The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 23, 2025

Today’s Script

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

While President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6th pardons and executive orders have dominated the news, state legislatures have been hard at work on both pro-voter and anti-voter legislation. Democracy legislation tracker Voting Rights Lab counts 432 election bills pending in 32 states, with 100 of those bills restricting voter access, while 205 expand it.

The Wisconsin Senate and Assembly have approved Senate Joint Resolution 2, which would put a proposed voter ID constitution amendment  before the voters in November.  A Pew Research survey found 81% of Americans support a requirement for government issued ID to vote, despite its impact on the poor, disabled and the elderly. 

A New York Senate committee moved three pro-voter bills forward, authorizing county voting centers in addition to local precincts, and requiring the state to join the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, to help keep its voter rolls clean.  Another bill would criminalize spreading misleading election information intended to suppress the vote.

An Arizona Senate committee endorsed SB 1011, making changes to mail-in early voting rules, including when and where ballots may be returned.   The Virginia House approved a constitutional amendment to automatically restore rights to people formerly incarcerated for felonies.  Governor Glenn Younkin had previously ordered rights restoration on a case-by-case basis only.

We’ll be following all these bills in the months to come.

Find a link to the Voting Rights Lab tracker at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Voting Rights Lab – The Markup: January 21, 2025

Voting Rights Lab –  Bill Tracking Search (Registration required)
Votebeat Wisconsin – Wisconsin voters to decide whether to put photo ID requirement in constitution
Albany News 10 – Senate majority pushes legislative package with voting, election reform
Arizona Mirror – More AZ counties back Florida-style early ballot changes backed by Republicans
Virginia Mercury – Historic push for constitutional protections in Virginia gains momentum

Groups Taking Action:
Disability Rights Wisconsin, League of Women Voters NY, Arizona Democracy Resource Center

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRights #VoterID #EarlyVoting #VotebyMail

The post While We Were Distracted with DC Discord, States Advance New Voting Regulations appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 16, 2024

Brian is gone today.  The current climate suggests that further VRA destruction is imminent, so expect pro-democracy states who’ve not already implemented state VRAs to act rapidly in 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.

We reported recently on the impact of Shelby County v. Holder, the U.S. Supreme Court majority’s decision invalidating Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.  Anticipating even more erosion of the VRA, some states have passed their own state VRAs. 

It’s not only the dismantling of Section 5, the preclearance requirements for states with a history of discrimination.  The conservative justices also just made proving racial gerrymandering harder under Section 2, and they’ve made it easier for a state legislature to dilute minority voting power.  And in the lower courts, more cases attempting to keep individual voters from bringing voting rights lawsuits under the VRA are pending. 

With dwindling protections from the federal government, California, Washington, Oregon, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Minnesota, have enacted State VRAs. Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, and Florida have efforts underway. 

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund recommends that state VRAs should have preclearance requirements for counties or municipalities which have patterns of discrimination.  Rules should include a prohibition against vote denial or dilution through gerrymandering; strong protections against intimidation or deception; language assistance; a statewide database to make evidence-based decisions on election administration; and a directive to the state judiciary to support pro-voter and pro-democracy decisions.

We have the Legal Defense Fund’s recommendations and links to state VRAs at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
NAACP Legal Defense Fund – State Voting Rights Acts Provide Critical Protections to Black Voters and Other Voters of Color
Campaign Legal Center – Protecting the Freedom to Vote Through State Voting Rights Acts
Center for American Progress – The Protection of Voting Rights Requires State Action

State of Oregon via Casetext – Text of the Oregon Voting Right Act
State of Connecticut – Text of the Connecticut Voting Rights Act
NAACP Legal Defense Fund – Proposed Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Voting Rights Act of Florida (FLVRA)
NAACP Legal Defense Fund – The Proposed New Jersey Voting Rights Act (NJVRA)
Democracy Docket – Several States Look To Pass Their Own Voting Rights Acts

Groups Taking Action:

NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ACLU,  Campaign Legal Center, MALDEF, Voters Not Politicians

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRightsAct #StateVRA #FreedomtoVote

The post With the SCOTUS Majority Intent on Dismantling the Voting Rights Act, Pro-Democracy States are Enacting State VRAs appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

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

Ignoring established federal law, the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned two lower court decisions and allowed Virginia to continue its purge of suspected registered non citizen voters. News outlets have since confirmed that eligible Virginia voters were among them. 

