Wisconsin: Ballot clerks asked for help. Lawmakers didn’t act. Disinformation followed | Daphne Chen and Patrick Marley/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The wild claims came in thick and fast. The morning after Election Day, President Donald Trump took to Twitter and claimed that people were “finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.” At a press conference in Philadelphia that afternoon, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani repeated the deceptive claim. “In Wisconsin, mysteriously at 4 in the morning, 120,000 ballots appeared,” Giuliani said. “Here come these ballots. Well, we have no idea if they really are ballots.”  Across social media, supporters picked up the narrative. “Between 3:30-4:30AM, they ‘found’ 140,000 mail in ballots for Biden in Wisconsin,” tweeted Nick Adams, a staunch pro-Trump political commentator. He added, falsely: “All for Biden. None for Trump.” His misleading tweet was shared tens of thousands of times.  The false speculation that Biden's overnight surge in Wisconsin was the result of mass voter fraud caused drama and headaches that could have been headed off years ago, local election clerks say, if Wisconsin lawmakers had listened to them.

Full Article: Clerks asked for help with absentee ballots. Lawmakers didn't act.

National: U.S. Tried a More Aggressive Cyberstrategy, and the Feared Attacks Never Came | David E. Sanger and Julian E. Barnes/The New York Times

From its sprawling new war room inside Fort Meade, not far from Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Maryland, United States Cyber Command dived deep into Russian and Iranian networks in the months before the election, temporarily paralyzing some and knocking ransomware tools offline. Then it stole Iran’s game plan and, without disclosing the intelligence coup behind the theft, made public a part of Tehran’s playbook when the Iranians began to carry it out. Now, nearly a week after the polls closed, it is clear that all the warnings of a crippling cyberattack on election infrastructure, or an overwhelming influence operation aimed at American voters, did not come to pass. There were no breaches of voting machines and only modest efforts, it appears, to get inside registration systems. Interviews with government officials and other experts suggest a number of reasons for the apparent success. One may be that the United States’ chief adversaries were deterred, convinced that the voting infrastructure was so hardened, Facebook and Twitter were so on alert, and Cyber Command and a small group of American companies were so on the offensive that it was not worth the risk. But there is another explanation as well: In the 2020 election the distinction between foreign and domestic interference blurred. From early in the campaign, President Trump did more to undermine confidence in the system’s integrity than America’s rivals could have done themselves.

Full Article: U.S. Tried a More Aggressive Cyberstrategy, and the Feared Attacks Never Came - The New York Times

Editorial: No, this election did not go “smoothly.” | Sherrilynn Ifill/Slate

As Election Day 2020 came to a close, many news outlets characterized the voting process as relatively problem free and lacking in “major disruptions.” While seemingly encouraging, in reality this characterization could not be further from the truth—especially for Black voters, who were forced to repeatedly endure and overcome relentless obstacles designed to stop them from exercising their right to vote in our democracy. Beyond the sheer, commendable will of these voters to cast their ballots, it took a legion of civil rights lawyers, activists, and volunteers to combat egregious voter suppression tactics in order to make Black voters’ already hurdle-laden path to the ballot box slightly less cumbersome. This reality should shame our country. And it cannot stand. One of the most telling lessons of this election is that our voting system is fundamentally broken. The future of our country unequivocally depends on our ability to reform this system, as we are a democracy in name only if we continue to readily inhibit Black voters from exercising their critical constitutional right. Despite one of the highest voter turnouts in the history of this country, examples abound that illustrate the deeply rooted problems with America’s voting system. The civil rights Election Protection hotline received nearly 32,000 calls on Election Day alone. Reports from the Voting Rights Defender and Prepared to Vote project teams at my organization, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., revealed the depth and breadth of the issues faced by Black voters.

Full Article: No, this election did not go "smoothly."

National: Barr Hands Prosecutors the Authority to Investigate Voter Fraud Claims | Katie Benner and Michael S. Schmidt/The New York Times

Attorney General William P. Barr, wading into President Trump’s unfounded accusations of widespread election irregularities, told federal prosecutors on Monday that they were allowed to investigate “specific allegations” of voter fraud before the results of the presidential race are certified. Mr. Barr’s authorization prompted the Justice Department official who oversees investigations of voter fraud, Richard Pilger, to step down from the post within hours, according to an email Mr. Pilger sent to colleagues that was obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Barr said he had authorized “specific instances” of investigative steps in some cases. He made clear in a carefully worded memo that prosecutors had the authority to investigate, but he warned that “specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims should not be a basis for initiating federal inquiries.” Mr. Barr’s directive ignored the Justice Department’s longstanding policies intended to keep law enforcement from affecting the outcome of an election. And it followed a move weeks before the election in which the department lifted a prohibition on voter fraud investigations before an election. “Given that voting in our current elections has now concluded, I authorize you to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections in your jurisdictions,” Mr. Barr wrote. A Justice Department official said that Mr. Barr had authorized scrutiny of allegations about ineligible voters in Nevada and backdated mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. Republicans have circulated both claims in recent days without any evidence emerging to back them.

