Wyoming: Officials face growing pressure to audit elections | Nick Reynolds/Casper Star Tribune
Wyoming officials are facing mounting pressure to audit the 2020 election from pro-Trump activists asserting, without evidence, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from the former president through widespread voter fraud. Activists across the state have flooded state lawmakers’ inboxes and voicemails with demands to investigate the state’s elections. These calls align with partisan efforts to relitigate election results in swing states like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Activists have also repeatedly implored staffers of Gov. Mark Gordon and Sec. of State Ed Buchanan to pursue policies to bolster “election integrity.” County-level post-election audits are already commonplace in Wyoming, and are required by statute. That has not stopped the activist tide; State Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, said he’s received “dozens” of emails calling on lawmakers to pursue an election audit. “I’ve gotten to a point now that when people write about [voter fraud], I’d say they’d have to tell me that you understand that it’s not true, it didn’t happen, and that all you’re trying to do is trying to help frame your candidate for future elections,” Gierau said. “I want them to tell me they know that [Trump] did not win, that there was no substantive proof of election fraud anywhere in this country.” The “Wyoming First Audit” chatroom on the online messaging app Telegram has attracted more than 1,000 members — though some are organizing a wide-ranging effort to combat perceived voter fraud.
National: House passes bill bolstering landmark voting law | Brian Slodysko/Associated Press
House Democrats have passed legislation that would strengthen a landmark civil rights-era voting law weakened by the Supreme Court over the past decade, a step party leaders tout as progress in their quest to fight back against voting restrictions advanced in Republican-led states. The bill, which is part of a broader Democratic effort to enact a sweeping overhaul of elections, was approved on a 219-212 vote, with no Republican support. Its Tuesday passage was praised by President Joe Biden, who said it would protect a “sacred right” and called on the Senate to “send this important bill to my desk.” But the measure faces dim prospects in that chamber, where Democrats do not have enough votes to overcome opposition from Senate Republicans, who have rejected the bill as “unnecessary” and a Democratic “power grab.” That bottleneck puts Democrats right back where they started with a slim chance of enacting any voting legislation before the 2022 midterm elections, when some in the party fear new GOP laws will make it harder for many Americans to vote.
Full Article: House passes bill bolstering landmark voting lawNational: U.S. Attorney General urges election officials to share threats | Linda So/Reuters
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland urged state and local election officials on Thursday to immediately provide the FBI any threatening communications they receive following a rise in threats against U.S. election administrators. "To help us help you, I urge that you preserve and immediately provide to the FBI any threatening communications you receive in any form," Garland told a meeting of election officials that was also attended by the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and senior Justice Department officials. In late June, the DOJ launched a task force with the FBI to investigate threats against election workers. "Our attention to this issue will not wane," said Garland, according to a transcript of his remarks. "The Department is committed to investigating and prosecuting violations of federal law against election officials and election workers, and to supporting your safety and security."
Full Article: U.S. Attorney General urges election officials to share threats | ReutersNational: How a Defunct Federal Provision Helped Pave the Way for New Voting Restrictions | Nick Corasaniti/The New York Times
Georgia toughened identification requirements for absentee voting. Arizona authorized removing voters from the rolls if they do not cast a ballot at least once every two years. Florida and Georgia cut back sharply the use of drop boxes for mail-in ballots. All of these new voting restrictions would have been rejected or at least softened if a federal civil rights protection from the 1960s were still intact, experts in election law said. For decades, the heart of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a practice known as preclearance, largely detailed under Section 5 of the statute. It forced states with a history of racial discrimination to seek approval from the Department of Justice before enacting new voting laws. Through preclearance, thousands of proposed voting changes were blocked by Justice Department lawyers in both Democratic and Republican administrations. In 2013, however, Section 5 was hollowed out by the Supreme Court, as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote in a majority opinion that racial discrimination in voting no longer constituted a significant threat. As Republican-led state legislatures have tightened voting rules after the 2020 election, new restrictions have been enacted or proposed in four states that are no longer required to seek approval before changing voting laws: Georgia, Arizona, Texas and Florida. Those new restrictions would almost certainly have been halted, stalled or altered had Section 5 still been in use, according to interviews with former federal prosecutors and a review by The New York Times of past civil rights actions by the Justice Department.
