The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 14, 2023

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Alaska Public Media – Why Alaska uses ranked choice voting and what we know about how it affects elections
Reason Magazine – Don’t Blame Ranked Choice Voting. Sarah Palin Was a Bad Candidate.
InForum – North Dakota Gov. Burgum vetoes bill to ban approval voting
Arizona Mirror – Hobbs vetoes bills to bar ranked-choice voting, criminalize immigrant aid groups

Represent.Us – GOVERNORS FROM BOTH PARTIES VETO RANKED CHOICE VOTING BANS
Heritage Foundation – Ranked-Choice Voting Should Be Ranked Dead Last as an Election Reform

Alaska Beacon – Five takeaway lessons from Alaska’s first ranked choice election
Try Out Ranked Choice Voting – Election: Practice Ranked-Choice Voting: Favorite Alaska Wild Animal

FairVote – What is Ranked Choice Voting (video)

Groups Taking Action:
Fair Vote, Voter Choice Arizona,  League of Women Voters ND, ACLU ND, Save Democracy Arizona

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time) 

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

In January, we reported on the nine states considering Ranked Choice Voting this year.   We DIDN’T anticipate the wave of state bills BANNING the ranked choice voting system.      

The anti-RCV bills follow a Republican loss in Alaska’s “top 4” congressional election last year which successfully employed RCV.  When Democrat Mary Peltola emerged as the winner, former governor Sarah Palin blamed RCV for her loss. 

The Heritage Foundation, already a vocal opponent of RCV and seeing multiple pro-RCV bills proposed in red states, doubled down.  Calling it a “scheme,” “chaotic” and “confusing,” Heritage called for Republican legislators nationwide to oppose RCV.   

Two of those anti-RCV bills were just vetoed by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.  North Dakota’s HB 1273 would forbid North Dakota municipalities from choosing what form of election system to use for LOCAL elections.  Burgum called the bill a “state overreach” on local control.

Arizona’s HB 2552 was similar, outlawing the use Ranked Choice Voting.   Idaho and South Dakota have already passed bans this year, and Texas and Montana are considering them.   North Dakota’s legislature may shortly consider a veto override, and Arizona Republicans are preparing a constitutional amendment to ban RCV to appear on the 2024 ballot.

Meanwhile, 79% of Alaska voters found Ranked Choice Voting easy, and 60% said the election was more competitive – which may explain the rush to ban it.  

We have RCV resources at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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The post Conservative Legislatures Rush to Ban Ranked Choice Voting, Despite Its Popularity with Voters appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 20, 2023

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Idaho Statesman – Idaho lawmakers move forward with bills limiting ways to vote. Students push back
Idaho Legislature – HB 124
Democracy Docket – Idaho Removes Student IDs from List of Acceptable Voter ID
Democracy Docket – March For Our Lives Sues Idaho Over New Voter Suppression Law
County 10 News – Local legislators divided on crossover voting bill, which will become law without the governor’s signature
Wyoming News Exchange – Crossover voting ban on its way to governor
Op-Ed – Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray – Gray: Ending crossover voting a huge success for election integrity in Wyoming
Politico – Open season on open primaries

Groups Taking Action:

March for Our Lives Idaho, Babe Vote, Open Primaries

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)

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

We’ve got updates on bills in Idaho and Wyoming we’ve covered recently, both of which make it harder for certain groups of citizens to vote – and one of which spawned two lawsuits.

We told you earlier about an attempt to remove student IDs as a valid form of identification for elections in Idaho, something happening around the country.  HB 124 was signed March 15 by Gov. Brad Little, and now restricts valid voting ID to a state-issued voting ID card, Idaho driver’s license, federal photo ID, tribal ID, or firearms permit.  

The Idaho Statesman reports that within two days, lawsuits were filed by two voting advocacy groups representing young voters, claiming the bill unconstitutionally discriminated against student voters.   

Two other anti-voter bills are pending in the Idaho legislature, including HB 126, limiting the acceptable documents when registering to vote, affecting poor and tribal voters, and HB 137, which blocks the use of a sworn affidavit when the voter doesn’t have an ID.  State data shows 2,400 voters used an affidavit in 2022.    

Meanwhile in Wyoming, a bill restricting primary “crossover voting” on which we recently reported has passed the legislature, and will become law without Governor Mark Gordon’s signature.  HB 103 requires voters changing party affiliation to do so at the candidate filing deadline – realistically BEFORE the public actually knows who is officially running.  

We have articles & groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Remember to Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 

The post New Laws in Idaho & Wyoming Target Student Voters, Primary ‘Crossover’ Voters appeared first on American Democracy Minute.