Tag: voting

250,000 Texans Voted to Decriminalize Marijuana, So Why Are Politicians Trying To Override Them?

As the executive director of Ground Game Texas, I lead a team organizing working-class Texans to pass movement-driven local policies at the ballot box. In a state where our elected officials are openly hostile to justice, and voter suppression is rampant, we take the fight directly to the people. And the people are showing up.

Through our local campaigns, we’ve gathered hundreds of thousands of petition signatures and earned a quarter of a million votes to decriminalize marijuana across Texas—from Austin to Killeen, Lockhart to Dallas. In a state with low voter turnout, marijuana decriminalization has earned a supermajority of the vote in every city, and over-performed compared to the rest of the ballot. But instead of respecting the will of the voters, politicians in this state are doing everything they can to overturn these democratically elected policies.

We are fighting locally, fighting statewide, and fighting crony courts. Last year in Lockhart, the city attorney tried to split our single policy into 13 separate ballot items to bury it in bureaucracy. We stopped them. A state appeals court just upheld a lawsuit designed to stop our cities from implementing our marijuana decriminalization. And at the legislature, five separate bills were introduced this session to gut local control and block citizens from changing the law through ballot initiatives.

This is about more than plants with healing properties. It’s about power. It’s about democracy. And it’s all connected.

The war on drugs isn’t a failed policy—it’s a successful tool of oppression. A tool used to criminalize poverty. A tool used to lock Black and Brown Texans into cycles of incarceration. A tool used to destabilize families, punish veterans and disabled people and make survival a crime.

And when we rise up to change those laws, the people in power rewrite the rules to keep control. That’s not new. It’s a familiar playbook.

From Jim Crow poll taxes to modern-day gerrymandering and felony disenfranchisement, this country has always created new systems to block the people most impacted by oppression from changing it. What’s happening in Texas right now is just the latest chapter.

Let’s be clear: The issue isn’t that Texans don’t care. The issue is that the system was designed to keep most Texans out.

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The Left Is Alienating Its Minority Base

Not long ago Susan Rice, the former top official in the Obama administration, was removed from the Defense Policy Board. That’s a group of grandees that advise the Defense Department. They’re political appointments. And traditionally, when a new president comes in, they get rid of most of the prior Defense Policy Board because they feel they’re partisans.

And in the case of Susan Rice, she was appointed in a late appointment by then-President Joe Biden, who pretty much wiped out all of the Trump appointments. So, her dismissal by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was not unusual.

And yet, she fired back at him and said he was dumb as a rock and ultra-MAGA. But what was interesting, she said, “white male, cisgender.” In other words, she attacked his race. And she said her administration would’ve fired him for the Signal chat scandal. But of course, she was the one that came out on Sunday talk shows and lied five times about the disaster in Benghazi, among other things later in her career. But why inject race into it?

At almost the same period, we had a number of Afrikaners—I should say a very small number, about 60 people—asked for refugee status, felt they had been endangered by black-on-white violence, which is demonstrable and beyond controversy in South Africa. And President Donald Trump allowed them to come in as refugees. And of course, during the prior administration, thousands of people came in as refugees. But because, apparently, they were white, this caused a storm of criticism.

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‘It’s Disgusting’: Voters Are Furious With Gavin Newsom For Pulling Rug From Under Passed Ballot Measure

Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom elected not to dedicate funds in his proposed budget to enforce a widely-popular ballot proposal that passed in November, prompting small business owners and lawmakers to tell the Daily Caller News Foundation that they aren’t pleased that the governor appears to be ignoring the will of the voters.

In November 2024, 68.4% of California voters approved Prop 36, aimed at cracking down on retail theft and drug use and subsequently reversing Proposition 47, which reduced criminal punishments such as shoplifting and grand theft. But when Newsom released his revised $322 billion budget in May, small business owners and lawmakers criticized him for leaving out funding and ignoring the measure’s broad support.

Speaking to the DCNF ahead of the November 2024 vote, Fraser Ross, owner of a small business with multiple locations across Los Angeles County, said theft in the city had been rampant. He described how businesses were “taking a loss” because Prop 47 downgraded drug possession penalties and reclassified thefts under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors.

