Tag: voting

Will the Supreme Court upend the Voting Rights Act?

The Supreme Court may very well upend one of the last remaining central pieces of the Voting Rights Act – that elections or voting practices cannot discriminate based on race.

And, in doing so, the high court may bolster efforts by Republican state legislatures to redraw congressional maps to expand the party’s majority.

The justices’ ruling could actually crush minority representation in Congress.

According to two voting rights groups, Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter Fund, a ruling gutting the race provision would let the GOP nationwide redraw up to 19 House seats to favor the party.

It could also prevent Black voters from challenging political maps they believe don’t accurately represent them.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in Louisiana v. Callais.

Arguments lasted for more than two hours in an unusually lengthy, complicated debate.

It stems from a complex congressional redrawing dispute starting in 2022.

Louisiana’s GOP-led legislature drew a map that only had one Black majority district and five mostly white districts, despite Louisiana’s population being one-third Black. So, a group of Black voters sued.

A federal judge struck the map down and ordered a redraw. Instead of letting the judge redraw it, Louisiana Republicans passed the current map that added a second Black majority district (but protected districts of key Republicans in the state, like House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise).

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DeSantis Admits Marijuana Legalization Is Popular With Florida Voters Even Though He Opposes It

The Republican governor of Florida is conceding that “more people probably agreed” with a marijuana legalization ballot initiative he helped defeat last year than sided with his prohibitionist viewpoint—but he argued that it was the “morally right” choice for him to intervene to prevent the sale of “dangerous stuff” in his state.

At an event hosted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute on Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) talked about his administration’s uphill work to dissuade voters from approving both the cannabis measure as well as a separate reproductive rights initiative during the November 2024. While both initiatives received majority support from voters, they failed to meet the state’s high 60 percent threshold required to enact constitutional amendments.

In the speech, DeSantis claimed that the marijuana proposal, Amendment 3, wouldn’t just have legalized cannabis but also made it a “constitutional right to possess and smoke it, including in public,” while giving one company in particular “a lot of benefits,” seemingly referring to the Smart and Safe Florida campaign’s largest financier Trulieve.

“Somehow you got people that are going to spend a lot of money to basically make us California through the back door with these initiatives and these amendments,” DeSantis said. “The marijuana people spent $150 million on this. The abortion people spent $130 million. So we had to contend with $280 million of spending on very misleading language—and, let’s just be honest, they were pushing issues in which probably more people agreed with them than agreed with me or agreed with us.”

“Marijuana was somewhat popular,” the governor said in comments first reported by Florida Politics. “I didn’t do it to be popular. I did it because it was the right thing to do. So we were having to deal with navigating all this.”

Despite raising money to finance ads opposing the cannabis measure, DeSantis said governors don’t officially “have a role in these amendments.” He faulted “special interest” parties and the state Supreme Court approval of the initiative language that he described as a “mistake.”

“I mean, most people that get elected in my positions like mine, all their advisors say, ‘stay away from this. There’s nothing for you to gain by getting involved in this. All you’re going to do is alienate supporters,’” he said. “And that may be true, but that also wouldn’t be the right thing to do. It wouldn’t be the morally right thing to do. So I was in a position. I had this platform as governor. I had a megaphone. There were things being proposed that would be harmful for my state.”

“In terms of the marijuana, I mean, you can’t function as a state if you smell marijuana everywhere—if these kids are doing it,” DeSantis said. “And this isn’t the marijuana they had in Woodstock. This is really, really dangerous stuff, so it would have been terrible for Florida.”

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HERE WE GO AGAIN – In California Election For Congressional Redistricting – “See Through” Ballot Envelopes Allow You to See How Voter Voted

Another California election and another corrupt result in the works.

California doesn’t have elections.  They have madness and those with oversite gaslight the entire sham. The state is codifying unconstitutional election activities and like communist takeovers throughout history, no one is stopping them. 

