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
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coldseat
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We've jumped the shark in this country in every sense. Republicans have turned the rule of law into a piece of paper dissolving in a pool of water.
Optimus Prime
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The North Carolina supreme court paved the way to throw out thousands of ballots in a race for a seat on the court that was decided by just over 700 votes.
The staggering decision is the latest development in a race in which Democrat Allison Riggs defeatedher Republican opponent, Judge Jefferson Griffin, by 734 votes.
After multiple recounts confirmed Riggs’s win, Griffin challenged the eligibility of more than 60,000 votes and courts have blocked certification so far.
Last week, the North Carolina court of appeals – the body Griffin sits on – gave the challenged voters 15 days to prove their eligibility.
The state supreme court on Friday dismissed the challenges to 60,000 people who were at risk of being disenfranchised for missing information on their voter application form.
But they said thousands of overseas voters, including military members, had to prove their eligibility within 30 days or their votes would be retroactively discarded.
It’s unclear how many voters could be affected, but it is estimated to be several thousand – enough to overturn the result of the race.
The voters at risk are North Carolinia overseas voters who either did not provide voter ID or who never lived in the state.
Riggs had argued that federal and state law does not require overseas voters to submit ID when they vote.
The challenged voters who have never lived in North Carolina are children of North Carolina residents living overseas who are legal residents of North Carolina, Riggs argued. She also noted that their eligibility had never been challenged until the 2024 election.
Riggs, a former voting rights attorney appointed to the court in 2023, and other groups have said Griffin is trying to overturn the results of a valid election after the fact…….
www.theguardian.com
The staggering decision is the latest development in a race in which Democrat Allison Riggs defeatedher Republican opponent, Judge Jefferson Griffin, by 734 votes.
After multiple recounts confirmed Riggs’s win, Griffin challenged the eligibility of more than 60,000 votes and courts have blocked certification so far.
Last week, the North Carolina court of appeals – the body Griffin sits on – gave the challenged voters 15 days to prove their eligibility.
The state supreme court on Friday dismissed the challenges to 60,000 people who were at risk of being disenfranchised for missing information on their voter application form.
But they said thousands of overseas voters, including military members, had to prove their eligibility within 30 days or their votes would be retroactively discarded.
It’s unclear how many voters could be affected, but it is estimated to be several thousand – enough to overturn the result of the race.
The voters at risk are North Carolinia overseas voters who either did not provide voter ID or who never lived in the state.
Riggs had argued that federal and state law does not require overseas voters to submit ID when they vote.
The challenged voters who have never lived in North Carolina are children of North Carolina residents living overseas who are legal residents of North Carolina, Riggs argued. She also noted that their eligibility had never been challenged until the 2024 election.
Riggs, a former voting rights attorney appointed to the court in 2023, and other groups have said Griffin is trying to overturn the results of a valid election after the fact…….
North Carolina judges order ballot checks in tight race won by Democrat
Supreme court says overseas voters must prove eligibility or votes will be discarded – which could affect election’s result
Optimus Prime
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About canada
==========
More than a quarter of Canadians have been exposed to fake political content on social media that is “more sophisticated and more politically polarizing” as the country prepares to vote in a federal election, researchers have found, warning that platforms must increase protections amid a “dramatic acceleration” of online disinformation in the final weeks of the campaign.
In a new report released on Friday, Canada’s Media Ecosystem Observatory found a growing number of Facebook ads impersonating legitimate news sources were instead promoting fraudulent investment schemes, often involving cryptocurrency.
Canada’s federal election, on 28 April, is the first national vote in which Canadian news is not permitted to be shared on products owned by Meta, including Facebook and Instagram.
The ban, which began in August 2023, is a result of a standoff between the tech giant and Ottawa over the Online News Act that forced intermediaries such as Meta and Google’s parent company Alphabet to compensate journalism outlets for sharing their content.
Meta described the legislation, Bill C-18 – passed on 18 June – as “unworkable” and argued that the only way to comply with the law is to “end news availability for people in Canada”.
But media researchers found more than half of Canadians still say they get political news from Facebook, despite the platform’s ban on news articles from reputable outlets.
