The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 14, 2025

Today’s Script

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

While attacks on democracy norms ensue in Washington, state legislatures have also been busy.  We have updates from Utah, Kansas, Indiana, and an update on the contested North Carolina Supreme Court race. 

Voting Rights Lab reports that the Utah House is considering HB 300, which forces mail-in ballot users to deliver their ballot not by mail, but by hand to an official polling place where ID can be presented.  The elderly, disabled, and other voters for whom returning by mail is their only option, would need to seek special permission.  HB 332 would withdraw Utah from the cooperative Electronic Registration Data Center, the subject of far right conspiracy theories.  

The Kansas Senate passed SB 4, which requires receipt of mail-in ballots by 7 pm election day to count, rather than the current three days after.  An Indiana Senate committee advanced SB 284,  shortening early in-person voting from 28 days to 14 days, ending at noon the day before election day. The full Senate passed SB 10, ending use of school-issued student identification as ID for voting. 

In North Carolina, a district court judge dismissed a claim by a state supreme court candidate that in a race he lost by 734 votes, as many as 65,000 voters were ineligible.  A federal appeals court may revisit it.

We’ve linked the Voting Rights Lab’s state tracker at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Voting Rights Lab – The Markup
Voting Rights Lab – Bill Search

Utah State Legislature – HB 300 –  provides that, after a ballot is mailed to a voter, the voter is, subject to certain exceptions, required to return the ballot in person to a polling place where the voter must provide valid voter identification;
Utah State Legislature – HB 289 – authorizes the lieutenant governor to contract with a third-party to maintain voter rolls;
Kansas House (via VRL) – SB 4 – Requiring all advance voting ballots be returned by 7:00 p.m. on election day.

Indiana Senate – SB 284 – Reduces the period during which in person absentee voting may occur to a 14 day period ending at noon on the day before election day.
The Carolina Journal – Trial judge rejects Griffin’s NC Supreme Court ballot challenges

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU of Utah,  Democracy NC, Common Cause Indiana, Loud Light Kansas

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #KansasNews #IndianaNews #NCNews, #UtahNews

The post State Updates on Bills Shortening Early Voting and Changing Mail-in Ballot Requirements, and the Contested NC Supreme Court Race Lawsuit appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

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

Cleta Mitchell, a 2020 Trump election lawyer who later pushed so-called ‘election integrity’ laws in states around the U.S., is calling for all U.S. Department of Justice voting rights and civil rights lawyers to be fired. 

Mitchell served in Trump’s team of lawyers trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 election.  Since then, her Election Integrity Network group helped state legislatures make it harder to vote by mail and to register and vote on election day.  She also called for states to leave the ERIC, the interstate Electronic Registration Information Center, because of a conspiracy theory that it was run by George Soros.  And most recently, she championed Trump’s debunked claims of widespread voting by undocumented immigrants.

November 13th, the same day Rep. Matt Gaetz was nominated for U.S. Attorney General by President-elect Trump, Mitchell wrote in a social media post, QUOTE, “Every lawyer in the Voting Section and likely in the Civil Rights Division needs to be terminated.   They are not supportive of Pres Trump or MAGA.  There has to be a reckoning.  These are leftwing activists who have come from and should return to their leftwing organizations. UNQUOTE

It’s unclear whether Mitchell’s influence is enough to dismantle the DOJ’s Voting Rights and Civil Rights units, but it’s indicative of the voting rights challenges ahead.

We have more on Mitchell and her so-called ‘election integrity’ projects at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Cleta Mitchell on X – “Every lawyer in the Voting Section and likely in the Civil Rights Division needs to be terminated.”

Mitchell’s Only Citizens Vote Coalition – No country can survive that allows guests and illegals
Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network – Election Integrity Network website
The New Republic – The Shadowy Right-Wing Group That’s Suppressing the 2024 Vote
The Guardian – She was a firebrand Democrat. Now, Cleta Mitchell is a rising star of Republican election denialism
The Hill – (2023) The 39 people the Georgia special grand jury recommended charges against
Free Speech for People – Letter to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Regarding Cleta Mitchell

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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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #USDOJ #CletaMitchell #BigLie

The post Trump ‘Election Integrity’ Lawyer Cleta Mitchell Calls for the Firing of All DOJ Voting & Civil Rights Lawyers appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 30, 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.

When citizens move or die, voter registration lists need to be updated as part of routine list hygiene.  But when lists are aggressively purged, particularly close to an election, it crosses the line into voter suppression. 

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 189 in May, allowing voters to be removed from the rolls as little as 45 days before an election.  SB 189 also allows citizens an unlimited number of voter eligibility challenges. In addition to Georgia’s purge of over 190,000 voters in 2023, activists are expected to challenge thousands more at the polls.  

Wyoming employed its new “use it or lose it” law in May to remove 28% of its registered voters, according to reporting by WyoFile. The law requires any voter not voting in the prior midterm or general election to be removed from its voter rolls.  

The Ohio Capital Journal reported July 25th that Ohio’s secretary of state posted a list of over 158,000 voters scheduled to be purged prior to the Presidential election.   The executive director of the Ohio Unity Coalition, speaking to Dayton Now said, “What we know is that 50% of these voters are registered in Ohio counties where a majority of Black and Brown population live.”  

