Voter Suppression & Election Theft by the Republican Party

[goldenvalley]

I'm sure it's not just the League being denied permits.  I'll bet there are others too.  ProPublica has a thing about the League, having written an article about how the League is accused of being partisan...Republican politicians were refusing to participate in League sponsored candidate forums.  

[LFC]

Mar 20, 2023 17:37:01 GMT goldenvalley said:

I'm sure it's not just the League being denied permits.  I'll bet there are others too.  ProPublica has a thing about the League, having written an article about how the League is accused of being partisan...Republican politicians were refusing to participate in League sponsored candidate forums.  

Basically anything that does not favor them is partisan. Fair? That's for the other guys.

[pnwguy]

Mar 20, 2023 18:13:20 GMT LFC said:

Basically anything that does not favor them is partisan. Fair? That's for the other guys.

Like Democracy.  Minority rule by oligarchs is far more preferred.

[LFC]

Anti-democracy continues to run strong in the GOP.

Republican members of the Texas state legislature introduced a slate of bills Thursday designed to subvert election processes and curb voting rights in the state. One of them would even allow the Texas Secretary of State to overturn election results in the state’s largest Democratic-leaning county, with very little rationale for doing so.

On Thursday, Republican state senators introduced Senate Bill 1993, a bill targeting Harris County, a diverse region that includes Houston and is also the most populous county in Texas, to a Senate committee for debate.

SB 1993 would grant Secretary of State Jane Nelson (R) the authority to order a new election in Harris County “if the secretary has good cause to believe that at least two percent of the total number of polling places in the county did not receive supplemental ballots,” according to the bill text. Secretary Nelson would have the same authority granted to a district court.

The bill would “allow really low thresholds” for ordering a new election, Katya Ehresman, the voting rights program manager at Common Cause Texas, told TPM. “Anything from a machine malfunction, which can necessarily be the fault of the county or of an election administrator getting stuck in traffic—which in Houston is incredibly likely—and having a delay in providing election results to the central count station,” she said.

The bill was introduced alongside over a dozen other bills seeking to restrict voter access and overhaul the state’s elections process. Senate Bill 260, for example, would allow the secretary to suspend election administrators without cause, and Senate Bill 1070 would enable Texas to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a bipartisan program that maintains voter rolls across state lines that has recently been targeted by far-right propaganda.

State Republicans quietly introduced the bills in the State Affairs Committee on Thursday morning—without giving the mandatory 48-hour notice. “Every part of today’s hearing highlights the subversive attacks on elections in Texas,” Ehresman said, “and (SB) 1993 is a part of that.”

[andydp]

Why waste time on a few mail in ballots ?  The GOP always believed in mass effort


Right-wing hoaxers’ robocalls targeting Black voters violated Voting Rights Act and KKK Act, federal judge rules

Right-wing activists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman’s robocalls targeting Black voters violated the Voting Rights Act and Ku Klux Klan Act — and the question isn’t close enough to require a jury, a federal judge ruled.

“The Court recognizes that the free exchange of ideas on issues of public concern and the ability to engage in robust political discussion constitute the foundations of a democratic society,” Senior U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero wrote in a 111-page order on Wednesday.

Marrero nonetheless found that the evidence “establishes that the neighborhoods that Defendants targeted were not accidental or random,” finding that a reasonable jury couldn’t escape the conclusion that the pair wanted to “deny the right to vote specifically to Black voters.”


www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/right-wing-hoaxers-robocalls-targeting-black-voters-violated-voting-rights-act-and-kkk-act-federal-judge-rules/ar-AA18nFPv

[LFC]

Democracy and fair elections are for suckers.

After three Senate elections in which Democrat Jon Tester narrowly beat the Republican candidates by—collectively—40,000 votes, Montana Republicans are striking back.

The GOP-controlled state legislature is considering a radical change in election law—a change that is nakedly targeted at taking down Tester and could, in effect, flip one of the most vulnerable Senate seats well before November 2024.

Montana Republicans are trying to take a page out of California’s playbook and switch their primary election to the controversial top-two primary system, otherwise known as a “jungle primary.”

But it’s only for next year, when Tester, Montana’s last statewide Democrat, is up for re-election. After that, the change would expire, supposedly so lawmakers could assess how things went.

It’s a move that would obviously benefit the GOP—with suspiciously convenient timing. After the bill stalled in committee, the measure quickly sped through the state Senate, and now seems on the fast track toward becoming law.