Full Article: Barr Hands Prosecutors the Authority to Investigate Voter Fraud Claims - The New York Times

National: No, Software Glitches Are Not Affecting Vote Counts | Nicole Perlroth and Jack Nicas/The New York Times

President Trump and many of his supporters complained over the weekend that “software glitches” undermined the vote counts in Michigan and Georgia and argued that the problems portended wider issues in other counties and states that used the same software. But issues in the unofficial vote counts in Michigan’s Antrim and Oakland counties were caused by human error, not software glitches, according to reviews by the Michigan Department of State, county clerks and election security experts. Officials concluded that they were isolated cases that did not signal wider issues with vote counts elsewhere. And in Georgia, software issues only affected how poll workers checked-in voters in two counties and delayed the reporting of results in another. The issues did not affect the counts. “Anyone trying to falsely connect the situations in the two states is spreading misinformation in an effort to undermine the integrity of our elections system,” said Tracy Wimmer, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of State. In Antrim County, Mich., a Republican stronghold, unofficial results initially showed President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. beating Mr. Trump by roughly 3,000 votes — a sharp reversal from Mr. Trump's performance there in 2016. Local officials caught and fixed the error. In the revised count, Mr. Trump beat Mr. Biden by roughly 2,500 votes. The problem, election security experts and state officials concluded, was that an election worker had configured ballot scanners and reporting systems with slightly different versions of the ballot, which meant some results did not line up with the right candidate when officials loaded them into the system.

Full Article: No, Software Glitches Are Not Affecting Vote Counts - The New York Times

National: Top Republicans back Trump’s efforts to challenge election results | Amy Gardner, Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Emma Brown/The Washington Post

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans on Monday backed President Trump’s efforts to contest his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, despite the lack of evidence of significant fraud and sharp rebukes from election officials who defended the integrity of the vote. McConnell (R-Ky.) said from the floor of the Senate that the president is “100 percent within his right” to pursue recounts and litigation. McConnell did not repeat Trump’s baseless assertions that fraud had cost him the election, but he said he had met with Attorney General William P. Barr earlier in the day and supports the president’s right to investigate all claims of wrongdoing. “We have the tools and institutions we need to address any concerns,” McConnell said. “The president has every right to look into allegations and request recounts under the law.” Separately, Barr on Monday gave federal prosecutors a green light to pursue allegations of voting irregularities in certain cases before results are certified. The memo appeared to reverse previous Justice Department guidance that prosecutors generally should not take overt steps in cases involving alleged voter fraud until results are in and official.

Full Article: Top Republicans back Trump’s efforts to challenge election results - The Washington Post

National: False News Targeting Latinos Trails the Election | Patricia Mazzei and Nicole Perlroth/The New York Times

The posts proliferated on election night before anything remotely definitive was known about the results of the presidential race. “Robado,” they falsely repeated again and again in Spanish: President Trump was being robbed of a victory. He had won Arizona. George Soros was funding violent “antifa riots.” The baseless social media messages to Latinos trying to delegitimize the election and the results for Joseph R. Biden Jr. circulated online on Tuesday night and into Wednesday, part of a disinformation campaign to undermine Latino confidence in the vote as it unfolded. Ahead of Election Day, false news in Spanish tried to turn Latinos against Black Lives Matter and tie Mr. Biden to socialism, tactics that experts said could depress the Hispanic vote. Now that voting is complete, the rampant falsehoods have only garnered larger audiences — including among immigrants less familiar with the institutions of American democracy. The gist of the falsehoods is that the election is “rigged” against Mr. Trump. “These misinformation narratives are helping plunge the country further into chaos and confusion,” said Fadi Quran, a director at Avaaz, a nonprofit that tracks disinformation. He called the disinformation campaigns a “democratic emergency.” “The most vulnerable communities in the country are paying the highest price,” he said. For weeks, officials and election security experts braced for what was widely expected to be an election marred by hacking and misinformation. They zeroed in on familiar adversaries in Russia, which weeks earlier had been caught hiring people in Mexico and Venezuela to push out Instagram and Facebook conten

