02 U.S. Politics

September 23, 2024

Johnson Drops SAVE as He Prepares to Fund Biden Government

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-AR) has announced plans to put forward a CR, a continuing resolution to fund the federal government at current levels, without the Trump-supported amendment called the SAVE Act. The amendment would have assured no state or local government could allow non-citizens to vote no matter what reason they might give.

Trump and other conservatives have urged the Speaker to shut to government down if the SAVE Act isn’t included. The Speaker defended his decision, writing “While this is not the solution any of us prefer, it is the most prudent path forward under the present circumstances. As history has taught and current polling affirms, shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice.”

House Speaker Johnson axes Trump voting restrictions in new government funding bill – CNBC
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Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday announced a new temporary government funding proposal with key amendments from the original bill he put forward earlier this month, going against former President Donald Trump’s wishes and making some concessions to Democrats.

The new bill would fund the government through Dec. 20 and does not include any part of the SAVE Act, the Trump-backed election security proposal that would require people to show proof of citizenship to register as a voter.

In a letter to colleagues on Sunday, Johnson said, the “very narrow, bare-bones” proposal would include “only the extensions that are absolutely necessary” to avoid a government shutdown.

Congressional Republicans and Democrats have eight days to strike a deal on government funding. If no resolution is reached, the government will go into partial shutdown on Oct. 1 at 12:01 a.m. ET, just over a month away from the November election when party control will be up for grabs in both the White House and Congress.

Thousands of Arizona Voters in Limbo After State Citizenship Info Error – newsweek
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Nearly 100,000 people in Arizona have been left uncertain about the future of their right to vote after a clerical error was made in the tracking of citizenship data.

Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced on Tuesday that 97,000 people would be affected by the error, which occurred due to a clash between proof of citizenship laws and driver’s license information.

The error will not restrict voters from voting the 2024 presidential election, or for federal elections to Congress. It applies solely to state-level elections, such as state senator races or state referendums.

Arizona requires voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in state and local elections since 2005, meaning voters that have not provided the proof are registered as “federal only” voters and are only allowed to vote for president and Congress.

Arizona considers a driver’s license issued since October 1996 to be valid proof of citizenship, however, a clerical error resulted in more than 97,500 voters who obtained licenses before 1996, which is roughly 2.5 percent of all registered voters in the state, as full-ballot voters.

Pennsylvania County Ditches Drop Boxes, Cites Security Concerns– thefederalist.com
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Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, will reportedly not use drop boxes this election cycle citing concerns of “illegal activities.”

Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo sent a notice to county election officials on Wednesday saying the county lacked the “capability” to ensure the drop boxes were safe locations for voters to leave their ballots, according to WNEP.

“While I recognize that drop boxes can provide alternative means for voters to cast their ballots, I must prioritize the safety and security of our community in the current political climate,” Crocamo said. “We don’t have the capability, we don’t have the number of staff members to actually stand by the drop boxes to keep them safe, so I decided I’m not going to deploy them.”

Judge rules it’s too late to challenge Arizona open primary proposition– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz ruled today that a proposition that would establish open primaries in Arizona will have the opportunity to be voted into law by Arizonans, even though almost 40,000 voter signatures have been invalidated.

Even though ballots have already been printed with the proposition on it, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the superior court look at the evidence of duplicated signatures provided by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. Special Master Christopher Skelly submitted his report yesterday, showing that 35,478 of the submitted signatures were indeed duplicates.

“In a major development with the signature challenge over Proposition 140, the special master reviewing the duplicate signatures determined that 99% of the 38,000 signatures reviewed were, in fact, duplicates,” reads a statement from the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. “Of the nearly 40,000 duplicates that were included when the Prop 140 Committee submitted their signatures to the Secretary of State, around 250 people had signed five or more times. One individual had signed 15 times. All those signatures were included in the final tabulation by the Arizona Secretary of State and challenged in state courts.”

Voting chaos as state is forced to shut down electronic polling system after major candidate was left off – Daily Mail UK
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The state of Montana took its electronic absentee voting system offline shortly after it went live when prospective voters discovered Kamala Harris wasn’t on the ballot.

