Editorial: Heavy hand of Heritage Foundation guides Florida’s election overhaul | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

It’s bad enough that the Republicans who run the Florida Legislature want to make it harder to vote. But as with so much that goes on in Tallahassee, it’s even worse than it looks. GOP legislators are following a script written by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that wants to institutionalize voter-suppression policies under the myth of “election integrity.” Never mind that Florida’s 2020 election had a record turnout and was a model for the nation with timely results and surprisingly few spoiled ballots. It also produced big Republican victories. For The Heritage Foundation and its allies in Florida’s Capitol, too many Democrats voted. They want to erect barriers — especially for black and brown people, who like the convenience of voting by mail and who overwhelmingly support Democratic candidates. “Election integrity” is code for keeping Democrats home. As The New York Times reports, Heritage Action for America, a partner of The Heritage Foundation, supported the highly controversial voting restrictions that recently became law in Georgia, a state that voted blue in 2020. Heritage Action said the effort was by volunteers. Fresh from that victory, Heritage Action has set its sights on Florida, one of eight states targeted for changes with Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, Texas and Wisconsin. The Heritage Foundation’s in-house elections specialist is Hans von Spakovsky, an Alabama lawyer and member of the arch-conservative Federalist Society who served on President Trump’s short-lived Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Heritage Action officials have confirmed to the Sun Sentinel editorial board that the group is working with Florida legislators. Heritage Action for America’s Florida lobbyist, Karen Jaroch, disclosed the group’s interest in shaping a House election bill, and Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, confirmed he has discussed voting-law changes with Heritage staffers.

Full Article: Heritage Foundation shapes revamp of Florida voting laws – South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Georgia Elections officials fear law could politicize voting operations | Julia Harte and Joseph Ax/Reuters

Election officials in conservative and liberal parts of Georgia say a new law allowing a Republican-controlled state agency to take over local voting operations could make the process too partisan. Voting rights advocates have also warned that the provision, part of sweeping voting restrictions signed into law last week by Governor Brian Kemp, targets Democratic bastions such as Atlanta’s Fulton County that helped deliver the party control of the White House and Congress in recent elections. The new law has mostly gained attention for its measures to strengthen absentee ballot identification requirements, curtail ballot drop box use and penalize members of the public who offer food and water to voters in line. Months after former Republican President Donald Trump falsely claimed voter fraud in the 2020 elections, Republican backers say Georgia’s law is needed to restore confidence in election integrity. Civil rights groups have filed three lawsuits asserting the law illegally restricts voting rights, particularly for minority voters. The legislation authorizes the Republican-majority legislature to appoint the state election board’s majority while demoting the elected secretary of state, Georgia’s top election official, to a non-voting position.

Full Article: Elections officials fear Georgia law could politicize voting operations | Reuters

Georgia voting restrictions challenged again in third federal lawsuit | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Another federal lawsuit is challenging Georgia’s new voting law, the third court effort to stop election rules that plaintiffs say will make it harder for all voters to cast their ballots, especially African Americans. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the African Methodist Episcopal Church and other plaintiffs, is aimed at many parts of the voting law, including absentee ID requirements, drop box restrictions, absentee ballot request deadlines and a ban on volunteers handing out food and water to voters waiting in line. “Simply put, this new law not only seeks to suppress the votes of Black and brown people, but it is also racist and seeks to return us to the days of Jim Crow,” Bishop Reginald Jackson of the AME Church’s Sixth District, which includes Georgia, wrote in a letter to parishioners. Republican defendants in the suit, including Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, have said the voting law will increase confidence in Georgia’s voting system after then-President Donald Trump falsely claimed he had won the election. Election officials say there’s no evidence of widespread fraud, and recounts verified the results.

Full Article: AME Church sues in federal court to block Georgia’s new voting law

Kentucky: How GOP-dominant state passed bipartisan election reforms | Adam Brewster and Caitlin Huey-Burns/CBS News

State legislatures across the country have been embroiled in high-profile, partisan fights over elections laws since the ballot boxes were put away after the 2020 elections. Kentucky is one of the states where a Republican supermajority voted to change its voting laws, but unlike most GOP-dominant states, lawmakers here sent a sweeping bipartisan bill expanding voting access to the governor’s desk. The secret to their success? During the pandemic, Democratic Governor Andy Beshear and Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams worked together to try to give voters more options to cast ballots. That led to a record number of voters in November, with more than 2.1 million Kentuckians voting. The turnout benefited Republicans, who expanded their majorities in the state House and Senate and saw former President Trump carry the state by 26 points. And the secretary of state’s office found the counties with the highest proportion of early voting were the most Republican counties. As it turned out, voters and local officials alike welcomedthe changes, and encouraged lawmakers to make some overdue reforms to the state’s voting laws. “Everyone agreed it was a successful election. It wasn’t an accident…given how we approached it in a bipartisan way,” Adams told CBS News. “I’m proud we are expanding access when other states are not…sensitive both to access and security, you can have both at the same time.”