Democrats, many flabbergasted by the ploy, are calling out the move.

I guarantee you, if any of these Dems has been paying attention they are not flabbergasted in the least. Angry? Sure. But now that the fig leaves are gone everybody knows there's nothing Republicans won't do for power.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 12, 2023 20:18:47 GMT LFC said:

Democracy and fair elections are for suckers.

After three Senate elections in which Democrat Jon Tester narrowly beat the Republican candidates by—collectively—40,000 votes, Montana Republicans are striking back.

The GOP-controlled state legislature is considering a radical change in election law—a change that is nakedly targeted at taking down Tester and could, in effect, flip one of the most vulnerable Senate seats well before November 2024.

Montana Republicans are trying to take a page out of California’s playbook and switch their primary election to the controversial top-two primary system, otherwise known as a “jungle primary.”

But it’s only for next year, when Tester, Montana’s last statewide Democrat, is up for re-election. After that, the change would expire, supposedly so lawmakers could assess how things went.

It’s a move that would obviously benefit the GOP—with suspiciously convenient timing. After the bill stalled in committee, the measure quickly sped through the state Senate, and now seems on the fast track toward becoming law.

Democrats, many flabbergasted by the ploy, are calling out the move.

I guarantee you, if any of these Dems has been paying attention they are not flabbergasted in the least. Angry? Sure. But now that the fig leaves are gone everybody knows there's nothing Republicans won't do for power.

They're so obvious about it.  They could have at least used a fig leaf and had all offices elected statewide be in the top two primary, but noooo.  So blindly power mad and angry that they make it clear they're gunning for one US Senator.

[LFC]

Pay up, Pillowboy!

My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell has been ordered to shell out $5 million to an expert who debunked his data related to the 2020 election, according to a decision by the arbitration panel obtained by CNN.

Lindell, a purveyor of election conspiracies, vowed to award the multimillion-dollar sum to any cyber security expert who could disprove his data. An arbitration panel awarded Robert Zeidman, who has decades in software development experience, a $5 million payout on Wednesday after he sued Lindell over the sum.

CNN has obtained arbitration documents and video depositions, including a deposition of Lindell, related to the dispute.

“Based on the foregoing analysis, Mr. Zeidman performed under the contract,” the arbitration panel wrote in its decision. “He proved the data Lindell LLC provided, and represented reflected information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data. Failure to pay Mr. Zeidman the $5 million prized was a breach of the contract, entitling him to recover.”

The decision marks yet another blow to the MyPillow CEO’s credibility after he publicly touted unproven claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Lindell has also faced defamation suits related to his election claims.

[andydp]

"Don't write checks with your mouth that your ass can't cover."

Mike Lindell ordered to pay $5M reward to expert who debunked 'rigged election' claims

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has been ordered to pay $5 million to an expert who debunked his claims about the 2020 election, CNN reported.

Lindell, who pushes mass voter fraud conspiracy theories, vowed to award a multimillion-dollar prize to any cyber security expert who could disprove his claims. An arbitration panel awarded software developer Robert Zeidman the $5 million payout on Wednesday after he sued Lindell.

“Based on the foregoing analysis, Mr. Zeidman performed under the contract,” the arbitration panel wrote in its decision. “He proved the data Lindell LLC provided, and represented reflected information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data. Failure to pay Mr. Zeidman the $5 million prized was a breach of the contract, entitling him to recover.”

www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mike-lindell-ordered-to-pay-5m-reward-to-expert-who-debunked-rigged-election-claims/ar-AA1a6yc4?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=b402ff060ec44208bb262d805811b872&ei=25

[LFC]

Look! It's the definition of insanity!

[andydp]

Apr 20, 2023 18:03:53 GMT LFC said:

Look! It's the definition of insanity!

Did he forget there's a Dominion suit against him personally ?  Isn't this the "anything you say can be used against you in a court of law ?" part ?

[LFC]

Apr 20, 2023 18:19:27 GMT andydp said:

Did he forget there's a Dominion suit against him personally ?  Isn't this the "anything you say can be used against you in a court of law ?" paart ?

Maybe he wants to go down in a blaze of "glory."

[LFC]

The PA state supreme court just landed on a rogue county for its election nonsense. Even the Republican appointees agreed and the decision was unanimous.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday said Fulton County had blatantly defied the court when it allowed a third-party company to access its 2020 voting machines.