While Harris is considered a severe underdog in Montana, Democrats are still hoping they can voters to turn out to save incumbent Senator Jon Tester against Donald Trump-endorsed Tim Sheehy.

Max Himsl, a voter living in the United Kingdom, wanted to make his choice once the ballots were online on Friday at 8am.

The ballot listed both Trump and the now out of the race independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. but not the vice president.

Himsl said: ‘I’m upset my democratic process was interrupted’.

Federal judge rejects RFK Jr. motion to remove name from Michigan ballot – Michigan Advance
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has again been rejected in his effort to have his name removed from Michigan’s ballot this November.

The latest setback came Wednesday when U.S. District Court Judge Denise Page Hood declined to grant Kennedy’s request for a preliminary injunction to halt the printing of ballots with his name listed as the presidential nominee of the Natural Law Party.

“Defendant argues that the integrity of the electoral process is at stake,” she wrote in her 18-page order. “Reprinting ballots at this late hour would undoubtedly halt the voting process in Michigan and cause a burden to election officials.”

The final deadline to get ballots printed and sent to military and overseas voters must be at least 45 days before the election, which would be Saturday.

Supreme Court rejects Green Party bid to appear on Nevada presidential ballot – NBC News
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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein’s last-ditch request to be included on the ballot in Nevada, a key swing state.

The court in a brief unsigned order left in place a decision by the Nevada Supreme Court that blocked Stein from appearing on the ballot over a dispute concerning whether the Green Party had submitted the correct paperwork.

State officials had told the court that ballots that do not feature Stein and her running mate, Butch Ware, are already being printed ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Ballots must be sent to overseas military voters by Saturday, with at least one county having already done so.

Forcing a late change to the ballot language “would undermine the integrity of Nevada’s election,” Attorney General Aaron Ford wrote in court papers.

Jay Sekulow, an ally of former President Donald Trump, represented the Green Party. In swing states in particular, third-party candidates can be crucial to the outcome, with the Green Party potentially winning some votes that would otherwise go to the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.

How Minnesota Allows Noncitizens to Vote Automatic Voter Registration at DMV | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com
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When Governor Tim Walz signed the Minnesota automatic voter registration bill into law in May 2023, most people assumed it would only allow eligible U.S. citizens to be automatically registered to vote. They were wrong.

U.S. citizenship is an eligibility requirement to vote in Minnesota, according to Article VII Section 1 of the State Constitution.

But now, with the new Minnesota drivers license application form, there are no questions, check boxes, or signed oaths regarding citizenship whatsoever, anywhere; only a paragraph, in the tiniest of print, at the very bottom of the form saying:

“If you provide documentation showing you are not a U.S. citizen at the time of application, no data will be sent to the Office of the Secretary of State.”

This craftily constructed sentence defines the ONLY criteria under which a new applicant’s data must not be sent to the Secretary of State and registered to vote.

There are no requirements on the form to show citizenship or even attest to it. That means if an illegal immigrant, with an easily obtainable SS#, chooses not to provide documentation showing they are not a U.S. citizen at the time of application, they will be automatically registered to vote.

RNC Challenge to Mississippi’s Mail-In Ballot Deadline to Be Heard by 5th Circuit – democracydocket.com
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Mississippi currently permits mail-in ballots to be counted up to five business days after an election, provided they are postmarked on or before Election Day. The Republican National Committee (RNC) is challenging this law, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral argument on the matter Tuesday.

The RNC, along with the Mississippi GOP and two Republican voters, filed this lawsuit back in January, against Secretary of State Michael Watson (R) and county election officials.

The GOP plaintiffs argued that the state election law about the mail-in ballot receipt deadline “effectively extends Mississippi’s federal election past the Election Day established by Congress” and results in “valid ballots” being “diluted by untimely, invalid ballots.”

The Republicans specifically argued this law harms their party because, during the 2022 election, significantly more Democrats voted by mail than their GOP counterparts.

“That means the late-arriving mail-in ballots that are counted for five additional days disproportionately break for Democrats,” the plaintiffs argued in their lawsuit.