“People using Facebook aren’t often thinking, ‘Am I reading the news?’ But they leave feeling more informed politically, either from comments from friends or family, about the election. They might see a post from a candidate or follow cultural news aggregating types of accounts,” said Aengus Bridgman, the executive director of the MEO.
“But we know this is not the same quality of information they might have accessed before the ban. The richest, densest and most accurate and factchecked information is not making it through any more. Neither is information that might contradict the views they hold. All of that just has been cut really – like, off at the knees.”
Bridgman says that most of the content the team uncovered – including more than 40 Facebook pages promoting fraudulent ads, with new pages being created and identified every day – were meant to be humorous or ironic, instead of convincing. None of the content the team found is expected to sway the electorate.
But Canada’s Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (Site) is monitoring the election for disinformation and says it expects increased online political activity following the two closely-watched leaders debates. China, Russia and Iran remain the greatest threats to Canada’s election, according to the taskforce.……..
www.theguardian.com
==========
More than a quarter of Canadians have been exposed to fake political content on social media that is “more sophisticated and more politically polarizing” as the country prepares to vote in a federal election, researchers have found, warning that platforms must increase protections amid a “dramatic acceleration” of online disinformation in the final weeks of the campaign.
In a new report released on Friday, Canada’s Media Ecosystem Observatory found a growing number of Facebook ads impersonating legitimate news sources were instead promoting fraudulent investment schemes, often involving cryptocurrency.
Canada’s federal election, on 28 April, is the first national vote in which Canadian news is not permitted to be shared on products owned by Meta, including Facebook and Instagram.
The ban, which began in August 2023, is a result of a standoff between the tech giant and Ottawa over the Online News Act that forced intermediaries such as Meta and Google’s parent company Alphabet to compensate journalism outlets for sharing their content.
Meta described the legislation, Bill C-18 – passed on 18 June – as “unworkable” and argued that the only way to comply with the law is to “end news availability for people in Canada”.
But media researchers found more than half of Canadians still say they get political news from Facebook, despite the platform’s ban on news articles from reputable outlets.
“People using Facebook aren’t often thinking, ‘Am I reading the news?’ But they leave feeling more informed politically, either from comments from friends or family, about the election. They might see a post from a candidate or follow cultural news aggregating types of accounts,” said Aengus Bridgman, the executive director of the MEO.
“But we know this is not the same quality of information they might have accessed before the ban. The richest, densest and most accurate and factchecked information is not making it through any more. Neither is information that might contradict the views they hold. All of that just has been cut really – like, off at the knees.”
Bridgman says that most of the content the team uncovered – including more than 40 Facebook pages promoting fraudulent ads, with new pages being created and identified every day – were meant to be humorous or ironic, instead of convincing. None of the content the team found is expected to sway the electorate.
But Canada’s Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (Site) is monitoring the election for disinformation and says it expects increased online political activity following the two closely-watched leaders debates. China, Russia and Iran remain the greatest threats to Canada’s election, according to the taskforce.……..
Dramatic rise in fake political content on social media as Canada prepares to vote
Report finds over a quarter of Canadians exposed to ‘more sophisticated and more politically polarizing’ fake content
Optimus Prime
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Online
Republicans in nearly half of state legislatures have proposed bills to require documentary proof of citizenship to vote.
Conservatives in California are pushing for a voter ID ballot measure that would require citizenship verification to register to vote and photo identification to get a ballot.
A Republican lawmaker in Pennsylvania filed a bill to create a voter ID in the swing state, praising voters in Wisconsin that voted to approve a new ID law in the midwestern battleground state.
Donald Trump won both the electoral college and the popular vote last year, but his win has not stopped the ongoing Republican quest to restrict access to elections.
In fact, Republicans in state legislatures across the country have been emboldened by the president’s calls to secure US elections, even with no evidence that voter fraud is a legitimate problem.
They have filed bills under the pretense of election integrity, including stricter voter ID provisions, documentary proof of citizenship requirements, hurdles for citizens’ ballot measures, restrictions on voter eligibility and the mail voting process, and pre-emptions that would make ranked choice voting illegal.