Full Article: How GOP-dominant Kentucky passed bipartisan election reforms – CBS News

Iowa Democrat Rita Hart, claiming ‘toxic campaign of political disinformation,’ withdraws election challenge in Iowa’s 2nd District | Brianne Pfannenstiel/Des Moines Register

Iowa Democrat Rita Hart is withdrawing her challenge to U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller Meeks’ election in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District following what she claimed was a toxic disinformation campaign, she announced Wednesday. The move puts an end to a bitter partisan fight that has rippled across the country and that threatened to drag on through the summer. The sudden reversal also takes pressure off moderate and vulnerable Democrats who have appeared to grow increasingly uncomfortable with the possibility of voting to overturn a state-certified election. But even as she ended her official challenge, Hart made clear Wednesday that she stands by her claims. “Despite our best efforts to have every vote counted, the reality is that the toxic campaign of political disinformation to attack this constitutional review of the closest congressional contest in 100 years has effectively silenced the voices of Iowans,” Hart said in a statement announcing the decision. “It is a stain on our democracy that the truth has not prevailed and my hope for the future is a return to decency and civility.” Miller-Meeks, who has been seated in Congress provisionally since January, issued a statement Wednesday thanking Hart for the decision. “I know how extremely difficult it is to lose an election, but for the people to have faith and confidence in the election system and Iowa laws, it was gracious of her to concede at this time,” she said. “I look forward to continuing to work to represent the people of Iowa’s Second District.”

Full Article: Iowa’s 2nd District: Democrat Rita Hart drops her U.S. House challenge

Michigan expert debunks infamous report on Antrim County election | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

A University of Michigan computer science expert says the much-discussed December 2020 report by supporters of Donald Trump on election results in Antrim County “contains an extraordinary number of false, inaccurate or unsubstantiated statements.” The Michigan Department of State last week released a 54-page analysis of what went wrong in Antrim County’s election by J. Alex Halderman, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan. Halderman details how human errors — the failure to properly prepare ballot scanners and ballots themselves — jumbled initial results to show Democrat Joe Biden winning the conservative northern Michigan county. The incorrect unofficial results were quickly noticed and eventually fixed but led to a wave of conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems, the technology used to tabulate votes in the 23,000-person county. The professor also examined claims made in a Dec. 13 report from Allied Security Operations Group. The report gained national attention among conservative media outlets and alleged Dominion software was “intentionally and purposefully designed with inherent errors to create systemic fraud and influence election results.” The report, written by Russell James Ramsland Jr., who is part of the group’s management team, said the group found an “error rate” of 68% when examining “the tabulation log” of the server for Antrim County. That “error rate” figure was touted by Trump supporters who unsuccessfully sought to discredit and overturn the election results in Michigan and other battleground states.

Full Article: Michigan expert debunks infamous report on Antrim County election

Michigan voting rights battle looms as Republicans plan to side-step Whitmer veto | Eric Bradner/CNN

Michigan is emerging as the latest battleground in Republicans’ nationwide push to restrict voting rights, with GOP officials planning to end-run Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s all-but-certain veto of proposed restrictions and progressives beginning to mobilize to stop them. The GOP attempt to circumvent Whitmer relies on a quirk of Michigan law: If Republicans gather 340,000 signatures in a petition drive, the House and Senate can enact legislation without the governor having the power to veto it. It’s the latest escalation in a years-long and increasingly ugly effort to undercut Whitmer and two other Democratic women who are statewide office-holders: Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel, all of whom are up for reelection next year. In a speech last week, Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser — who laid out the plan to implement new voting restrictions in time for the 2022 election — called Whitmer, Benson and Nessel “three witches” and said Republicans must ensure “they are ready for burning at the stake.”