House Committee Calls On Five States To Probe ‘Potential Criminal Activity’ Involving ActBlue Donations– americanactionnews.com

Republicans urge Appeals Court to block digital UNC voter ID  – Carolinacoastonline

‘Iran vs. Trump, and Russia vs. Harris’: Congress presses Silicon Valley giants on disinformation  – The Record from Recorded Future News

Johnson pulls stopgap spending bill – Axios
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Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) ditched a planned vote Wednesday on his six-month stopgap funding bill that included a crackdown on non-citizen voting.

Why it matters: It’s the latest setback for Johnson, who was facing opposition from fellow Republicans as well nearly all Democrats and raises pressure on GOP leaders to find an alternative path for avoiding a shutdown in less than three weeks.

• “No vote today because we’re in the consensus-building business,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday.
• That likely puts off a House vote on a stopgap bill until next week at the earliest.
• At least eight GOP lawmakers publicly came out against the bill, despite pressure from former President Trump to back it, leaving Johnson short of the votes he would need to pass it out of the chamber.

Republicans push for clean stopgap as leaders regroup on shutdown plan – The Hill
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A growing number of House Republicans say they know how the current government funding drama ends: with a clean continuing resolution (CR) that kicks the shutdown deadline to after Election Day.

The question is how Congress arrives at that conclusion.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) scrapped plans for the House to vote on his conservative funding bill Wednesday when it became clear it didn’t have the GOP votes to pass, catapulting the conference back to square one with less than a month until the shutdown deadline.

Some Republicans are pushing Johnson to make another attempt at clearing a conservative funding bill, arguing that a successful effort could help strengthen the party’s hand in forthcoming bipartisan negotiations.

Muddying the waters, former President Trump is urging Republicans to vote against any short-term funding bill that does not secure “absolute assurances on Election Security.”

U.S. House speaker withdraws spending bill that would require ID to register to vote • Virginia Mercury
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WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson pulled a six-month stopgap spending bill from heading to the floor for a vote Wednesday, scuttling efforts by the GOP to show solidarity behind their plan, which included a provision requiring ID to register to vote in federal elections.

The spending bill, released by House Republicans last week in the heat of a presidential campaign in which immigration is a central focus, had no chance of becoming law amid opposition from Democrats, a cool response from many GOP senators and a veto threat from the Biden administration.

A number of House GOP lawmakers had also come out against the legislation.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters that lawmakers plan to work through the weekend to find a path forward on the stopgap spending bill and language that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote.

September 18, 2024

Cornel West disqualified from Georgia’s ballot, judge rules – 11 Alive
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The decision means votes for West won’t be counted in Georgia, although his name will remain on ballots because the judge said it’s too late to remove it.

ATLANTA — A Georgia state court judge on Wednesday disqualified independent presidential candidate Cornel West from running for president in the state, ruling that West’s electors didn’t file the proper paperwork.

For now at least, the decision means votes for West won’t be counted in Georgia, although his name will remain on ballots because the judge said it’s too late to remove it.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Cox ruled it was too late to order new ballots printed, with military and overseas ballots scheduled to be mailed starting Tuesday. Instead, Cox ordered the state to post notices in polling places warning West had been disqualified and votes for him would be void, a common remedy in Georgia for late election changes.

It’s OK To ‘Help’ Mentally Incapacitated Relatives With Ballots– thefederalist.com
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The New York Times encouraged a reader last week to “help” a 97-year-old woman with advanced memory loss — who is “becoming nearly impossible to communicate with” — to complete her ballot.

“When the situation is hazy, my inclination would be to err on the side of helping someone to vote, because voting is such a central form of civic participation,” wrote the Times’ “Ethicist” Columnist Kwame Anthony Appiah.

A reader wrote the Times, saying the grandmother has “advanced” Alzheimer’s and hearing loss. The reader wanted to know if it would be “unethical” to help the elderly woman vote in November, likely having the grandma do “the mechanics of voting” while family members “advise her.”

The reader claimed to have helped the grandmother fill out her absentee ballot in 2020.