BALLOT HARVESTING and MAIL-IN BALLOTS

Since California went to ballot harvesting the results have been devastating for the GOP in Orange County, California and across the state. Heritage reported in 2019:

Vote harvesting is the collection of absentee ballots from voters by a third party who then delivers them to election officials. The term “vote harvesting” was essentially unknown to the general public until the North Carolina State Board of Elections overturned the results of the 2018 election for the Ninth Congressional District due to illegal vote harvesting, what the board called a “coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme.”

It was also raised as a concern in California after the unexpected losses of Republican-held congressional seats, including in Orange County, a traditional Republican stronghold, where the registrar of voters said that individuals were “dropping off maybe 100 or 200 ballots” at a time.

Ballot harvesting is still in place and all registered voters receive a ballot for the election in the mail.  The chain of custody surrounding ballots harvested in the state is not adequate or is non-existent.  Who knows where the completed ballots come from?

VOTER IDENTIFICATION

Not only is it almost impossible to determine where a ballot came from, it is also impossible to determine who the ballot came from.  Local governments in the state can’t ask for ID’s from voters.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation that prevents local governments from requiring voters to present identification at the polls, a law aimed at curbing conservative efforts in cities like Huntington Beach.

Californians literally have no idea who sent in the millions of ballots counted in the 2024 Election.

ELECTION OBSERVER VOTER SIGNATURE CHALLENGES DENIED

We can add to the above list this additional lack of transparency.  Election observers were prevented from the reasonable ability to observe the 2024 Election.  If they identified anything, they lacked the ability to do anything about it.

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Arkansas AG Busts Three Non-Citizens for Illegal Voting, Vows to Protect Election Integrity

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has announced the arrests of three non-citizens accused of illegally casting votes in recent elections.

The probe began earlier this year when federal officials alerted Griffin’s office to discrepancies between the voters’ records and their citizenship status.

Working alongside Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, investigators identified three individuals who had illegally voted.

All three women face felony charges for violating Arkansas election laws, with two also charged with perjury for falsely claiming U.S. citizenship on voter registration forms.

Cecilia Castellanos, 59, of Rogers, was arrested and charged with one count of perjury (a Class C felony) and one Class D felony count for violating Arkansas’s election laws.

Castellanos is a Cuban national with a pending order of removal from an immigration judge dating back to 1999 and has three prior felony convictions in New York state. She allegedly marked on her voter registration form that she was a U.S. citizen and had no prior felonies, then proceeded to vote illegally in the 2024 general election.

Zlata Risley, 50, of Hot Springs Village, faces one Class D felony count for violating Arkansas’s election laws. Originally from Kazakhstan, she is a lawful permanent resident but not a U.S. citizen. She is accused of voting illegally in the 2024 primary.

Chi Baum, 59, of Texarkana, was charged with one count of perjury (a Class C felony) and one Class D felony count for violating Arkansas’s election laws. From Nigeria, she holds conditional permanent resident status but is not a citizen.

Like Castellanos, Baum allegedly falsely claimed citizenship on her registration form and voted in the 2024 general election.

Attorney General Griffin emphasized the state’s commitment to election security in a statement, writing, “Arkansas’s elections are sound and secure, which is why we deal swiftly and decisively when rare infractions like these come to our attention. I am committed to preserving the integrity of our democratic process.”

Griffin credited his office’s Special Investigations Division’s Election Integrity Unit and local prosecuting attorneys for their work on the cases.

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Elections Canada head testifies on electoral mishaps, deflects blame

Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault deflected responsibility Thursday for several electoral irregularities in the April 28 federal election, including 822 uncounted mail-in ballots in Coquitlam, B.C.

Perrault stated that they are implementing controls to immediately detect errors like the Coquitlam incident, which he attributed to employees.

Conservative MP Tako van Popta questioned 822 ballots in 74 contests, which Elections Canada confirmed did not alter riding outcomes. Van Popta called the misplaced votes “inexplicable.” It prompted an apology from the federal agency.