Full Article: How a Defunct Federal Provision Helped Pave the Way for New Voting Restrictions - The New York TimesNational: States Are Making It Harder for Disabled People to Vote | Sarah Katz/The Atlantic
It’s long been difficult for Americans with disabilities to vote. Inaccessible paths are an obstacle to people who use wheelchairs. Long lines are a huge hurdle to people with chronic pain. Voting machines without audio or large-print ballots are an impediment to those who are blind or who have low vision. But last year, something different happened: As states passed pandemic-driven reforms to make voting easier for everyone, they inadvertently made voting a lot easier for most people with disabilities.And vote, they did. Nearly 62 percent of Americans with disabilities voted in 2020, a surge of nearly 6 percentage points over 2016, or 1.7 million more voters. The number of disabled voters reporting difficulties while voting also dropped significantly; in 2020, 11 percent of disabled voters reported having problems, down from 26 percent in 2012, according to an Election Assistance Commission report. That’s not to say voting was suddenly simple: Mail-in ballots aren’t easier for everyone, including those with visual or cognitive disabilities. And in 2020, disabled Americans were still roughly 7 percent less likely to vote than nondisabled Americans. But the changes made a real difference. Now state policy makers want to turn back the clock. Citing exaggerated concerns about voter fraud, state legislators have passed a wave of new bills that will make it harder for disabled people to vote in future elections. Overall, lawmakers have introduced more than 400 bills in 49 states this year that would restrict access to voting for people with disabilities. At least 18 states have already passed such laws. These laws either target mail-in ballots, reduce the amount of time voters have to request or mail in a ballot, restrict the availability of drop-off locations, impose stricter signature requirements for mail-in voting, or enact new and stricter voter-ID requirements.
Full Article: States Are Making It Harder for Disabled People to Vote - The AtlanticArizona: Covid Outbreak Delays Report on G.O.P.’s Election Review | Michael Wines/The New York Times
A draft report on a much-ridiculed review of the 2020 election results in Arizona’s largest county has been delayed by a Covid-19 outbreak on the team preparing the analysis, the Republican president of the Arizona State Senate said on Monday. The president, Senator Karen Fann, said in a statement that three people on the five-member team were “quite sick,” including Doug Logan, the chief executive of the Florida-based company, Cyber Ninjas, that is in charge of the review. A portion of the draft was still set to be delivered to Ms. Fann on Monday, but the remainder will await the recovery of the three team members. Lawyers for the State Senate will begin reviewing the partial draft on Wednesday, Ms. Fann said, and more meetings will be required before the findings of the review are made public. The statement offered no hint of the contents of the partial draft. Mr. Logan and others involved in the review have previously claimed to have found irregularities in the official results of the November balloting, only to see those allegations debunked by election officials. Mr. Logan’s company began reviewing 2.1 million ballots and election equipment from Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, in April on orders of the Republican majority in the State Senate. Ms. Fann has said that the review was conducted to address claims of voter fraud by supporters of former President Donald J. Trump, though no evidence of widespread fraud exists. She has also said that President Biden’s narrow victories in both the county and the state would remain official regardless of the findings.