Full Article: False News Targeting Latinos Trails the Election - The New York Times

National: Trump faces long odds in challenging state vote counts | Maryclaire Dale/Associated Press

Republican surrogates for President Donald Trump resumed their legal fight Monday to try to stop the vote count in key battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Michigan, but faced long odds given the Electoral College tally and recent court rulings that found no evidence of widespread vote fraud. While some Republican officials invoked the Trump mantra that only “legal votes” should be counted, others emerged to counter the campaign narrative and urge voters, and perhaps the president, to support the results. “The process has not failed our country in more than 200 years, and it is not going to fail our country this year,” said Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who won her reelection bid and has congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his victory. Still, Trump lawyers soldiered on six days after the election, just as personal counsel Rudy Giuliani had promised they would during a surreal weekend press conference outside a landscaping storefront in northeast Philadelphia.

Full Article: Trump faces long odds in challenging state vote counts

National: Election breathes new life into false ‘dead voter’ claims | Arijeta Lajka/Associated Press

As President Donald Trump continued to assert without evidence Tuesday that the presidential election was undermined by voter fraud, social media users falsely claimed that people had cast extra votes using the identities of dead people in Pennsylvania and Michigan. There’s no evidence that this happened. The false claim that deceased voters cast votes “comes up every election,” said Jason Roberts, a professor of political science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Experts told The Associated Press that it is common for state voter rolls to include voters with birthdates that make them appear impossibly old, but these are usually explained by human error, software quirks or voter confidentiality issues.

Full Article: Election breathes new life into false 'dead voter' claims

National: Most Republican lawsuits challenging election results in battleground states haven’t gone far. Here’s why. | Kevin McCoy, Donovan Slack and Dennis Wagner/USA Today

Even before Democrat Joe Biden was projected to be the winner of the presidential election, President Donald Trump's campaign and Republican allies started pursuing lawsuits over voting and ballot counting. Cases filed in five key states alleged ballots had errors because voters were required to use Sharpies, observers didn't have enough access to monitor ballot counting, and that late-arriving mail ballots were improperly mixed with legal votes. Judges have dismissed most cases quickly, often for lack of evidence. However, the U.S. Supreme Court could issue a ruling at any time on the Republican Party of Pennsylvania's request for an emergency injunction to block processing of mail and absentee ballots that were received during the three days after the normal deadline on Election Day. The high court could also decide to conduct a full review of GOP arguments that the deadline extension was unconstitutional. And Monday evening, the Trump campaign filed a federal suit in Pennsylvania alleging voters were treated differently depending on whether they voted by mail or in person, creating an unconstitutional, “two tiered” system.

Full Article: Republican lawsuits challenging voting haven't gone far. Here's why.

Alaska Elections Officials Prepare for Absentee Ballot Count | Becky Bohrer/Associated Press

Alaska election officials plan to begin counting more than 155,000 absentee and other ballots Tuesday, a week after Election Day. Some have questioned or criticized the lag, citing a provision of state law that says the counting of reviewed absentee ballots should begin the night of the election. But Maria Bahr, an Alaska Department of Law spokesperson, said absentee ballots are not deemed eligible for counting until voter histories have been run to guard against any possible duplicate votes. The process involves going through precinct registers, which election officials were still receiving Monday, Division of Elections spokesperson Tiffany Montemayor said. She said it can take time for mail to arrive in the vast state. “We're using every resource that we can to get those things in as fast as we can,” she said. Election officials urged patience ahead of the election, anticipating a large volume of absentee ballots and saying it would take time for results to be known. Some campaigns emphasized absentee and early voting amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Full Article: Alaska Elections Officials Prepare for Absentee Ballot Count | Alaska News | US News

Arizona: Republican challenge to Maricopa County election involves fewer than 200 ballots, attorneys say | Maria Polletta and Andrew Oxford/Arizona Republic

Republican officials behind a lawsuit alleging poll workers "incorrectly rejected" votes cast in person on Election Day will make their case in front of a Maricopa County Superior Court judge later this week. The defendants — Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors — also will have a chance to produce evidence and make oral arguments, according to Judge Daniel Kiley. But it appears unlikely the case would affect the outcome of the presidential vote. A lawyer for the county said fewer than 200 ballots are at issue. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign filed the lawsuit Saturday, alongside the Republican National Committee and the Arizona Republican Party. The complaint claims Maricopa County poll workers disregarded procedures designed to give voters a chance to correct ballot mistakes, possibly affecting final vote counts.

