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 Sept. 12, 2024

Today’s Script

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

In the Sept. 10 Trump-Harris Presidential debate, former President Trump made claims that Democrats encouraged illegal immigration so that noncitizens would vote and support their candidates.   A similar claim was made by Senator Ted Cruz in the Republican National Convention. 

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

At the Republican National Convention, Sen. Ted Cruz claimed that Democrats tolerated illegal immigration so noncitizens would fraudulently vote. Such claims might rile up the GOP base, but they are patently false. 

The narrative of voting by undocumented noncitizen immigrants has been around for years, but pushed recently by former Trump election lawyer Cleta Mitchell, founder of the Election Integrity Network and the Only Citizens Vote Coalition.  Mitchell alleges that because states issue driver’s licenses to noncitizens, and IDs are required to vote, this translates to massive voter fraud.  

It’s not true.  Noncitizen voting for state & federal elections has been illegal since the early 1900s.  To register in almost all states, a birth certificate, naturalization certificate, or passport is required, and noncitizens registering are subject to fines, prison or deportation.  The Brennan Center for Justice recently wrote, “Would you risk everything — your freedom, your life in the United States, your ability to be near your family — just to cast a single ballot?” 

The Brennan Center’s 2016 research of 42 jurisdictions which processed 23.5 million votes found only 30 suspected cases.  And investigations typically find clerical mistakes responsible, not intentional fraud.  A study review by the conservative Cato Institute concluded, “. . . there is no good evidence that noncitizens voted illegally in large enough numbers to actually shift the outcome of elections.”  

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

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Mother Jones – No, Noncitizens Are Not Voting in Droves. Trump and Republicans Know It.

NPR – NPR fact checked the Harris-Trump presidential debate. Here’s what we found
Brennan Center for Justice –  Myth of Noncitizen Voting
Democracy Docket –Debunking the Myths Surrounding Noncitizen Voting
Washington Post – (Possible paywall) The truth about noncitizen voting in federal elections
NPR – Conservatives are warning about noncitizens voting. It’s a myth with a long history
Only Citizens Vote Coalition – Cleta Mitchell’s allegations of noncitizen voting
Cato Institute – Noncitizens Don’t Illegally Vote in Detectable Numbers
Brennan Center for Justice – (2017) Noncitizen Voting: The Missing Millions

Groups Taking Action:
Common Cause, Anti-Defamation League, NAACP Legal Defense Fund

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #NoncitizenVoting #ImmigrantVoting  #BigLie

The post Research Shows Trump’s Debate Claim of Widespread Voting by Noncitizens is Nonsense appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 11, 2024

Brian is on vacation this week, but we’re rerunning an informative series from 2021 on why American’s don’t vote.

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 continue our “Why People Don’t Vote Week” with why eligible citizens don’t register to vote.   Polls show that it’s a combination of apathy, available time, lack of information, and other social and systemic barriers.     

In a 2020 poll of Nonvoters by NPR, 29% of nonvoters surveyed said they didn’t vote because they weren’t registered.   This and other polls show that nonvoters consume less news media, and are less engaged in the community than voters, so they may not see announcements on how, when and where to register and vote.  

A larger Knight Foundation Study entitled “The Hundred Million Project” after the 100 Million Americans who don’t vote in national elections, found that 5% of  nonvoters cite not being registered, and 7% say they don’t have time to vote.  These reasons rank below “Don’t like the candidates” and “Voting Doesn’t Matter” in most studies, but if you’re not registered, not liking the candidates is a mute point. 

Apathy is the biggest reason people aren’t registered.   “I’m not interested/Don’t Care” is the top reason, but “I don’t know how,” “It’s Too Complicated”, “I keep forgetting” and “I’m Too Busy,” are all cited factors.

What can be done to reach and convince nonvoters to register?  We have some proposed solutions in our next report.  We have links to the studies and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.    For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Knight Foundation – The Hundred Million Project study
CNN/SSIS Poll – Americans’ confidence in elections has faded since January 6
Brennan Center – Poll: Majority of Voters Confident Midterms Will Be Conducted Fairly, with Reliable Results
Associated Press – Many remain critical of state of US democracy: AP-NORC pollFiveThirtyEight.com – Why Many Americans Don’t Vote
NPR – Poll: Despite Record Turnout, 80 Million Americans Didn’t Vote. Here’s Why
CNBC – ‘I don’t plan to vote ever again’: The psychology of why so many people don’t vote, even in 2020
American Progress – Increasing Voter Participation in America

Groups Taking Action:
Movement Voter Project, Voto Latino, Black Voters Matter, Vote.org

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 #VoterRegistration #RegistertoVote

The post Why People Don’t Vote Week: You Can’t Vote if You Don’t Register — So Why Don’t Nonvoters Register? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 10, 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.

