The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 22, 2025

Today’s Script

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

We recently reported on presidential orders, including executive orders, and how they’re used.  Executive orders can also be used to revoke previous orders, and among President Donald Trump’s day-one orders was removing a policy of the federal government to promote access to voting.

Trump’s executive order, entitled “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” terminated 78 of President Joe Biden’s orders, including Order 14019 from March 7, 2021, setting a policy for the federal government to promote access to voting.

Biden’s order, as noted on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission website, QUOTE “Directed all federal agencies to ‘consider ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.”   This included ensuring equal access for voters with disabilities and non English-speaking Americans.  It ensured voting opportunities for active duty military and overseas citizens, and established a federal ballot tracking system to assist those voters.   

It created a federal working group to protect voting access for Native American voters, and it allowed time off for federal employees to vote and to serve as poll workers.   Importantly, it supported modernization of the Vote.gov website.   Although not included in day-one orders, Trump has also pledged to limit voting to election day only.  

We have more on Trump’s day-one executive orders at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
The White House – INITIAL RESCISSIONS OF HARMFUL EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND ACTIONS, Jan. 20, 2025
Federal Register – (2021)  Executive Order 14019 of March 7, 2021

NPR – (2024) Republicans are turning Biden’s voter registration order into a partisan flash point

VOX – The Trump executive orders that threaten democracy
Washington Post – (Paywall likely) Here are the executive actions and orders Trump signed on Day 1

Groups Taking Action:

Native American Rights Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, League of Women Voters US

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ExecutiveOrders #VoterRegistration #NativeVote

The post Executive Orders Can Also Terminate Previous Orders; One of Trump’s Day-1 Orders Ended a Federal Policy to Promote Voting appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 13, 2025

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.

U.S. House and Senate Republicans reintroduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE Act, mandating proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and requiring only certain types of ID be used.  Millions of American citizens could have trouble voting.

The spectre of noncitizen voting was a prominent rallying cry in Donald Trump’s 2024 Presidential campaign, despite no evidence of widespread illegal voting by noncitizens or any other group.  

A citizenship requirement to vote is already specified in the 15th and 19th amendments, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.   The U.S. Code Title 18 makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, subject to fines or imprisonment.

The SAVE Act mandates in-person registration with only certain types of ID and proof of citizenship. Only a Real ID-compliant driver’s license, Military ID, U.S. Passport, birth certificate or naturalization papers could be used to register and vote in federal elections, including mail-in voting. A 2024 Brennan Center for Justice study found that 9% of Americans don’t have ready access to citizenship documents – California wildfire victims for instance.  Voting could also be more difficult for the poor, young voters and college students, the elderly, and the disabled.

The SAVE Act previously died in the Senate, but with slim GOP majorities in both houses and Trump’s backing, its passage is possible.

Find more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy – Rep. Roy reintroduces bill to protect the integrity and sanctity of American elections
National Association of Counties – (2024) Congress again looks to consider the SAVE Act: What this bill could mean for counties
Democracy Docket – New Congress Takes Office Tomorrow — What This Means for Voting Rights
Brennan Center for Justice – (2024) Millions of Americans Don’t Have Documents Proving Their Citizenship Readily Available
League of Women Voters US – LWVUS joins a letter in opposition to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act

Groups Taking Action:
League of Women Voters US, Declaration for American Democracy, ACLU, Bipartisan Policy Center

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #SAVEAct #VoterSuppression #VoterID

The post SAVE Act Reintroduced in U.S. House and Senate, Requiring IDs and Proof of Citizenship for In-Person and Mail-In Voting. Millions of Eligible Voters Could Be Disenfranchised. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 14, 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.

In a case likely destined for the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal appeals court struck down a Mississippi law allowing receipt and counting of mail-in ballots up to five days after election day. Pro-voter groups are fighting back.

A three-judge appeals panel in the notoriously conservative 5th Circuit federal court ruled Oct. 25th that federal law does not allow any state to extend the receipt of ballots after election day, including in-state ballots or the UOCAVA mail ballots used for overseas military and diplomatic personnel.  The panel allowed counting those ballots for the 2024 election, but sent the case back to a lower court.

Despite 20 states offering a grace period of varying lengths, U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham wrote, “Federal law does not permit the state of Mississippi to extend the period for voting by one day, five days, or 100 days.”  

Pro-voter groups asked November 8th for a reconsideration in front of ALL 5th Circuit judges, but the case is likely to ultimately be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.  For now, the ruling applies only to the 5th Circuit states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.  But an adverse ruling by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority – which often throws precedent out the window – could impact millions of voters at home and abroad who depend on mail ballots.

