This is, IMO, going to be a big topic in the coming year. Republicans have stated their aim to make voting more restrictive in just about every state where they have the means to do so. Democrats would like to pass the Voting Rights Bill named after John Lewis. I’m going to go look up the map of all the states which have pending legislation to restrict voting. Now that we have the election in the rear view, I thought we could try to make this a general discussion thread, where people who have concerns about voting abuses can post as well and we can discuss it from both sides. Please keep memes out of this thread and put them in the boards where we go to talk about the other side, lol.
Voting Law Proposals and Voting Rights Efforts (1 Viewer)
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Optimus Prime
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This is like the only Democratic case of this type that I can recall.
So of course it will become rocket fuel on the liberal voter fraud fire
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Four campaign workers in Connecticut were charged with misuse of absentee ballots years after their involvement in the 2019 Bridgeport Democratic mayoral primary scandal.
The charges were announced on Tuesday against Bridgeport City Councilman Alfredo Castillo, 52, vice chair of the city’s Democratic Party leader Wanda Geter-Pataky, 67, as well as two 2019 campaign workers, Nilsa Heredia, 61, who worked for the city’s mayor Mayor Joe Ganim and Josephine Edmonds, 62, who worked for a Ganim primary rival Marilyn Moore. All four were accused of Unlawful Possession of Absentee Ballots and they individually face other charges.
The group initially faced accusations of mishandling absentee ballots in the mayoral primary race in September 2019, investigators say. The incumbent mayor Joe Ganim eked out a narrow victory in the primary race, defeating John Gomes by just 251 votes.
Gomes then sued, alleging absentee ballot mishandling and supplying video footage showcasing Geter-Pataky, a member of the Democratic Town Committee, repeatedly dropping absentee ballots into drop boxes or handing them to others, who then did the same.
The judge sided with Gomes, finding that the evidence was so damning that it necessitated a redo primary election.……
www.independent.co.uk
So of course it will become rocket fuel on the liberal voter fraud fire
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Four campaign workers in Connecticut were charged with misuse of absentee ballots years after their involvement in the 2019 Bridgeport Democratic mayoral primary scandal.
The charges were announced on Tuesday against Bridgeport City Councilman Alfredo Castillo, 52, vice chair of the city’s Democratic Party leader Wanda Geter-Pataky, 67, as well as two 2019 campaign workers, Nilsa Heredia, 61, who worked for the city’s mayor Mayor Joe Ganim and Josephine Edmonds, 62, who worked for a Ganim primary rival Marilyn Moore. All four were accused of Unlawful Possession of Absentee Ballots and they individually face other charges.
The group initially faced accusations of mishandling absentee ballots in the mayoral primary race in September 2019, investigators say. The incumbent mayor Joe Ganim eked out a narrow victory in the primary race, defeating John Gomes by just 251 votes.
Gomes then sued, alleging absentee ballot mishandling and supplying video footage showcasing Geter-Pataky, a member of the Democratic Town Committee, repeatedly dropping absentee ballots into drop boxes or handing them to others, who then did the same.
The judge sided with Gomes, finding that the evidence was so damning that it necessitated a redo primary election.……
Four Connecticut Dems are charged after video showed them stuffing a ballot box
The incident triggered a challenge to the primary results, prompting a judge to call for a redo election
www.independent.co.uk
Optimus Prime
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Nearly one in 10 eligible voters lack easy access to documents to prove their citizenship, according to a new survey, underscoring how Republican efforts to purportedly prevent non-citizens from voting could disenfranchise millions.
If asked to quickly locate a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers to produce proof of citizenship tomorrow, more than 21m Americans – about 9% of eligible voters – would not be able to, according to the survey, conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice, VoteRiders, Public Wise, and the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement (CDCE) at the University of Maryland. Nearly 4 million American citizens – 2% in total – lack access to any form of proof in citizenship.
The survey comes as Donald Trump and his allies have seized on fears about immigration to make the threat of non-citizen voting a major talking point ahead of November. Republicans have exaggerated the threat of non-citizen voting – which is already illegal and rare – and have pushed for federal legislation that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
“We all know – intuitively – that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it’s not been something that is easily provable,” Mike Johnson, the US House Speaker said last month.
Two states that have already tried measures to require documentary proof of citizenship, Kansas and Arizona, offer case studies in how such a restriction can disenfranchise voters. In Kansas, 30,000 people had their voter registration held up between 2013 and 2016 because of the law. In Arizona, a proof of citizenship requirement for state elections has negatively impacted tribal voters and college students.
