Tag Archives: voter suppression

Slate reports: Supporters of his, in North Carolina and elsewhere, could follow his advice and try to vote twice. The comments are going to put a strain on an election system stretched to its limits by trying to conduct a presidential election in the midst of a pandemic. Again, this is probably Trump’s real intent. North Carolina, like other states, …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: The ACLU of Georgia this morning has released a report that says a 2019 purge of voters from the state’s registration database improperly removed nearly 200,000 on the grounds that they had moved – when they had not. The report is the work of the Palast Investigative Fund, a New York-based nonprofit headed by Greg Palast, …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office paid prominent Washington law firm Cooper & Kirk $250,000 to defend the state’s law banning people convicted of felonies from voting before they’ve paid off all court fees, fines and restitution to victims. According to the contract released by the governor’s office Monday, DeSantis general counsel Joe Jacquot inked the deal …

The Hill reports: As the GOP convention kicked off Monday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered a message to American voters: ignore President Trump. “One thing I will say to the American people: Do not pay any attention to Donald Trump,” Pelosi said during an appearance on MSNBC. “It is his goal to scare people from voting, to intimidate them by …

Politico reports: In a private meeting inside Trump Tower days before his inauguration, Donald Trump told a group of civil rights leaders something most Republicans wouldn’t dare publicly acknowledge: lower turnout among Black voters did, in fact, benefit him in the 2016 presidential election. “Many Blacks didn’t go out to vote for Hillary ‘cause they liked me. That was almost …

Cleveland.com reports: Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Wednesday he is banning county boards of elections from offering more than one drop box for completed absentee ballots this November, saying it’s grown too late to make changes to how Ohio will administer this year’s presidential election. LaRose, a Republican, more than three weeks ago formally asked Ohio Attorney General Dave …

Courthouse News reports: A group of Illinois Republicans sued the state’s Democratic governor and others in federal court Monday over a law they claim is designed to expand voting by mail to dilute Republican votes and tilt elections in favor of Democrats, while also risking a spike in voter fraud. The Cook County Republican Party targeted Governor J.B. Pritzker in …

Roll Call reports: Alabama officials asked the Supreme Court to step into the debate over how to conduct election laws in the midst of a national health crisis, in a legal dispute over absentee ballot requirements in three of the state’s largest counties. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill filed an application to the high court Monday to overturn a …

Newsweek reports: Kentucky has slashed the number of polling locations for Tuesday’s primary elections, a situation voting rights advocates say could have “disastrous” effects. There will be just 170 in-person polling stations across the Commonwealth on June 23—a major drop from the standard 3,700 sites usually made available for voters. The decrease comes as state officials heavily encourage residents to …

Mark Zuckerberg writes for USA Today: With so much of our discourse taking place online, I believe platforms like Facebook can play a positive role in this election by helping Americans use their voice where it matters most — by voting. We’re announcing on Wednesday the largest voting information campaign in American history. Our goal is to help 4 million …

The Associated Press reports: Voters endured heat, pouring rain and waits as long as five hours on Tuesday to cast ballots in Georgia, demonstrating a fierce desire to participate in the democratic process while raising questions about the emerging battleground state’s ability to manage elections in November when the White House is at stake. A confluence of events disrupted primary …

USA Today reports: Rejecting claims raised by state Democrats, the Texas Supreme Court ruled late Wednesday that a lack of immunity to the coronavirus does not entitle voters to a mail-in ballot under state law. Texas election law limits mail-in ballots to specific categories of voters, such as those with a disability that prevents them from safely traveling to a …

The Guardian reports: A powerful new conservative organization fighting to restrict voting in the 2020 presidential election is really just a rebranded group that is part of a dark money network already helping Donald Trump’s unprecedented effort to remake the US federal judiciary, the Guardian and OpenSecrets reveal. The organization, which calls itself the Honest Elections Project, seemed to emerge …

Via press release from the Justice Department: The Department of Justice filed a Statement of Interest Monday in an Alabama federal court to promote the proper and uniform interpretation of the Voting Rights Act. The Statement of Interest is part of the Department of Justice’s continuing efforts around the country to enforce our nation’s federal voting rights laws. The lawsuit …

Bloomberg News reports: The Republican National Committee and two other groups filed a lawsuit against California Governor Gavin Newsom to block his executive order allowing mail-in ballots at the November polls, calling it an “illegal and brazen power grab.” Following the coronavirus outbreak, the Democratic governor said earlier this month that every registered voter in the state would receive a …

The Texas Tribune reports: A federal judge opened a path for a massive expansion in absentee voting in Texas by ordering Tuesday that all state voters, regardless of age, qualify for mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic. Days after a two-hour preliminary injunction hearing in San Antonio, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery agreed with individual Texas voters and the Texas …

The New York Times reports: The Republican program, which has gained steam in recent weeks, envisions recruiting up to 50,000 volunteers in 15 key states to monitor polling places and challenge ballots and voters deemed suspicious. That is part of a $20 million plan that also allots millions to challenge lawsuits by Democrats and voting-rights advocates seeking to loosen state …

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports: Nevada plaintiffs backed by a conservative voting-watch group are trying again to block the state’s all vote-by-mail June 9 primary, arguing that mail-only balloting is no longer necessary to limit the risk of COVID-19 spreading among voters. The True the Vote group’s revised complaint seeking an injunction also argues that Clark County’s procedures for distributing …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump has been increasingly engaged in the legal battles unfolding across the country over the issue of vote-by-mail, urging his political advisers to take an aggressive posture to counter Democratic lawsuits on the issue. Trump met with his political aides on Thursday at the White House about the legal efforts, a source familiar with the meeting …

The Associated Press reports: A federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that a Kansas law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote is unconstitutional, upholding a judge’s injunction that had banned its use. A 10th Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Salt Lake City found in two consolidated appeals challenging the Kansas statute that the state law violates the …