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

Today’s Script

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

Native American voters prevailed in federal court against the State of North Dakota, protecting the ability to elect the candidate of their choice.  The state has a history of diluting Native voting power.

January 13th, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a redistricting case we covered back in May 2024, affirming a North Dakota Federal Appeals Court decision.  The appeals court had dismissed a state house district challenge by two non-native residents, who claimed their rights were infringed.

The case dates back to 2021, when the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara nations, also known as the MHA Nation, negotiated with the State to protect Native voting power under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Section 2.  After an agreement, State GOP officials later shamefully reversed positions in 2022, embracing a new GOP tactic which argues such majority-minority districts are a violation of the Equal Protection Clause under the U.S. Constitution.  The same argument has been made in Robinson v. Callais over Louisiana’s now two majority-minority districts. 

The MHA Nation decision protects North Dakota State House District 4A and three other districts –  great news for Native voters. But the Louisiana case is expected to be heard in the high court early in 2025, and the conservative justices seem to have made it their mission to dismantle the VRA.   

We have links to the history of the case at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
North Dakota Legislature – District 4

North Dakota Monitor – North Dakota changes course on tribal redistricting case, asks US Supreme Court to rule

North Dakota Monitor – Supreme Court upholds North Dakota’s majority-Native legislative subdistricts
Campaign Legal Center – Supreme Court Upholds Fair Map for Native Voters in North Dakota
Native American Rights Fund – North Dakota Native voting rights upheld by Supreme Court

U.S. District Court for North Dakota – (2023 – Via Democracy Docket) District Court Decision

Groups Taking Action:

Native American Rights Fund, Campaign Legal Center, Election Law Group , ACLU North Dakota

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 #NativeVote #VotingRightsAct #VRA #FreedomtoVote

The post ND Native American Nation Prevails in Protecting Majority-Minority Voting Districts.  A Victory for Minority Voters, But GOP Efforts to Neutralize the VRA Continue appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

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

Today’s Script

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

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a racially gerrymandered South Carolina Congressional district and made future racial gerrymandering cases more difficult.  July 29th, pro-voter groups filed a state suit, claiming the gerrymander violated the state constitutional provision to an “equal right to elect officers.”  

In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that partisan gerrymandering was a matter for states to decide, but racial gerrymandering could still be challenged under the Voting Rights Act.  The South Carolina NAACP sued when 30,000 Black voters were moved to a more White district, diluting their voting power and creating a White Republican majority district.   

The South Carolina legislature claimed it did so for partisan, not racial, reasons. The U.S. Supreme Court not only allowed the racially gerrymandered district, but raised the bar for proving future racial gerrymandering cases.  The NAACP withdrew further challenges on July 26th.   

July 29th, the ACLU and the League of Women Voters asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to rule on the state constitutionality of the same Congressional District, citing Article 1, Section 5.   Lynn Teague of the South Carolina League of Women Voters said in a statement, “South Carolina’s Constitution protects its citizens’ right to exercise equal influence over our elections.  We are asking the court to establish redistricting standards consistent with our Constitution.”

We have a link to the case at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
U.S. Supreme Court – Opinion & Dissent in Alexander v. South Carolina Conference of the NAACP

American Democracy Minute – U.S. Supreme Court Finds South Carolina Gerrymandering Case ‘Bleaching’ Congressional District Not Racially Motivated
Democracy Docket – Nearly Three-Year Legal Battle Over South Carolina’s Congressional Map Comes to an End, Unfair Districts Remain in Place
ACLU & League of Women Voters SC – ACLU and LWV File Lawsuit Against Partisan Gerrymandering of South Carolina’s Congressional Districts

ACLU & League of Women Voters SC  –  Complaint for League of Women Voters of South Carolina v. Thomas Alexander
Justia Law – South Carolina Constitution Article 1, Section 5

Groups Taking Action:
South Carolina Conference of the NAACP, ACLU South Carolina, League of Women Voters SC

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

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter 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 #SouthCarolinaNews #FairMaps #VotingRights

The post The End of One South Carolina Gerrymandering Lawsuit and the Beginning of Another, as the Fight for Fair Maps Continues appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 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.

A Washington State fight over Latino voting rights may still not be over, but March 15th, a federal judge approved new state house and senate maps for central Washington State.  The previous Washington State Redistricting Commission maps were thrown out as diluting Latino voting power.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik chose a map submitted by the plaintiffs which he said QUOTE  “… provides Latino voters with an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to the state legislature.”    Remedial Map 3 stretches from the town of Pasco in Franklin County to the East Yakima area of Yakima County, which the judge noted would meet the requirements of the Voting Rights Act.

The opportunity district was also made an even-numbered district, which under Washington’s staggered election system means candidates there would face election during higher turnout Presidential election years. 

Five Republican legislators elected under the former maps, find themselves in different districts, and are crying foul.  The Washington State Standard quotes the GOP’s Senate Minority Leader John Braun as saying, “This is an unjust outcome,” and he claims that the decision was about electing more Democrats.   An attorney for the Campaign Legal Center said, “This map gives the Yakima Valley Latino community at long last the opportunity to have a fair shot at electing the candidate of their choice.”

