Tag: voting

Ohio Lawmakers Pass Bill To Roll Back Voter-Approved Marijuana Law And Impose Hemp Restrictions, Sending It To Governor

The Ohio Senate has voted to concur with a House-amended bill to scale back the state’s voter-approved marijuana law and ban the sale of hemp products that fall outside of a recently revised federal definition for the crop unless they’re sold at licensed cannabis dispensaries.

The measure from Sen. Stephen Huffman (R) was substantively revised in the House last month, but the originating chamber voted 22-7 on Tuesday to accept those changes and send the legislation to Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) desk.

The legislation now pending the governor’s signature would recriminalize certain marijuana activity that was legalized under a ballot initiative that passed in 2023  as well as remove anti-discrimination protections for cannabis consumers that were enacted under that law.

After the House revised the initial Senate-passed legislation, removing certain controversial provisions, the Senate quickly rejected those changes in October. That led to the appointment of a bicameral conference committee to resolve outstanding differences between the chambers. That panel then approved a negotiated form of the bill, which passed the House last month and has now cleared the Senate.

To advocates’ disappointment, the final version of the measure now heading to the governor’s desk would eliminate language in current statute providing anti-discrimination protections for people who lawfully use cannabis. That includes protections meant to prevent adverse actions in the context of child custody rights, the ability to qualify for organ transplants and professional licensing.

It would also recriminalize possessing marijuana from any source that isn’t a state-licensed dispensary in Ohio or from a legal homegrow. As such, people could be charged with a crime for carrying cannabis they bought at a legal retailer in neighboring Michigan.

Additionally, it would ban smoking cannabis at outdoor public locations such as bar patios—and it would allow landlords to prohibit vaping marijuana at rented homes. Violating that latter policy, even if it involves vaping in a person’s own backyard at a rental home, would constitute a misdemeanor offense.

The legislation would also replace what had been a proposed regulatory framework for intoxicating hemp that the House had approved with a broad prohibition on sales outside marijuana dispensaries following a recent federal move to recriminalize such products.

“In short, this bill leaves the crux of Issue 2 and marijuana access intact, while providing for several important public safety concerns and also regulations that protect Ohio children,” Huffman argued on the Senate floor ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

Sen. Bill DeMora (D), however, said the legislation undermines the will of voters.

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Michigan Judge Allows Marijuana Tax Increase To Take Effect Despite Industry Lawsuit

A group of cannabis industry advocates were unable to convince a Michigan Court of Claims judge that they would face irreparable harm if a new 24 percent wholesale tax on marijuana went into effect to fund the state’s future road repairs.

In an opinion issued Monday, Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel said she was denying a request for a preliminary injunction from the plaintiffs in Holistic Research Group Inc./Michigan Cannabis Industry v. Michigan Department of Treasury.

The consolidated lawsuits posited that the new tax, passed in October as part of a comprehensive 2025-26 budget deal to raise new revenue for road repairs and rebuilds through 2030, was unconstitutional because it violated the title-object clause of the state’s Constitution.

Patel on Monday, after hearing oral arguments in the matter in November, said the industry advocates didn’t make a supported argument that a real constitutional issue existed, nor did the group succinctly show that the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act, which legalized the use and sale of cannabis in Michigan, was the only statutory mechanism to enact taxes on pot.

“The [road funding act] is consistent with the [marijuana taxation act]. The plaintiffs contend that the phrase ‘all other taxes’…refers only to generally applicable taxes, like the 6 percent sales tax imposed on all retail sales,” she wrote. “If that were true, however, the initiative could have simply said that. Instead, the initiative stated plainly that the 10 percent retail excise tax was in addition to ‘all other taxes.’ And the phrase ‘all other’ is broad and expansive. According to the plain meaning of these terms, ‘all other taxes’ broadly means all taxes other than the tax imposed by [the marijuana taxation act].”