These bills could become law before the 2026 midterms, which could aid Republicans by making it more difficult for certain groups of people to vote.
Even if they do not pass, they will become more fuel for stolen election narratives and for people who claim US elections are not secure.
According to the Voting Rights Lab, which tracks state level bills, 404 bills have been filed across the US to restrict voter access or election administration this term.
“Ultimately, they’re predicated on false claims about who is voting in our elections, and they stand to harm a lot of eligible American citizens who want to be able to vote, and millions and millions of whom have been voting in our elections legally in recent years,” said Andrew Garber, counsel in the voting rights program for the Brennan Center.
The state-level moves come as the US House has approved a far-reaching bill, dubbed the Save Act, that would require voters to submit proof they are US citizens when registering to vote and would limit registration by mail or online, hindering voter registration efforts.
Trump also issued an executive order calling for documentary proof of citizenship. These restrictions are based on the false narrative that noncitizens are voting en masse in US elections, a common theme pushed by Trump and his allies during the 2024 election.
Several states have approved laws requiring documentary proof of citizenship, including New Hampshire and Louisiana, and others, like Texas, are considering similar bills.
New Hampshire held its first elections this year since adopting the new requirements and some people were not able to register, Votebeat reported.
Among those were some voters whose current names didn’t match their birth certificate, which would apply to people who have changed their name.…….
www.theguardian.com
Conservatives in California are pushing for a voter ID ballot measure that would require citizenship verification to register to vote and photo identification to get a ballot.
A Republican lawmaker in Pennsylvania filed a bill to create a voter ID in the swing state, praising voters in Wisconsin that voted to approve a new ID law in the midwestern battleground state.
Donald Trump won both the electoral college and the popular vote last year, but his win has not stopped the ongoing Republican quest to restrict access to elections.
In fact, Republicans in state legislatures across the country have been emboldened by the president’s calls to secure US elections, even with no evidence that voter fraud is a legitimate problem.
They have filed bills under the pretense of election integrity, including stricter voter ID provisions, documentary proof of citizenship requirements, hurdles for citizens’ ballot measures, restrictions on voter eligibility and the mail voting process, and pre-emptions that would make ranked choice voting illegal.
These bills could become law before the 2026 midterms, which could aid Republicans by making it more difficult for certain groups of people to vote.
Even if they do not pass, they will become more fuel for stolen election narratives and for people who claim US elections are not secure.
According to the Voting Rights Lab, which tracks state level bills, 404 bills have been filed across the US to restrict voter access or election administration this term.
“Ultimately, they’re predicated on false claims about who is voting in our elections, and they stand to harm a lot of eligible American citizens who want to be able to vote, and millions and millions of whom have been voting in our elections legally in recent years,” said Andrew Garber, counsel in the voting rights program for the Brennan Center.
The state-level moves come as the US House has approved a far-reaching bill, dubbed the Save Act, that would require voters to submit proof they are US citizens when registering to vote and would limit registration by mail or online, hindering voter registration efforts.
Trump also issued an executive order calling for documentary proof of citizenship. These restrictions are based on the false narrative that noncitizens are voting en masse in US elections, a common theme pushed by Trump and his allies during the 2024 election.
Several states have approved laws requiring documentary proof of citizenship, including New Hampshire and Louisiana, and others, like Texas, are considering similar bills.
New Hampshire held its first elections this year since adopting the new requirements and some people were not able to register, Votebeat reported.
Among those were some voters whose current names didn’t match their birth certificate, which would apply to people who have changed their name.…….
Republicans in many states forge ahead with bills requiring proof of citizenship to vote
State-level attack come as House has approved the Save Act, that requires voters to submit proof they are US citizens
The Russians are heavily heavily involved here, too.About canada
==========
More than a quarter of Canadians have been exposed to fake political content on social media that is “more sophisticated and more politically polarizing” as the country prepares to vote in a federal election, researchers have found, warning that platforms must increase protections amid a “dramatic acceleration” of online disinformation in the final weeks of the campaign.
