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

[Ben-Prime]

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

I mean, in fairness, if any state gets to do so, it's the Reactionary People's Republic of Alabama.

[raison de arizona]

BREAKING: 8th Circuit rules that only DOJ — not private groups and voters — can bring lawsuits under Section 2 of the VRA.

In past 40 years, there have been at least 182 successful Section 2 cases--only 15 were brought solely by DOJ.

8th Circuit Rules Private Plaintiffs Cannot Sue Under Section 2 of Voting Rights Act
Read more here.

https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1726 ... 04585?s=20

Jesus Christ. This is THE WAY the Voting Rights Act works. It’s THE WAY we enforce the 15th freaking amendment.

I think Roberts and Barrett will join the liberals to reverse this when it gets to SCOTUS, but my God, letting Trump judges on the federal bench was a terrible plan.

[raison de arizona]

https://x.com/marceelias/status/1726684 ... 89127?s=20

Reporters: If you are covering the 8th Circuit VRA decision, you need to explain that:
-This only affects AR, IA, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD.
-The 5th Circuit (MS, LA, TX) decided the opposite last week. https://democracydocket.com/cases/louis ... -robinson/

This a very important case and precision matters.

[raison de arizona]

The two Trump judges in the majority are really thumbing their noses at the Supreme Court right now. SCOTUS’ decision last year in Allen v. Milligan made clear that the Voting Rights Act requires a majority-Black district like this. Now this court claims it’s unconstitutional!

BREAKING: 5th Circuit panel votes 2-1 to strike down Louisiana's new Black majority congressional district as unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Opinion here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/135Tznk ... sp=sharing

[RTH10260]

Secure cages and Swat teams: Arizona county’s drastic steps to protect the vote
Extraordinary measures turn Maricopa county elections office into fortress ahead of 2024 vote to protect staff and ballots

Piper Vaughn
Wed 22 May 2024 12.00 CEST

Maricopa county, Arizona – a campaign battleground where election workers have faced violent threats – has taken extraordinary measures to protect its staff and the counting of ballots.

The Guardian obtained a document from the county listing security changes it has made since the 2020 election. Those include stationing a Swat team on-site at the main building where votes are tabulated and deploying the sheriff on horseback.

After facing false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Maricopa county became a hotspot for the contentious fights that followed. It is the most populous county in Arizona, a critical swing state in the presidential election and a battleground state for control of the Senate. Election workers have faced a daily torrent of hateful and menacing messages over email and social media, and such threats led Clint Hickman to decide not to run for re-election as a county supervisor this year.

The document provided to the Guardian by staff with the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) shows how the county has transformed that building into a fortress.

Armed guards have been increased at entrances and exits, and sheriffs patrol the area continuously. Doors to secure areas have been replaced with ones that require badge access, said Taylor Kinnerup, spokesperson for the county recorder’s office.

While awaiting tabulation, ballots are held in “secure cages” made of chain-link fencing. Ballots are stored in these cages during lunch breaks, off hours, or any other pause, Kinnerup explained.

In the tabulation rooms, where votes are counted, three people have to be in the room at all times, Kinnerup said. In those rooms, the hard drives that record and store votes have their ports blocked and no access to wifi, Kinnerup explained, so that no one can access them except authorized officials who are allowed to enter the room. They are connected by physical wires only to servers within the building, and the whole system is closed and does not connect to the internet.

If an IT person is needed, that person must be escorted by two other employees. If visitors come, the document says, “ambassadors” escort them to maintain security while “ensuring observers can monitor the election process”.

Surveillance cameras that livestream to the public monitor those rooms and other key facilities in the Tabulation and Election Center. Cameras also continuously record the interior and exterior of the MCTEC building, and every place where a ballot goes in the building is under video surveillance. The surveillance cameras have been upgraded, the document says, and additional lighting and video surveillance have been installed at drop boxes.

Ballots are also protected against natural disasters and are stored in a “fire retardant room”, Kinnerup said, “so if the whole building would catch on fire, the ballots would be fine”.




https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/art ... opa-county

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Will they give Richer a horse to ride? He'd look good with his cowboy hat and chaps and hat!

[raison de arizona]

https://x.com/TheTNHoller/status/1804633635271905338

INBOX: a Latino Tennnessean in Williamson County, a citizen for over a decade, got this letter— is this real, @MarkGoinsTN?

We’ve seen 3, all with Latino last names. Sure smells like voter intimidation, in a state where the GOP supermajority has made voter suppression an art.

[Ben-Prime]

https://x.com/TheTNHoller/status/1804633635271905338

INBOX: a Latino Tennnessean in Williamson County, a citizen for over a decade, got this letter— is this real, @MarkGoinsTN?

We’ve seen 3, all with Latino last names. Sure smells like voter intimidation, in a state where the GOP supermajority has made voter suppression an art.

I wonder how many John Smiths, Seamus O'Malleys, etc., are getting this letter, based on having names that non-citizens also have.

[p0rtia]

It worked in Florida in 2000.

