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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Nebaghead
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Yeah, that does seem hard to believe unless they have access to a voter role.There has to be more (or less) to it than that, no way they have this many people's SSN or Driver's info
Bolding mine
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.........Though only a small number of people are routinely filing voter challenges, the open-ended nature of voter challenge laws has allowed these activists to cast a wide net. A 2023 ProPublica investigation found that nearly 90% of voter challenges filed since the passage of SB 202 — encompassing 89,000 voters — were submitted by just six people............
New Georgia law makes voter intimidation easier, critics say; affects Black voters most
Voter challenges, once an obscure practice, have become a mass movement in Georgia. Experts say a new election law will likely make the problem worse.www.usatoday.com
DJ1BigTymer
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Those 6 people should be prosecuted for voter fraud based off of that statement alone!There has to be more (or less) to it than that, no way they have this many people's SSN or Driver's info
Bolding mine
========================
.........Though only a small number of people are routinely filing voter challenges, the open-ended nature of voter challenge laws has allowed these activists to cast a wide net. A 2023 ProPublica investigation found that nearly 90% of voter challenges filed since the passage of SB 202 — encompassing 89,000 voters — were submitted by just six people............
New Georgia law makes voter intimidation easier, critics say; affects Black voters most
Voter challenges, once an obscure practice, have become a mass movement in Georgia. Experts say a new election law will likely make the problem worse.www.usatoday.com
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is no longer enforcing a 3-year-old law making it a felony to impersonate election officials as it faces a legal challenge from critics who argue that the law has hindered efforts to register new voters.
Attorneys for the state and groups suing over the law agreed on stopping its enforcement, and District Judge Teresa Watson in Shawnee County, home to the state capital of Topeka, issued an order earlier this week ratifying their agreement. Her order will remain in effect at least until another court hearing after the November election.
The law made “falsely representing” an elections official punishable by up to 13 months in prison for a first-time offender, though two years' probation would have been the most likely sentence. The crime includes causing someone to believe another person is an election official. The Republican-controlled Legislature enacted the law in 2021 by overriding a veto by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
The groups challenging the law argue it's so vague that volunteers who register voters could face criminal charges if someone mistakenly believes they are election officials, even if those volunteers are clear that they aren't verbally, in writing or on signs. State officials have scoffed at that argument, but groups curtailed their activities, including one involved in the lawsuit, Loud Light, which seeks to register young people.
“We are fired up and ready to register thousands of young Kansans to vote again,” Davis Hammet, Loud Light's president, said in a statement Wednesday, describing the law as a ”voter registration suppression scheme.".............
apnews.com
Attorneys for the state and groups suing over the law agreed on stopping its enforcement, and District Judge Teresa Watson in Shawnee County, home to the state capital of Topeka, issued an order earlier this week ratifying their agreement. Her order will remain in effect at least until another court hearing after the November election.
The law made “falsely representing” an elections official punishable by up to 13 months in prison for a first-time offender, though two years' probation would have been the most likely sentence. The crime includes causing someone to believe another person is an election official. The Republican-controlled Legislature enacted the law in 2021 by overriding a veto by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
The groups challenging the law argue it's so vague that volunteers who register voters could face criminal charges if someone mistakenly believes they are election officials, even if those volunteers are clear that they aren't verbally, in writing or on signs. State officials have scoffed at that argument, but groups curtailed their activities, including one involved in the lawsuit, Loud Light, which seeks to register young people.
“We are fired up and ready to register thousands of young Kansans to vote again,” Davis Hammet, Loud Light's president, said in a statement Wednesday, describing the law as a ”voter registration suppression scheme.".............
Kansas stops enforcing a law against impersonating election officials
Kansas is no longer enforcing a law making it a felony to impersonate election officials as it faces a legal challenge from critics who argue that the law has hindered efforts to register new voters.
apnews.com
Optimus Prime
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama attorney general’s office on Wednesday described a new ban on providing voters with absentee ballot application assistance as “commonsense ballot integrity,” while lawyers challenging the restrictions said they have halted important civic work in the community.
The diverging depictions of the new law were aired during a federal hearing on Alabama’s request to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the statute. U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor did not indicate when he would rule, but said he understood the two sides want a decision before the November general election.