DeKalb GOP sues Georgia Secretary of State, claiming poor election security – Atlantic City Circle
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The DeKalb County Republican Party has filed a lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger alleging that the encryption keys for the software used in the state’s Dominion Voting System are not stored securely.

The DeKalb GOP wants the Secretary of State’s Office to properly store the encryption keys and “immediately bring the Dominion systems used in Georgia elections into compliance with Georgia law.” The lawsuit alleges that the state’s Dominion system software has been in an “illegal and insecure state since at least 2020,” and that the Secretary of State’s Office has known this since March, 2024.

The DeKalb GOP also wants the Secretary of State’s office to make the Dominion system logs, cast-vote records and ballot images available to itself and the public for inspection within 24 hours of polls closing on Nov. 5.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 30 in Fulton County Superior Court, was announced by the DeKalb  Republican Party on X on Monday. A hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 30.

New rules for ballot drop boxes in Ohio puts restrictions on who can use them – BG Independent News
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The latest attempt to prevent voter fraud in Ohio will make it more difficult for voters to use ballot drop boxes and make more work for election workers across the state.

On Wednesday morning, the Wood County Board of Elections discussed the impact of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s recent directive that only those people dropping off their own ballots may use the drop box.

That means people dropping off ballots for family members must come into the board of elections during business hours and fill out paperwork attesting to their relationship to the voter. They cannot use the drop off box.

Nearly four million Ohioans voted last November, with approximately 25% voting absentee, according to state data.

So the state directive could mean a lot more work for election workers across the state.

Republicans challenge North Carolina decision that lets students show university’s mobile ID – ABC News
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RALEIGH, N.C. — The Republican Party sued North Carolina’s elections board on Thursday to block students and employees at the state’s flagship public university from offering a digital identification as a way to comply with a relatively new photo voter ID law.

The Republican National Committee and North Carolina filed the lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court three weeks after the Democratic majority on the State Board of Elections approved the “Mobile UNC One Card” generated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a qualifying ID.

The law says qualifying IDs must meet several photo and security requirements to be approved by the board. The UNC-Chapel Hill digital ID, which is voluntary for students and staff and available on Apple phones, marks the qualification of the first such ID posted from someone’s smartphone.

Alaska Supreme Court keeps federal prisoner on ballot for U.S. House race after appeal denied  – Alaska’s News Source

DOJ NON-CITIZEN VOTER SHIELD ACTIVATES AS GOP HOUSE POISES TO FAIL SAVE ACT – The DOJ has shot a warning across the bow of states planning to cull their roles of dead and illegal voters, sending out a “guidance” designed to address “limits on when and how jurisdictions may remove voters from their voter lists.” Trump may have indirectly challenged such actions in his recent warning to election cheaters that when he wins he will prosecute them.

A small revolt within the GOP will lead to the failure of House Speaker Johnson to pass a CR with the SAVE Act (an act that makes it clear to the states they cannot allow non-citizens to vote) even as we learn of 100,000 non-citizens showing up on Arizona voter rolls as being registered to vote. This follows news of Non-Citizens being wrongly registered to vote by Oregon’s DMV.

A beacon of light shone in New Hampshire where Governor Chris Sununu (R) signed a law explicitly requiring Voter ID in order for Americans to vote. PA may get some relief in culling non-citizens from their voter rolls if they showed up there through their DMV, but the audit ordered by PA’s current Auditor General, Timothy DeFoor (R), won’t bring relief in time for the election. PA’s highest court also removed Cornell West from the ballot in a move that is sure to help the DNC-CCP.

Biden’s DOJ Threatens Election Offices Over Cleaning Voter Rolls– thefederalist.com
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The Justice Department’s (DOJ) recent guidance, trumpeted by the administration’s progressive allies, addresses “limits on when and how jurisdictions may remove voters from their voter lists.” Three aspects of the guidance are problematic…

The implication is that the nation’s chief law enforcement agency is more concerned with policing the efforts of government officials to clean the voter rolls than that the voter rolls may be dirty — this despite states having found ample evidence of impropriety…

The DOJ’s decision to issue such guidance also suggests it believes states are being too vigorous in their voter roll maintenance efforts, and that the department is scrutinizing those efforts.