Full Article: Michigan voting rights battle looms as Republicans plan to side-step Whitmer veto – CNNPolitics

Ohio: Stark County commissioners refuse demand to fund Dominion voting machines | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

Facing the threat of an imminent lawsuit from the Stark County Board of Elections, county commissioners stated they would not be complying with the board’s demand to approve funding by Wednesday for new Dominion voting machines. Commissioner Bill Smith, president of the three-member board of commissioners, read a statement shortly before the board adjourned at the conclusion of its regular Wednesday meeting. “Since March 10th, the Board of Elections has not submitted any new information, or new analysis to the commissioners. What has been missing during this process, or at least it has never been shared with the commissioners and the public, is a comprehensive and transparent review of all the available and state-approved voting systems, including a side-by-side comparison and analysis of the pros and cons of each voting system. Back in December, the commissioners requested much of this information, but it was never provided. Also missing has been any kind of vigorous negotiation by the Board of Elections with voting systems vendors to ensure Stark County taxpayers are getting the best bargain for their money,” the statement said. “Regrettably, none of these things have changed since March 10th, therefore, this board (of commissioners) will not be taking any new action today.” Neither Board of Elections Chairman Samuel Ferruccio nor the Board of Elections’ Columbus-based election law attorney, Don McTigue, could immediately be reached for comment. An email seeking comment was sent to Dominion. The commissioners issued their statement a day after meeting either in person or by teleconference with attorneys in executive session to discuss pending or imminent court action.

Full Article: Stark commissioners refuse to comply with voting machines demand

Ohio: Stark County Board of Elections chair responds to commissioners’ refusal to fund voting machines | Robert Wang/ The Canton Repository

The Stark County Board of Elections isn’t going to back down in its dispute with county commissioners over the purchase of Dominion voting machines. That was the indication Thursday morning from Samuel Ferruccio, chairman of the Stark County Board of Elections. The board has threatened to file a lawsuit against commissioners over the issue. He read a statement at the end of the regularly scheduled Board of Elections’ meeting: “The Board of Elections appreciates the Stark County commissioners’ duties and responsibilities under the law. The Board of Elections also has a responsibility under the law to make purchases and selections of many items during the year. Protect the rights of our citizens to vote in a fair, efficient and impartial manner. This includes selecting voting equipment. I believe the evidence will show if we cannot resolve this matter that we have made our selection in a bipartisan and transparent manner.” The Board of Elections has two Republicans and two Democrats, and all votes on the Dominion machines issue have been unanimous. The commissioners’ Columbus-based attorney, Mark Weaver, issued this statement by email in response:

Full Article: Stark County Board of Elections chair responds in Dominion dispute

Texas court to hear appeal from woman sentenced to prison for voting while ineligible | Sam Levine/The Guardian

Texas’ highest criminal appeals court said Wednesday it would hear an appeal from a Texas woman who was sentenced to five years in prison for voting while inadvertently ineligible in 2016. The case has attracted national attention because of the severity of the sentence and the woman, Crystal Mason, said she did not know she was ineligible to vote at the time. Many saw the severe sentence as an obvious effort to intimidate Black voters. The case also comes amid an aggressive effort by Texas prosecutors, including attorney general Ken Paxton, to prosecute even election crimes. Mason was serving on supervised release – which is similar to probation – for a federal felony conviction at the time, and Texas prohibits people with felony convictions from voting until they have completed their sentences entirely. Officials overseeing Mason’s supervised release testified at her trial that they never informed her she was ineligible to vote. An appeals court in Fort Worth upheld Mason’s conviction last year, saying “the fact that she did not know she was legally ineligible to vote was irrelevant to her prosecution”. The Texas court of criminal appeals, the highest criminal appellate court in Texas, said Wednesday it would hear the case.

Full Article: Texas court to hear appeal from woman sentenced to prison for voting while ineligible | Texas | The Guardian

Virginia: Audit overwhelmingly confirms State’s election results | Graham Moomaw/The Daily Progress

A statewide audit of Virginia’s 2020 election results verified President Joe Biden’s victory in the state, finding only a 0.00000065117% chance the state’s voting system could have produced an inaccurate outcome. “Election officials are over 99% confident in the reported outcome,” Karen Hoyt-Stewart, voting technology manager at the Virginia Department of Elections, told the State Board of Elections as she presented the audit report Wednesday. The only way to reach 100% certainty would be for officials to manually review every ballot cast in the state. In other words, the audit found there’s almost zero chance a full recount would show a different outcome. The risk-limiting audit, more of a mathematical exercise than an expansive investigation into how ballots were cast and counted, involved checking a random sample of paper ballots against the results reported by scanner machines. Local officials throughout the state pulled a total of 1,372 ballots to measure statistical confidence in the reported results. Biden received 756 of those votes, former President Donald Trump received 572, Libertarian Party candidate Jo Jorgensen received 25 and eight ballots were cast for write-in candidates, according to the report.