The new law, originally known as Senate Bill 1, puts restrictions on who can fill out and return a voter's application form to receive an absentee ballot. It makes it illegal to distribute an absentee ballot application that is prefilled with information such as the voter’s name, or to return another person’s absentee ballot application. And it is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison to give, or receive, a payment or a gift “for distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining, or delivering a voter’s absentee ballot application.”
Alabama is one of several Republican-led states to enact limitations on voter assistance. State Republicans said the measure is needed to combat “ballot harvesting,” a pejorative term for the collection of multiple absentee ballots. The Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, the League of Women Voters and other groups filed a lawsuit challenging the new statute, which they say “turns civic and neighborly voter engagement into a serious crime.”
During the hearing, Alabama Solicitor General Edmund LaCour described the law as a ballot-integrity measure that prevents paid operatives from corralling votes through absentee ballots.
“SB1 helps fight fraud and confusion by ensuring that the absentee ballot application process remains in the hands of voters,” LaCour told Proctor. He argued that there are exceptions for disabled voters who need assistance.
Organizations challenging the Alabama law said it infringes on free speech rights and is unconstitutionally vague about what type of conduct would be illegal. They also argued that it runs afoul of the federal Voting Rights Act.
“SB1 does not pass constitutional muster,” Valencia Richardson, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center, told Proctor.
The new law has forced voter outreach groups to cease some operations, Richardson said, "because they are afraid of going to jail.”
Kathy Jones of the League of Women Voters of Alabama said the group has “basically had to stand down” from helping people with absentee ballot applications because of the uncertainty and fear.
“We are not willing to put our members at risk,” Jones told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Proctor posed several hypothetical questions during the hearing, including whether a compensated person at an information booth or table would run afoul of the law if they had a stack of blank ballot applications to hand out to interested voters. The state replied that it would...........
apnews.com
The diverging depictions of the new law were aired during a federal hearing on Alabama’s request to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the statute. U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor did not indicate when he would rule, but said he understood the two sides want a decision before the November general election.
The new law, originally known as Senate Bill 1, puts restrictions on who can fill out and return a voter's application form to receive an absentee ballot. It makes it illegal to distribute an absentee ballot application that is prefilled with information such as the voter’s name, or to return another person’s absentee ballot application. And it is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison to give, or receive, a payment or a gift “for distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining, or delivering a voter’s absentee ballot application.”
Alabama is one of several Republican-led states to enact limitations on voter assistance. State Republicans said the measure is needed to combat “ballot harvesting,” a pejorative term for the collection of multiple absentee ballots. The Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, the League of Women Voters and other groups filed a lawsuit challenging the new statute, which they say “turns civic and neighborly voter engagement into a serious crime.”
During the hearing, Alabama Solicitor General Edmund LaCour described the law as a ballot-integrity measure that prevents paid operatives from corralling votes through absentee ballots.
“SB1 helps fight fraud and confusion by ensuring that the absentee ballot application process remains in the hands of voters,” LaCour told Proctor. He argued that there are exceptions for disabled voters who need assistance.
Organizations challenging the Alabama law said it infringes on free speech rights and is unconstitutionally vague about what type of conduct would be illegal. They also argued that it runs afoul of the federal Voting Rights Act.
“SB1 does not pass constitutional muster,” Valencia Richardson, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center, told Proctor.
The new law has forced voter outreach groups to cease some operations, Richardson said, "because they are afraid of going to jail.”
Kathy Jones of the League of Women Voters of Alabama said the group has “basically had to stand down” from helping people with absentee ballot applications because of the uncertainty and fear.
“We are not willing to put our members at risk,” Jones told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Proctor posed several hypothetical questions during the hearing, including whether a compensated person at an information booth or table would run afoul of the law if they had a stack of blank ballot applications to hand out to interested voters. The state replied that it would...........
Alabama, civic groups spar over law restricting assistance with absentee ballot applications
Opposing lawyers are battling in court over a new Alabama law that makes it illegal for outside parties to deliver or prefill someone’s absentee ballot application.
apnews.com
Optimus Prime
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There has to be more (or less) to it than that, no way they have this many people's SSN or Driver's info
Bolding mine
========================
.........Though only a small number of people are routinely filing voter challenges, the open-ended nature of voter challenge laws has allowed these activists to cast a wide net. A 2023 ProPublica investigation found that nearly 90% of voter challenges filed since the passage of SB 202 — encompassing 89,000 voters — were submitted by just six people............