The county had first given a firm access to its Dominion voting machines in the weeks after the 2020 election, prompting the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections, to decertify the machines and ask the court to block the county from giving any further access. The court agreed, ordering the machines be kept secure.

Fulton County gave another company access to its voting machines anyway, leading the justices to impose sanctions on the county and its attorneys in the form of repaid legal fees for both the state and Dominion. “No remedy can undo the harm that the county’s contempt caused,” Justice David Wecht said in his majority opinion, but “simply are the next best thing.”

They were clearly pissed off at the blatant criminal behavior of county officials.

The sanctions — and the at times clearly angry opinion — were also a message about the authority of the courts.

“[W]e can hope that the sanctions will underscore for the County, Attorney Carroll, and other observers that they trifle with judicial orders and time-honored rules and norms in litigation at their peril,” he wrote.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Kevin Dougherty said “it is difficult to recall a more brazen abuse of the judicial process during my more than two decades on the bench” and used his opinion to explicitly lay out an additional message about elections in particular.

“In fact, let it be known far and wide that this Court can — and will — exercise the full might of its constitutional authority against those who seek to delegitimize this Commonwealth’s elections, or its judiciary,” Dougherty wrote.

And this clown likely just ended his legal career, at least in PA.

The court also found Thomas Carroll, one of the county’s attorneys, guilty of bad-faith conduct that violated the court order and said they would refer him to the Pennsylvania Attorney Disciplinary Board. The justices also ordered him to pay legal fees. And they said they would refer another attorney for the county, Stefanie Lambert of Michigan, to that state’s Attorney Grievance Commission.

[andydp]

As if we didn't know this guy...


New Audio Shows Ted Cruz Scheming to Steal 2020 Election

MSNBC aired more whistleblower audio of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Tuesday, this time dissecting a tape that appears to feature him plotting to overthrow the 2020 election—well before the events of Jan. 6.

The revelations come courtesy of Fox whistleblower Abby Grossberg, who provided the tapes to MSNBC host Ari Melber.

According to the files, Cruz reportedly tried to sell his plan to Fox host and Trump ally Maria Bartiromo on Jan. 2—four days before the Capitol riot—pitching a scheme to overthrow the 2020 election by blocking the certification of Joe Biden’s win on Jan. 6, then establishing a commission to investigate the nonexistent claims of fraud which would ultimately “decide” who to inaugurate.

“As we were looking at this Jan. 6 certification, all of the options that were being discussed were problematic,” Cruz explains.

“And so I wanted to find a path that was consistent with the Constitution and the law, and that address these very real serious claims.”


www.thedailybeast.com/ari-melber-on-msnbc-airs-bombshell-audio-showing-ted-cruz-scheming-to-steal-election

[goldenvalley]

Apr 26, 2023 9:47:06 GMT andydp said:

As if we didn't know this guy...


New Audio Shows Ted Cruz Scheming to Steal 2020 Election

MSNBC aired more whistleblower audio of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Tuesday, this time dissecting a tape that appears to feature him plotting to overthrow the 2020 election—well before the events of Jan. 6.

The revelations come courtesy of Fox whistleblower Abby Grossberg, who provided the tapes to MSNBC host Ari Melber.

According to the files, Cruz reportedly tried to sell his plan to Fox host and Trump ally Maria Bartiromo on Jan. 2—four days before the Capitol riot—pitching a scheme to overthrow the 2020 election by blocking the certification of Joe Biden’s win on Jan. 6, then establishing a commission to investigate the nonexistent claims of fraud which would ultimately “decide” who to inaugurate.

“As we were looking at this Jan. 6 certification, all of the options that were being discussed were problematic,” Cruz explains.

“And so I wanted to find a path that was consistent with the Constitution and the law, and that address these very real serious claims.”


www.thedailybeast.com/ari-melber-on-msnbc-airs-bombshell-audio-showing-ted-cruz-scheming-to-steal-election

I thought we always knew this was Cruz's plan way back around 1/6.  I don't see this "new" info is any bombshell. If it turned out that Cruz was directly in with the Eastman, Stone, Proud Boys crew in supporting the physical insurrection, that would be news.  

[jackd]

I agree. Cruz, himself, has been arguing that there was nothing secret about it.

[LFC]

A bit more on Cruz.

As he notes in a response, Cruz admitted there was no fraud so his call for a commission was clearly bullshit. Well, that and the fact that Trump had already lost over 60 cases.