The small business owner ripped into Newsom when asked by the DCNF about the governor’s decision to exclude funding for the measure in his May budget revision. “He’s just a puppet and he has no care for California,” Ross told the DCNF.  “He likes to emphasize we’re now the fourth biggest economy in the world, wherever these statistics came from. But Newsom does not care about business in California.”

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Iowa Bans Ranked-Choice Voting, Authorizes Requests for Proof of Citizenship at Polls

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed two election-related bills into law on June 2—one to prohibit the use of ranked-choice voting in any election across the state and allow poll workers to request proof of voter citizenship, and another that overhauls and standardizes the state’s election recount procedures.

Reynolds’s office announced the signing of both bills—House File 954 and House File 928—in a June 2 press release, with Secretary of State Paul Pate sharing photographs from the signing ceremony on social media and saying the move was a win for election integrity in Iowa.

The more sweeping of the two measures, HF 954 bars any use of ranked-choice voting—also known as instant-runoff voting—at the state, local, or federal level in Iowa. Though not currently in use in the state, the method has gained support in some U.S. jurisdictions. Supporters of ranked choice voting say it is more democratic as it ensures majority winners, while critics say it complicates vote tabulation and undermines transparency.

The bill also authorizes election workers, beginning July 1, to request proof of citizenship status, expanding current law that already permits challenges over age and residency. Additionally, it empowers the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office to enter into agreements with state and federal agencies and private vendors to verify voter eligibility using a broader range of data.

The law also mandates that the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) provide the Secretary of State’s Office with a list of individuals aged 17 and older who have submitted documentation indicating that they are not U.S. citizens. Voters flagged through this process must provide documentation affirming their legal eligibility to vote in order to remain on the active voter rolls.

“I commend the Iowa Legislature and Governor Reynolds for recognizing the importance of these bills in strengthening and maintaining Iowa’s election integrity,” Pate said in a statement. “These new laws add additional layers of integrity to our robust election procedures, supporting our efforts to balance election integrity and voter participation.”

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Ohio Investigation Finds Evidence Of Noncitizen Voter Registrations And Double-Voting

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Tuesday revealed his office found evidence of 30 noncitizens registered to vote in the state. The election chief also discovered that individuals from seven different states and Washington, D.C., may have illegally voted in multiple jurisdictions.

“We must send a clear message that election fraud won’t be tolerated,” said Secretary LaRose in a Tuesday press release. “The only way to maintain Ohio’s high standard of election integrity is to enforce the law whenever it’s broken. Through the investigations of our Public Integrity Division’s Election Integrity Unit, we are rooting out lawbreakers so we can bring accountability and justice.”

According to Fox News, “Ohio’s Election Integrity Unit conducted the investigation by reviewing Ohio’s voter registry and comparing it with federal and state data.” The state is now pursuing legal action as LaRose “sent letters to the attorneys general of all states involved in the investigation and referred the individuals for prosecution.”

In a letter to Ohio Attorney General Yost, LaRose noted how “Even one illegal vote can spoil the outcome of an election for the citizenry at large, whether it be a school levy, majority control of a legislative chamber, or even a statewide election contest,” according to the Tuesday press release.

The Ohio General Assembly is “currently considering legislation to make the division’s Election Integrity Unit a permanent function of the office,” the release adds.

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American Democracy Is A Hoax — The Rulers of America Are Not the People

In Ed Curtin’s collection of essays that I recently reviewed ( https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2025/04/27/are-americans-still-americans/ ), he explains in an essay, “Opening the CIA’s Can of Worms,” who created and maintains the fictionalized narrative-controlled world in which Americans live in ignorance of the real operating agendas. 

Curtin says it is the CIA, not the media or the Internet companies or the politicians, who controls the narratives.  The CIA’s own overlords are the powerful financial and corporate interests on which American success depends. Curtin’s account parallels US Marine Commander General Smedley Butler’s confession that he and his US Marines were the enforcers in Latin America for the United Fruit Company and the New York Banks.