Full Article: Audit overwhelmingly confirms Virginia’s election results | Govt. & Politics | dailyprogress.com

Wisconsin: Trump’s Effort to ‘Hijack’ State’s Election Could Cost Him | Erik Larson/Bloomberg

Donald Trump should be ordered to pay Wisconsin $145,000 to cover the legal expenses the state racked up defending against the former president’s “haphazard” election-fraud lawsuit, the state told a judge. Trump’s attempt to overturn the will of the state’s 3.3 million voters was so weak and time-consuming that he and his lawyers should both be punished for squandering taxpayer resources, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said in a filing Wednesday in federal court in Milwaukee. Evers also filed a motion in a separate case seeking $106,000 in fees from former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, whose suit alleging voter fraud in the state included wild claims about corrupt Democratic election workers, hacked voting machines and foreign agents. “There is no reason for Wisconsin taxpayers to bear the cost of this attempt to hijack the democratic process,” Evers said in the filing. The suits were among more than 60 unsuccessful cases brought by Trump and his allies trying to overturn election results in battleground states like Wisconsin, which narrowly went for Joe Biden. A federal appeals court affirmed the rejection of Trump’s Wisconsin case, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied review. The false claims ultimately helped trigger a deadly assault on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.

Full Article: Trump’s Effort to ‘Hijack’ Wisconsin Election Could Cost Him – Bloomberg

National: Sidney Powell’s legal defense: ‘Reasonable people’ wouldn’t believe her election fraud claims | Jane C. Timm/NBC

Ex-Trump attorney Sidney Powell’s weekslong campaign to invalidate the results of the 2020 election was not based in fact, her lawyers said Monday. “No reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact,” Powell’s attorneys said in a court filing defending her against a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, the manufacturer of the election equipment she claimed was involved in the conspiracy to steal the election. Powell, who for a time was part of former President Donald Trump’s legal team fighting the election results, repeatedly and baselessly claimed that votes were illegally switched on Dominion voting machines. Election experts and officials, as well as top law enforcement officials, have said the 2020 election results were accurate and there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the U.S. The filing Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia claims Powell’s statements were so absurd they couldn’t be taken seriously. “Plaintiffs themselves characterize the statements at issue as ‘wild accusations’ and ‘outlandish claims,'” her lawyers wrote. “They are repeatedly labeled ‘inherently improbable’ and even ‘impossible.’ Such characterizations of the allegedly defamatory statements further support defendant’s position that reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact but view them only as claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process.”

Full Article: Sidney Powell’s legal defense: ‘Reasonable people’ wouldn’t believe her election fraud claims

Georgia: Why the G.O.P.’s Voting Rollbacks Will Hit Black People Hard | Richard Fausset, Nick Corasaniti and Mark Leibovich/The New York Times

After record turnout flipped Georgia blue for the first time in decades, Republicans who control the state Legislature moved swiftly to put in place a raft of new restrictions on voting access, passing a new bill that was signed into law on Thursday. The law will alter foundational elements of voting in Georgia, which supported President Biden in November and a pair of Democratic senators in January — narrow victories attributable in part to the turnout of Black voters and the array of voting options in the state. Taken together, the new barriers will have an outsize impact on Black voters, who make up roughly one-third of the state’s population and vote overwhelmingly Democratic. The Republican legislation will undermine pillars of voting access by limiting drop boxes for mail ballots, introducing more rigid voter identification requirements for absentee balloting and making it a crime to provide food or water to people waiting in line to vote. Long lines to vote are common in Black neighborhoods in Georgia’s cities, particularly Atlanta, where much of the state’s Democratic electorate lives. The new law also expands the Legislature’s power over elections, which has raised worries that it could interfere with the vote in predominantly Democratic, heavily Black counties like Fulton and Gwinnett.

Full Article: Why the Georgia G.O.P.’s Voting Rollbacks Will Hit Black People Hard – The New York Times

National: US intelligence report says election fraud claims ‘will almost certainly’ spur more violence by domestic extremists | Zachary Cohen and Geneva Sands/CNN

US intelligence agencies believe that “narratives of fraud in the recent general election” and “the emboldening impact of the violent breach of the US Capitol” will “almost certainly” spur domestic extremists to try to engage in additional acts of violence this year, according to the unclassified summary of a new joint assessment released Wednesday. That warning was included in a comprehensive classified assessment of domestic violent extremism produced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, which was ordered by the White House in January. The full report was transmitted to the White House and Congress. The summary was released on the same day that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told lawmakers domestic violent extremism is the “greatest threat” to the US — a clear reminder that federal officials remain very concerned about the potential for more violence in the coming months. “Newer sociopolitical developments — such as narratives of fraud in the recent general election, the emboldening impact of the violent breach of the US Capitol, conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and conspiracy theories promoting violence — will almost certainly spur some (domestic violent extremists) to try to engage in violence this year,” the unclassified summary says.