Voters should check the status of their registration online or with their local election officials.  Find links at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Brennan Center for Justice – Explainer: Voter Purges

Voting Rights Lab – New Laws Risk Purging Eligible Voters in Advance of This Year’s Elections
Atlanta News First – More than 190K names removed from Georgia voter roll ahead of 2024 election
WyoFile – Wyoming voids 28% of its voter registrations in mandatory purge
Ohio Capital Journal – Ohio’s voter purge “disproportionately targets voters of color”, civil rights organizations say

Democracy Docket – Georgia Governor Signs Three Voter Suppression Laws
Associated Press – In Georgia, conservatives seek to have voters removed from rolls without official challenges
Dayton Now – Groups criticize Ohio Secretary of State LaRose for making over 158,000 voters inactive
Essence – Black People Are Getting Removed From Voter Rolls And More Purges Could Be On The Way

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

Groups Taking Action:

Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Ohio Unity Coalition, Common Cause Georgia, Fair Fight, ACLU Wyoming

The post When Voter Registration Purges Cross the Line from Standard Practice into Suppression appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 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.

Maintenance of voter registration lists is a standard practice, to remove voters who’ve died, moved, or are no longer eligible.  But some hyper-partisan legislatures and state officials have weaponized the process.  If you’ve moved or skipped voting in a recent election, your voter registration may no longer be valid.

Wyoming announced the purge of 86,000 of its voters this week, over 30% of its 2022 registered voters.  That’s thanks to a new “use it or lose it” law giving county clerks authority to remove voters if they skip only one federal election.   

In January, Florida removed almost 1 million voters from its rolls as a result of a similar 2023 law.   Last year, just two weeks before the voter registration window closed in Ohio, Secretary of State Frank LaRose purged more than 26,000 voters – just weeks before a ballot question on abortion rights. 

The remedy in many states had been same day registration.  But election day registration has been under attack as well, forcing registrants to vote by provisional ballot, or trying to end same day registration altogether.  

The moral of this story is that under the cloak of “election integrity,” voter purges are being used for voter suppression purposes in several states.   NOW is the time to check your registration, giving you time to re-register before November.  

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

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Southern Coalition for Social Justice  – Combatting Wrongful Voter Purges
Democracy Docket – In Seven States, Removing Voters from the Rolls Just Got Easier
American Bar Association – (2020)  “Use It or Lose It”: The Problem of Purges from the Registration Rolls of Voters Who Don’t Vote Regularly

CBS News – Eligible voters are being swept up in conservative activists’ efforts to purge voter rolls
Public News Service – WY purged 86,000 voters, must re-register for presidential election
Michigan Advance – Judge dismisses lawsuit claiming Michigan didn’t purge dead voters from election rolls
The Guardian – (2023) Ohio purged 26,000 voters days before abortion referendum deadline

American Democracy Minute – (2023) Florida Just Purged its List of Absentee Ballot Requestors, Forcing Millions of Voters to Reapply
WMNF – Almost 1 million Florida voters declared inactive after law purging voter lists
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Groups Taking Action:
The Voter Purge Project,  Brennan Center for Justice,  Campaign Legal Center, League of Women Voters U.S.

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ProtectElections #FreedomtoVote #JohnLewisAct

The post Have You Been Purged?  States Have Stepped Up Removals of Inactive Voters – Sometimes for Partisan Advantage. It’s Time to Check Your Registration appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 1, 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.

Last year, we followed the exodus of nine states from the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, driven by baseless conspiracy theories. The states which left are finding it hard and expensive to replace ERIC’s expertise.   At least one state wants back in.

ERIC, then a 31-state cooperative founded in 2012, finds duplicate, deceased and moving voters.  In 2022, conservative conspiracy theorists claimed ERIC was controlled by liberal billionaire George Soros.  Election deniers pressured election officials and legislators in Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, who caved and pulled out of ERIC.  

Then came the hangover.  Great reporting by the Center for Public Integrity and Votebeat shows states buying more expensive data services, creating their own, or entering into agreements with nearby states.  

EagleAI, a service pushed by the same conspiracy theorists, compares publicly-available information like death notices, but reportedly had false positives and security issues.  Texas created its own system, which Votebeat reported costs as much as ERIC, but exchanges less data with fewer states.  Virginia paid a private data processing company, which rented outside data lists.  Some states agreed to exchange data, but Votebeat reporting suggests the lists are cleaned less often. 

BallotPedia reports that the Virginia legislature is considering returning the state to the ERIC cooperative, while California and Hawaii are considering joining.  

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

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
NPR – (2023) How the far right tore apart one of the best tools to fight voter fraud
Democracy Docket – Cleta Mitchell Couldn’t Overturn the 2020 Election, So Now She’s Suppressing Voters
American Oversight – AMERICAN OVERSIGHT RELEASES REPORT ON ANTI-ERIC PUSH AND ITS THREAT TO 2024 ELECTION 
Votebeat via Louisiana Illuminator – Documents show Republican-led states struggling to clean voter rolls after leaving ERIC
Center for Public Integrity – States ditched an election partnership. Voters will feel the consequences.
BallotPedia – 2024 Voter list maintenance legislation

Groups Taking Action:
Brennan Center for Justice, Campaign Legal Center, ACLU Ohio, League of Women Voters

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter 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 #ERIC #ElectionIntegrity #ConspiracyTheories #ElectionDeniers

The post After Caving to Conspiracy Theorists, States Which Left ERIC Now Using  Weaker & More Expensive Alternatives; At Least One State May Rejoin ERIC. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.