So doubtful it rises to prosecutable but clear evidence he didn't care that any real evidence existed. I'd say par for the course for the Sedition Caucus.

[LFC]

Florida gets called out on part of their ex-convict life destruction plan for political gain.

On Wednesday, April 26, the League of Women Voters of Florida and the Florida State Conference of the NAACP filed a lawsuit against Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd (R) challenging the state’s voter registration application. Specifically, the plaintiffs argue that the form’s lack of information regarding voter eligibility, especially as it pertains to returning citizens (those with past felony convictions), violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

The plaintiffs allege that the challenged voter registration application fails to meet the requirements of the NVRA, which prescribes “minimum standards for informing potential voters about Florida’s complicated eligibility requirements.” The plaintiffs specifically argue that the form does not contain the necessary information for individuals, especially returning citizens, to conclude whether they are eligible to vote. In addition, the plaintiffs allege that Florida’s voter information cards that are mailed to returning citizens do not include “any information to indicate to registrants that they might not be eligible to vote.” The plaintiffs point out that while Florida’s eligibility rules have changed in the last five years, the state’s registration application has not changed since 2013 and does not account for these voter eligibility rule changes. The plaintiffs ask the court to declare the voter registration application in violation of the NVRA, prevent Byrd from using the application and order Byrd to adopt an application that complies with the NVRA.

As the complaint points out, Florida has a “byzantine statutory scheme for the restoration of voting rights following felony convictions that made it ‘sometimes hard, sometimes impossible’ for returning citizens…to determine their eligibility to vote.” In 2018, voters in Florida amended the state’s constitution to restore voting rights to an “estimated 1.4 million Floridians with non-disqualifying felony convictions;” in 2019 however, the Florida Legislature passed a “pay-to-vote” law that “effectively revoked the eligibility of nearly half of the intended beneficiaries of Amendment 4.”

Because of the pay-to-vote system and a patchwork of voter eligibility rules, it is extremely difficult for returning citizens to determine if they are eligible to vote. The plaintiffs explain, “there are no reliable, publicly available sources for determining whether a returning citizen owes money or whether a returning citizen’s debts disqualify him or her from voting.” According to the complaint, within the last “13 months alone, the State prosecuted at least 39 returning citizens for registering to vote or voting while allegedly ineligible to do so. The available evidence reflects that most if not all of these returning citizens honestly believed themselves to be eligible to register and vote,” and for “several of these returning citizens, a government official advised them to register or told them they could vote.”

[LFC]

Yes, it's systematic and it's nationwide wherever the Republicans have control. And it's working.

The terrible truth is that these new voter suppression laws are working. Despite the positive political outcome, turnout among minority and young voters in 2022 was down from previous years.

The New York Times reports that “the share of Black voters in the electorate dropped by 1 percent nationally from 2018 to 2022, the biggest drop of any racial group measured.” Tufts University, which tracks youth voting, calculated national youth turnout at 23%, a drop of five points since 2018 and less than half the turnout rate in 2020.

Compared to the last midterm election, Milwaukee saw an 18 percent drop in votes for Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, the Black Democrat who ran for Senate in 2022. You may recall that at Christmas, a Republican official boasted that because of his “well thought out multi-facetted plan” they saw a “major reduction [of voter turnout] happening in the overwhelming Black and Hispanic areas” of Milwaukee. In a separate email he quantified the GOP’s success: “We can be especially proud of the City of Milwaukee (80.2% Dem Vote) casting 37,000 less votes than cast in the 2018 election with the major reduction happening in the overwhelming Black and Hispanic areas.”

In Georgia — where both gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) were on the ballot and invested heavily in mobilizing minority and young voters — Black participation rates dropped from 47.8% to 43.2% compared to 2018. Hispanic participation in that election fell from 27.6% in 2018 to 25.1% in 2022. The youth vote dropped from 33% in 2018 to 26% in 2022.

[LFC]

Not even pretending.

[LFC]

HOLY SHIT! I did NOT see that coming.

[goldenvalley]

May 5, 2023 21:24:11 GMT LFC said:

HOLY SHIT! I did NOT see that coming.

Apparently the DA has been learning things about these wanna be electors that made them decide immunity and testifying is the way to go.  And I wonder if the DOJ guy Jack Smith's investigation is also looking at this (and at other states' fake electors...AZ and MI).