Researchers also found racial disparities in who has access to citizenship documents. About 3% of voters of color do not have access to proof-of-citizenship documents, compared to 1% of white Americans. Americans of color were also more likely to not have easy access to the documents compared to their white counterparts.
“Our estimates are probably conservative measures of impact,” the researchers wrote in a blogpost announcing their findings. “While it’s true that most Americans can access these documents, most of us don’t walk around town carrying our passport or birth certificate. If those documents were required for voter registration, most would not have them readily available to take advantage of opportunities they encounter at schools, churches, or other community spaces where registration drives register many Americans to vote.”
About 4% of independents, 2% of Democrats, and 1% of Republicans lacked easy access to proof of citizenship documents, the survey found.
In addition to citizenship, the survey also found that about 21 million Americans of voting age do not have a non-expired driver’s license, with non-white voters less likely to have one.
About 30% of Black Americans between 18 and 29 did not have a driver’s license and 47% did not have one with a current name or address. About 5% of white Americans in the same age group did not have a driver’s license, and 42% did not have one with a current name or address.
“Millions of eligible voters lack a current form of photo ID – and it’s not easy to get one,” said Lauren Kunis, the executive director of VoteRiders, which helps people get ID. “Getting an ID can mean needing to track down underlying proof-of-citizenship documents like a birth certificate, navigating bureaucracy and paperwork, or spending hours at an ID-issuing office that is hard to reach. For these reasons and many more, voter ID laws make it more complicated, costly, and confusing to cast a ballot in America today.”……..
www.theguardian.com
If asked to quickly locate a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers to produce proof of citizenship tomorrow, more than 21m Americans – about 9% of eligible voters – would not be able to, according to the survey, conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice, VoteRiders, Public Wise, and the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement (CDCE) at the University of Maryland. Nearly 4 million American citizens – 2% in total – lack access to any form of proof in citizenship.
The survey comes as Donald Trump and his allies have seized on fears about immigration to make the threat of non-citizen voting a major talking point ahead of November. Republicans have exaggerated the threat of non-citizen voting – which is already illegal and rare – and have pushed for federal legislation that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
“We all know – intuitively – that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it’s not been something that is easily provable,” Mike Johnson, the US House Speaker said last month.
Two states that have already tried measures to require documentary proof of citizenship, Kansas and Arizona, offer case studies in how such a restriction can disenfranchise voters. In Kansas, 30,000 people had their voter registration held up between 2013 and 2016 because of the law. In Arizona, a proof of citizenship requirement for state elections has negatively impacted tribal voters and college students.
Researchers also found racial disparities in who has access to citizenship documents. About 3% of voters of color do not have access to proof-of-citizenship documents, compared to 1% of white Americans. Americans of color were also more likely to not have easy access to the documents compared to their white counterparts.
“Our estimates are probably conservative measures of impact,” the researchers wrote in a blogpost announcing their findings. “While it’s true that most Americans can access these documents, most of us don’t walk around town carrying our passport or birth certificate. If those documents were required for voter registration, most would not have them readily available to take advantage of opportunities they encounter at schools, churches, or other community spaces where registration drives register many Americans to vote.”
About 4% of independents, 2% of Democrats, and 1% of Republicans lacked easy access to proof of citizenship documents, the survey found.
In addition to citizenship, the survey also found that about 21 million Americans of voting age do not have a non-expired driver’s license, with non-white voters less likely to have one.
About 30% of Black Americans between 18 and 29 did not have a driver’s license and 47% did not have one with a current name or address. About 5% of white Americans in the same age group did not have a driver’s license, and 42% did not have one with a current name or address.
“Millions of eligible voters lack a current form of photo ID – and it’s not easy to get one,” said Lauren Kunis, the executive director of VoteRiders, which helps people get ID. “Getting an ID can mean needing to track down underlying proof-of-citizenship documents like a birth certificate, navigating bureaucracy and paperwork, or spending hours at an ID-issuing office that is hard to reach. For these reasons and many more, voter ID laws make it more complicated, costly, and confusing to cast a ballot in America today.”……..
Millions of US voters lack access to documents to prove citizenship
New study reveals number of people potentially affected by Republican efforts to prevent ‘non-citizen voting’
Optimus Prime
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Online
Republican elected officials in a small Arizonacounty talked with state lawmakers and activists about hand-counting ballots there in 2022 and urged their counterparts in other counties to push for hand counts as well, newly released public records show.
The records from Cochise county, a Republican stronghold along the US-Mexico border, only came to light after a lawsuit from a watchdog group, American Oversight, and took well over a year to be released. The original records request from American Oversight was filed in November 2022.