Full Article: US intelligence report says election fraud claims ‘will almost certainly’ spur more violence by domestic extremists – CNNPolitics

National: U.S. Conducted More Than Two Dozen Pre-Election Cyber Operations | Alyza Sebenius/Bloomberg

The U.S. carried out more than two dozen operations to thwart adversaries from election meddling ahead of the 2020 presidential election, according to a top intelligence official. General Paul Nakasone, the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, testified at a Senate hearing on Thursday that Cyber Command conducted the operations “to get ahead of foreign threats before they interfered or influenced our elections.” Nakasone appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee a week after the U.S. intelligence community issued a report describing foreign efforts to influence voter opinions. It found that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered operations to hurt President Joe Biden’s candidacy and favor former President Donald Trump. Iran sought to hurt Trump’s candidacy, but China didn’t deploy influence efforts, according to the report. While there were foreign efforts aimed at affecting voter opinion, there were no attempts on “any technical aspect of the voting process,” the agencies found. Nakasone also said that two recently discovered cyber-attacks were “a clarion call” to take a fresh look at challenges facing the U.S. The first was December’s revelation that suspected Russian hackers compromised popular software from SolarWinds Corp. and breached about nine government agencies as well as 100 companies. And in March, Microsoft Corp. revealed that suspected Chinese hackers used vulnerabilities in its Exchange software for email and carried out an attack that experts say has tens of thousands of victims.

Full Article: U.S. Conducted More Than Two Dozen Pre-Election Cyber Operations – Bloomberg

National: After Trump tried to intervene in the 2020 vote, state Republicans are moving to take more control of elections | Amy Gardner/The Washington Post

State Republicans have taken steps this year that could give them more power to sway the certification of election results, efforts that voting advocates decried as a blatant attempt to circumvent the popular vote, as President Donald Trump tried to do after his defeat in November. Amid an avalanche of voting legislation proposed in dozens of states, the moves go beyond highly scrutinized proposals to tighten rules around how ballots are cast in the name of election security. Critics say some of the initiatives attempt to clear the way for partisan actors to take control of election administration, as Trump unsuccessfully urged Republicans to do in the fall. On Thursday, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) of Georgia signed the most far-reaching effort yet into law — a sweeping voting measure that undercuts the power of the secretary of state and local election boards. The new law removes the secretary of state from serving as chair of the State Board of Elections, giving the legislature the authority to appoint a majority of the members, and authorizes the state board to suspend local election officials. If these measures had been in place in 2020, critics say, the state board could have tried to interfere when the secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, certified Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the state and rejected Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen.

Full Article: After Trump tried to intervene in the 2020 vote, state Republicans are moving to take more control of elections – The Washington Post

National: Dominion sues Fox News for $1.6 billion | Elahe Izadi/The Washington Post

Dominion Voting Systems on Friday filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, alleging that the network purposefully aired false claims about the the company’s role in the 2020 presidential election in order to boost ratings. In the suit, filed in a Delaware court, Dominion argued that the Fox and several of its on-air personalities elevated conspiracy theories about the voting company rigging the 2020 election and allowed falsehoods by their guests to go unchecked, including a wild claim that the company’s machines were manufactured in “Venezuela to rig elections for the dictator Hugo Chávez” and that Dominion’s algorithm manipulated votes so that then-President Trump would lose. “Fox engaged in this knowing and reckless propagation of these enormous falsehoods in order to profit off these lies,” reads the lawsuit. “Fox wanted to continue to protect its broadcast ratings, catering to an audience deeply loyal to President Trump.” … Dominion earlier filed election-related defamation lawsuits against Trump affiliated attorneys Sydney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, as well as MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell. The lawsuit cites Fox’s own reporting in advance of Election Day that the mail-in vote would heavily favor Joe Biden, and that it was likely that the result wouldn’t be known for days. But Dominion lawyers argue that Fox News ratings went into “in a freefall” in the days after the election and that the network was losing Trump loyalists to more right-wing channels such as Newsmax.

Full Article: Dominion sues Fox News for $1.6 billion – The Washington Post

National: Republicans’ efforts to restrict mail-in voting in Georgia, Utah, and other states, could backfire | Brittany Gibson/Vox

State Republican lawmakers have introduced a historic number of bills this year to restrict voting rights, zeroing in on restricting mail-in voting. More than 250 bills have been introduced or carried over in 43 states, of which 125 are focused on absentee or mail-in voting. The effort to implement voter restrictions on one level seems odd. Republicans made gains in the House of Representatives, and outperformed polls in competitive Senate races, suggesting they aren’t having trouble winning elections under the current laws. On the other hand, “Trump still lost, control of the Senate still changed, and so there may be an element of reacting to that and ultimately believing that [if voting is] restricted it will affect their voters more than our voters,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, deputy director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. More Americans than ever before voted by mail in the 2020 general election, about 46 percent of all voters, according to the MIT Election Data and Science Lab. A large motivator behind this was to avoid the in-person contact of voting lines and Election Day polling places. Perhaps wanting to downplay the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and concerned about boosting Democratic turnout, Trump took issue with the expansion of the mail-in voting systems across the country on the campaign trail and online.