California: Dominion Voting Systems sues Santa Clara County to block release of public records | Dustin Manduffie/Courthouse News Service
Dominion Voting Systems claims they were forced to submit private financial information to Santa Clara County when applying for a contract to supply voting systems. That information is now at risk of being disclosed through the Freedom of Information Act and the California Privacy Rights Act. Dominion ultimately won the contract for up to eight years, with an option to renew for two additional two-year terms, but they now face the possibility that their financials will be splayed across the internet for all to see, according to a complaint filed by the company Thursday. The company initially rose to fame during the 2020 United States presidential election because of unproven allegations that they rigged their voting machines to favor Democratic candidate, and now president, Joe Biden. Since that time, Dominion has come under increased scrutiny by Republican politicians, prompting the records requests that led to Thursday’s lawsuit. Dominion claims as part of the process that led to their winning the contract, they had to send the county detailed financial documents, along with proprietary information “about the technical and functional components of their voting systems, as well as the personal identifying information of key employees.” That includes 47 pages of audited financial statements produced between 2015 and 2017 — each page of which was marked “Confidential & Proprietary — No Part of this Document May Be Disclosed or Copied,” according to the complaint. Full Article: Dominion Voting Systems sues Santa Clara County to block release of public records | Courthouse News ServiceColorado: Mesa County commissioners vote to stay with Dominion to replace decertified voting machines | Robert Garrison/Denver Channel
Mesa County commissioners voted Tuesday to stay with Dominion Voting Systems to replace the voting machines that were decertified after an alleged security breach. The unanimous vote to stay with the voting software and hardware company came after about an hour of public comment, which at times became heated. The overwhelming majority of speakers that participated in the public comment portion of the meeting were in favor of ditching Dominion, many of them citing disproven voter conspiracy theories as the reason to replace the voting company with Clear Ballot, a competing voting software and hardware company, or hand counting. Despite the contentious meeting, commissioners Janet Rowland, Scott McInnis, and Cody Davis approved the measure to extend the county’s voting system and managed system agreement with Dominion Voting Systems, stating, in part, because of the cost associated with switching to Clear Ballot. A contract with Clear Ballot would cost the county over $570 thousand for the next two years, as opposed to around $194 thousand to stay with Dominion, commissioners said during the meeting. Another concern for commissioners was an approaching deadline imposed by the secretary of state’s office of Aug. 31, when the county must have new election equipment installed. “That’s the reality. We have to have something in place,” McInnis said. Full Article: Mesa County commissioners vote to stay with DominionGeorgia: Election reform group seeks ban on Dominion voting technology | Jeremy Beaman/Washington Examiner
A self-described election integrity group sued the state of Georgia on Tuesday, seeking a ban on the use of Dominion Voting Systems touchscreen ballot-marking technology across the state. VoterGA, which led a suit against Fulton County for an inspection of 2020 election ballots, asked the Fulton County Superior Court to declare the state's use of Dominion Democracy Suite 5.5 Ballot Marking Device voting systems a violation of state elections law and to enjoin the officials from administrating future elections with those devices. Plaintiffs allege Democracy Suite systems fail to comply with the state's election code, which provides voting systems must "print an elector verifiable paper ballot" and "produce paper ballots which are marked with the elector’s choices in a format readable by the elector.” The machines in use generate a paper ballot that voters can visually verify, but it also produces a QR code on the paper ballot reflecting the voter's choices, which cannot be visually verified, according to the lawsuit. Ballot scanners then read the QR code to determine a voter's selections, and the "written portion of the paper ballot is not used for counting or re-counting the elector’s intent," the suit said, alleging a legal violation. Full Article: Election reform group seeks ban on Dominion voting technology in GeorgiaMichigan: Judge Orders Sanctions Against Pro-Trump Lawyers Over Election Lawsuit | Alan Feuer/The New York Times
A federal judge in Michigan on Wednesday night ordered sanctions to be levied against nine pro-Trump lawyers, including Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood, ruling that a lawsuit laden with conspiracy theories that they filed last year challenging the validity of the presidential election was “a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.” In her decision, Judge Linda V. Parker of the Federal District Court in Detroit ordered the lawyers to be referred to the local legal authorities in their home states for possible suspension or disbarment. Declaring that the lawsuit should never have been filed, Judge Parker wrote in her 110-page order that it was “one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election,” but another to deceive “a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed.” “This is what happened here,” she wrote. ... The Michigan lawsuit, filed in late November, was one of four legal actions, collectively known as the “Kraken” suits, that Ms. Powell filed in courts around the country, claiming that tabulation machines made by Dominion Voting Systems were tampered with by a bizarre set of characters, such as the financier George Soros or Venezuelan intelligence agents. In the suits, she complained without merit that those conspirators began a complicated, covert plot to digitally flip votes from President Donald J. Trump to his opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Michigan: Federal judge sanctions Sidney Powell, Kraken team over election case | Dave Boucher/Detroit Free Press