Patel further noted that the Legislature did not directly amend any of the existing taxes in the regulatory act or replace it with the new tax in the road funding legislation; rather, the Legislature imposed a new separate tax, which is permitted under the regulatory act.

“The two statutes can be read together,” Patel wrote.

The claim regarding the mechanism by which a new tax could be enacted was therefore dismissed, Patel wrote.

Patel did, however, allow the case to move forward to determine if the tax interferes with the intent of the voter-initiated law that allowed marijuana consumption, regulations and sales. Patel said a genuine issue of fact remained on that issue, which required further consideration before the court.

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HUGE! Court Rules Defiant Michigan SOS Benson Can’t Manipulate Voter Rolls By Using Illegal Guidance to Clerks—ANOTHER Loss For America’s Dirtiest SOS

On December 4, 2025, a Michigan Court of Claims judge delivered a crushing blow to Jocelyn Benson’s attempts to weaken mail-in ballot safeguards. In another significant victory for election integrity in Michigan, a Michigan Court of Claims judge has once again ruled against Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, striking down her “guidance” that allowed absentee ballots with mismatched or missing identifying numbers to be processed and counted as “challenged” rather than rejected outright.

In 2021, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was given an award for her “outstanding” election work that gave Basement Joe an inexplicable victory in the wee hours of the morning on the day after the 2020 election in Michigan, a state President Trump won in 2016.

The decision, handed down on December 4, 2025, reinforces a key anti-fraud safeguard enacted by the state Legislature in 2024, which mandates that ballots can only be tabulated when the unique numbers on the ballot stub and envelope match perfectly. Benson’s instructions had directed clerks to bypass this requirement, potentially opening the door to irregularities (or cheating) in absentee voter ballot processing.

This latest defeat marks yet another instance of Michigan’s crooked Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson being slapped down by a Michigan court for abusing her authority to loosen critical protections around mail-in voting. The suit, which was brought by the Republican National Committee, the Michigan Republican Party, and Chesterfield Township Clerk Cindy Berry, highlighted how Benson’s directives disregarded legislative intent to prevent fraud by ensuring ballot traceability.

Michigan’s dishonest secretary of state recently refused a request by the DOJ to turn over Michigan’s undredacted voter rolls. The defiant Benson, who is currently running to become the Democratic Party’s candidate for Michigan governor, made a video explaining that the reason she’s refusing to turn over her corrupt voter rolls is that she’s protecting the privacy of Michigan citizens by not revealing their social security numbers to the federal government, the same federal government that issues their social security numbers.

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DOJ Sues SIX More States for Withholding Voter Rolls — 14 States Now Targeted as Bondi and Dhillon Launch Aggressive Nationwide Crackdown

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced Tuesday that it has filed federal lawsuits against six additional states, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, for refusing to hand over their statewide voter registration lists, as required under federal law.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who has taken a dramatically tougher posture on election transparency than her predecessors, called the states’ stonewalling a direct threat to clean elections.

“Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

“The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.”

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon, who has led the most aggressive election-integrity enforcement push in modern DOJ history, went further, accusing noncompliant states of actively undermining public trust.

“Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results. At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws.”

This latest wave of lawsuits brings the total number of states now facing DOJ litigation to fourteen.

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What’s happening in MN? Now, a Somali-run election scam is BREAKING on local news…

Something is very wrong in Minnesota. First it was the massive welfare/medicare scam where organized networks siphoned tens of millions of taxpayer dollars through loopholes that never should have existed. Then came the reports that “retarded” Governor Tim Walz allegedly knew far more than he ever admitted and that whistleblowers were shut down instead of heard.

President Trump has been hammering Walz for a while now, and rightfully so. Walz’s response was to blame Trump for the fraud in his state.

Owen Gregorian:

Tim Walz blames Trump for Somali fraud in Minnesota, complains about being called ‘seriously retarded’ | Hayden Cunningham, The Post Millenial

On Saturday, the Minnesota Department of Human Services Employees accused Walz of being “100% responsible for massive fraud” in the state.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz responded to President Donald Trump’s recent criticism of his handling of crimes committed by immigrants in the state, expressing outrage after Trump referred to him as “retarded.”