Trump Vows to Prosecute Election Cheaters– www.dailysignal.com
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As early voting begins this week in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, former President Donald Trump posted another warning to cheaters on Truth Social.

“CEASE & DESIST,” the 45th president posted Tuesday. “I, together with many Attorneys and Legal Scholars, am watching the Sanctity of the 2024 Presidential Election very closely because I know, better than most, the rampant Cheating and Skullduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election. It was a Disgrace to our Nation!”

Trump’s post comes on National Voter Registration Day, which falls on the same day this year as Constitution Day.

House Republicans poised to reject funding bill with shutdown just around the corner – NBC News
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 House Republicans on Wednesday are expected to derail their own plan to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month, with the party divided over the length of a short-term funding bill and what, if anything, should be attached to it.

Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan calls for extending funding at current spending levels for six months, through March 2025, and linking it with the SAVE Act, Donald Trump-backed legislation requiring that people show proof of citizenship to register to vote…

The funding package is on track to fail given Republicans’ razor-thin 220-211 majority and the fact that a number of GOP lawmakers — a mix of fiscal conservatives and defense hawks — have vowed to tank it….

House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said after Wednesday’s meeting that he had complete faith in Johnson figuring out how to avert a shutdown, noting the speaker reached a funding deal earlier this year with Schumer for the current fiscal year.

“At the end of the day, if he ever wanted to shut down the government, he had a lot of opportunities to do that,” Cole said. “Since he’s been speaker, he’s never let it happen. I don’t think he ever will.”

Google Blocks AI on Second Trump Assassination Attempt, Favors Leftist Media– www.newsbusters.org
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Gemini’s Censorship: MRC researchers prompted Gemini to answer whether there had been a “second assassination attempt on Donald Trump.” Gemini—one of the most popular and Google’s “most capable” AI chatbots—inexplicably refused to answer the simple question even though it admitted to having real-time information.

“I can’t help with that right now. I’m trained to be as accurate as possible but I can make mistakes sometimes,” the chatbot claimed, before directing MRC to Google Search…

Google Search and the Google News tab Were Not to be Outdone:  … Google Search results yielded not a single right-leaning outlet among the five search results displayed, while simultaneously featuring CNN and NBC News twice when queried with “second trump assassination attempt.” Meanwhile, the Google News tab only displayed Fox News once out of nine results for the same query.

In total, Google displayed leftist and center outlets at a staggering 13:1 ratio, according to MRC’s analysis using the AllSides Media Bias Chart…

Gavin Newsom chuckles as he signs bills restricting AI use in election ads — but social media users may have last laugh– www.theblaze.com
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AB 2655, also known as the Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act of 2024, requires online platforms “to block the posting of materially deceptive content related to elections in California” and “to label certain additional content inauthentic, fake, or false” during designated periods before and after an election.

AB 2355 expands upon existing law and requires a committee that creates, publishes, and/or distributes some political advertising to add a “disclosure” noting when an ad has been “generated or substantially altered” using AI. The bill addresses “any image, audio, or video that is generated or substantially altered using artificial intelligence” that would give a reasonable person “a fundamentally different understanding of the altered media when comparing it to an unaltered version.”

AB 2839 also builds upon existing law that already prohibits people from knowingly distributing, with malice, election material containing “certain materially deceptive content.” Previous law required this statute to be enforced 60 days before an election. It will now be enforced 120 days before an election and, in certain cases, up to 60 days afterward.

In a statement, Newsom insisted these speech restrictions were necessary for the sake of democracy.

“Safeguarding the integrity of elections is essential to democracy, and it’s critical that we ensure AI is not deployed to undermine the public’s trust through disinformation – especially in today’s fraught political climate,” Newsom said. “These measures will help to combat the harmful use of deepfakes in political ads and other content, one of several areas in which the state is being proactive to foster transparent and trustworthy AI.”

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Kicks Cornel West Off 2024 Ballot– thefederalist.com
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Pennsylvania’s Democrat-controlled supreme court shot down left-wing presidential candidate Cornel West’s bid to appear on the state’s 2024 ballot.