Attorneys allied with former President Donald Trump who tried to use a conspiracy-laden lawsuit to overturn Michigan's election results have received federal sanctions from a judge in Michigan and could face a host of other disciplinary measures. The attorneys must also pay legal fees for the city of Detroit and others that defended against the lawsuit and take 12 hours of training — including six hours focused on election law — in the next six months. The punishments foreshadow far more potentially devastating problems for Sidney Powell, Lin Wood and a cadre of other attorneys who used their so-called "Kraken" lawsuit to push a false claim that an international cabal worked to steal the election away from Trump in Michigan and several other states. In addition to harshly chastising the attorneys who filed the suit in her ruling, U.S. District Judge Linda Parker ordered her sanctions be sent to the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission and similar associations around the country. Other courts and state bar associations have the capacity to disbar or otherwise punish these attorneys. "The attorneys who filed the instant lawsuit abused the well-established rules applicable to the litigation process by proffering claims not backed by law; proffering claims not backed by evidence (but instead, speculation, conjecture, and unwarranted suspicion); proffering factual allegations and claims without engaging in the required prefiling inquiry; and dragging out these proceedings even after they acknowledged that it was too late to attain the relief sought," wrote Parker in a 110-page opinion, issued Wednesday. "And this case was never about fraud — it was about undermining the people’s faith in our democracy and debasing the judicial process to do so." Full Article: Federal judge sanctions Sidney Powell, Kraken team over election caseMichigan: Hearing scheduled in dismissed Antrim County election lawsuit |Mardi Link/Traverse City Record-Eagle
A hearing is scheduled in an Antrim County election-related lawsuit in which Michigan’s Secretary of State intervened, despite a judge’s earlier decision dismissing the case. A local man, Bill Bailey, filed suit Nov. 23, accusing the county of voter fraud and of violating his constitutional rights, after initial results of the 2020 Presidential election showed about 2,000 votes cast for then-President Donald Trump had mistakenly been assigned to then-challenger Joe Biden. Antrim County Clerk Sheryl Guy acknowledged her office’s human error, an assertion backed by the state’s Senate Oversight Committee, which in June released a 55-page report rejecting claims of widespread election fraud in Antrim County and in Michigan. Bailey had also accused the county of diluting his vote, after a marijuana proposal, allowing a single dispensary in the Village of Central Lake, passed by a single vote. Records show Bailey is registered to vote in Central Lake Township, and only voters registered in the Village of Central Lake received ballots which included the marijuana proposal. Bailey — represented by Matthew DePerno of Portage — accused Antrim County of using what he called intentionally compromised Dominion voting equipment, that deliberately “switched” votes from Republican to Democratic candidates during the 2020 election. These claims have been repeatedly debunked by Dominion CEO John Poulos, and by national, state and county election officials including Chris Krebs, the former chief of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Ryan Macias, former acting director of U.S. Election Assistance Commission Voting Testing and Certification Program and Alex Halderman, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan. Full Article: Hearing scheduled in dismissed Antrim County election lawsuit | Local News | record-eagle.comMissouri elections hearing dominated by conspiracies, misinformation | Galen Bacharier/Springfield News-Leader
A meeting of a Missouri House elections committee Tuesday was dominated by conspiracy and misinformation, as lawmakers heard hours of testimony about election security that often had little to no basis in truth. Several people speaking to the panel also recommended changes to the Show-Me State's ballot initiative process, recommending that it be more difficult for voters to directly amend the state's constitution or pass laws. The bulk of false information surrounding elections came from those who attended or followed a conference in South Dakota hosted by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell. Lindell, who has earned a national reputation as a close ally to former President Donald Trump, said he would reveal proof at the conference that showed the November 2020 election was fraudulent — but he and his theories have been widely discredited by both election and cybersecurity experts. Rep. Ann Kelley, a Lamar Republican, testified in front of the committee, telling them she attended Lindell's conference and that there was an urgent need to reinforce security around Missouri's elections. Kelley was invited to speak by a member of the committee and "encouraged to bring what she learned" from the conference by chairman Rep. Dan Shaul, an Imperial Republican. County clerks around the state and Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft have said that the Show-Me State's 2020 elections took place securely, and there were no widespread instances of voter fraud. Trish Vincent, who serves as Ashcroft's chief of staff, told the committee the state has "a very secure system" with "layers of security."