Today, we have another in our series of why Americans don’t vote.  In the 2016 election, over 41%, 100 million people, didn’t vote at all, despite a contentious and competitive election. One of the reasons cited in a poll after the 2016 election was a lack of faith in the electoral system.

The Knight Foundation’s 2020 study found that 27% of nonvoters said the system was rigged or corrupt.  Two years later, in July 2022, a CNN poll of both nonvoters and voters showed that just 42% of Americans had some confidence that the results of US elections reflect the will of the people.  In the wake of the January 6th hearings, polls by Monmouth University and the Brennan Center in September and October 2022 show a only slight majority of Americans are confident in our electoral  system.   The Midterm turnout will show whether Big Lie disinformation succeeds in keeping more voters home.   

Of particular concern are trends among younger citizens who are eligible to vote, ages 18-24. The Knight Foundation found that while they consume media, they are less informed on news and politics than than even habitual nonvoters.  When asked whether more people voting is a good thing, only 56% of all younger citizens agreed, vs. 74% of all voters.  Alarmingly, 20% of younger eligible voters say voting doesn’t make any difference.

It remains to be seen whether issues like the attack on reproductive rights and the erosion of voting rights will be enough to activate these younger voters.   

Links to articles and the surveys can be found at  AmericanDemocracyMinute.org  

For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl

Today’s Links

Articles: 
Knight Foundation – The Hundred Million Project study
CNN/SSIS Poll – Americans’ confidence in elections has faded since January 6
Brennan Center – Poll: Majority of Voters Confident Midterms Will Be Conducted Fairly, with Reliable Results
Associated Press – Many remain critical of state of US democracy: AP-NORC poll
FiveThirtyEight.com – Why Many Americans Don’t Vote
NPR – Poll: Despite Record Turnout, 80 Million Americans Didn’t Vote. Here’s Why
CNBC – ‘I don’t plan to vote ever again’: The psychology of why so many people don’t vote, even in 2020

Groups Taking Action:
Movement Voter Project, Voto Latino, Black Voters Matter, Vote.org

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 #Vote #NotVoting #IVoted #GoVote

The post Why People Don’t Vote Week: Nonvoters Cite Lack of Faith in Electoral System as Reason Not to Show Up appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 6, 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.

News broke recently that the State of Virginia mistakenly revoked voting rights for 270 formerly incarcerated felons whose rights had previously  been restored.  An investigation shows that number has ballooned to 3,400 Virginians.

Governors Ralph Northam and Terry McAuliffe had relaxed rules, with McAuliffe taking executive action to restore rights to felons upon release.  In March 2023, Governor Glenn Youngkin decreed that any felon, no matter what type of offense, would be banned from voting for life, and could only have voting rights restored by an action of the governor.  Virginia is the only state to revoke rights for any type of felony, and more states have recently restored, rather than revoked, those rights. 

In late September, Virginia Public Media reported that formerly incarcerated felons who had only minor parole violations had been reported by Virginia State Police to the Virginia Department of Elections as being ineligible.  The state initially said 270 Virginians were affected.  The list of voters affected later climbed to 3,400, which the state maintains was accidental. 

WRIC reports that the Virginia Department of Elections is scrambling to restore those voters, but it is unclear how many other eligible voters remain disenfranchised.  Investigation is ongoing, but an election for General Assembly and local offices is Tuesday, Nov. 7th.

We have more reporting linked at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Bolt Magazine – “Back to 1902”: Virginia Governor Revives Lifetime Ban on Voting
Virginia Mercury – Youngkin administration now requires felons to apply to get their voting rights back
Democracy Docket – Virginia Governor Sued Over Revised Felony Disenfranchisement Policy
Virginia Public Media – Virginia voter removals raise concerns among rights groups
Virginia Public Media – Virginia reinstates nearly 3,400 voters after accidental purge
WRIC –  Issue led some eligible Virginians to be mistakenly removed from voter rolls

WUSA – Thousands of voters wrongly purged from Virginia rolls

Groups Taking Action:
ACLU Virginia, The Sentencing Project, League of Women Voters VA

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VirginiaPolitics #VotingRights #FreedomtoVote

The post Virginia’s Governor Ended Automatic Voting Rights Restoration for 12,000 Returning Felons this Year.  A State Error Almost Disenfranchised 3,400 More. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.