The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 8, 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.

The Republican-dominated Iowa House passed regulations March 5th which would require voters to return mail ballots the day BEFORE election day. House File 2610 also stops use of ballot drop boxes, bans ranked choice voting, and allows felons to run for federal office.

The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports that if the bill becomes law, county election commissioners must send absentee ballots no later than 22 days before election day. But it also requires that all mail-in absentee ballots be returned by 5 pm the day BEFORE election day to be counted.   

For voters who forget, or don’t allow enough time for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver, ballot drop boxes would no longer be available under HF 2610.  Almost 14,000 Iowans used a drop box in the 2022 midterm.  

Falling in line with other red state legislatures, the bill bans use of ranked choice voting in any Iowa election, despite increasing popularity with voters.  

And in a provision aimed at protecting former President Donald Trump, the bill also would allow felons to run for FEDERAL office.  The Iowa constitution currently bans felons from voting or running for office, though Gov. Kim Reynolds restored those rights by executive order in 2020 for felons having COMPLETED their sentences.  The bill now heads to the Iowa Senate.

We have the voter suppression bill’s text, and groups taking action at   AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Iowa House – Text of House File 2610
Iowa Capital Dispatch – House votes to require mailed ballots to arrive before Election Day
Des Moines Register – Iowa House passes new voting restrictions. How they would affect you:
Iowa Secretary of State – Felon Voting Rights

NPR – Governor Acts To Restore Voting Rights To Iowans With Felony Convictions

Groups Taking Action:
Disability Rights Iowa,  LULAC Iowa, Better Ballot Iowa,  League of Women Voters Iowa

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VoterSuppression #Iowa #IowaPolitics #VotingRights

The post Iowa House Bill Requires Mail Ballots to Be Returned Before Election Day, Bans RCV, and Allows Convicted Felons to Qualify to Run in Federal Elections 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.

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

January 21st was the 14th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which opened the floodgates of money in political campaigns.   In Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, over $300 Million dollars has already been spent in just three early races. 

CNN reports that $77 Million dollars was spent in the New Hampshire Primary by SuperPACs, candidates and other political groups.   New Hampshire’s population is just 1.4 million people, and an estimated $55 dollars in advertising was spent for every man, woman and child, in the Granite State.   An estimated turnout of 410,000 voters calculates to $188.00 spent per Primary vote. 

Democracy group End Citizens United said over $11 Billion dollars has been spent in federal elections since the 2010 court decision.  Most spending in elections now comes not from candidates, but political action committees allied with them.  End Citizens United notes that 96% of outside, non-candidate spending has occurred since the Citizens United decision.  

In the early Republican races alone, NPR reports that Nikki Haley’s campaign spent $9.3 Million dollars.  Her SuperPAC and Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity Action spent $62.8 Million.  The DeSantis’ campaign and PACs spent a combined $60 Million dollars, and Trump a combined $54 million.  

We have more primary spending data and the groups taking action at  AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
CNN –  New Hampshire ad spending tops $77 million as Haley and Trump fight to the finish
NPR – $300 million worth of ads have hit voters ahead of the first GOP primary contests
NH Secretary of State – SOS Predicts Presidential Primary Turnout
End Citizens United – End Citizens United Statement on the 14th Anniversary of Citizens United

Brennan Center for Justice – Citizens United Explained
Open Secrets – (2020) More money, less transparency: A decade under Citizens United

Groups Taking Action:
End Citizens United, Issue One, Open Democracy Action, Common Cause, Public Citizen, Equal Citizens

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 #OverturnCitizensUnited #DarkMoneyOutVotersIn #EndBigMoney

The post By the 14th Anniversary of Citizens United, SuperPACs and Candidates Spent Over $300 Million in IA, NH & SC appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

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

Far right activists pushing fringe conspiracy theories pressured red state legislatures and election officials to pull out of the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC.  But proposed “election integrity” alternatives fall far short of ERIC, and are likely to be more expensive.