There is endless documented evidence for Curtin’s conclusion.  Much has been written about the CIA’s “Operation Mockingbird,” now described by CIA media assets, such as Wikipedia, as “alleged operation.”  Beginning in 1950 the CIA began using bribes, such as “leaks” to American media that were designed to influence American and foreign opinion with controlled narratives that advanced secret agendas.  The CIA’s “leaks” made the careers of reporters who could attest to their editors “CIA source” and make the front page if not the headlines. Most journalists regarded as influential are CIA assets.

More recently, Udo Ulfkotte’s book, Bought Journalism, revealed that he, an editor at Germany’s largest newspaper, and most significant journalists in Europe are CIA assets.  This was confirmed by Otto Schulmeister, editor-in-chief and publisher of Austria’s Die Presse ( https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2019/10/22/udo-ulfkottes-book-exposing-cia-control-of-western-journalism-now-available-in-english/ ). His own CIA connections were revealed.

We know it also from Stephen Kinzer’s book, The Brothers, which gives us the story of how US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and CIA Director Allen Dulles used the State Department, CIA, and American and foreign journalist to serve the corporate clients of their powerful law firm.

Today, of course, the many proven facts are dismissed by the whore media and Wikipedia as conspiracy theory.  The CIA’s assets continue to do their assigned job of controlling the narratives.

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Texas Gov. Abbott Signs Resolution Barring Non-Citizens From Voting in Texas

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a resolution on May 26 that would amend the state constitution to allow only U.S. citizens to vote.

“I just signed off on a joint resolution to make it crystal clear under the Texas Constitution that if you are not a citizen of the United States of America, you are not allowed to vote in Texas,” Abbott said in a Facebook video posted May 26.

The resolution is part of SJR 37, introduced by Republican State Sen. Brian Birdwell, which seeks to amend Section 1(a), Article VI, of the Texas Constitution to clarify that “persons who are not citizens of the United States” are not allowed to vote in the state. The bill passed the state Senate in April and the House in May.

The amendment will be put to a vote on Nov. 4, 2025, through a ballot for Texan citizens.

The resolution aligns with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on March 25, titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” which establishes changes to the U.S. election system, addressing weaknesses such as mass mail-in voting and other insecure voting methods, as well as citizenship verification, and requiring greater state and federal oversight of elections.

The executive order mandates that the Election Assistance Commission include the citizenship requirement on the national registration form.

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Mississippi GOP Asks Cops To Investigate Potential ‘Vote Buying’ Schemes

The Mississippi Republican Party (MSGOP) is asking state and local law enforcement to investigate what it claims are potential vote-buying schemes ahead of upcoming municipal elections next month.

On Wednesday, MSGOP Chair Mike Hurst sent a letter to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Gulfport District Attorney W. Crosby Parker containing allegations of unlawful attempts to reward Gulfport residents for voting in the city’s June 3 elections. Specifically, Hurst alleged that “certain individuals, groups and campaigns appear to be directly and blatantly” violating state law that prohibits “any person [from offering] money or anything of substantial value to anyone for his vote.”

Individuals convicted for such actions “shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not less than Fifty Dollars ($50.00) nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or imprisoned not more than six (6) months, or both,” according to the Mississippi Code.

Hurst claimed that on Monday evening, he was “made aware of at least two recent instances of what appear to be violations of the above statute.”

One of the alleged incidents flagged in the letter involves the purported distribution of “Souls to Polls Food Vouchers” by “certain individuals” in front of Gulfport City Hall, which Hurst noted is “where absentee voting in municipal elections are occurring.” According to the chairman, “These vouchers contain a picture of a ballot box with the word ‘vote’ on the front, specifically offering a ‘special prepared meal’ at a local Gulfport restaurant and are being handed out in front of Gulfport City Hall specifically after someone casts an absentee vote in the Gulfport municipal elections.”