Full Article: Arizona election results: Maricopa County challenge involves 180 ballots

Connecticut: Officials say if absentee voting becomes the norm, system needs overhaul | Julia Bergman/The Day

There were little problems at the polls in Connecticut on Election Day, but if the state is to see large numbers of voters cast absentee ballots in the future, as it did this election, an overhaul of its voting system would be needed, election officials say. A day after the election, during which Connecticut saw record voter turnout spurred in large part by the more than 650,000 voters who cast an absentee ballot, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill announced that she will propose an amendment to the state’s Constitution to allow voters to cast an absentee ballot without an excuse. This year, any Connecticut voter could cast an absentee ballot, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’m more convinced than ever that offering more options for people in terms of voting is the way to go,” Merrill said in an interview last week. “And it’s better for the people administering the election too. It puts pressure off that one day.” Currently 44 states allow their residents to vote prior to Election Day either through in-person early voting or no-excuse absentee balloting or both. "We did this as a one-time experiment, but now we’ve got the experience with it and I think it’s largely very positive," Merrill said.

Full Article: The Day - Officials say if absentee voting becomes the norm in Connecticut, system needs overhaul - News from southeastern Connecticut

Georgia senators seek Secretary of State Raffensperger’s ouster | Mark Niesse and Greg Bluestein/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

Georgia’s two U.S. senators called on the state’s top elections official, a fellow Republican, to resign Monday in a shocking attempt to appease President Donald Trump and his supporters ahead of Jan. 5 runoffs for likely control of the U.S. Senate. U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue provided no evidence to back up claims of unspecified “failures” with the November election that was overseen by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who said flatly that he’s not stepping down: “It’s not going to happen.” The two Republicans were attempting to energize conservatives upset over Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden, who is on the cusp of becoming the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992. Biden led Trump by over 11,500 votes Monday afternoon. But the criticism flies in the face of comments from other state elections officials and other Republican leaders who say there’s no evidence of wrongdoing. Hours earlier, a state elections official held a press conference at the Capitol focused on debunking several conspiracy theories alleging missing or mishandled ballots. Raffensperger said he would continue to ensure that the election is fair.

Full Article: Georgia senators seek Secretary of State Raffensperger's ouster

Georgia: ‘Hoaxes and nonsense’: GOP election officials reject Trump’s unfounded fraud claims | Jenny Jarvie and Seema Mehta/Los Angeles Times

Georgia’s too-close-to-call presidential contest devolved into a fight Monday among Republicans as the state’s top election official rejected calls from its two U.S. senators that he resign for challenging President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. Monday morning, Gabriel Sterling, a lifelong Republican who manages Georgia’s voting system, took to a lectern at the Capitol to plainly and matter-of-factly dismiss criticism of election illegalities in the Southern battleground state as “fake news” and “disinformation.” “Hoaxes and nonsense,” Sterling said. “Don’t buy into these things. Find trusted sources.” Hours later, GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler — who are each in a Jan. 5 run-off that will determine control of the chamber — called on Sterling’s boss, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to resign for allegedly mismanaging the state’s elections. “That is not going to happen,” Raffensperger said. Georgia’s 16 electoral votes are no longer key to deciding the election. Democrat Joe Biden has already secured 290 electoral votes — 20 more than needed to win the White House. With Biden leading Trump in Georgia by more than 12,000 votes — 0.25% of the total — Republicans in the state are nevertheless locked in a civil war as the presidential race heads for a recount. The upheaval shows how Trump’s persistent and unfounded claims of fraud and refusal to concede the election to Biden are dividing not just the country but his own party.