In a reportedly unsigned order, the Keystone State’s highest court affirmed a lower court ruling denying West’s bid for ballot access. In that ruling, Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer sided with the office of Secretary of State Al Schmidt “in rejecting West’s candidacy paperwork,” according to the Washington Examiner.

Schmidt’s office had argued that “the paperwork lacked the affidavits for 14 of the 19 presidential electors required by the Aug. 1 filing deadline,” according to the outlet.

Schmidt indicated prior to Monday’s decision that a final ruling on West’s case by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would allow counties to begin printing ballots for the November contest. Schmidt is a self-professed “Republican” and was appointed by Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro.

“As soon as the court rules on that, we’ll certify the official list and then counties can complete their preparations to mail out ballots and to have voters, if they choose, go to a county election office to apply in person,” he reportedly said.

Noncitizen voting is rare, but the GOP is pressing the issue – madison.com

Nearly 100,000 Voters Registered Without Proof of Citizenship as ‘Flaw’ Could Impact Upcoming Elections– www.westernjournal.com
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Almost 100,000 Arizona voters are in election limbo because of a flaw that has state officials at odds over the proper remedy.

Arizona passed a law in 2004 that requires documented proof of citizenship to register as “full-ballot voters.” Driver’s licenses are considered valid proof of citizenship. But there’s a problem, because prior to 1996, motor vehicle records did not have proof of citizenship on file.

About 97,000 people are impacted, as officials offer competing solutions.

In one corner, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said he thinks these are legal voters who should go ahead and vote as they always have, according to KPHO-TV.

But Stepehn Richer, the Maricopa County Recorder, disagrees, according to KSAZ-TV.

(Oregon) State Admits That It Has Wrongly Registered Hundreds of Non-Citizens to Vote– www.westernjournal.com
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In the latest object lesson in why we need voter ID laws and why motor-voter initiatives are a terrible idea, the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles quietly announced late last week that over 300 non-citizens had been accidentally registered to vote.

Furthermore, The Oregonian’s report on the matter seemed to indicate a number of these 306 people illegally registered to vote were also here illegally, as well.

“The mistake occurred in part because Oregon has allowed undocumented residents to obtain driver’s licenses since 2019 and the DMV automatically registers most individuals to vote when they obtain a license or ID, according to Kevin Glenn, spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Transportation, which oversees the DMV,” the report said.

“Glenn said an initial analysis by the state transportation agency revealed 306 non-citizens were allowed to become registered voters. Of those, only two have cast a vote in any election since 2021, Glenn said.

NH Governor Signs No-Excuse Voter ID And Citizenship Law– thefederalist.com
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Gov. Chris Sununu, R-N.H., signed a no-excuse voter identification and proof-of-citizenship bill into law last week, but it will not go into effect until six days after this year’s election.

The law, which passed the state’s Republican-majority House and Senate earlier this year, will require New Hampshire voters to provide proof of citizenship to apply for registration, as well as a photo ID when casting a ballot. In the event a person can’t show a valid ID, the supervisor may “review the voter’s qualifications and determine if the voter’s identity can be verified.”

“If the supervisor of the checklist determines that the voter’s qualifications and identity have not been established, the voter shall not be allowed to vote,” the law clarifies.

PA Motor Voter System Will Be Audited For Noncitizen Voters  – thefederalist.com

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Pennsylvania Auditor General Timothy DeFoor, a Republican, sent a letter Monday to PennDOT Secretary Michael Carroll and Neil Weaver, secretary of the Governor’s Office of Administration, informing them that the auditor’s office will be conducting a performance audit of the motor voter registration process.

The audit will look at the automatic voter registration system covering the period between Jan. 1 and June 30.

Specifically, it will look at the implementation of the program, its compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and how it relates to the state election code. The audit will also “determine whether PennDOT’s Motor Voter interface files sent to the Pennsylvania Department of State properly excluded non-citizens.”

