayor Eric Adams
NBC News – Federal prosecutors in New York and Washington resign after refusing to drop Adams charges

Groups Taking Action:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW),  Public Citizen,  Brennan Center for Justice

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 #Corruption #QuidProQuo #EricAdams #BobMenendez

The post Just 2 Weeks Before Bribery and Corruption Charges are Dropped Against NYC Mayor Eric Adams, Former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez Gets 11 Years for Similar Charges appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 18, 2025

Today’s Script

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

In September 2024, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced an error in state voter rolls involving 97,000 voters, revolving around a state DMV data error.  That number has risen to nearly 200,000, and an easy fix still hasn’t been found. 

In 1996, Arizona began requiring proof of citizenship when obtaining a driver’s license.  Since 2005, election officials have asked registered voters with licenses issued before 1996 for proof of citizenship.  But if a driver’s license issued before 1996 needed to be replaced, it was accidentally given a new date of issue, and election officials never knew to ask for citizenship documents. 

Votebeat Arizona and the Arizona Mirror report that the investigation is ongoing, but the number affected has now ballooned to 200,000 voters registered, but without proof of citizenship on file. 

The Arizona Supreme Court allowed affected voters to vote in November’s election, but now the legislature is considering an emergency measure, House Bill 2038, directing election officials to contact the voters and request citizenship documents.  If not supplied within 35 days, the voter’s status would change to “not registered”, though voters could reactivate their registration by providing documentation right up to election day.  After the 2026 general election, those voters would be dropped.  

The Secretary of State’s office is reviewing the proposed legislation.  

We have the text of the bill and Votebeat’s reporting linked at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – (2024) State Data Mistake Puts Voting in Local & State Elections at Risk for 97,000 Arizonans
Votebeat Arizona/Arizona Mirror – Arizona officials struggle to straighten out voter rolls after proof-of-citizenship mixup
Votebeat Arizona/Arizona Mirror – Arizona voters caught up in state’s citizenship-proof error could see their registrations canceled

Arizona House of Representatives – HB 2038 – Voter registrants; satisfactory proof of citizenship; delayed repeal

Groups Taking Action:

All Voting is Local Action – Arizona,  League of Women Voters AZ

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 #ArizonaNews #ProofofCitizenship #VoterRegistration

The post Arizona’s DMV Error May Force Nearly 200,000 Already Registered Voters to Bring In Citizenship Documents – or Be Dropped appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 17, 2025

Today’s Script

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

The interim head of CISA, charged with protecting America’s critical cybersecurity infrastructure, including for elections, just issued a memo pausing all election protection operations, pending a review.  Hint:  It’s about countering Trump’s 2020 election claims.

WIRED Magazine reports the interim director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Bridget Bean, ordered a full review of the agency’s election programs since its inception in 2017, including programs countering misinformation and disinformation.  In 2020, this included correcting claims by President Donald Trump that the 2020 Presidential election was somehow rigged to benefit Joe Biden.  Far right Conservatives complained that CISA’s pressuring of social media companies to remove the bogus claims censored free speech.

We reported in July 2023 that under the Biden administration, CISA added staff as liaisons and consultants to state and local election officials.  They advised 8,000 jurisdictions on hardening election systems from very real and ongoing attacks by Russia, China and Iran prior to the 2024 election. February 7th, 17 CISA election staffers were placed on leave, 10 from the state election programs.  

In ordering the review, Bean said CISA would “correct any activities identified as past misconduct by the Federal Government related to censorship of protected speech,” according to WIRED’s reporting.

Vladimir Putin will be glad to hear it.  We’ve linked to the reporting and resources at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – (2023) U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Head Announces Additional Election Security Advisors to Assist States in Securing Elections
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency  – (2024)  2024 Year in Review
Politico – Trump continues federal purge, gutting cyber workers who combat disinformation
Mother Jones – Trump Is Gutting Efforts to Combat Foreign Election Interference
WIRED – Top US Election Security Watchdog Forced to Stop Election Security Work
Cyberscoop – CISA election, disinformation officials placed on administrative leave, sources say

Groups Taking Action:

Common Cause Election Disinformation, Protect Democracy, Election Worker Legal Defense Network,  Center for Internet Security/ISA, IssueOne/Don’t Mess With US.org

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

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 #ProtectElections #CISA #ForeignInterference

The post CISA Pauses All Election Security Programs for Full Review.  Hint:  It’s Not About Election Integrity, It’s Reprisal for Telling the Truth. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.