The American Democracy Minute Radio Report for Sept. 23, 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.

Against the recommendations of state and county election officials, three Trump loyalists serving on the Georgia State Election Board voted Friday to mandate county election officials to do a hand count reconciliation of machine counted ballots.  The move may unnecessarily delay results and require more personnel. 

The state’s top election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensburger, spoke against this and other conspiracy theory-driven proposals back in August, calling them “misguided”.  The Georgia Recorder reports that the president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials testified that there wasn’t enough time to train local poll workers prior to the Nov. 5th election.   

The requirement approved 3 to 2 Friday does not mandate a hand count of the races.  Instead, it requires a hand count of paper ballots into stacks of 50 to compare with the machine count totals.   Machine-counted ballots are consistently more accurate, faster, require fewer poll workers, and are less expensive.

More last minute election rule changes are expected on Sept. 23rd when the State Election Board meets again.   In response to Governor Brian Kemp’s inquiry as to whether he could take action against the three partisan actors on the board, State Attorney General Chris Carr advised Kemp Sept. 6th that he had no obligation to act on ethics complaints filed against the three board members. 

We’ve linked to the new rule, and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Georgia State Election Board – Revisions to Subject 183-1-12-.12 Tabulating Results
Georgia Recorder – Georgia board’s Trump loyalists OK rule to require ballot hand counts despite warnings by state AG

SOS Brad Raffensperger – Raffensperger Defends Georgia’s Election Integrity Act from Last Minute Changes Delaying Election Results
Associated Press – Raffensperger blasts proposed rule requiring hand count of ballots at Georgia polling places
Georgia Secretary of State – Rules under consideration by the Georgia State Election Board

Brennan Center for Justice – Comment to the Georgia State Election Board: Reject new hand counting procedures despite amendments.

CNN – Gov. Brian Kemp doesn’t need to investigate Georgia election board members who pushed new rule changes, state AG finds
Groups Taking Action:

Fair Fight Action, Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW), ACLU GA,  Common Cause GA

Check Your Voter Registration:

• Vote.Gov – Register to Vote in Your State
• Vote.Org – Check Your Registration to Vote
  
  

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Georgia #ElectionBoard #HandCounting

The post Georgia State Board of Elections Passes Hand Count Reconciliation Rule Against Recommendations of SOS and County Election Officials appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Aug. 28, 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.

We have updates on two state stories today.  New reporting suggests Georgia officials may seek to remove State Election Board members for recent fringe rule changes.   And the Texas attorney general is under scrutiny for raids on the homes of pro-democracy LatinX activists.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Governor Brian Kemp asked the state’s attorney general for guidance on removing members of the State Election Board, a majority of whom approved new rules allowing county election board members to do their own investigations before certifying elections.  The move was widely seen as a precursor to obstructing the 2024 election results.  The Georgia Democratic Party also filed suit to dispute that decision and other changes they said were “not just unethical, but illegal.”  

The Texas Tribune reports that at least six raids on the homes of a Texas House candidate and voting advocates from the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, have LatinX civil rights organizations calling for a federal investigation.  What Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office says is the result of a two-year “election fraud” and “vote harvesting” investigation, LULAC’s Texas State Director Gabriel Rosales said was intended to, QUOTE “suppress the Latino vote through intimidation and any means necessary to tilt the electoral process in favor of his political allies.”

We’ll be following both of these stories.   We’ve linked detailed local reporting at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Georgia Secretary of State – Raffensperger Defends Georgia’s Election Integrity Act from Last Minute Changes Delaying Election Results

ProPublica – Officials Voted Down a Controversial Georgia Election Rule, Saying It Violated the Law. Then a Similar Version Passed.

Georgia Recorder – Critics charge GOP Georgia election board members violated state laws in rushed meeting
Georgia Recorder – Congresswoman Lucy McBath, other Dems call for removal of Trump loyalists on Georgia Election Board
Texas Attorney General – Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Paxton’s Crim­i­nal Inves­ti­ga­tion Divi­sion Exe­cutes Search War­rants in Frio, Atas­cosa, and Bexar Coun­ties in Ongo­ing Elec­tion Integri­ty Investigation
CBS News – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton raids Latino Democrats’ homes, including those of LULAC members

Texas Tribune – LULAC condemns Paxton’s election fraud raids as “intimidation”

Texas Tribune – Texas Latino leaders label voter fraud investigation “nonsense,” call for federal, state reviews

Texas Tribune – A Fox News host’s debunked election conspiracy appears to have prompted a state investigation

Groups Taking Action:
League of United Latin American Citizens, Fair Fight

Check Your Voter Registration

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
• USA Vote Foundation – Registration, Eligibility, State Election Office Links
• Vote.Gov – Register to Vote in Your State
• Vote.Org – Check Your Registration to Vote
  
  

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #GeorgiaNews #TexasNews #VoterSuppression 

The post Fallout from Georgia State Election Board Decisions; Accusations that Texas AG Paxton’s Raids of LatinX Democracy Activists Were ‘Intimidation’ Tactic appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 7, 2023

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.