It is unlikely the audit’s results will influence the 2024 election. DeFoor set a deadline of Oct. 4 for a meeting to be held between PennDOT and the auditor. Draft notes and audit information are not made public. PennDOT will have 120 business days to submit a response to the audit. The election is less than 50 days away.

Michigan Supreme Court Upholds Democrat Rules Restricting Poll Watchers– slaynews.com
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The Michigan Supreme Court has upheld Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s new restrictions on poll watchers.

In a divided ruling, the top court’s Democrat majority sided with Benson.

The court argues that Benson is acting within her authority as the chief election officer of the state to require poll watchers to communicate only with a designated “challenger liaison,” among other changes.

“Under the Michigan Election Law, the secretary of state is the chief election officer of Michigan,” Justice Kyra Harris Bolden wrote.

“The secretary has supervisory control over local election officials in the performance of their duties.”

The court also upheld rules requiring poll watchers to use a credential form provided by Benson.

Conservative group asks FEC to probe effort to promote spoiler candidates – KSTP

September 16, 2024

Six RINOs Just Pledged to Certify 2024 Election Results, No Matter the Outcome — Here’s the List– wltreport.com
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The swamp is already preparing for Election Day (or month, if we have a repeat of last election…)

A group of over 30 House representatives — including 6 Republicans — just signed a bipartisan pledge promising to certify the results of the 2024 Election, no questions asked.

They’re calling it the “Unity Commitment,” and they’re framing it as a way to “safeguard” Democracy.

Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer from New Jersey and Republican Rep. Don Bacon wrote up this pledge and rallied other Congress members to sign it. Along with Bacon, here are the other 5 Republicans who signed the pledge:

• Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
• Mike Lawler (R-NY)
• Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR)
• Nick LaLota (R-NY)
• Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY)

Pennsylvania court reverses ruling allowing misdated mail-in ballots – NewsNation Now
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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled on Friday that mail-in ballots with incorrect dates will not be counted in November, reversing a previous ruling from a lower court in the battleground state.

The decision from last month named only Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties, which the state’s Supreme Court argued the lower ruling lacked jurisdiction.

“HUGE election integrity win in Pennsylvania,” GOP Chairman Michael Whatley said in a post on X.

Federal judge restores Arkansas voter registration ‘Wet Signature’ requirement – KLRT – FOX16.com
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The U.S. Eighth District Court of Appeals on Friday released a decision that handwritten signatures are required on voter registration applications in Arkansas.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks previously placed an injunction against the State Board of Commissioners’ “wet signature” rule in late August, saying voters could submit signatures electronically.

The decision from the U.S. Eighth Circuit reverses that, again requiring pen-to-paper signatures for voter registration applications.

DeSantis: ‘Democrats Oppose Voter ID Because They Want There To Be Illegal Votes’ – The Daily Wire
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis discussed his efforts over the weekend to make sure that his state has the most secure elections in the country this fall.

DeSantis told “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News that the state has banned ballot harvesting and imposed serious penalties for offenders.

“We require photo ID in order to vote,” he said. “We’ve banned the use of Zuckerbucks, and we’ve been aggressive at policing the voter rolls so that we have accurate voter rolls, and when people have run afoul of our election laws, this election crimes unit we’ve created has been able to investigate, refer these people to prosecution, and you’ve had over 50 people just in the last couple years that have been convicted of various types of voter fraud.”

“In the state of Florida, we require voter ID,” he continued. “We also prohibit issuing any type of photo ID to illegal aliens, no driver’s license, no local government IDs, no private organizations are allowed to issue illegals photo ID, and we don’t recognize out of state licenses or any type of ID for illegals. What that means is it’s almost impossible for an illegal to register to vote. In some of these states where they do issue those ID cards, they can go in, and there’s really no check of the citizenship that has been done. So we’ve been very aggressive in ensuring that only US citizens are on the voter rolls. When we’ve identified people that have voted illegally who are not US citizens, we have brought prosecutions against them.”’