Trump, in a lengthy Thanksgiving post on Truth Social, commented on multiple issues involving immigration. He claimed an immigrant earning $30,000 with a green card would receive “roughly $50,000 in yearly benefits for their family,” calling the “refugee burden” the leading cause of social dysfunction in America. He highlighted Minnesota, which has received a heavy influx of Somali refugees, describing Somali gangs as “roving the streets looking for ‘prey’ as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone.”

“The seriously retarded Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both,” Trump wrote.

On NBC’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, Walz criticized the president’s language, calling the term “damaging” and accusing Trump of “normalizing hateful behavior” and trying to “distract from his incompetency.”

“We cannot allow this to be normalized,” Walz said. “You can use that language, but you shouldn’t.”

Walz, who has previously commented about hoping to hear news one day that Trump had died, accused the president of having “demonized” the Somali community. He also said Trump’s use of the word “retarded” was an effort to “demonize our children.”

The exchange comes as numerous reports have highlighted widespread fraud in Minnesota involving Somali-run organizations. The Trump administration announced last month that 44 percent of immigrants in Minneapolis were committing immigration fraud, and billions in taxpayer dollars have reportedly been stolen during Walz’s administration by members of the Somali community. Last weekend, Trump announced he would end Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota, calling the state a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”

Concerns over fraud have also been raised by state employees. On Saturday, the Minnesota Department of Human Services Employees account on X, representing more than 480 department staff members, accused Walz of being “100% responsible for massive fraud” in the state.

“We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud but no, we got the opposite response. Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports,” the group said. “In addition to retaliating against whistleblower[s], Tim Walz disempowered the Office of the Legislative Auditor, allowing agencies to disregard their audit findings and guidance.”

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Illegal Alien Superintendent’s Voter Registration Docs Deepen Need For Better Vetting

he illegal alien who ran Iowa’s largest public school district before being apprehended by ICE claimed to be a U.S. citizen on his Maryland voter registration forms, according to records obtained by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF). 

Ian Andre Roberts’ apparent false claim of citizenship exposes Maryland’s election integrity vulnerabilities and proves the need for better immigration status vetting, a foundation official asserts. The case also screams for congressional passage of a bill requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections. 

‘Maryland Could Have Prevented This’

On Monday, Prince George’s County finally released to PILF Roberts’ unredacted registration files, showing that — on at least two occasions — the foreign national from Guyana facing multiple criminal charges appears to have attested that he was a U.S. citizen on regular voter registration applications. As PILF notes, regular registration includes all elections, not just elector rights Maryland has extended to foreign nationals to vote in some local elections. 

Roberts lived in Maryland for several years, working as a teacher and a school administrator. He wasn’t a U.S. citizen then, just as he wasn’t when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested the Des Moines Public Schools superintendent in late September. 

“Maryland could have prevented this had it used SAVE for voter registration verification when the Obama Administration first offered it,” wrote Logan Churchwell, research director for the nonprofit election integrity watchdog, in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “It is incumbent on Maryland and DHS work together to protect citizens and immigrants alike.”

‘It Has Never Been Easier’

The SAVE system, short for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, assists federal, state, and local benefits-processing- and distribution-agencies check the immigration status of benefit applicants. SAVE is supposed to save taxpayers from picking up the tab for illegal immigrants and others not entitled to receive public assistance. 

But the system also has been used as a critical tool for states to verify that only U.S. citizens are voting in U.S. elections. Just 26 states are using or in the process of implementing the system to verify the eligibility of registrants, according to Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

Maryland is not one of those states. In fact, the leftist attorney general for the blue state recently bragged about co-leading a coalition of 16 leftist attorneys general in supporting “California’s motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit demanding complete, unredacted voter registration databases from states across the country.”