Full Article: GOP election officials aren't buying Trump's unfounded fraud claims - Los Angeles Times

Michigan: Detroit lawsuit alleges more misconduct in elections process | Dave Boucher and Paul Egan/Detroit Free Press

A new lawsuit seeks a judge's order blocking certification of election results from Wayne County, citing a range of allegations from Republican poll watchers and a city of Detroit election worker. The allegations include workers coaching people on how to vote, peeking at ballots to see how people voted before processing them and preventing Republican poll inspectors from being able to effectively watch the counting process. The lawsuit cites six sworn affidavits, but does not include or reference any additional evidence or proof of misconduct. They also come as Michigan and national Republicans continue to say alleged voting irregularities must be investigated before any presidential victor can be declared. David Fink, an attorney for the city of Detroit, dismissed the case as "another belated lawsuit, raising baseless allegations, trying to undermine confidence in a well-run election."  David Kallman, the Lansing attorney who represented the Owosso barber who refused to close his shop during the spring stay-at-home order related to the coronavirus, said in a Sunday news release he has filed the suit in Wayne County Circuit Court. He and others cited in the lawsuit allege fraud inside the TCF Center in Detroit, where local absentee ballots were counted. The lawsuit was formally filed Monday afternoon against the city of Detroit, Detroit Election Commission, Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey, Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett and the Wayne County Board of Canvassers. Reached Monday afternoon, Winfrey said she is not doing any media interviews. Two previous lawsuits making similar allegations have been dismissed by Michigan judges. The Trump campaign's first attempt at an appeal in one case came up short — the Court of Appeals said the campaign's attorneys needed to file additional documents before it could determine what to do with the case.

Full Article: Detroit lawsuit alleges more misconduct in elections process

North Carolina continues counting mail-in votes as some races hang in the balance | Brian Gordon/USA Today

North Carolina election officials continue to count mail-in votes as the state begins its final week of tabulating the 2020 Election. According to the N.C. State Board of Elections, seven county boards, including Buncombe, on Nov. 9 were scheduled to consider and potentially approve at least 3,200 mail-in ballots. These are ballots county boards received after Election Day but were postmarked by Nov. 3. North Carolina will continue accepting properly postmarked mail-in ballots until Nov. 12. On Nov. 6, 10 county boards approved 4,750 mail-in ballots. These votes favored Democratic candidates, with around 65% supporting President-elect Joe Biden to 35% supporting President Donald Trump. These votes also helped Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham narrow the gap with incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, though Cunningham still trails by more than 95,700 votes. Democrats were much more likely to vote by mail this election, both across the state and the country, as different campaigns emphasized and deterred voting by mail.

Full Article: NC mail-in voting count continues for Trump, Biden, Cunningham, Tillis

Oregon elections director fired after sharing security, spending concerns | Andrew Selsky/Associated Press

Oregon’s elections director was abruptly fired in a text message by the secretary of state after he pointed out serious issues with the state’s aging and vulnerable technology for running elections. Elections Director Stephen Trout learned in a text message Thursday night — as his department and county elections officials were still counting votes from the Nov. 3 election — that he was out. On Friday, Secretary of State Bev Clarno, a Republican appointed to the position by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, announced to county clerks and other elections officials in Oregon’s 36 counties that “today is also Steve Trout’s last day with the Agency.” Election officials in the state were stunned. Steve Druckenmiller, the veteran Linn County clerk, said Clarno’s action was “dangerous and so ignorant.” “We are still in the election process right now. We are reconciling, we’re dealing with problems right now as far as your signatures and communicating with voters who didn’t sign the ballots,” Druckenmiller said. “We’re going to have to do recounts, all of these things. She doesn’t understand elections.” Clarno spokeswoman Andrea Chiapella said Trout was “a knowledgeable advocate for the democratic process on our team” and that he planned to leave on Dec. 15 anyway. Deputy Director Michelle Teed has been named acting elections director, Chiapella said. Trout said in an email to The Associated Press that although he had already planned to seek a new job, he did not want to go this soon.

Full Article: Oregon elections director fired after sharing security, spending concerns - oregonlive.com

Pennsylvania: Trump campaign moves to bar state from certifying election results in new lawsuit | Jeremy Roebuck/Philadelphia Inquirer

President Donald Trump’s campaign launched a new legal effort Monday aimed at stopping the certification of election results in Pennsylvania and potentially invalidating thousands of votes cast by mail statewide. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Harrisburg, accuses state and county officials of grossly mismanaging the process of voting by mail and shrouding the tabulation of mail ballots in secrecy by denying Republican monitors sufficient access to inspect them as they were being counted. Though many of its claims have already been presented and litigated in courts across the state — many which ruled against the president’s campaign — the new 86-page filing presented GOP lawyers' most comprehensive case yet in attempting to undermine public confidence in Pennsylvania’s election results. “The very officials charged with ensuring the integrity of the election in Pennsylvania have so mismanaged the election process that no one — not the voters and not President Trump’s campaign — can have any faith that their most basic rights under the U.S. Constitution are being protected,” wrote attorneys Ronald L. Hicks Jr. and Carolyn B. McGee, of Pittsburgh, and Linda Kerns, of Philadelphia. “Nothing less than the integrity of the 2020 presidential is at stake in this action.”