New Georgia law makes voter intimidation easier, critics say; affects Black voters most
Voter challenges, once an obscure practice, have become a mass movement in Georgia. Experts say a new election law will likely make the problem worse.www.usatoday.com
maybe this is where all the challenges are coming from
...............However, the site's security was compromised due to a software update that temporarily made voters' personal information like date of birth, drivers license number and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers publicly available. The Georgia Secretary of State's office attributed the issue to a "glitch" caused by a URL routing error, which they said was corrected within an hour...........
'Ripe for abuse': GA elections chief now allowing anyone to cancel a voter’s registration
In the critical battleground state of Georgia, voting rights advocates are warning that a new website launched by the state's top elections official will be exploited by bad-faith groups seeking to disenfranchise voters.USA TODAY recently reported that Georgia Secretary of State Brad...
www.alternet.org
Bigdaddysaints
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this is one reason i am against going back to paper ballots.. the owner of Ralphs Grocery Stores in Gonzales ran for Secretary Of State on the premise of going back to paper ballots.. that is just an ignorant thing.
LA - L.A.
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Kansas was another state were around 60% of voters in 2022 voted to protect abortion rights. If Democrats can get a lot of new voters registered, Kansas might be in play. There should be enough of a threat for Trump to have to spend time and/or money there.TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is no longer enforcing a 3-year-old law making it a felony to impersonate election officials as it faces a legal challenge from critics who argue that the law has hindered efforts to register new voters.
Attorneys for the state and groups suing over the law agreed on stopping its enforcement, and District Judge Teresa Watson in Shawnee County, home to the state capital of Topeka, issued an order earlier this week ratifying their agreement. Her order will remain in effect at least until another court hearing after the November election.
The law made “falsely representing” an elections official punishable by up to 13 months in prison for a first-time offender, though two years' probation would have been the most likely sentence. The crime includes causing someone to believe another person is an election official. The Republican-controlled Legislature enacted the law in 2021 by overriding a veto by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
The groups challenging the law argue it's so vague that volunteers who register voters could face criminal charges if someone mistakenly believes they are election officials, even if those volunteers are clear that they aren't verbally, in writing or on signs. State officials have scoffed at that argument, but groups curtailed their activities, including one involved in the lawsuit, Loud Light, which seeks to register young people.
“We are fired up and ready to register thousands of young Kansans to vote again,” Davis Hammet, Loud Light's president, said in a statement Wednesday, describing the law as a ”voter registration suppression scheme.".............
Kansas stops enforcing a law against impersonating election officials
Kansas is no longer enforcing a law making it a felony to impersonate election officials as it faces a legal challenge from critics who argue that the law has hindered efforts to register new voters.
Optimus Prime
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wasn't sure where to put this
===================
The American Bar Association says that attorneys who helped former President Donald Trump try to overturn the 2020 election should be held accountable by state bar associations, and that the legal profession must protect democracy during the 2024 election.
The bar association − the world's largest voluntary organization of lawyers − is calling on the nation’s 1.3 million lawyers to lean on their legal training to volunteer as poll workers and to provide free legal advice to local election officials instead of taking action to undermine democracy.
It’s all part of a bipartisan effort co-led by former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, who served under President Barack Obama, and retired Judge Michael Luttig, who was appointed to the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by President George W. Bush.
The bar association put the pair in charge of leading the profession’s response to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Johnson and Luttig gave USA TODAY an exclusive interview before they release their recommendations to the rest of the field at a nationwide summit on Friday.
“They are uniquely qualified and are uniquely obligated to defend America’s democracy and the rule of law, among other things,” Luttig told USA TODAY. “Lawyers take an oath to do just that. And then, by way of almost a footnote, lawyers were largely responsible for the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”
Luttig and Johnson have been holding events in swing states to find out how lawyers can apply their training to restore faith in American elections...........