PILF’s Churchwell included Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis in his recommendation letter. Churchwell reminded DeMarinis that USCIS dramatically improved SAVE in April and November when the agency allowed queries with just the last four digits of a Social Security number. So the data on the standard Maryland voter registration form is “all that is required for a successful SAVE query.”

“It has never been easier for Maryland to adopt this tool,” the election integrity advocate wrote. 

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Amid fraud claims, campaign to end Mass. adult-use cannabis claims win

The controversial bid to end Massachusetts’ $1.6 billion annual adult-use marijuana industry claimed yet another significant early victory.

Amid widening accusations of voter fraud, the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts “is confident it has submitted enough signatures to put the question on the ballot” ahead of a Nov. 19 deadline, a campaign spokesperson told The Cannabis Business Times.

Ballot questions filed over the summer by lead sponsor Caroline Cunningham, a member of the state Republican Committee, seek to repeal Chapters 94G and 64N of the state’s General Laws.

If the “Act to Restore a Sensible Marijuana Policy” qualifies for the 2026 ballot and is approved by voters, adult-use cannabis retail sales would be outlawed in Massachusetts- though medical marijuana sales, home cultivation, and “gifting” between adults 21 and over would still be allowed.

Will Massachusetts vote to stop adult-use cannabis sales?

The campaign successfully collected a minimum of 74,574 signatures by Nov. 19 in order to qualify for a local vetting process ahead of another filing deadline Dec. 3, campaign spokesperson Wendy Wakeman told the Business Times.

Organizers have vowed to collect as many as 100,000 signatures.

And that’s despite mounting claims that signature-gatherers are using deceptive tactics to convince voters to sign the petition.

As MJBizDaily reported earlier this month, there are several accounts of campaign workers approaching voters while claiming the petition does something else, such as combat fentanyl or create housing.

Wakeman claimed in an MJBizDaily interview to have no knowledge or involvement with the alleged deceptive tactics. Campaign workers engaging in such behavior are volunteers and not paid signature gatherers, she said.

Cannabis industry advocates aren’t convinced.

Bid to stop Massachusetts adult-use marijuana sales accused of fraud

Such acts constitute voter fraud, according to the Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association, a statewide trade group.

It remains unclear what recourse cannabis advocates could pursue if the repeal campaign does indeed advance.

Using false claims to woo voters to sign is a protected free-speech activity under Massachusetts state law.

However, voters could petition local authorities to have their signatures removed and the petition disqualified if they feel they signed under false pretenses, elections observers have said.

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WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Eric Swalwell Wants Americans to be Able to Vote by Phone 

California Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell recently announced that he is running for governor during an appearance on the Democrat Variety Hour, formerly known as the Late Show.

During another media appearance this week, Swlawell revealed that he also wants Americans to be able to vote by phone because he wants to ‘max out democracy.’

Swalwell seems annoyed that people have to wait in line to vote. Funny, he fails to mention how long people have to wait to find out California’s election results. How long did that take last fall? A few months? Maybe he should start with that problem.

Transcript via Legal Insurrection:

“I want us to be able to vote by phone. I think every California… by phone, by phone, yeah, if we can do our taxes, do our, you know, our, make our health care appointments, you know, make, essentially, your, do your banking online, you should be able to vote by phone. Make it safe, make it secure. But it’s actually already happening all over the United States.

I want us to be a blue state that doesn’t do just a little bit better than, like, Georgia or Alabama when it comes to like voting access. I want us to max out democracy.

Also, as it relates to democracy, if you wait in line for 30 minutes or more, if you do want to vote in person, I think you should fine every county for every minute that a person has to wait longer. We have to be better, not just a little bit better than the other states, the DMV. I don’t think Californians should have to go in person to the DMV anymore.

I think we can do that virtually. I think you.. You can have the DMV employees do it virtually, but that’s a lot of real estate. Is that the most popular position we can modernize the state? And I look forward to, you know, bringing these ideas to Californians.”