Virginia is the latest state which has pushed such purges without adequate investigation to support a national GOP narrative, sweeping up American-born and naturalized citizens in the process.  The National Voter Registration Act prohibits any purges within 90 days of an election.   Virginia Public Radio and NPR have already found eligible voters on the list who apparently check the wrong box at the DMV,  and now have had their registrations canceled. 

A similar purge of over 3,200 purported non citizens in Alabama was halted in federal district court in October.  Court documents showed over 2,000 of them were valid U.S. citizens and eligible voters.  In Texas, after Governor Abbott trumpeted that 6,500 non citizen voters would be purged, the Secretary of State’s office found only 581 were registered illegally, according to the Texas Tribune.

Even more alarming is the Supreme Court’s willingness to ignore established federal law and render a decision which at the very least has an appearance of partisanship, and worse, what that appearance could mean for post-election litigation.

We have local reporting, and links to confirm if you’re still a registered voter, at   AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

U.S. Supreme Court – ORDER IN PENDING CASE –  BEALS, SUSAN, ET AL. V. VA COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS, ET AL.
Virginia Mercury – U.S. Supreme Court grants stay in challenge to Youngkin’s voter purge order
NPR – U.S. citizens are among the voters removed in Virginia’s controversial purge
Slate – The Supreme Court Just Carved an Outrageous Loophole Into a Major Voting Rights Law
Brennan Center for Justice – Courts Confront the Noncitizen Voting Lie
Alabama Reflector – Federal judge blocks Alabama Secretary of State’s voter removal plan
Texas Tribune – Gov. Greg Abbott boasted that Texas removed 6,500 noncitizens from its voter rolls. That number was likely inflated.

Groups Taking Action:

Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, League of Women Voters VA, 

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 #VoterPurge #Virginia #SCOTUS #USSupremeCourt 

The post U.S. Supreme Court Allows Virginia to Purge of Alleged Non Citizen Voters Only Days Before the Election, Ignoring Established Federal Law. Eligible Voters Were on the List, Too. 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

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#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. 19, 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.

Prince William County, Virginia announced January 11th that human and data errors in the 2020 election resulted in an overcounting of votes for Donald Trump, and an undercounting of totals for Joe Biden.  

A statement issued by Prince William County’s election director said Biden gained 1,648 votes, while Trump lost 2,327, not significantly affecting Biden’s over 450,000 vote margin statewide.  

The Prince William Times reports that after the county registrar resigned, her replacement, Director of Elections Eric Olsen, discovered the discrepancies.   A state investigation found that inaccurate programming of voting machines in precincts with voters from two different Congressional districts accounted for most of the errors.   Human error resulted in one town being counted twice, and another not counted at all.

The errors also affected totals for U.S. Senator Mark Warner and his opponent, and U.S. Congressman Rob Whittman and his opponent.   Neither outcome was significantly affected. 

Felony charges were brought against the previous registrar, but have since been dropped.   County and state officials say they have corrected the programming errors and added layers of verification to the process.

Election Director Eric Olsen said of the mistakes, “They do not reflect a purposeful attempt to undermine the integrity of the electoral process and the investigation into this matter ended with that conclusion.”    We have links to the local reporting at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Prince William County – PWC Office of Elections Releases Reporting Data in Michele White Election Trial
Prince William Times – Criminal charges against former Prince William elections chief — now dropped —stemmed from vote tabulation errors
Prince William Times – Former Prince William elections chief cleared of all criminal charges
Virginia Mercury – 2020 election error in Prince William County benefited Trump, officials reveal

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ProtectElections #ProtectPollWorkers

The post Virginia’s Prince William County Accounts for Mistakes in the 2020 Election and Implements Changes in Personnel, Validation and Reporting appeared first on American Democracy Minute.