Full Article: Republicans’ efforts to restrict mail-in voting in Georgia, Utah, and other states, could backfire – Vox

National: Senate panel dukes it out over voting rights | Marty Johnson/The Hill

Lawmakers on the Senate Rules Committee clashed Wednesday over sweeping Democratic legislation on voting rights and campaign finance and redistricting reform. “This bill is essential to protecting every American’s right to vote, getting dark money out of our elections, as well as some very important anti-corruption reforms,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the panel’s chairwoman, said in her opening statement on the For the People Act. “It is about strengthening our democracy by returning it to the hands of its rightful owners: the American people.” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the ranking member on the panel, argued against the legislation, saying it would “force a single, partisan view of elections on more than 10,000 jurisdictions across the country.” Known also as H.R. 1 and S.1, the bill is a top priority for Democrats. It passed the House in the last session of Congress, but failed to gain any traction in the Republican-controlled Senate. Coming in at over 800 pages, S.1 is hefty, wide reaching and complex. Outside of the issues surrounding voting rights, it would create an independent nonpartisan redistricting commission in an attempt to get rid of partisan gerrymandering, restructure the makeup of the Federal Election Commission and work to give more transparency to campaign donations.

Full Article: Senate panel dukes it out over voting rights | TheHill

National: Former Trump adviser takes prominent role in voting battle | Nicholas Riccardi/Associated Press

A GOP lawyer who advised former President Donald Trump on his campaign to overturn the 2020 election results is now playing a central role coordinating the Republican effort to tighten voting laws around the country. Cleta Mitchell, a longtime Republican lawyer and advocate for conservative causes, was among the Trump advisers on a January phone call in which Trump asked Georgia election officials to “find” enough votes to declare him, and not Democrat Joe Biden, the winner of the battleground state. Now Mitchell has taken the helm of two separate efforts to push for tighter state voting laws and to fight Democratic efforts to expand access to the ballot at the federal level. She is also advising state lawmakers crafting the voting restriction proposals. And, she said Friday, she is in regular contact with Trump. “People are actually interested in getting involved and we have to harness all this energy,” Mitchell said in an interview. “There are a lot of groups that have projects on election integrity that never did before.” Mitchell’s new prominence tightens the ties between the former president, who has falsely insisted he lost the election due to fraud, and the GOP-led state voting overhaul that has helped turn a foundational principle of democracy into a partisan battleground. Trump’s false claims of fraud have fueled a wave of new voting restrictions. More than 250 proposed voting restrictions have been proposed this year by mostly Republican lawmakers, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. On Thursday, Georgia’s GOP governor signed into law a measure requiring voters to present ID to vote by mail, gives the GOP-controlled state legislature new powers over local elections boards and outlaws providing food or water to people waiting in line to vote. Biden on Friday condemned it as “Jim Crow in the 21st century.”

Full Article: Former Trump adviser takes prominent role in voting battle

Arizona legislature proposes controversial changes to election laws | Christopher Conover/AZPM

Arizona state lawmakers have introduced various bills this year that would change how residents vote and the state counts ballots. Critics say some are a response to President Joe Biden’s win in the state last November. Julia Shumway is Senate reporter at the Arizona Capitol Times. She said there are an unusually high number of election bills introduced in the legislature this year, even when compared to other post-election years. Shumway pointed out that support or opposition for most of these election bills is divided along party lines. Republican state Rep. John Kavanagh drew criticism for his remarks to CNN about how Democrats value the quantity of voters and risk fraud, while his party would rather adopt security measures. He said “everyone shouldn’t be voting.” Shumway said that Rep. Kavanagh gave voice to an implicit theme in this year’s proposed legislation. “That is definitely a tension that is under a lot of the bills that we see this year — who should be voting and do we want everyone in Arizona to have the ability to vote and to vote easily?” Shumway said.