Full Article: Missouri elections hearing dominated by conspiracies, misinformation
Pennsylvania: Months after its launch, risk-limiting election audit pilot comes under review by Senate panel | Marley Parish/Pennsylvania Capital-Star
As Senate Republicans coordinate an investigation into Pennsylvania’s two most recent elections, an audit initiative is under review — 10 months after it launched — by an executive branch committee with election oversight. Acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid and members of the Department of State’s post-election audit workgroup testified before the Senate State Government Committee on Tuesday to outline the risk-limiting audit, a post-election review piloted during the 2020 general and 2021 primary elections. All counties are required to conduct a statistical sample of at least 2 percent of the ballots cast or 2,000 ballots following every election. But 63 out of 67 counties conducted risk-limiting audits, a review developed by the workgroup that examines a random sample of paper ballots, and compares the paper votes to the totals reported by the vote-counting machines to ensure that the winner of the race is valid. Neither type found evidence of widespread voter fraud or misconduct. Any post-election review should be “transparent and bipartisan,” Degraffenreid told lawmakers. Although the risk-limiting audit is a pilot, she said the goal is to implement the review as an alternative to the 2 percent statistical sampling. Full Article: Months after its launch, risk-limiting election audit pilot comes under review by Senate panel | Pennsylvania Capital-StarPennsylvania GOP lawmaker says hearings will begin this week to start ‘forensic investigation’ of 2020 election | Andrew Seidman/Philadelphia Inquirer
Almost 10 months after the presidential election, the Pennsylvania Senate will open hearings this week as it launches a “forensic investigation,” the top Republican senator said Monday. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R., Centre) said lawmakers will seek voting records, ballots, and machines — and suggested the Senate will use subpoenas to get them. “We can bring people in. We can put them under oath. We can subpoena records, and that’s what we need to do,” he said in an interview with the pro-Trump radio personality Wendy Bell. “That’s what we’re going to do.” Corman said he has spoken with former President Donald Trump about the issue: “I think he’s comfortable where we’re heading.” The development came days after Corman ousted fellow GOP Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin) as the leader in Harrisburg of the push for an Arizona-style “audit” of the 2020 election, saying Mastriano was more interested in “grandstanding” than in getting results. Corman installed Sen. Cris Dush (R., Jefferson) as the new chairman of the committee that will lead the review. Corman, who was first elected to the Senate in 1998, has long been seen as a steady hand and protector of the legislative institution. In a matter of days, he has gone from mostly keeping quiet about Trump supporters’ demands for an Arizona-style “forensic investigation” into President Joe Biden’s victory to plunging full steam ahead into baseless election fraud claims.
Full Article: Jake Corman, top Pa. GOP senator, says 2020 election ‘investigation’ begins with hearings this weekTexas House advances new voting restrictions as Democratic hopes of killing the legislation wane | Alexa Ura/The Texas Tribune
After months of drama and political resistance, the curtain lowered Thursday on Democratic attempts to stave off a far-reaching rewrite of the state’s voting laws coveted by Republicans seeking to retain their hold on power in a changing Texas. One week after finally regaining enough members to conduct business, the Texas House slogged through a 12-hour floor debate before signing off on a slightly revised version of the Republican legislation that first prompted Democrats to stage a nearly six-week absence from the Capitol. The late night 79-37 vote on Senate Bill 1 moves the state closer to enacting new voting restrictions, including limits on early voting hours and other measures opponents say will raise new barriers for marginalized voters, especially voters of color, who tend to vote Democratic, and those with disabilities. The House is expected to give the bill final approval on Friday, leaving the House and Senate to resolve their differences before the legislation heads to Gov. Greg Abbott.
Full Article: Texas House lawmakers pass GOP-backed voting restrictions bill | The Texas TribuneWisconsin: Reince Priebus says subpoenas will be issued soon in review of election that will cost $680,000 or more | Patrick Marley/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin lawmakers will spend hundreds of thousands to review the presidential election and will soon issue subpoenas as part of their effort, according to Reince Priebus, the former head of the state and national arms of the Republican Party. Priebus, the first chief of staff to former President Donald Trump, made the comments Tuesday on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's podcast. He described the plans three days after Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester met with Trump about his plans to review the election. Vos has faced pressure from both the left and right as he seeks to examine an election that courts have determined was conducted properly. Joe Biden narrowly won the state and gained a handful of votes in recounts requested by Trump in Dane and Milwaukee counties. Priebus told Bannon that Republicans who control the Legislature had agreed to "fully fund" an investigation that would cost "about $680,000, at least to start." He did not say whether the funds would come from taxpayers, donors or a mix of the two. Vos this summer hired former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to oversee the review. Gableman in November contended the election was stolen.
Full Article: Reince Priebus says $680,000 or more will be spent on election review