“You will notice that these vouchers state that such meals are available ‘now through June 3’ —election day. A specific sign at that local Gulfport restaurant confirms the validity of the ‘Souls to the Polls’ vouchers and the specific exchange of things of value for votes,” wrote Hurst, who included photos of the alleged vouchers and restaurant sign in the letter (emphasis original).

The MSGOP chair also cited video footage — which The Federalist obtained — of what appears to be a woman sitting in a car handing out said vouchers to three individuals. Hurst claimed that this occurred “directly in front of Gulfport City Hall during operating hours of the City Clerk’s office, while absentee voting is occurring,” and that, “In one instance, when a woman handing out these vouchers was confronted by someone, she lied, first saying she didn’t know what the person was talking about, then saying she was simply watching voters for the Gulfport Democrat mayoral candidate.”

“Finally, the woman threatened the person asking questions by stating: ‘Don’t you be starting nothing!’” Hurst added.

The second alleged incident flagged by Hurst purportedly happened on Saturday, when “groups, individuals and even the Gulfport Democrat mayoral candidate’s campaign was sharing [a] flyer … entitled ‘Vote & Vibe Day Party,’ encouraging people to ‘meet at city hall 10 am’ where they would ‘vote together’ and then would ‘get your wristband after voting.’” The party chair claimed, “They were then invited to a local restaurant for free brunch by simply ‘show[ing] your wristband.’”

The letter links to social media posts by Democrat mayoral candidate Sonya Williams-Barnes sharing the flyer and touting the event to her Facebook followers. Williams-Barnes will face off against Republican Hugh Keating in the city’s June 3 elections.

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Trump rolls out new tool to stop noncitizens from ‘hijacking’ U.S. elections

The Trump administration is unrolling a new initiative Thursday that will help prevent noncitizens from voting in U.S. elections, a high-priority policy for the White House.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program and partnering with the Social Security Administration in order to ensure “a single, reliable source for verifying immigration status and U.S. citizenship,” according to a memo exclusively shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. Under the update, state and local officials will be able to input Social Security numbers for verification of U.S. citizenship and thereby prevent foreign nationals from voting in American elections.

“For years, states have pleaded for tools to help identify and stop aliens from hijacking our elections,” USCIS Spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement provided to the DCNF.

“Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, USCIS is moving quickly to eliminate voter fraud,” Tragesser continued. “We expect further improvements soon and remain committed to restoring trust in American elections.”

SAVE, an online service administered by USCIS, allows various government agencies to verify the immigration status or U.S. naturalization of applicants seeking benefits or licenses.

The new partnership allows government agencies to create cases in SAVE using an applicant’s Social Security number rather than a Department of Homeland Security identifying number, which is not collected by a majority of state and local agencies, according to a separate news release. Additionally, agencies for the first time will be able to submit more than one case at a time, streamlining the process.

Polling indicates that basic voter protection regulations, such as requiring a photo ID to vote and providing proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time, are incredibly popular among Americans.

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Georgia Elections: 74% VOTING SYSTEM ERROR- Saved By Hand Count!

In this VIDEO clip, DeKalb Board of Elections Attorney, Brent Herrin explains to the State Election Board that: “…TABULATING MACHINES WERE NOT ACCURATE. A decision by the board was made to do a HAND RECOUNT to ensure accurate results of the election,” Keisha Smith, DeKalb Elections Director, nods her head repeatedly in agreement. Duh! Isn’t that what we have been saying for 20+ years? Georgia’s Dominion voting system declared the wrong winners for the May 22, 2024 DeKalb Co. District 2 Commission primary. It only became known because a candidate received no votes in the precinct where she and her husband lived and voted. When she reported the problem to the DeKalb Election Board, they ordered a machine recount that produced the same results again. They then conducted a hand count of the race that proved the voting system shorted the candidate 3049 of her actual 4078 votes, over 74% of her total votes. The system gave 1456 of her votes to one of her opponents and failed to count another 1805 of her votes. The July 15, 2022 DeKalb Co. Election Board materials attributed the massive miscount to a complex ballot alignment error after one candidate withdrew from the race. However, no one has ever been willing to explain why the system failed to count 1805 votes.

So what really happened?

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