Full Article: Arizona legislature proposes controversial changes to election laws – AZPM

Georgia: Sweeping changes to elections signed into law | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gov. Brian Kemp quickly signed a vast rewrite of Georgia’s election rules into law Thursday, imposing voter ID requirements, limiting drop boxes and allowing state takeovers of local elections after last year’s close presidential race. Kemp finalized the bill just over an hour after it cleared the General Assembly, leaving no doubt about its fate amid public pressure against voting restrictions. Republican lawmakers pushed the legislation through both the House and Senate over the objections of Democratic lawmakers. The legislation passed along party lines in both chambers, with votes of 34-20 in the Senate and 100-75 in the House. Protesters outside the Capitol said the bill will disenfranchise voters, calling it “Jim Crow 2.0.” State Rep. Park Cannon, D-Atlanta, was arrested by state troopers after knocking on Kemp’s office door to try to witness the bill signing. The governor briefly interrupted his prepared remarks as Cannon was forcibly removed from the building by officers. … Several voting organizations filed a federal lawsuit to stop the bill Thursday night, saying it creates “unjustifiable burdens” especially on minority, young, poor and disabled voters. The lawsuit by The New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter and Rise opposes absentee ID requirements, drop box limits, provisional ballot invalidations, and food and drink bans.

Full Article: Sweeping changes to Georgia elections signed into law

Georgia’s sweeping elections overhaul faces new legal challenge | Greg Bluestein/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A coalition of advocacy groups on Sunday filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block Republican-backed voting restrictions signed into law last week by Gov. Brian Kemp, the second legal challenge aiming to derail the far-reaching new elections overhaul. The complaint calls Senate Bill 202 the “culmination of a concerted effort to suppress the participation of Black voters and other voters of color” in response to Democratic victories in November and January. It asks a judge to declare the law unconstitutional and in violation of the Voting Rights Act. “Unable to stem the tide of these demographic changes or change the voting patterns of voters of color, these officials have resorted to attempting to suppress the vote of Black voters and other voters of color in order to maintain the tenuous hold that the Republican Party has in Georgia,” the lawsuit read. “In other words, these officials are using racial discrimination as a means of achieving a partisan end.”

Full Article: Georgia’s sweeping elections overhaul faces new legal challenge

Indiana to pass bill to forbid voting machines from being connected to the Internet | Margaret Menge/Kokomo Perspective

The Indiana Senate heard two election bills this week that would make several changes to how elections are conducted in the state. Both bills have already passed the House and are expected to pass the Senate on Thursday and be sent on to Gov. Eric Holcomb for his signature. One of the bills, HB 1365, would prohibit voting machines in the state from being connected to the Internet – a hot topic following the Nov. 3 presidential election, when cybersecurity experts testified at hearings in several states that voting machines were connected to the Internet on Election Day even though election officials believed they were not. Five different kinds of voting machines are approved for use in Indiana, including those made by Dominion Voting Systems, Election Systems & Software (ES&S), Hart InterCivic, Inc., MicroVote General Corp. and Unisyn Voting Solutions. Dominion, Hart InterCivic and ES&S have all acknowledged they install modems in their voting machines, so voting results can more easily be relayed to the state and the public. Experts say that even when connected to the Internet for only a short amount of time, voting machines can be compromised, which is likely the reason another provision was included the bill that requires a voting system to contain features to ensure “unauthorized” software has not been installed. But this provision in the bill would also “permit the adjudication of voter intent” on voting machines.

Full Article: Indiana to pass bill to forbid voting machines from being connected to the Internet | Indiana | kokomoperspective.com

Michigan: Judge limits discovery in Antrim County election lawsuit | Mardi Link/Traverse City Record-Eagle

A judge ruled communications — if they exist — between the plaintiff in an ongoing election-related lawsuit, and former President Donald Trump, his family, his campaign staff and attorney Rudy Giuliani, was not relevant to the case and struck down the request during a motion hearing. “Allowing this case to proceed down that track would open up the possibility of the plaintiff seeking similar information from the defense, and turn this case — potentially anyway — into more of a political football than it already is,” said 13th Circuit Court Chief Judge Kevin Elsenheimer. Assistant Attorney General Eric Grill said Monday he was seeking potential communications between the plaintiff and the Trump campaign, in order to determine whether outsiders were behind the case in Antrim County.  n November 23, Bill Bailey of Central Lake Township filed a lawsuit accusing the county of election fraud. Grill represents Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who was later added to the suit, by her request, as a named defendant. On Nov. 27, political operatives working on behalf of Bailey visited Antrim County, identified themselves to officials as representing Giuliani’s legal team, and accessed official election data in at least one township, as previously reported.

