Voting Rights / Lawsuits / Voter Supression / HR1 / S1 / Gerrymander Congressional Districts / Gerrymandering

[Phoenix520]

I can’t think of a Democrat-controlled state that’s passing legislation blatantly targeting Republicans. Have the Rs figured out that there’s nothing that can be done about it in the short term so why the fuck not?

[Dave from down under]

Fascists must fascist

[RTH10260]

Federal court sets July deadline for new Alabama voting maps
The new maps are necessary after a ruling from the Supreme Court found the state’s 2020 maps were discriminatory.

ByJOSH MOON
Published on June 19, 2023 at 7:35 am CDT

The Alabama Legislature has about a month to redraw congressional voting maps, which include a second district in which Black voters make up a majority or “close to it,” a three-judge federal panel decided Friday.

The July 21 deadline set by the court would allow time for candidates and parties to meet qualifying and certification deadlines for the 2024 election cycle. The action was necessary after a surprise decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the state’s Allen v. Milligan case, which ruled the maps adopted in 2020 were in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

During a status conference on Friday, the judges impressed upon the parties involved that the time constraints are serious. They also made it clear that if the court was not satisfied with the maps drawn by Alabama lawmakers or if lawmakers failed to agree on new maps by that deadline, the court would appoint a special master to draw the maps for them.

To meet those deadlines, Gov. Kay Ivey will be forced to call the legislature in for a special session next month, at which time new maps can be debated and approved. The new maps would then have to be approved by the federal court during an August hearing.




https://www.alreporter.com/2023/06/19/f ... ting-maps/

[Luke]

This tweet about MooreVHarper surprisingly went slightly viral --

Thanks Marc & @democracydocket. Here's hoping the Supreme Court REJECTS the ‘independent state legislature’ theory, or moots #MooreVHarper. Crazy MAGA legislatures are already doing damage to democracy. Shutting this down will help to have free and fair #2024elections.
11:15 AM · Jun 25, 2023 26K Views 54 Retweets 208 Likes

ETA: Just saw Marc retweeted it. Fogbow Victory!

Marc Retweet.JPG (128.65 KiB) Viewed 928 times

[MN-Skeptic]

Yay!

[Slim Cognito]

My morning routine involves me waking up, grabbing my phone and reading the days' news before crawling out of bed. Today, I ran across this one...

https://nbc-2.com/news/politics/2023/07 ... as-system/

Hundreds of thousands of vote-by-mail requests erased from Florida’s system

Most everything has an expiration date, but one thing you may not have expected to expire was your vote-by-mail ballot.

NBC2 has learned hundreds of thousands of vote-by-mail requests have been wiped out of the system in every county in the state.

This means most of us right now will not receive a ballot in the upcoming March primary.

Lee County would like to have about 250,000 vote-by-mail requests in its system, but currently only has 23,000.

I jumped out of bed, ran into the office and looked up our voter registrations in the Lee County site and, sure enough, no mail-in ballot request. I immediately updated them (again). Thanks to DuhSantis, the request now has to be renewed after every general election. Boy, that's gonna sting when a bunch of people realize they missed the deadline to enroll and are going to have to stand in line to vote.

There was no notification. You were supposed to magically know your mail-in request had lapsed.

Do we have a thread where we can post updates for every state to help us remember to check our status, whatever we want it to be? If not, I'm happy to start one.

[RTH10260]

Do not forget, this is bipartisan. All those Republican voters get also hit. Is the proportions between the parties known? Will all the Republican T (or Desantis) voters run their mobility scooters to the polling station? This could also bite the election processors having to cater foor extra staff at the polling stations. Is FL one of those states that has closed the number of polling stations?

[tek]

In palm beach county we got several emails and snail mails about this, so that people could deal with it.
But pbc cares about democracy, much to DeSantis' ire..

[neonzx]

My morning routine involves me waking up, grabbing my phone and reading the days' news before crawling out of bed. Today, I ran across this one...
...
I jumped out of bed, ran into the office and looked up our voter registrations in the Lee County site and, sure enough, no mail-in ballot request. I immediately updated them (again). Thanks to DuhSantis, the request now has to be renewed after every general election. Boy, that's gonna sting when a bunch of people realize they missed the deadline to enroll and are going to have to stand in line to vote.

I saw the same article on Wednesday and immediately checked my status. Still good for mail ballots through 12/2024. I assume this is because I changed my address ~6 months ago which they treat like a new voter registration. (when they flubbed and put me as a REP which I then had to fix)

[raison de arizona]

AZ does both ways, you can either sign up for a permanent vote by mail list, and they will just automatically mail you a ballot every election, or you can request a vote by mail for a single election.

[raison de arizona]

This is the part where the court draws the district FOR them, yes?

Alabama Republicans refuse to draw a second Black congressional district in defiance of Supreme Court
The Supreme Court this year reaffirmed a federal court order for Alabama to include two districts where Black voters make up voting-age majorities, “or something quite close to it.”