[Dave from down under]

Great way to scam people for id documents for identity theft operations

[raison de arizona]

Huh. Weird.
https://x.com/TheTNHoller/status/1805267519097143368

INBOX: “My wife felt targeted by the GOP”

Yet another citizen who immigrated gets the “threatening” letter from @MarkGoinsTN & @tnsecofstate Hargett, adding his GOP brother-in-law did not.

He says TN Elections told him to call Homeland Security, who gave them the list.

[raison de arizona]

Imma let you in on a secret: it's 'cause he's white.

WATCH: “So you signed the petition for your son?”

As @MarkGoinsTN & @tnsecofstate Hargett send threatening voter suppression letters to immigrant citizens, @VoteBo points out his GOP opponent had forged signatures on her petition… they admitted it… and Goins did nothing.

[raison de arizona]

In Georgia, conservatives seek to have voters removed from rolls without official challenges

Conservative activists in Georgia and some other states are quietly pushing a way to remove names from the voting rolls without filing a formal legal challenge.

They’re asking election administrators to use their data to purge voter registrations, which means names could be removed in a less public process than a formal voter challenge. The strategy could mean electors won’t be summoned in advance to defend their voting rights and the identities of those seeking to purge voters might not be routinely public.

That law already has been met with alarm by Democrats and voting rights advocates. They view the hundreds of thousands of voter challenges filed since 2020 as part of Georgia’s long history of blocking voting dating back to slavery. Now, as details of below-radar efforts surface, those advocates fear a double-barreled attack on voting.

“There’s built-in transparency into the challenge process, and some level of voter protection in that notice requirements and hearings are required,” said state Rep. Saira Draper, an Atlanta Democrat and Joe Biden’s 2020 state director of voter protection. “You can’t sidestep that by just unofficially challenging people and saying it’s not a challenge because we’re not calling it a challenge.”

The less-formal approach has worked at least once. In suburban Atlanta’s Cobb County, the county removed some voters after a man sent inquiries listing 245 potentially dead people.

“All we’re doing is a free service. Hey, this group of 500 people, or this group of 800 people said they moved. Maybe you should look into it,” Jason Frazier, a Republican who has formally challenged nearly 10,000 voters in Atlanta’s heavily Democratic Fulton County, said during a presentation Friday.

The effort is one prong of a wide-ranging national effort coordinated by Donald Trump allies to take names from rolls.

An Associated Press survey of Georgia’s 40 largest counties finds more than 18,000 voters have been challenged in 2023 and 2024, although counties rejected most challenges. Election officials predict challenges will surge under the new law.

https://apnews.com/article/georgia-vote ... e8a1577d26

[raison de arizona]

BREAKING: In a 4-3 decision today, Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstates the use of most ballot drop boxes across the state, overturning a decision it made less than two years ago that banned the use of most of those boxes.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court citing Schoolhouse Rock in their opinion today protecting our elections just made my day.

[RTH10260]

Tennessee elections chief accused of intimidation for telling 14,375 voters to prove citizenship
Republican secretary of state sends vaguely worded letter to voters weeks before primary

Sam Levine
Fri 12 Jul 2024 13.00 CEST

Tennessee’s top election official asked more than 14,000 registered voters to prove their citizenship in a vaguely worded letter last month in what voting and immigrant groups say is an attempt to intimidate voters.

The office of the Tennessee secretary of state, Tre Hargett, a Republican, sent the letter to 14,375 voters on 13 June, weeks before early voting was to begin for the state’s August primary. “Our office has received information that appears to indicate that your voter information matches with an individual who may not have been a United States citizen at the time of obtaining a Tennessee license or ID card,” the letter says.

It goes on to remind the recipient that illegal voting is a felony in Tennessee punishable with up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine. It requests that any person who received the letter who is a citizen provide proof, such as a US passport, birth certificate, naturalization papers or other document.

The letter offers no information about what happens if someone does not reply. It also offers no information on how their names were flagged for review. Doug Kufner, a spokesman for Hargett, did not return requests for comment.

“It is clearly intended to intimidate people into taking themselves off the rolls,” said Blair Bowie, a lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center, one of several non-profits that wrote a letter to the state expressing concerns about the mailing.





https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/art ... lls-letter

[sugar magnolia]

Tennessee elections chief accused of intimidation for telling 14,375 voters to prove citizenship
Republican secretary of state sends vaguely worded letter to voters weeks before primary

Sam Levine
Fri 12 Jul 2024 13.00 CEST

The office of the Tennessee secretary of state, Tre Hargett, a Republican, sent the letter to 14,375 voters on 13 June, weeks before early voting was to begin for the state’s August primary. “Our office has received information that appears to indicate that your voter information matches with an individual who may not have been a United States citizen at the time of obtaining a Tennessee license or ID card,” the letter says.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/art ... lls-letter

Fuck those hay sucking hillbillies. The trucker from TN with the Canadian parents IS a US citizen and can't get a license but they think over 14,000 other people who are on the voter rolls aren't?