===================
The American Bar Association says that attorneys who helped former President Donald Trump try to overturn the 2020 election should be held accountable by state bar associations, and that the legal profession must protect democracy during the 2024 election.
The bar association − the world's largest voluntary organization of lawyers − is calling on the nation’s 1.3 million lawyers to lean on their legal training to volunteer as poll workers and to provide free legal advice to local election officials instead of taking action to undermine democracy.
It’s all part of a bipartisan effort co-led by former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, who served under President Barack Obama, and retired Judge Michael Luttig, who was appointed to the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by President George W. Bush.
The bar association put the pair in charge of leading the profession’s response to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Johnson and Luttig gave USA TODAY an exclusive interview before they release their recommendations to the rest of the field at a nationwide summit on Friday.
“They are uniquely qualified and are uniquely obligated to defend America’s democracy and the rule of law, among other things,” Luttig told USA TODAY. “Lawyers take an oath to do just that. And then, by way of almost a footnote, lawyers were largely responsible for the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”
Luttig and Johnson have been holding events in swing states to find out how lawyers can apply their training to restore faith in American elections...........
Want to interfere with the election? Lawyers should be held accountable for it, ABA says
Lawyers should be held accountable for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election, a bipartisan American Bar Association task force said.
www.usatoday.com
Optimus Prime
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A federal appeals court on Thursday made it harder for Black and Hispanic voters to form coalitions to elect the candidates they prefer in three southern states, overruling long-standing precedents.
For decades, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit held that the Voting Rights Act allows voting districts that give Black and Hispanic voters the ability to elect candidates of their choice when they have common interests and can form coalitions. Voting rights advocates have praised such rulings because they allow Black and Hispanic voters to get their voices heard even when each group does not constitute a majority on its own.
After the 2020 Census, commissioners in Texas’s Galveston County drew new lines that dissolved the only coalition district in the county. The Justice Department and voters sued, and a district court judge ruled in their favor, citing the appeals court’s precedents. A panel of three appeals court judges upheld that ruling — but also called for the full appeals court to take up the issue to reverse its prior rulings.
On Thursday, the full appeals court did just that. In a 12-6 decision, it ruled the language in Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and decisions from the Supreme Court do not require coalition districts.
“Nowhere does Section 2 indicate that two minority groups may combine forces to pursue a vote dilution claim,” the court wrote in the majority opinion.
The dissenters issued two opinions, including one that called the majority decision “atextual and ahistorical.”
“Today, the majority finally dismantled the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act in this circuit, leaving four decades of en banc precedent flattened in its wake,” they wrote.............
For decades, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit held that the Voting Rights Act allows voting districts that give Black and Hispanic voters the ability to elect candidates of their choice when they have common interests and can form coalitions. Voting rights advocates have praised such rulings because they allow Black and Hispanic voters to get their voices heard even when each group does not constitute a majority on its own.
After the 2020 Census, commissioners in Texas’s Galveston County drew new lines that dissolved the only coalition district in the county. The Justice Department and voters sued, and a district court judge ruled in their favor, citing the appeals court’s precedents. A panel of three appeals court judges upheld that ruling — but also called for the full appeals court to take up the issue to reverse its prior rulings.
On Thursday, the full appeals court did just that. In a 12-6 decision, it ruled the language in Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and decisions from the Supreme Court do not require coalition districts.
“Nowhere does Section 2 indicate that two minority groups may combine forces to pursue a vote dilution claim,” the court wrote in the majority opinion.
The dissenters issued two opinions, including one that called the majority decision “atextual and ahistorical.”
“Today, the majority finally dismantled the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act in this circuit, leaving four decades of en banc precedent flattened in its wake,” they wrote.............
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Optimus Prime
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If true that seems that should be very very illegal
LA - L.A.
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Musk is 2024's incompetent version of Cambridge Analytica.
Optimus Prime
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LANSING, Mich. (AP) — This year’s presidential election was going to be it for Sheryl Guy, who was looking forward to retiring after more than four decades working in the clerk’s office in northern Michigan’s Antrim County.
The outcome of Tuesday’s primary could scramble those plans.
Five candidates are competing in the Republican primary to succeed her as the county’s top elections official, a position she has held for the past 12 years. The winner will be favored in the Republican-leaning county in November.