Alabama Republicans on Friday defied a U.S. Supreme Court order by passing a new congressional map that includes only one majority-Black district.

The GOP-controlled Legislature had called a special session to redraw an earlier map after the Supreme Court reaffirmed a federal court order to include two districts where Black voters make up voting-age majorities, “or something quite close to it.” But on Friday, state Republicans approved a new map with just one majority-Black seat and a second district that is approximately 40% Black.

The bill passed the House in a 75-28 vote after the Senate voted 24 to 6 in favor of the revised map.

The map was completed Friday afternoon — hours before the court-ordered deadline for the Legislature to draw up new boundaries — as a compromise between the House and Senate versions.

Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed the redistricting map into law Friday night. A federal court will hold a hearing on the map Aug. 14.

“Following the U.S. Supreme Court order, I called the Alabama Legislature into a special session to readdress our congressional map," Ivey said in a statement after signing the measure. "The Legislature knows our state, our people and our districts better than the federal courts or activist groups, and I am pleased that they answered the call, remained focused and produced new districts ahead of the court deadline.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/electi ... -rcna94715

[much ado]

The South shall rise again!!

[Foggy]

They really are re-litigating the 1960s,aren't they?

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Yep! We don’t need all those pesky provisions of the Voting Rights Act anymore.

[sugar magnolia]

Y'all seriously thought anyone in Aladamnbama could count to two?

[RTH10260]

Judges reject Alabama’s congressional lines, will draw new districts to increase Black voting power

KIM CHANDLER
Updated Tue, September 5, 2023 at 6:20 PM GMT+2·3 min read

In blocking the newly drawn congressional map, the three-judge panel wrote that they are “deeply troubled” that Alabama lawmakers flouted their instruction to create a second majority-Black district or something close to it. A designated special master will be tapped to draw new districts for the state, the judges ordered.

“This is a significant step toward equal representation for Black Alabamians,” said former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which backed one of the court challenges that led to the decision.

The Alabama attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The state is expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature hastily drew new lines this summer after the U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld the panel’s finding that the map — that had one majority-Black district out of seven in a state where 27% of residents are Black — likely violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act.

The three-judge panel, in striking down Alabama’s map in 2022, said the state should have two districts where Black voters have an opportunity to elect their preferred candidates. Because of racially polarized voting in the state, that map would need to include a second district where Black voters are the majority or “something quite close,” the judges wrote.

Alabama lawmakers in July passed a new map that maintained a single majority-Black district and boosted the percentage of Black voters in another district, District 2, from about 30% to almost 40%.

“We are not aware of any other case in which a state legislature — faced with a federal court order declaring that its electoral plan unlawfully dilutes minority votes and requiring a plan that provides an additional opportunity district — responded with a plan that the state concedes does not provide that district,” the judges wrote in the ruling rejecting the new map.

The group of Black voters who filed one of the two lawsuits that led to the order likened Alabama’s defiance in the case to that of segregationist Gov. George Wallace, who unsuccessfully tried to defy court orders to desegregate.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/three-judge- ... 58203.html

[MN-Skeptic]

Re the Alabama newly rejected map - I get it. I can see why their legislature drew the map they did. Why would people up for election draw a map which would displease the folks voting for them? Better to draw one they knew would be rejected but would keep their voters happy. If an outside panel re-draws it, the current legislators can go back to their voters and say "We tried. This new map isn't our doing. Vote for us to keep doing your bidding."

[raison de arizona]

Alabama lost. Again. Their AG is displeased.

[NewMexGirl]

Alabama lost. Again. Their AG is displeased.

What happens next

[raison de arizona]

Alabama lost. Again. Their AG is displeased.

What happens next

The court draws a map for them, and they whine and complain some more. I thinks.

[NewMexGirl]

What happens next

The court draws a map for them, and they whine and complain some more. I thinks.

Thanks. If Alabama defies SCOTUS, will ‘Bama be thrown out of these United States and form their own country? I’m really trying hard not to wish for that outcome. That is a joke. Probably.

[Ben-Prime]

Thanks. If Alabama defies SCOTUS, will ‘Bama be thrown out of these United States and form their own country? I’m really trying hard not to wish for that outcome. That is a joke. Probably.

I mean, we'd lose Senator Coach!

[keith]

Thanks. If Alabama defies SCOTUS, will ‘Bama be thrown out of these United States and form their own country? I’m really trying hard not to wish for that outcome. That is a joke. Probably.

I mean, we'd lose Senator Coach!

Don't worry. The NCAA will take 7 years to investigate before closing the case with no penalties.

[Frater I*I]

I mean, we'd lose Senator Coach!

Don't worry. The NCAA will take 7 years to investigate before closing the case with no penalties.
[/quote]

[Slim Cognito]

Did the AG just call the 6-3 ultra conservative SCOTUS liberal activists?