In a new report released on Friday, Canada’s Media Ecosystem Observatory found a growing number of Facebook ads impersonating legitimate news sources were instead promoting fraudulent investment schemes, often involving cryptocurrency.
Canada’s federal election, on 28 April, is the first national vote in which Canadian news is not permitted to be shared on products owned by Meta, including Facebook and Instagram.
The ban, which began in August 2023, is a result of a standoff between the tech giant and Ottawa over the Online News Act that forced intermediaries such as Meta and Google’s parent company Alphabet to compensate journalism outlets for sharing their content.
Meta described the legislation, Bill C-18 – passed on 18 June – as “unworkable” and argued that the only way to comply with the law is to “end news availability for people in Canada”.
But media researchers found more than half of Canadians still say they get political news from Facebook, despite the platform’s ban on news articles from reputable outlets.
“People using Facebook aren’t often thinking, ‘Am I reading the news?’ But they leave feeling more informed politically, either from comments from friends or family, about the election. They might see a post from a candidate or follow cultural news aggregating types of accounts,” said Aengus Bridgman, the executive director of the MEO.
“But we know this is not the same quality of information they might have accessed before the ban. The richest, densest and most accurate and factchecked information is not making it through any more. Neither is information that might contradict the views they hold. All of that just has been cut really – like, off at the knees.”
Bridgman says that most of the content the team uncovered – including more than 40 Facebook pages promoting fraudulent ads, with new pages being created and identified every day – were meant to be humorous or ironic, instead of convincing. None of the content the team found is expected to sway the electorate.
But Canada’s Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (Site) is monitoring the election for disinformation and says it expects increased online political activity following the two closely-watched leaders debates. China, Russia and Iran remain the greatest threats to Canada’s election, according to the taskforce.……..
Dramatic rise in fake political content on social media as Canada prepares to vote
Report finds over a quarter of Canadians exposed to ‘more sophisticated and more politically polarizing’ fake content
The current Conservative candidate, Pierre Poilievre, was behind Patrick Brown, mayor of Brampton. Brampton is heavily Indian and Muslim but pretty popular and a moderate Conservative. Poilievre ended up soliciting foreign interference and aid from India and ended up winning the nomination, in very shady ways.
One of the problems is that Canadians don't think twice about being manipulated by propaganda, because they think of it as an American-specific phenomenon, where corruption and politics go hand in hand. And also because Americans are so much dumber and gullible than Canadians (or so they assume).
It's a recipe for vulnerability and foreign actors are capitalizing.
Optimus Prime
Well-known member
Online
Donald Trump’s appointees at the Department of Justice have removed all of the senior civil servants working as managers in the department’s voting section and directed attorneys to dismiss all active cases, according to people familiar with the matter, part of a broader attack on the department’s civil rights division.
The moves come less than a month after Trump ally Harmeet Dhillon was confirmed to lead the civil rights division, created in 1957 and referred to as the “crown jewel” of the justice department. In an unusual move, Dhillon sent out new “mission statements” to the department’s sections that made it clear the civil rights division was shifting its focus from protecting the civil rights of marginalized people to supporting Trump’s priorities.
Tamar Hagler, the chief of the voting section, which is responsible for enforcing federal laws designed to prevent voter discrimination, and five top career managers were all reassigned last week to the complaint adjudication office, a little-known part of the department that handles employee complaints, according to people familiar with the matter. A career line attorney in the section has also been reassigned to the complaint adjudication office.
The voting section had seven managers in January overseeing around 30 attorneys. Of the two other managers, one retired and another was detailed to work on an antisemitism task force.
Political appointees have also instructed career employees to dismiss all of their active cases without meeting with them and offering a rationale – a significant break with the department’s practices and norms.
The justice department did not return a request for comment.
Taken together, the changes have raised significant alarm about what the future of voting rights enforcement will look like for the federal government at a moment when states continue to pass restrictive voting measures.…….
www.theguardian.com
The moves come less than a month after Trump ally Harmeet Dhillon was confirmed to lead the civil rights division, created in 1957 and referred to as the “crown jewel” of the justice department. In an unusual move, Dhillon sent out new “mission statements” to the department’s sections that made it clear the civil rights division was shifting its focus from protecting the civil rights of marginalized people to supporting Trump’s priorities.