One of those candidates has peddled election conspiracies and been a vocal critic of the elections office since the 2020 presidential election, when Antrim County found itself in the national spotlight as then-President Donald Trump pushed to overturn the results in Michigan and other swing states.
If the election skeptic wins the primary, Guy said she plans to run as a write-in candidate in the general election.
“I fear for the taxpayers and the county becoming part of their agenda,” she said. “I can’t just turn over an office that I have worked in for over 45 years to an election conspiracist.”
The Antrim County race is just one of many across Michigan and other states holding primaries Tuesday. Michigan’s is the latest to feature Republican candidates who have been promoting election conspiracies or been openly skeptical of voting and ballot-counting, despite no evidence of widespread fraud or problems in the nation’s elections.
This year’s primaries have served as a gauge of Republican voters’ enthusiasm for candidates who continue to promote false claims about the 2020 election in a party where a strong majority still believe Democratic President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected. Even so, results have been mixed.
This past week, Republican voters in Arizona’s Maricopa County ousted the head of the elections office who had relentlessly defended the legitimacy of the state’s elections and faced years of threats and harassment for doing so. They opted for a state lawmaker who has questioned various aspects of the election system, setting up what is almost certain to be a high-profile general election battle in a county that is a perennial target of election conspiracists.
Earlier this year, a county commissioner in a pivotal political county in another presidential battleground state, Nevada, survived a primary challenge from election conspiracists.
In Michigan, Antrim County is not the only place with election conspiracy theorists on the GOP primary ballot.…….
apnews.com
The outcome of Tuesday’s primary could scramble those plans.
Five candidates are competing in the Republican primary to succeed her as the county’s top elections official, a position she has held for the past 12 years. The winner will be favored in the Republican-leaning county in November.
One of those candidates has peddled election conspiracies and been a vocal critic of the elections office since the 2020 presidential election, when Antrim County found itself in the national spotlight as then-President Donald Trump pushed to overturn the results in Michigan and other swing states.
If the election skeptic wins the primary, Guy said she plans to run as a write-in candidate in the general election.
“I fear for the taxpayers and the county becoming part of their agenda,” she said. “I can’t just turn over an office that I have worked in for over 45 years to an election conspiracist.”
The Antrim County race is just one of many across Michigan and other states holding primaries Tuesday. Michigan’s is the latest to feature Republican candidates who have been promoting election conspiracies or been openly skeptical of voting and ballot-counting, despite no evidence of widespread fraud or problems in the nation’s elections.
This year’s primaries have served as a gauge of Republican voters’ enthusiasm for candidates who continue to promote false claims about the 2020 election in a party where a strong majority still believe Democratic President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected. Even so, results have been mixed.
This past week, Republican voters in Arizona’s Maricopa County ousted the head of the elections office who had relentlessly defended the legitimacy of the state’s elections and faced years of threats and harassment for doing so. They opted for a state lawmaker who has questioned various aspects of the election system, setting up what is almost certain to be a high-profile general election battle in a county that is a perennial target of election conspiracists.
Earlier this year, a county commissioner in a pivotal political county in another presidential battleground state, Nevada, survived a primary challenge from election conspiracists.
In Michigan, Antrim County is not the only place with election conspiracy theorists on the GOP primary ballot.…….
Election conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential race live on in Michigan's GOP primary
Several Republicans who were involved in efforts to cast doubt on the results of the 2020 presidential election in Michigan are running for office in the upcoming primary.
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MT15
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MI AG has opened a criminal investigation into this election interference by Musk’s PAC.
FullMonte
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While that is good information, it's possible that there would be no issue with that (or could actually be required).
In 2020, there was one allegation of fraud based on video someone shot showing a poll worker opening a pack of blank ballots, and going thru them one by one, marking on them. The allegation was that they were sitting there filling out ballots for Biden. In reality, the poll worker was taking the blank ballots, and checking them to ensure they were still blank, and had no markings on the front. Once that was checked, they were required to indicate on the back that the ballot had been checked.
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MT15
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NC AG has opened an investigation into Musk’s PAC as well.
SFIDC3
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Good..... Josh Stein is a bulldog, and hopefully the next governor of NC....
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