They show how Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, two of the three-member board of supervisors, were both advocating for hand-counting ballots as election denialism and skepticism gripped the county. The two supervisors also delayedcertification of the county’s election results in 2022, which resulted in criminal charges in a case that is still ongoing.
The records also show that there was confusion among constituents, and at times the supervisors themselves, over what the plan was and how it could be executed, especially as courts issued rulings. It appeared from records that earlier in the process, both supervisors were doubtful a hand count could happen, especially so close to an election – but, once the idea gained momentum on the right and got national attention, they kept pushing.
Experts warn that hand-counting ballots is often more costly, less accurate and more time-consuming than machine tabulation. Fears over machines rely on false claims that votes were injected into counts or systems were otherwise hacked. A push for hand counts across the country could serve as another basis to undermine election results this year.
“They will not stop,” Chioma Chukwu, interim executive director of American Oversight, told the Guardian. “They’re going to continue until they get what they want, which is pushing for hand counts, delaying the certification of election results if the election does not go their way in November.”…….
www.theguardian.com
The records from Cochise county, a Republican stronghold along the US-Mexico border, only came to light after a lawsuit from a watchdog group, American Oversight, and took well over a year to be released. The original records request from American Oversight was filed in November 2022.
They show how Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, two of the three-member board of supervisors, were both advocating for hand-counting ballots as election denialism and skepticism gripped the county. The two supervisors also delayedcertification of the county’s election results in 2022, which resulted in criminal charges in a case that is still ongoing.
The records also show that there was confusion among constituents, and at times the supervisors themselves, over what the plan was and how it could be executed, especially as courts issued rulings. It appeared from records that earlier in the process, both supervisors were doubtful a hand count could happen, especially so close to an election – but, once the idea gained momentum on the right and got national attention, they kept pushing.
Experts warn that hand-counting ballots is often more costly, less accurate and more time-consuming than machine tabulation. Fears over machines rely on false claims that votes were injected into counts or systems were otherwise hacked. A push for hand counts across the country could serve as another basis to undermine election results this year.
“They will not stop,” Chioma Chukwu, interim executive director of American Oversight, told the Guardian. “They’re going to continue until they get what they want, which is pushing for hand counts, delaying the certification of election results if the election does not go their way in November.”…….
Documents detail Republican push to force hand counts in Arizona election
Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd were calling for hand counts in 2022 as election denialism swept Cochise county, a records request shows
Optimus Prime
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…….This makes sense. There was no rampant voter fraud in the 2020 election, and people such as Stange — encouraged by the Trump campaign to show up at polling places to uproot it — ended up seeing nothing but the normal, dull machinations of an orderly voting process.
But then Pennsylvania reported its results. Trump lost the state, along with the presidency.
And suddenly the idea that rampant fraud had occurred became a central line of rhetoric as Trump sought to explain his performance. It was rhetoric embraced even by Stange, despite his experience.
Trump and his allies have attempted to argue that Democrats cheated and fraud occurred, but they rarely note that this purportedly occurred even after they had pushed their supporters to go monitor polling places.
The campaign claimed to have 50,000 people ready to keep an eye on things — but zero of those 50,000 spotted the alleged rampant fraud on which Trump blames his loss. Fast-forward to 2024.
Now the thinking is this: If 50,000 poll watchers spotted zero fraud, twice as many poll watchers can spot twice as much fraud!
Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law who is now a co-chair of the Republican Party, told an audience at a right-wing conference over the weekend that the party was planning to have 100,000 people watching polling places this November.
“We have a unique opportunity right now that we have not had in 40 years as a party,” she said. “For 40 years, there was a consent decree placed on the RNC that did not allow us to train people to work as poll workers.” Now, she said, that had been lifted.
That consent decree followed the GOP’s efforts several decades ago to influence an election in New Jersey by having off-duty cops patrol heavily non-White polling locations. (Even Fox News described this as “Republican-backed voter intimidation efforts.”)
But it’s not the case that this has been newly lifted; it was set aside in 2018, which is why the Trump campaign focused on poll-watching in 2020. “What we need to ensure is integrity in our electoral process,” Lara Trump said at the event. “We can never go back and repeat 2020, but we can learn the lessons from 2020.” Except the one about poll-watching, apparently.
It’s obvious why the Trump campaign wants to pretend it didn’t try the same thing four years ago: It makes obvious the difference between claiming fraud had occurred or will occur, and showing that fraud occurred.
In 2020, like now, Republicans insisted that there would be enormous fraud that they could and would obstruct.
After 2020, though, they ignored that they had had thousands of people like Stange in place watching polling places because they needed the “illegal voting” excuse to explain Trump’s loss……..