 Republicans have already appealed to the federal Ninth District Circuit Court.

We have links to more reporting on Washington’s new maps, the groups taking action, and a sign-up to receive free daily updates by email, at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
U.S. District Court, Western District of WA via Democracy Docket – Order in Palmer v. Hobbs
Washington State Standard – Federal judge sets new boundaries for Yakima Valley legislative district
Washington State Standard – Redistricting ruling stirs partisan uproar
Oregon Public Broadcasting/Northwest News Network – Judge approves Washington’s new legislative district maps after court battle over Latino voting rights

Groups Taking Action:
Campaign Legal Center, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), UCLA Voting Rights Project

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter 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 #FairMaps #EndGerrymandering #LatinoVoters

The post Federal Court Releases Redistricting New WA Maps After Striking Down Districts Diluting Latino Voting Power appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 29, 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.

Opinions in two North Carolina cases offer both good democracy news and bad.   A sweeping voter suppression bill was temporarily blocked, but a gerrymandered state senate map diluting Black voting power was upheld.

Sweeping voter suppression bill HB 747 shortens the number of days when mail-in ballots can be received, limits notifications to a voter before removal from the voter rolls, allows poll observers to take pictures of voters in the polling place, and loosens restrictions on who can “challenge” another voter’s ballot, among many voter suppression tactics.  Democracy Docket reports there are three lawsuits challenging different provisions of the bill.

A provision targeting voters who register and vote on election day, used more by mobile, housing-insecure voters of color and younger voters, does not give those voters the chance to “cure” a registration or ballot issue, resulting in their ballots being thrown out.   The temporary injunction stops rejection of those ballots during the state’s March 5th Presidential primary.

In another federal court, democracy groups challenged the North Carolina legislature’s latest GOP state senate redistricting map as diluting Black voting power in five northeast counties.  Gov. Roy Cooper had vetoed the map, but was overridden.  The judge found there wasn’t sufficient evidence that Black voters met the criteria for a majority-minority district.    

We have more on the cases and the groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
American Democracy Minute – North Carolina Legislature Overrides Governor’s Vetoes of Voter Suppression and State Election Board Bills
North Carolina Newsline – Federal judge blocks part of Republicans’ new election law
Democracy Docket – Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Provision of North Carolina Voter Suppression Law

U.S. District Court – NC Middle Division – VOTO LATINO v. HIRSCH

North Carolina Newsline – Federal judge denies Black voters’ request to throw out new Senate districts in northeastern NC
Democracy Docket – Federal Judge Declines to Block New North Carolina Senate Map for 2024 Elections

U.S. District Court – Eastern District – Pierce v. North Carolina Board of Elections

Groups Taking Action:
Voto Latino, Down Home North Carolina, North Carolina Black Alliance, Democracy North Carolina, North Carolina Voter, ACLU North Carolina

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter 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 #VoterSuppression #HB747 #FairMaps #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct #NorthCarolinaPolitics

The post Mixed News for North Carolina Voters, as Federal Courts Temporarily Block Voter Suppression Bill but Uphold Racially Gerrymandered Maps appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 19, 2023

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time) 

Today’s Links now below the script

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

Democracy advocates in Alabama are incredulous after an Alabama state legislative committee passed a new Congressional voting district map on Monday which again proposed only one majority Black district.  

The Alabama Reflector reports that the state reapportionment committee approved the map without a previous hearing, and without transparency on the factors used to create it.  June 8th, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Alabama legislature’s earlier map as violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.  Alabama’s population is 25.9% African American, yet only one in seven of Alabama’s Congressional districts is majority Black.  

The new map includes one district which is 51.6% Black, and another which is 42.5%, which the majority White committee called an “opportunity” district.  A map submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court during the Milligan case had two majority Black districts, as did several of the 80 publicly-submitted maps. 

Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the National Redistricting Foundation said in a statement, “The Alabama legislative Republicans have a choice to either continue with this atrocious pattern of voter disenfranchisement and to be challenged in court, or finally pass a map that appropriately reflects the state’s voters.”  

The map will now be considered by Alabama House and Senate Committees, and will likely face further litigation if approved.

We have links to articles and analysis at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

U.S. Supreme Court – Allen v. Milligan Decision

Democracy Docket – U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Alabama Congressional Map, Upholds Voting Rights Act

Alabama Reflector – Proposed Alabama congressional map would only have one majority-Black district

Axios – New Alabama congressional map plan already under fire

Forbes – Alabama GOP Passes New Congressional Map With Just 1 Black-Majority District, Not 2—Despite Supreme Court Ruling

Groups Taking Action:

National Redistricting Foundation, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ACLU Alabama

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FairMaps #AllenvMilligan

The post Alabama Redistricting Committee Defies SCOTUS Milligan Decision, Again Proposing Only One Majority Black Congressional District appeared first on American Democracy Minute.