Full Article: Trump campaign moves to bar Pennsylvania from certifying election results in new lawsuit

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia elections officials get death threats amid Trump election attacks | Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

“Hey, how are you? You know what happens to corrupt Democrat politicians and election officials who support Black Lives Matter and who use voter fraud and voter suppression, voter intimidation and election tampering? You know what happens?” a man said, according to a recording of the call. “They learn first hand, the hard way, why the Second Amendment exists. We are a thousand steps ahead of you motherf—, and you’re walking right into the lion’s den.” It was an unsettling reminder of how heated — and dangerous — American politics have become. As officials prepared for the possibility of violence and civil unrest following Election Day, they worried about the city commissioners, the three elected officials who run Philadelphia’s elections, along with their staffs. Police performed threat assessments of the commissioners’ homes ahead of Election Day and planned strict security for the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where ballots would be counted and the commissioners and their staff would spend every hour of the day. “We are working around the clock in a location that probably has the best security and is the safest place in the entire City of Philadelphia,” Al Schmidt, the lone Republican of the three commissioners, recalled of the last week in an interview Monday. “We have the police department, we have the sheriff’s office, and we have private security.” Outside, tensions were rising, inflamed by President Donald Trump’s false attacks on the state’s electoral process and the sense that Pennsylvania — and Philadelphia — would play a key role in determining the presidency. As legal and political fights escalated, so did the vitriol: a torrent of death threats, harassment, and abuse, aimed at the city’s elections administrators.

Full Article: Philadelphia elections officials get death threats amid Trump election attacks

Texas: Lawmakers will revisit election code in upcoming legislative session | Cayla Harris/San Antonio Express-News

After an election season unlike any other — one that saw dozens of lawsuits concerning voter access and a record 11.4 million Texans casting ballots — state legislators are preparing for a partisan battle over laws that govern early voting, absentee ballots and related matters during the upcoming legislative session. Monday was the first day to pre-file bills for the 87th session, scheduled to begin Jan. 12. As of 5:30 p.m., more than 550 bills had been filed in both chambers — and thousands more are expected over the next several weeks. While just a small fraction of those bills will make it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, the influx of legislation gives an early hint at the priorities weighing on lawmakers’ minds this year, with dozens of bills addressing health care, racial injustice, abortion, redistricting and election law. The voting bills come from both sides of the aisle, with Democrats generally trying to expand voter access and Republicans limiting options in the name of election security. Democratic Reps. Lina Ortega of El Paso and Terry Meza of Irving, alongside Sen. José Menéndez of San Antonio, for example, introduced a bill that would give all registered voters the option to cast mail-in ballots during early voting. On the other side, Republican Rep. Valoree Swanson of Spring introduced a bill that would prohibit state officers and employees from distributing applications for early voting ballots. Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park introduced several measures to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting, including a bill that would require the secretary of state to check databases at least twice a year for noncitizens who have been improperly allowed to register.

Full Article: Lawmakers will revisit Texas election code in upcoming legislative session - ExpressNews.com

National: George W. Bush congratulates Biden on his victory. | Peter Baker/The New York Times

Former President George W. Bush congratulated President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Sunday, becoming the highest-profile Republican to publicly declare the election over in defiance of President Trump’s refusal to accept the results. “I extended my warm congratulations and thanked him for the patriotic message he delivered last night,” Mr. Bush said in a statement released after he spoke with Mr. Biden by telephone. “I also called Kamala Harris to congratulate her on her historic election to the vice presidency. Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country.” He added: “I want to congratulate President Trump and his supporters on a hard-fought campaign. He earned the votes of more than 70 million Americans — an extraordinary political achievement. They have spoken, and their voices will continue to be heard through elected Republicans at every level of government.” Mr. Bush, the only living former Republican president, put his stamp on the outcome even as many of his party’s elected leaders held back either out of loyalty to Mr. Trump or out of fear of crossing the outgoing president. Mr. Trump has falsely asserted that the election was stolen without any evidence, leaving his party in the awkward position of following a president refusing to accept the reality that other Republicans have, even if they do not say so out loud.