October 26th, a federal circuit court judge ordered Georgia’s redistricting maps to be redrawn to include majority-minority “opportunity districts” for Congress, state senate and state house.  Legislators appear to be manipulating the new maps, too.

Judge Steven Jones ordered one additional Congressional district be added to allow a realistic chance of minority voters electing the candidates of their choice under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Section 2.  He also required two additional opportunity state Senate districts and five additional state House districts.  

The new maps include those districts, but while it included a new majority-minority Congressional district, the legislature dismembered another majority Black district served by Black Congresswoman Lucy McBath.   A letter from the Georgia ACLU and other plaintiffs said:  “In sum: the Committee Plan operates a shell game, in which Black voters in the vote dilution area identified by the Court gain no new opportunities, and districts that the Court specifically struck down remain intact.”  

Democracy Docket reports that December 4th, the Georgia Senate approved the still-gerrymandered maps.  The new maps must be adopted by the legislature, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, and submitted to the courts for review by December 8th.  Whether Black Georgians get a fair shake is still up in the air.

We have more on Georgia’s gerrymandered maps and the groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Princeton Gerrymandering Project – Pre-Court Order Maps
Georgia Recorder – Federal judge strikes down Georgia’s political maps, sending lawmakers back to the drawing board
Associated Press – As Georgia looks to court-ordered redistricting, not only Republicans are in peril
Democracy Docket – Georgia Legislature Releases New, Still Gerrymandered Maps

ACLU/ACLU Georgia – Plaintiffs in Georgia Redistricting Lawsuit Offer Remedial State Legislative Maps
ACLU/ACLU Georgia – Letter to Legislators, RE:  Remedial State Legislative Map Proposals
Democracy Docket – Gerrymandered Maps Move Through Georgia Legislature

Groups Taking Action:
Alpha Phi Alpha , ACLU Georgia, Fair Districts Georgia

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FairMapsGeorgia #FairMaps #EndGerrymandering

The post After a Federal Court Mandate, Georgia Lawmakers Add Majority-Minority Districts – But Still Gerrymander the Maps appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 28, 2023

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.

Today we’re in Georgia, where almost 200,000 people who haven’t moved, aren’t felons, and whose voter eligibility hasn’t changed, may lose their voter registration prior to the 2024 Presidential election.  The reason?  They haven’t voted recently.

Removing voters who have moved or died is a routine election office function.   But under Georgia’s “use it or lose it” law, the state also takes steps when a voter hasn’t updated a registration, voted, signed a petition or responded to a mailing in five years. 

Around the U.S., 20 states have such rules, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, varying from cancellation after 8 years of inactivity, to Wyoming, which immediately cancels your voter registration if you don’t vote in a general election.  Ouch.

In 2017, then Secretary of State Brian Kemp purged 560,000 inactive Georgia voters – in one day.  Another 287,000 were removed in 2019.  Analysis by American Public Media and the Atlanta Journal Constitution later found that 56,000 re-registered for the 2018 election, but an estimated 107,000 would have otherwise been eligible to vote.  They hadn’t moved or changed their status. 

The timing of notifications and purges in Georgia is one factor which morphs routine list maintenance into voter suppression.  We’ll have more on this in our next report.

We have tools to check your voter registration status at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Capitol Beat News Service – Nearly 200,000 ‘inactive’ Georgia voters to be dropped from rolls
NewsOne – Georgia ‘Voter Suppression’ Alleged Over Plans To Drop Nearly 200K Registered Names From Rolls
National Conference of State Legislatures – State Policies for Cancelling Inactive Voter Registrations
American Public Media Reports – (2019)  After the Purge:  How a massive voter purge in Georgia affected the 2018 election
Atlanta Journal Constitution – (2020)  Many eligible Georgia voters were canceled in nation’s largest purge
Brennan Center for Justice – (2018) Purges: A Growing Threat to the Right to Vote

National Association of Secretaries of State:   Check Your Voter Registration Status

Groups Taking Action:
Fair Fight Action, New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter Fund, ACLU GA, Common Cause GA, League of Women Voters GA

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRights #VoterSuppression

The post Georgia Prepares to Purge Almost 200,000 Voters from the Voter List, Applying “Use it or Lose it” Rules; 20 Other States Have Similar Laws appeared first on American Democracy Minute.