Tamar Hagler, the chief of the voting section, which is responsible for enforcing federal laws designed to prevent voter discrimination, and five top career managers were all reassigned last week to the complaint adjudication office, a little-known part of the department that handles employee complaints, according to people familiar with the matter. A career line attorney in the section has also been reassigned to the complaint adjudication office.
The voting section had seven managers in January overseeing around 30 attorneys. Of the two other managers, one retired and another was detailed to work on an antisemitism task force.
Political appointees have also instructed career employees to dismiss all of their active cases without meeting with them and offering a rationale – a significant break with the department’s practices and norms.
The justice department did not return a request for comment.
Taken together, the changes have raised significant alarm about what the future of voting rights enforcement will look like for the federal government at a moment when states continue to pass restrictive voting measures.…….
Trump’s justice department appointees remove leadership of voting unit
Section is responsible for enforcing laws designed to prevent voter discrimination, raised alarm about voting rights enforcement
Optimus Prime
Well-known member
Online
For the GOP/MAGA
Good News! Looks like a clear case of non citizen voting illegally
Bad News! Voted for Trump
=====================
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An Iraqi man living in upstate New York has been charged with illegally voting in the 2020 election, according to U.S. prosecutors, who said Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency assisted in the investigation.
Akeel Abdul Jamiel, 45, was living in South Glens Falls, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Albany, when he voted in Saratoga County “fully knowing he was not a United States citizen,” according to an April 25 charging document.
He is charged with voting by aliens, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison.
“Election security is and will continue to be one of the FBI’s highest national security priorities,” Craig Tremaroli, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Albany field office, said in a Justice Department news release.
Attempts to reach Jamiel were unsuccessful. Messages emailed to addresses used by Jamiel in the past either bounced back or didn’t result in an immediate response. A message was also left at a phone number listed for Jamiel in a court filing in an unrelated lawsuit. Court records did not indicate whether he has an attorney.
President Donald Trump has blamed widespread voter fraud for his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, despite analyses showing that claim was false. Public records indicate Jamiel registered as a member of New York’s Conservative Party the month before the election.
“Only American citizens can vote in American elections,” the Justice Department post said. “Thanks to our partnership @DOGE, this DOJ has charged an Iraqi man for illegal voting in the 2020 election.”
It isn’t clear who Jamiel voted for in the election. In a 2019 lawsuit, however, he identified himself as a Trump supporter……..
apnews.com
Good News! Looks like a clear case of non citizen voting illegally
Bad News! Voted for Trump
=====================
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An Iraqi man living in upstate New York has been charged with illegally voting in the 2020 election, according to U.S. prosecutors, who said Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency assisted in the investigation.
Akeel Abdul Jamiel, 45, was living in South Glens Falls, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Albany, when he voted in Saratoga County “fully knowing he was not a United States citizen,” according to an April 25 charging document.
He is charged with voting by aliens, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison.
“Election security is and will continue to be one of the FBI’s highest national security priorities,” Craig Tremaroli, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Albany field office, said in a Justice Department news release.
Attempts to reach Jamiel were unsuccessful. Messages emailed to addresses used by Jamiel in the past either bounced back or didn’t result in an immediate response. A message was also left at a phone number listed for Jamiel in a court filing in an unrelated lawsuit. Court records did not indicate whether he has an attorney.
President Donald Trump has blamed widespread voter fraud for his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, despite analyses showing that claim was false. Public records indicate Jamiel registered as a member of New York’s Conservative Party the month before the election.
“Only American citizens can vote in American elections,” the Justice Department post said. “Thanks to our partnership @DOGE, this DOJ has charged an Iraqi man for illegal voting in the 2020 election.”
It isn’t clear who Jamiel voted for in the election. In a 2019 lawsuit, however, he identified himself as a Trump supporter……..
Iraqi man charged with illegally voting in the 2020 election in New York
An Iraqi man living in upstate New York has been charged with illegally voting in the 2020 election.
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