Full Article: George W. Bush congratulates Biden on his victory. - The New York Times

National: Guns seen outside vote-counting centers becoming increasingly normal | Associated Press

The most turbulent and norm-breaking presidential election of a lifetime has led to an extraordinary spectacle in the United States over the past three days: armed protesters gathering nightly outside offices where workers are counting the votes that will decide who wins the White House. Some carry shotguns. Some have handguns. Often, they carry black, military-style semiautomatic rifles. The protesters with weapons are a small minority of the demonstrators. There have been no reports of anyone getting shot, and the laws in Arizona, Nevada and Michigan — where guns have been seen outside vote-tabulation centers in recent days — allow people to openly carry firearms in public. But in a nation increasingly inured to weapons at rallies – most often carried by right-wing demonstrators, though also sometimes by left-wing protesters – experts warn that the guns create a dangerous situation that could be seen as intimidation or tip easily into violence. “The more we see, the more people see it as a normal reaction – even though it’s not. There’s nothing normal about it,” said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a professor at American University who studies extremism. “The potential for violence becomes normalized.”

Full Article: Guns seen outside vote-counting centers becoming increasingly normal - pennlive.com

‘We will not allow anyone to stop us’: Day and night, under historic scrutiny, the nation’s vote counters carried on | Amy Gardner, Reis Thebault, Hannah Knowles and Michelle Ye Hee Lee/The Washington Post

A burst pipe in the ceiling of Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, where Fulton County election officials had set up their vote-counting command center this fall, was perhaps the easiest of the challenges the staff faced in this singular year. Water splattering on the floor halted counting for two hours on Election Day, but it didn’t damage any ballots. And it was nothing compared to the seemingly Augean task of processing nearly 150,000 mail ballots, the unfounded accusations of fraud, the physical threats and the online harassment — and the distinctly racial overtones of mostly White protesters outside the building hurling unfounded accusations of wrongdoing as a largely Black staff of election officials inside methodically counted ballots. In the background was an anxious nation hitting “refresh” on their devices for the latest vote tallies, desperate to know who the next president would be, their eyes trained on Georgia and a handful of other states like no election in history. “I knew there was going to be more scrutiny here,” said Fulton County Elections Director Richard Barron. “I’ve learned to expect it, and you just deal with the pressure as it comes.”

Full Article: Election workers carried on vote count under historic scrutiny - The Washington Post

National: With No Evidence of Fraud, Trump Fails to Make Headway on Legal Cases | Jim Rutenberg, Nick Corasaniti and Alan Feuer/The New York Times

President Trump’s bellicose pledge to fight the outcome of the election in the courts crashed on Friday into skeptical judges, daunting Electoral College math and a lack of evidence for his claims of fraud. On a day that began with vote tallies in Georgia and Pennsylvania tipping in Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s favor, Mr. Trump’s campaign declared, “This election is not over,” as the Republican National Committee announced it had activated “legal challenge teams” in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania. And the Trump forces named a new general to lead the effort, the hardened conservative political combatant David Bossie. But none of the dozen or so lawsuits they had brought in battleground states appeared to be gaining any traction in the courts. And in any case, none seemed likely to give Mr. Trump the edge he would need in vote counts in the states that will determine the outcome. In seeking to foment widespread doubt about the legitimacy of the election, Mr. Trump and his surrogates seemed less focused on substantive legal arguments that could hold up in court than on bolstering the president’s political narrative, unsupported by the facts, that he was somehow being robbed of a second term.

Full Article: Trump's Election Fraud Claims Make No Headway on Legal Cases - The New York Times

National: The Big Success Story of the Election Is the One You Didn’t Hear – Government employees were the unsung heroes of the voting process. | Tom Shoop/Government Executive

The central story of the 2020 election was the one you heard over the weekend: Joe Biden was declared the winner and is president-elect of the United States. But it was the story you probably didn’t see, hear or read that was at least as impressive: At all levels of government, dedicated, patriotic civil servants and local volunteers made sure the election went off without significant disruption. Biden acknowledged as much in his victory speech Saturday night. "To all those who volunteered, worked the polls in the middle of this pandemic, local election officials—you deserve a special thanks from this nation." They’re not the only ones owed a debt of gratitude: There were the U.S. cyber operators who went on the offensive against Iranian hackers seeking to meddle in the election. The postal workers who moved mountains to deliver millions of mail-in ballots in time to be counted. The local officials who worked tirelessly in the weeks before the election to swat down misinformation. And many more.