[LFC]

Gee, another Republican group that turns out to be completely untethered from reality. What a shock. At least some states are showing a hint of sanity, though the entire basis for the group being created in the first place was bullshit so let's not give these states too much credit.

Virginia has become the latest Republican-led state to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) after right-wing media spread George Soros-linked conspiracy theories and other misinformation about the program.

On Thursday, Virginia’s Department of Elections Commissioner Susan Beals sent a letter to ERIC executive director Shane Hamlin formally resigning from the program, raising talking points from far-right disinfo similar to those parroted by other red states when leaving the system.

“With the recent departures of seven state members, we have reviewed the effectiveness of our continued participation with ERIC,” she wrote.

Beals’ cited several reasons for departing the program, like “increasing concerns regarding stewardship, maintenance, privacy, and confidentiality of voter information” and “controversy surrounding the historical sharing of data with outside organizations leveraged for political purposes.”

“In short, ERIC’s mandate has expanded beyond that of its initial intent,” Beals wrote, “to improve the accuracy of voter rolls.”

ERIC became the center of right-wing conspiracy theories after the far-right website Gateway Pundit published a series of blog posts accusing the program of being a liberal plot to control the democratic process back in January 2022. Among the website’s claims were that the program was run by liberal activists and funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

[goldenvalley]

May 15, 2023 20:51:02 GMT LFC said:

Gee, another Republican group that turns out to be completely untethered from reality. What a shock. At least some states are showing a hint of sanity, though the entire basis for the group being created in the first place was bullshit so let's not give these states too much credit.

Virginia has become the latest Republican-led state to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) after right-wing media spread George Soros-linked conspiracy theories and other misinformation about the program.

On Thursday, Virginia’s Department of Elections Commissioner Susan Beals sent a letter to ERIC executive director Shane Hamlin formally resigning from the program, raising talking points from far-right disinfo similar to those parroted by other red states when leaving the system.

“With the recent departures of seven state members, we have reviewed the effectiveness of our continued participation with ERIC,” she wrote.

Beals’ cited several reasons for departing the program, like “increasing concerns regarding stewardship, maintenance, privacy, and confidentiality of voter information” and “controversy surrounding the historical sharing of data with outside organizations leveraged for political purposes.”

“In short, ERIC’s mandate has expanded beyond that of its initial intent,” Beals wrote, “to improve the accuracy of voter rolls.”

ERIC became the center of right-wing conspiracy theories after the far-right website Gateway Pundit published a series of blog posts accusing the program of being a liberal plot to control the democratic process back in January 2022. Among the website’s claims were that the program was run by liberal activists and funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

It's interesting that back in the day of Kris Kobach looking for voter fraud in the early Trump years the California Secretary of State decided against being involved with ERIC for two reasons...one was that he didn't think voter rolls should be released to a nongovernmental database because folks like Kobach would intentionally misuse it and because the Calfornia database couldn't communicate with ERIC anyway.  Now it's the right wing that is concerned about that first reason.

[LFC]

Newt Gingrich lying about the Democrats and then calling for honesty. It doesn't get much more Newty than that.

Election lies appear to be still going strong on Fox News, despite the company’s recent $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Appearing on Fox, Newt Gingrich claimed — without proof — that Democrats “have a passion for stealing” close elections and told voters in certain Democratic-led states to “assume the [voting] machine will steal as much as it can.”

On Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Gingrich, a Republican who served as House speaker before becoming Trump’s ambassador to the Vatican, said that it is “probably almost impossible under current law to ensure an accurate election.” He added, “I think the only Republican strategy in the long run is to pick issues and win by margins so big that they can’t steal it.”

Gingrich then alleged that Democrats steal elections but did not give any examples to back up his claim. “If you have a very close election, Democrats have a passion for stealing them,” he said.

He next alleged that unions are somehow involved in the stealing of elections by bringing nursing home residents to the polls and influencing them to vote for the union’s preferred candidate, but, of course, Gingrich once again offered no evidence and cited zero instances where this has been proven true. “When you have local union which takes care of people in a nursing home going to vote, the people who literally don’t cognitively know what they’re doing, you know that that union is going to the vote every single one of them for the a Democrat no matter what their personal beliefs were,” he said.

“I think these are things you’ve got to be honest about,” Gingrich said without a hint of irony.

The Republican then touted Republican voting laws designed to suppress the vote and claimed that “in states dominated by Democrats like New York, Illinois, California, you just have to to assume that the machine will steal as much as it can.”