Full Article: Judge limits discovery in Antrim County election lawsuit | News | record-eagle.com

New Jersey Senate approves early voting, sending measure to Governor’s desk | Nikita Biryukov/New Jersey Globe

Lawmakers in the Senate approved a bill allowing in-person early voting Thursday, sending the measure to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk, where it’s expected to be signed. The measure, which cleared the chamber in a 28-8 vote, would provide three days of early voting for most primaries, five days of early voting for presidential primaries and nine days of early general election voting. The periods provided by that bill, sponsored by State Sen. Nia Gill (D-Montclair) and Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker (D-South Brunswick), represent significant reductions from previous versions, which provided for a two-week early voting period but limited the practice to general elections and municipal elections in towns that passed an ordinance to approve early voting. Murphy, long a proponent of early voting, has signaled he would support the bill, even if it fell short of the 30-day period he proposed in July. “Without getting into the specifics of early voting, and I mean this not facetiously — I’ll take anything,” he said last month. With primaries less than three months away, early voting won’t be in place in time for June races, and it’s not clear whether it’ll be ready by November either.

Full Article: Senate approves early voting, sending measure to Murphy’s desk – New Jersey Globe

Ohio: Stark County Elections Board gives county commissioners ultimatum over Dominion voting machines | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

The Stark County Board of Elections moved Friday to initiate a lawsuit against the county commissioners if they don’t approve funding to buy Dominion voting machines by their regular board meeting next week. The vote during the special five-minute meeting was 3-0 by Chairman Samuel Ferruccio, Kody Gonzalez and William Cline. Board member Curt Braden abstained. It’s not clear why, but he’s a regional director for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Braden could not immediately be reached for comment. Ferruccio, besides being the board chairman and an attorney, is the chairman for the Stark County Democratic Party, and Gonzalez is the county Democratic Party’s vice chair. Braden is a former Stark County Republican Party chairman, and Cline, an attorney, is a Republican. In Ohio, each of its 88 counties have an elections board that has two Democrats and two Republicans and each staff position of the boards of elections have a Democratic and Republican counterpart.

Full Article: Elections board to sue if commissioners don’t act on voting machines

Pennsylvania: Postal Service finds no evidence of mail ballot fraud in case cited by top Republicans | Jacob Bogage and Shawn Boburg/The Washington Post

U.S. Postal Service investigators found no evidence to support a Pennsylvania postal worker’s claim that his supervisors had tampered with mail-in ballots, according to an inspector general’s report — allegations cited by top Republicans to press baseless claims of fraud in the presidential election. Richard Hopkins, a mail carrier in Erie, alleged in November that he overheard the local postmaster discussing plans to backdate ballots received after the Nov. 3 vote and pass them off to election officials as legitimate. Working with Project Veritas, a nonprofit entity that seeks to expose what it says is bias in the mainstream news media, Hopkins publicly released a sworn affidavit recounting those allegations. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) cited Hopkins’s claim in a letter to the Justice Department in November calling for a federal investigation into election results in Pennsylvania, where Joe Biden beat President Donald Trump by more than 81,000 votes, and Democratic candidates outperformed GOP challengers in votes submitted by mail. Graham and many other congressional Republicans refused to accept the outcome of the election for weeks, even after states audited and certified results. Then-Attorney General William P. Barr subsequently authorized federal prosecutors to open investigations into credible allegations of voting irregularities and fraud before results were certified, a reversal of long-standing Justice Department policy.

Full Article: USPS: ‘No evidence’ in mail ballot fraud case cited by Republicans – The Washington Post

Wisconsin: Assembly Republicans authorize committee investigation of elections | Briana Reilly/The Capital Times

Assembly Republicans voted Tuesday to direct a Wisconsin committee to investigate how elections have been administered over the last two years, paving the way for lawmakers to ramp up the scrutiny of the state’s 2020 presidential contests. While the Campaigns and Elections Committee had already been holding hearings surrounding the conduct of the November 2020 election, the resolution’s approval this week lays the groundwork for allowing the panel to subpoena witnesses or documents going forward. Republican Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, who authored the resolution and serves as the vice-chair of the panel, said the move gives lawmakers “the necessary tools we need to go forward,” but added he’s hopeful the subpoena powers won’t need to be leveraged. “I can’t understand why any elected official in this state would not want to talk openly and publicly about the administration of elections in their areas, but in the event that something does occur where we would need to subpoena records or people, then we will have this ability at our disposal,” the New Berlin Republican told reporters. At the two informational hearings the committee has held since the November election, only invited speakers were allowed to testify. Ahead of the most recent hearing, which centered on Green Bay’s administration of its election, committee members did not invite the city’s mayor or officials from the Wisconsin Elections Commission to speak, according to media reports.

Full Article: Assembly Republicans authorize committee investigation of Wisconsin elections | Local Government | madison.com