Elections Canada’s Report On The 45th General Election noted 467 displaced mail-in ballots in two ridings. Other issues included incorrect return addresses in Terrebonne, Quebec, where a Liberal won by one vote, and unannounced poll closures in Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou, Quebec, which also led to a Liberal win.

Perrault stated the Nunavik incident investigation is complete, with findings forthcoming. He noted that in that instance, inclement weather is expected in regions like Nunavik and that last-minute deployment of election workers “is a risky proposition.”

Conservative MP Michael Kram observed the Elections Canada website crashed on April 28 after 7 p.m. ET, while polls were still open, impacting access to poll locations.

“What exactly went wrong?” asked MP Kram. “There was a failure of a firewall set up by a private partner that provides the web services for us,” replied Perrault. Managers have “introduced protocols where we will be monitoring the pre-election tests,” he said.

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Maine Woman Receives 250 State Election Ballots in Amazon Package Delivery

As voters in Maine prepare to cast their ballots in a state referendum election on November 4th, a Newburgh woman received a surprise delivery.  She was expecting a package with household goods and a toy lightsaber, but instead received bundles of ballots for the November 4th election, totaling over 250 ballots.

According to the Maine Wire:

The discovery raised alarms about election security, leading the Maine Republican Party Chairman to call for a federal criminal investigation as the state is mere weeks from deciding on whether it will join 36 other states in requiring some form of Vote ID.

The package arrived Tuesday looking beat up and re-taped, as if tampered with. Inside, along with household items, were bundles of ballots packaged in tamper-evident packs of 50 — the same format used for official shipments to local clerks. Election officials who reviewed photographs confirmed the documents appear to be authentic 2025 ballots.

The resident, stunned by the find, immediately turned the ballots over to the town office.

“I am greatly concerned for our state and its voting requirements,” she said.

“When I opened it, there were 250 official State of Maine referendum ballots inside my box. Thank goodness I am an honest citizen and immediately reached out to my town clerk and took the ballots to the town for safekeeping.”

Photographs obtained by the Maine Wire show that the ballots were included in the box with the household items the woman had ordered.

Previously Maine Wire posted to X a clip of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows admitting that non-citizens may be on the voter rolls in Maine, prompting calls for voter identification.

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California’s Orange County to Probe Voter Rolls for Dogs, Cats Ahead of Nov. 4 Election

Orange County officials have launched an unusual effort to verify no dogs or cats are registered voters, instructing the local elections chief to compare voting lists against animal licensing records in a bid to root out any fraudulent entries.

The Board of Supervisors voted on Sept. 23 to expand a review of pet registrations across the county, aiming to confirm no dogs, cats, or other pets are poised to cast ballots in the upcoming November special election.

This move was made after Laura Lee Yourex, a 62-year-old resident of Costa Mesa, was charged with five felonies for allegedly registering her dog, Maya Jean Yourex, to vote.

Prosecutors claim Yourex submitted registration forms for the pet and mailed in ballots during the 2021 gubernatorial recall and the 2022 primary contest. The 2021 vote was tallied under state rules that don’t mandate ID for such matters, but the 2022 federal-related ballot was flagged and discarded due to stricter identification requirements.

Yourex turned herself in after reportedly confessing the act on social media, where she posted images of her dog alongside an “I Voted” sticker and a ballot envelope. Her attorney argued the stunt was intended to highlight perceived flaws in the voting system, though authorities view it as a serious breach, carrying up to six years behind bars if convicted.

The incident has ignited debates among county leaders, particularly Republicans on the board who see it as evidence of vulnerabilities in registration procedures. Supervisor Don Wagner, a vocal proponent of ID verification, said the case illustrates how easy it is to cast fake ballots.