In the past year, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Missouri, Virginia, West Virginia, Iowa, Alabama and Louisiana pulled out of the interstate voter information cooperative after activists convinced state officials that ERIC was somehow tainted by liberal funder George Soros.  Most of those states still haven’t developed an alternative, leaving voter rolls less accurate, and vulnerable to mistakes or fraud.

At least two alternative computer services,  EagleAI and Fractal, are being touted by right wing activists, but neither appear to have been adopted by state officials.  Alabama announced its Alabama Voter Integrity Database, or AVID, in September.  AVID is somewhat similar to ERIC, but relies on comparing data with only a handful of states. One election expert told NPR that the interstate agreements made by Alabama and other states don’t include critical DMV data.  Another expert from the Alliance for Securing Democracy writing in The Fulcrum also raised questions about encryption of data during storage and transit.  

Shortcomings aside, the actual cost of re-inventing the “election integrity” wheel is yet to be seen.  We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Brennan Center for Justice – States Cave to Conspiracy Theories and Leave Voter Data Cooperative, ERICHeritage Foundation – Maintaining Accurate Voter Registration Rolls: The Need to Rehabilitate the ERIC Program or Form an Alternative
Votebeat Texas – Texas resigns from ERIC, a national program that keeps voter rolls updated
KY3 News – Missouri Sec. of State defends withdrawal from multi-state election security system
Huffington Post – 9 Republican States Left A Bipartisan Election Integrity Group. Now, They’re Struggling To Replace It.
NPR – Republican states swore off a voting tool. Now they’re scrambling to recreate it
States of OH & West Virginia –  Memo of Understanding for Sharing Voter Data
Virginia Mercury – After ERIC withdrawal, Virginia strikes deals with 6 states to share voter data
Brennan Center for Justice – EagleAI is the latest effort by election deniers to use the upkeep of voter rolls as a vehicle to disenfranchise voters and spread disinformation.

Groups Taking Action:
Campaign Legal Center, ACLU OH, Missouri Voter Protection Coalition,

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ProtectElections #Disinformation #ElectionDisinformation

The post States Bailing Out of ERIC are Reinventing the “Election Integrity” Wheel, But With Less Accurate and Likely More Expensive Results appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for January 3, 2023

Listen!

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Associated Press – Effect of Georgia’s voting law unclear, despite high turnout
Voting Rights Lab – Availability of In-Person Early Voting
Deseret News – Skip the election day lines: Here are the states that offer early voting
BallotPedia – Arguments for and against early voting
Groups Taking Action:

Brennan Center for Justice,  League of Women Voters, ACLU 
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 have predictions this week on what 2023 legislation we’ll see in state legislatures.  After hearing our predictions, you may be making another new year’s resolution to join your local voting rights group.  

Since the 2020 elections, legislatures which bought into former President Trump’s discredited vote by mail fraud claims have moved to make mail-in voting more difficult. To avoid the appearance of voter suppression, conservative legislatures compromised and 16 states have added early IN-PERSON voting since 2020. 

But in 2022, Georgia, Texas and Iowa voters loved early voting a little too much, by the measure of some Republican legislators.  In Texas and Iowa, legislators moved to limit early voting, shortening the hours in Texas, and the number of days in Iowa.  In Georgia, 2021’s SB 202 shortened early voting for runoff elections, and while court action ultimately added more days for the Warnock-Walker Senate race,  there were fewer early voting locations for the runoff than in the general election, causing long lines and wait times.  

Voters were tenacious in the midterms.  They overcame mail-in voting restrictions by mobilizing to vote early in-person, and setting turnout records.   Our prediction for 2023: More anti-voter legislatures will push laws to shorten early voting, because its convenience and flexibility is too helpful for groups of voters they don’t like.

We have articles and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.

The post <strong>2023 Anti-Voter Predictions – Early Voting Was Too Successful & Will Be Restricted</strong> appeared first on American Democracy Minute.