Full Article: The Big Success Story of the Election Is the One You Didn’t Hear - Government Executive

National: Federal judge keeps pressure on USPS to deliver remaining mail-in ballots by state deadlines | Dinah Voyles Pulver/USA Today

Former Vice President Joe Biden won the race for the White House on Saturday, but the counting of mail-in ballots cast in the tightly contested presidential election goes on. The U.S. Postal Service must continue searching its processing facilities twice a day for missing mail-in ballots in states where they are still being accepted, under a federal judge’s orders aimed at making sure every eligible ballot gets delivered in time. Those ballots are not expected to change the outcome of the election but will be included in each state's final, certified tally. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan began issuing the orders earlier this week after the USPS reported low delivery scores and ballots that appeared to have entered their facilities but perhaps not exited them.  Since then, the USPS has found and delivered thousands of ballots. Sullivan also directed the agency to continue reporting the number of ballots found in the sweeps as well as other performance measures. The sweeps must continue until the state deadlines pass.

Full Article: Judge presses USPS to deliver remaining ballots by state deadlines

National: Trump’s wild claims test limits of Republican loyalty | Steve Peoples and Jill Colvin/Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s wild and unsupported claims of voter fraud have emerged as a high-stakes Republican loyalty test that illustrates the tug of war likely to define the future of the GOP whether he wins or loses the presidency. There is a pervasive sense among current and former GOP officials that the president’s behavior is irresponsible if not dangerous, but a divide has emerged between those influential Republicans willing to call him out publicly and those who aren’t. Driving their calculus is an open acknowledgement that Trump’s better-than-expected showing on Election Day ensures that he will remain the Republican Party’s most powerful voice for years to come even if he loses. That stark reality did little to silence the likes of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a second-term Republican who has not ruled out a 2024 White House bid. He described the president’s claims as “dangerous” and “embarrassing.”

Full Article: Trump's wild claims test limits of Republican loyalty

National: After Warnings It Could Go Off the Rails, the Election Actually Ran Smoothly | Reid J. Epstein/The New York Times

In Georgia, a high school senior organized her classmates to be poll workers so voters would not have to wait hours in line like they did back in June. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee officials leased the whole floor of a downtown office building to serve as the headquarters to count a record number of absentee ballots. And in Michigan, the secretary of state organized three shifts of more than 700 people each in Detroit who counted twice as many ballots as they had for the August primary in just over half as much time. Even as the nation waited for the call designating the winner — Joseph R. Biden Jr. was declared the victor on Saturday morning — it had reason to breathe a sigh of relief. Despite warnings of violence, threats of foreign interference, rampant disinformation, cuts to the Postal Service, President Trump’s sowing of distrust and a pandemic that forced the relocation of thousands of polling places, the machinery of American democracy adapted and held up this past week. The result was a relatively smooth election free of the hourslong lines and vote-suppressing shenanigans that have characterized the voting experience in recent years, particularly during the primaries of the coronavirus era.

Full Article: After Warnings It Could Go Off the Rails, the Election Actually Ran Smoothly - The New York Times

Editorial: What happens if Trump won’t concede? | Richard L. Hasen/Slate

President Donald J. Trump hasn’t conceded the presidential race to his Democratic challenger Joe Biden yet—something that would be a normal step in the peaceful transition of power. Instead, Trump has continued to make unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and to threaten new lawsuits that he says will expose the fraud and lead to his victory. (They won’t.) Given Trump’s norm breaking throughout his presidency, his failure to concede early is hardly a surprise. The question is whether we should worry about it, and whether his failure threatens that peaceful transition. So far, the signs are hopeful that we will make it through this period, but all is not rosy. Responsible Republican congressional leaders are not yet on board but likely will be soon. On Sunday, all Republican House leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy would say was that the nation had to wait for the process to play itself out, while former President George W. Bush called Biden “president-elect” and acknowledged Trump could pursue his legal remedies: “The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear.” Irresponsible voices, though, are trying to delegitimize the Biden presidency from the beginning. There has been no official calling of the results yet. It will take days and weeks more before results are certified in the states, as officials double-check results and as candidates have the opportunity to demand recounts. Eventually, after certification, presidential electors will meet, governors will transmit the Electoral College results to Congress, Congress will count those votes on Jan. 6, and Biden will be sworn in as president. What we have right now are nearly final election results across almost all the states, giving vote-counting experts working for reputable media organizations the ability to predict with very high certainty that Biden has captured more than enough votes in more than enough states to win the Electoral College vote.

Full Article: What happens if Trump won’t concede.