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Nicolás Maduro’s Socialist Regime Sentences 65-Year-Old Physician Marggie Orozco to 30 Years in Prison for a WhatsApp Voice Message Criticizing the Regime and Urging Neighbors to Vote in the July 2024 Elections

The socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro has orchestrated a 30-year prison sentence — the maximum penalty in Venezuela — against Dr. Marggie Orozco, a 65-year-old general practitioner suffering from serious health problems.

This verdict, handed down on November 17, 2025, by Judge Luz Dary Moreno of the 4th Trial Court of the Criminal Judicial Circuit in the state of Táchira, is based on fabricated charges such as “treason against the homeland,” “incitement to hatred,” and “conspiracy.”

All of this for a simple WhatsApp voice message in which Orozco criticized the irregular distribution of domestic gas cylinders by the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP) — clientelist structures loyal to Chavismo — and encouraged her neighbors to participate in the presidential elections of July 28, 2024, a process blatantly rigged by Maduro to cling to power despite the overwhelming victory of the opposition.

Orozco was detained on August 5, 2024, in San Juan de Colón, near the border with Colombia, amid the post-election crisis that unleashed massive protests against the evident fraud.

A CLAP leader loyal to the regime reported her to the authorities — part of a neighborhood surveillance system that Maduro has actively promoted through mobile apps that allow citizens to denounce “fascists” (his euphemism for any dissident) in exchange for subsidized food bonuses.

After her arrest by the Bolivarian National Police, Orozco suffered a heart attack on September 15, 2024, while in custody, yet she was returned to prison the very next day despite her critical condition. She has suffered from chronic depression since 2013, worsened by the tragic loss of two of her children: one murdered during an attempted robbery and the other killed in an accident.

Today, imprisoned at the Western Penitentiary Center in Santa Ana, Táchira, her health continues to deteriorate without proper access to medication or family visits, effectively turning this sentence into a slow death penalty.

This case is not an isolated incident but rather one more cog in the repressive machinery that tyrant Maduro has perfected to silence every critical voice. According to Foro Penal, Venezuela currently holds 882 political prisoners, both civilians and military personnel — a figure that skyrocketed after the fraudulent elections: more than 2,400 initial arrests, of which around 2,000 were released months later under international pressure, yet leaving behind a trail of terror.

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Supreme Court case could have major affect on 2026 midterms

The U.S. Supreme Court has agree to take up a case that could have an effect on the 2026 midterm elections.

The case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, centers around a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after an election as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. The Mississippi law was enacted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fifteen other states and the District of Columbia have similar laws that allow domestic mail-in ballots to be received after Election Day, as long as the ballot is postmarked by the date of an election. In Illinois, mail-in ballots can be received up to 14 days after Election Day.

The nation’s highest court will decide whether to uphold a ruling from the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said ballots must be received by Election Day to be counted.

Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, celebrated the court’s decision to take up the mail-in ballot challenge. He said the court’s decision is especially important because it will set a precedent for election law going into the 2026 midterms.

“The Supreme Court now has the chance to set the record straight: Federal law clearly says that ballots must be received by Election Day,” Snead told the Center Square. “Despite this, some states continue to allow absentee ballots to pour in days or even weeks late.”

“This case gives the Supreme Court the chance to resolve that question once and for all,” Snead said.

Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said the case is an attempt to restrict voting rights in states that offer delayed mail-in ballot deadlines.

“The DNC will fight like hell in this case for the rights of Mississippians and every other citizen to make sure their voices are heard and their votes are counted,” Martin said.

Lawyers for the Republican National Committee argued that federal law sets the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as Election Day.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia filed a brief to the Supreme Court that argued states should have the ability to set rules over the receipt of ballots. The states said mail-in ballot deadlines give voters a greater opportunity to cast their ballots.

“States have the constitutional authority to make individualized judgments on how best to receive and count votes in federal elections,” representatives for the state wrote.

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