We have links to the case documents and other reporting at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

National Conference of State Legislators – Receipt and Postmark Deadlines for Absentee/Mail Ballots
NPR – Appeals court sides with GOP on Miss. law that provides grace period for mail ballots
Reuters – US appeals court says counting ballots received after Election Day is illegal
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (via Democracy Docket) –  PETITION OF INTERVENOR DEFENDANTS – APPELLEES VET VOICE FOUNDATION AND THE MISSISSIPPI ALLIANCE FOR RETIRED AMERICANS FOR REHEARING EN BANC

Groups Taking Action:

Vet Voice Foundation, Mississippi Alliance for Retired Americans

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Mississippi #5thCircuit #VotebyMail #SCOTUS

The post Fringe Federal Court Ruling Invalidating the Counting of Mail-In Ballots in Mississippi After Election Day is Challenged by Pro-Voter Groups appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 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.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a law in March prohibiting voters from receiving assistance in filling out or delivering their absentee ballots.  October 11th, a federal appeals court upheld a stay of that law for at least the 2024 election.

Sept. 24th, Chief U.S. District Court Judge R. David Proctor stayed portions of Senate Bill 1.  Proctor wrote in his opinion that the NAACP demonstrated that the law interferes with blind, disabled or illiterate voters from choosing who may assist them in the voting process, as allowed in Section 208 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 

SB1 only allowed close family members or cohabitants to assist a voter in request ing, filling out, or returning an absentee ballot, and stopped the get-out-the-vote work of democracy and civil rights groups.

Section 208 states: “Any voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of

blindness, disability, or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter’s choice, other than the voter’s employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voter’s union.”

The decision is in effect for the 2024 election.  

Pro-voter groups had also argued the law’s vague language violated freedoms of speech and association, and interfered with the 14th Amendment’s due process protections.   Judge Proctor rejected those claims.

We’ve linked the decision at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama (via Democracy Docket) – Opinion and Order Alabama State Conference of the NAACP v. Marshall

American Democracy Minute – Alabama Legislature Poised to Add More Barriers to Absentee Voting, Claiming ‘Ballot Harvesting’, Despite No Evidence

Alabama Political Reporter – 11th Circuit rejects stay in key Alabama absentee voting law, protects vulnerable voters
Alabama Reflector – Federal appeals court won’t block decision limiting Alabama absentee ballot law

Groups Taking Action:
Alabama NAACP, League of Women Voters AL, Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, Greater Birmingham Ministries

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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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRightsAct #Alabama #DisabilityVote

The post Disabled Alabama Voters Get Win as Federal Appeals Court Upholds Stays on Law Prohibiting Assistance with Absentee Ballots appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 25, 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.

Two significant wins for Ohio voters, with signatures certified for a citizen-led redistricting commission ballot measure, and a federal court ruling striking down a portion of a state voter suppression law.

Ohio Capital Journal reports that the Citizens Not Politicians redistricting ballot measure had 535,000 of their signatures from 58 counties certified July 23rd, successfully placing it on the November ballot.   The measure proposes a 15-member citizen commission of Republicans, Democrats and independents, none of whom can be current or former politicians or lobbyists. It also forbids redistricting for partisan advantage – gerrymandering – and requires a fully transparent process.  It’s likely the state GOP will mount a counteroffensive, since fair maps threaten its supermajority.

A federal judge struck down a provision in the HB 458 omnibus voter suppression law, which allows only immediate family members to assist disabled voters, and made non-family assistance subject to felony charges.  The ruling confirmed Section 8 of the Voting Rights Act allowing disabled voters to appoint the person of their choice to assist, and protects democracy groups and others from prosecution for doing so. 

The judge also dismissed a motion that the disabled voter did not have a “private right of action”.  That corrosive tactic was used successfully in an Arkansas case, and expected to be brought to the U.S. Supreme Court.

We’ve linked articles and the ruling at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
American Democracy Minute – Following Three Chaotic Years of Politician-Run Redistricting, Ohio Organizers Submit Ballot Measure Signatures for Citizen-Led Commission
Ohio Capital Journal – Signatures certified: Ohio anti-gerrymandering amendment on its way to November ballot
Democracy Docket –  Ohio’s New Voter Suppression Law Unpacked
Ohio Capital Journal – Federal judge scraps Ohio’s narrow list of helpers for disabled voters
U.S. DISTRICT COURT, NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO, EASTERN DIVISION – Ruling in League of Women Voters v.  Ohio Sec. of State Frank LaRose and the Republican National Committee

Groups Taking Action:
Citizens Not Politicians, League of Women Voters Ohio, ACLU Ohio

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #CitizensNotPoliticians #FairMaps #CitizenRedistricting #DisabilityRights #VRA #VotingRightsAct 

The post Signatures for Ohio Citizen-Led Redistricting Ballot Measure Certified; Ohio Disabled Absentee Voters Win in Federal Court appeared first on American Democracy Minute.