Mass Mail-In Voting Is Democrats’ New ‘Blue Wall’– thefederalist.com
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The most striking feature of the contentious 2020 election was the sudden explosion of mass mail-in voting in states that had little experience with it, and the unprecedented levels of election interference that occurred as left-leaning nonprofit organizations such as The Center for Tech and Civic Life (which was behind “Zuckbucks”) and Democrat “lawfare” experts tried to make the best of this chaotic, mail-in ballot free-for-all.

The mail-in ballot election of 2020 created the template for the Democrats’ new “Blue Wall” election strategy, as a deluge of mail-in ballots propelled Joe Biden to victory, especially in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The rate of mail-in voting rose to above 50 percent in Michigan and Wisconsin, and almost 40 percent in Pennsylvania.

The old “Blue Wall” was an impregnable fortress of safely Democrat states because of large blocs of blue-collar voters — mainly in the Rust Belt of the upper Midwest — that could be relied upon to get Democrats an electoral college victory in a close election. The old “Blue Wall,” however, dramatically failed to protect Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, as an unexpectedly large number of formerly Democrat, working-class voters in Rust Belt states became Donald Trump voters.

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Fears mount that election deniers could disrupt vote count in US swing states – The Guardian
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Fears are rising that the vote count in November’s presidential election could be disrupted as a result of the proliferation of Donald Trump’s lies about stolen elections and rampant voter fraud in the key swing states where the race for the White House will be decided.

A new survey of eight vital swing states reveals that at least 239 election deniers who have signed up to Trump’s “election integrity” conspiracy theories – including the false claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him – are actively engaged in electoral battles this year. The deniers are standing for congressional or state seats, holding Republican leadership positions, and overseeing elections on state and county election boards.

The report by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a watchdog group focusing on special interests distorting US democracy, reveals the extent of denial in the eight critical states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It shows that corrosive efforts to damage public confidence in elections have proliferated there despite the drubbing the election denial movement received in the 2022 midterms….

“What was striking to us about our research is how much election denialism and the voter fraud lie have infiltrated and taken over the Republican apparatus in each of these critical states,” said CMD’s executive director Arn Pearson.

Election Deniers Want AI Cameras to Stream Footage of Ballot Dropboxes – wired.com
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Engelbrecht has also said the group is looking to roll out dropbox monitoring in multiple states, and mentioned Michigan as a possible location, though most of her focus appears to be on Wisconsin.

In her interview with Wallnau, Engelbrecht added that she was working with “three influential sheriffs” in Wisconsin, though didn’t name them.

WIRED contacted two dozen sheriffs from Wisconsin’s largest counties, but did not find a single one who was going to be part of the monitoring effort. Engelbrecht and Truth the Vote did not respond to multiple requests for comment from WIRED to name the sheriffs who have agreed to be part of the program.

“True the Vote has reached out to the Sheriff’s Office regarding ideas as they relate to election integrity and possible law violations,” Deputy Inspector Patrick R. Esser, from the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department, tells WIRED. “True the Vote proposed the idea of donating cameras to the sheriff’s office to monitor election sites, however, the obstacles associated with that idea made it impractical.”

While most sheriff offices WIRED contacted did not respond to requests for comment, a number, including offices in Buffalo County and Polk County, said they had not even heard about the dropbox initiative. “I was unaware of the plan and will not be participating,” Sheriff Mike Osmond from Buffalo County tells WIRED. “I am not sure if they are legal or not but do not have interest in implementing such a program.”

Conservatives expect Johnson will embrace proof-of-citizenship voting in anti-shutdown measure – The Hill

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Hard-line conservatives expect Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will embrace their favored tactic by bringing a stopgap bill to the House floor next week that includes a proof-of-citizenship voting bill and would extend government funding into 2025.

Such a move would not only grant a win to the House GOP’s conservative wing, but would tee up a showdown with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, which both object to the voting bill. Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to prevent a shutdown.

Johnson’s office has not confirmed the funding plan, but Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) — a key member of the House Freedom Caucus who has been in discussions with leadership as he advocates for the strategy — is publicly expressing confidence about the next step.

It’s Schumer’s Fault If Government Shuts Down over Noncitizens Voting  – breitbart.com

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Speaker Mike Johnson Pushes for Election Integrity Bill Amid Government Funding Debate  – Shockya.com