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GUESS WHO’S NOT ABOVE THE LAW? MI SOS Benson In The Hot Seat After DOJ Sues Her For Blocking Access to Michigan’s Dirty Voter Rolls

On Thursday, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced the filing of federal lawsuits against six states — California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request. The lawsuit against Benson was filed in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, charging that she is violating federal law by stonewalling investigators and demanding that she be compelled to turn over the records.

Michigan residents have watched Secretary of State Benson mock efforts by state lawmakers and threaten citizens who ask for transparency in elections since 2020, all in an effort to shield her dirty rolls from scrutiny.

The statement from the DOJ reminds Americans about the importance of well-maintained voter rolls: “Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter registration records are accurate, accessible, and secure — states that don’t fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court.”

“States are required to safeguard American elections by complying with our federal elections laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Clean voter rolls protect American citizens from voting fraud and abuse, and restore their confidence that their states’ elections are conducted properly, with integrity, and in compliance with the law.”

Yesterday, in response to the lawsuit against her, the defiant Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, mocked the DOJ’s demand for transparency, saying, “It’s important for every Michigander to understand what’s at stake here – the U.S. Justice Department is trying to get us to turn over the private, personal information of more than 8 million state residents. That includes people’s driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, and other personally identifiable information.” Benson called it an”  illegal and unconstitutional power grab,” adding, “I told them they can’t have it.”

Perhaps someone should inform Jocelyn Benson that the government has access to the Social Security numbers of all American citizens. It’s not the American citizens who are legally registered to vote in Michigan that the DOJ is concerned about; it’s the ILLEGAL aliens and fake voters created during her 7 years in office that the DOJ is interested in reviewing.

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How a Fight Over Voter Data Could Reshape American Elections

America’s electoral system has always been subject to—by design—a shifting balance of local control, state authority, and federal oversight. That balance is once again under strain, this time in the form of a pair of federal lawsuits that could redefine who ultimately controls access to voters’ personal data. Last week, the Justice Department filed twin lawsuits against Maine and Oregon, arguing that the states violated federal election laws and the Civil Rights Act by refusing to give the agency full access to the states’ voter data.

Since May, the Justice Department has sent letters to at least 32 states requesting access to their voter registration databases, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. In early August, the agency followed up with a more specific demand for full electronic copies of those files—including names, addresses, dates of birth, and sensitive identifiers such as driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers—along with documentation of how states identify and remove ineligible voters.

While the Justice Department has requested information from states about election administration in the past—including during the first Trump administration—the scope of the request is unprecedented, per the Brennan Center. Most states have not complied, and those that have appear to have provided only the publicly available portions of their voter files, which vary by state but may include information such as voter names, addresses, party affiliation, and voting history.

The Justice Department’s requests have raised privacy concerns from state officials, including Washington Democratic Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, who “fears the information would be shared with the Department of Homeland Security to fuel the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown,” reports the Washington State Standard. The Brennan Center notes that the Justice Department’s demands could conflict with the Privacy Act, which restricts how federal agencies collect and share personally identifiable information, especially when such data are not explicitly authorized for disclosure.

Despite the broad lack of participation from the states, only Maine and Oregon have been sued so far. “States simply cannot pick and choose which federal laws they will comply with, including our voting laws, which ensure that all American citizens have equal access to the ballot in federal elections,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, in a press release.

Maine Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has called the Justice Department’s actions “absurd” and a “federal abuse of power,” according to CNN. Oregon Democratic Secretary of State Tobias Read criticized President Donald Trump in a statement, saying, “If the President wants to use the [Justice Department] to go after his political opponents and undermine our elections, I look forward to seeing them in court.” Read also maintains that the federal government lacks the constitutional authority to pursue legal action on these grounds, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle.

In the U.S., elections—and the voter data that underpin them—are managed primarily by state and local governments, not federal agencies. However, since being reelected, Trump has sought to increase the federal government’s role in national elections. In March, the president signed an executive order directing federal agencies to enforce stricter eligibility verification, tighten mail‑in voting rules, and enhance data sharing between federal and state authorities regarding voter registration and citizenship status.

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