But then Pennsylvania reported its results. Trump lost the state, along with the presidency.
And suddenly the idea that rampant fraud had occurred became a central line of rhetoric as Trump sought to explain his performance. It was rhetoric embraced even by Stange, despite his experience.
Trump and his allies have attempted to argue that Democrats cheated and fraud occurred, but they rarely note that this purportedly occurred even after they had pushed their supporters to go monitor polling places.
The campaign claimed to have 50,000 people ready to keep an eye on things — but zero of those 50,000 spotted the alleged rampant fraud on which Trump blames his loss. Fast-forward to 2024.
Now the thinking is this: If 50,000 poll watchers spotted zero fraud, twice as many poll watchers can spot twice as much fraud!
Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law who is now a co-chair of the Republican Party, told an audience at a right-wing conference over the weekend that the party was planning to have 100,000 people watching polling places this November.
“We have a unique opportunity right now that we have not had in 40 years as a party,” she said. “For 40 years, there was a consent decree placed on the RNC that did not allow us to train people to work as poll workers.” Now, she said, that had been lifted.
That consent decree followed the GOP’s efforts several decades ago to influence an election in New Jersey by having off-duty cops patrol heavily non-White polling locations. (Even Fox News described this as “Republican-backed voter intimidation efforts.”)
But it’s not the case that this has been newly lifted; it was set aside in 2018, which is why the Trump campaign focused on poll-watching in 2020. “What we need to ensure is integrity in our electoral process,” Lara Trump said at the event. “We can never go back and repeat 2020, but we can learn the lessons from 2020.” Except the one about poll-watching, apparently.
It’s obvious why the Trump campaign wants to pretend it didn’t try the same thing four years ago: It makes obvious the difference between claiming fraud had occurred or will occur, and showing that fraud occurred.
In 2020, like now, Republicans insisted that there would be enormous fraud that they could and would obstruct.
After 2020, though, they ignored that they had had thousands of people like Stange in place watching polling places because they needed the “illegal voting” excuse to explain Trump’s loss……..
Optimus Prime
Well-known member
Online
Georgia is the first state to mandate training in election law in order for police to become state certified, a reflection of lessons learned in the aftermath of the state’s 2020 race.
The new requirement for police trainees to take a one-hour course on election laws is meant to keep officers from trying to guess at how to enforce the law on election day, said Chris Harvey, deputy executive director for the Georgia peace officer standards and training council.
“Cops just really need to know what are some of the basic ground rules around elections and voting, because they’re very specific,” he said. “In my opinion, the worst thing that can happen is if you have a partisan person or partisan force trying to manipulate the police, and have the police not have any idea what they’re supposed to be doing.”…..
www.theguardian.com
The new requirement for police trainees to take a one-hour course on election laws is meant to keep officers from trying to guess at how to enforce the law on election day, said Chris Harvey, deputy executive director for the Georgia peace officer standards and training council.
“Cops just really need to know what are some of the basic ground rules around elections and voting, because they’re very specific,” he said. “In my opinion, the worst thing that can happen is if you have a partisan person or partisan force trying to manipulate the police, and have the police not have any idea what they’re supposed to be doing.”…..
Georgia becomes first state to require election law training for police
The newly required course emphasizes de-escalation and non-threatening conduct for officers
Bigdaddysaints
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I have worked the polls here in Ascension parish. I have no doubt majority of police officers have no clue about election laws. I didn't know them until i decided to become a commissioner. Luckily, in the 4 years i've been doing it, i've never had to enforce any. But the Clerk of Court is very good about explaining what to do if we have any situations. Unless its an emergency, its best to call her first and not the police, because, lets be honest, they probably don't know the election laws. Now if someone gets rowdy or threatens violence, the cops need to be called immediately. But i would have no problem with making a call if i see people breaking these rules. I do like that here tey have the precincts at schools, becuase there are already a lot of rules in place for schools that prohibit a lot of stuff.Georgia is the first state to mandate training in election law in order for police to become state certified, a reflection of lessons learned in the aftermath of the state’s 2020 race.
The new requirement for police trainees to take a one-hour course on election laws is meant to keep officers from trying to guess at how to enforce the law on election day, said Chris Harvey, deputy executive director for the Georgia peace officer standards and training council.
“Cops just really need to know what are some of the basic ground rules around elections and voting, because they’re very specific,” he said. “In my opinion, the worst thing that can happen is if you have a partisan person or partisan force trying to manipulate the police, and have the police not have any idea what they’re supposed to be doing.”…..
Georgia becomes first state to require election law training for police
The newly required course emphasizes de-escalation and non-threatening conduct for officers
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