American Democracy Minute

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 15, 2024 Trump ‘Election Integrity’ Lawyer Cleta Mitchell Calls for the Firing of All DOJ Voting & Civil Rights Lawyers Cleta Mitchell, a 2020 Trump election lawyer who later pushed so-called ‘election integrity’ laws in states around the U.S., is now calling for all U.S. Department of Justice voting rights and civil rights lawy...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 14, 2024 Fringe Federal Court Ruling Invalidating the Counting of Mail-In Ballots in Mississippi After Election Day is Challenged by Pro-Voter Groups In a case likely destined for the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal appeals court struck down a Mississippi law allowing receipt and counting of mail-in ballots up to five days after elect...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 13, 2024 Maine Voters Overwhelmingly Pass Constitutional Amendment to Limit Individual Contributions SuperPACs, and Lay the Groundwork for SCOTUS Case “Do you want to set a $5,000 limit for giving to political action committees that spend money independently to support or defeat candidates for office?”  Almost 75% of Maine voters ag...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 12, 2024 Colorado Activists Arrested for Allegedly Stealing and Submitting Mail-In Ballots to “Test” Election Security November 6th, the Mesa County, Colorado district attorney’s office announced charges against two women who allegedly stole mail-in ballots, filled them out and submitted them in an attempt to test the ballot signatu...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 11th, 2024 Florida Voters Retain Public Funding of Elections, as Amendment 6 Repeal Fails to Reach 60% Constitutional Threshold In an election with few bright spots for democracy, Amendment 6, a repeal of Florida’s public funding of elections option, failed to reach its 60% constitutional threshold, with voters evenly split.  Such s...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 8, 2024 Hoax Bomb Threats, Ballot Shortages, and Unlocked Access Panels Appear to be the Worst of the 2024 Election Problems State and federal election officials termed most problems encountered in the Nov. 5th Presidential election as routine, with quickly discredited bomb threats and ballot shortages among the worst issues of the...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 7, 2024 High Turnout of Conservative Voters Also Led to Losses for Democracy Reform in Ohio, Nevada, Colorado and Potentially Alaska Democracy reform-related citizen ballot initiatives failed November 5th, as high turnout of GOP voters and deceptive messaging overwhelmed a citizen-led redistricting commission, open primaries and ran...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 6, 2024 States Increased Security in Election Offices and Polling Places, and Increased Penalties for Threatening or Harassing Election Officials Election deniers, take notice.  Since just 2022, 20 states have tightened laws to protect election workers, upping penalties, expanding definitions of harassment, protecting personal infor...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 5, 2024 Close Races, New Rules, Mail-in Ballots and Election Deniers Mean Election Night is Not Likely to Be Results Night Election night is unlikely to be “results night”.  Irresponsible candidates may exploit an extended time to declare a winner and say there’s something illicit about the process.  In fact, it’s our patriotic frie...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 4, 2024 Not Registered to Vote?  Your State May Be One of Nineteen Which Allows Election Day Registration, But You’ll Need to Be Prepared. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia allow citizens to register to vote on election day.   But that doesn’t mean that election-day registration is convenient, simple, or that your vote wi...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 1, 2024 U.S. Supreme Court Allows Virginia to Purge of Alleged Non Citizen Voters Only Days Before the Election, Ignoring Established Federal Law Ignoring established federal law, the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned two lower court decisions and allowed Virginia to continue its purge of suspected registered non...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 31, 2024 If Your Mail-In or Absentee Ballot is in the Mail, Here’s How to Track It.  If it’s Not, Hand Delivery to Your Election Office or Drop Box is a Safer Bet.  Time has run out for mailing a mail-in or absentee ballot, but if it’s already mailed, there are tools for tracking its status.  If it hasn’t been mailed, officials advi...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 30, 2024 Updates on Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia Voting Rights Appeals and Decisions Just Days Before the Election We have updates for three consequential voting rights cases we’ve been following in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia, just a week before the November 2024 election. To view the whole script of today’s report, please...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 29, 2024 It May Be Bumpy, But Most Democracy Experts Think the Electoral Count Reform Act Will Help Protect the Election Our last three reports focused on the likely plans for bad actors to subvert the election.  Thankfully, Congress passed the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022, which most experts believe will prevail. How does it...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 28, 2024 ‘Deceive, Disrupt, Deny’ Report Anticipates Non Citizen Voting Will Be Used to Justify Post-Election Delays, Sham Audits & Litigation Our third segment on Protect Democracy’s “Deceive, Disrupt, Deny” report anticipates how bad actors will likely use bogus claims of widespread non citizen voting to justify obstructing el...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 25, 2024 The ‘Deceive, Disrupt, Deny’ Subversion Plan: After Claims of Widespread Noncitizen Voting,  Comes Intimidation, Disruptive Poll Watchers & Baseless Lawsuits We’re examining ‘Deceive, Disrupt, Deny’, a new report which games out a likely election subversion plan by partisan extremists.  With an effort already underway t...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 24, 2024 ‘Deceive, Disrupt, Deny’:  Report Lays Out Likely Playbook to Subvert the 2024 Election, Some of Which is Already in Motion We’re exploring a new report by election system watchdog Protect Democracy called ‘Deceive, Disrupt, Deny’, which lays out the likely strategy by bad actors to subvert the 2024 election.   That strateg...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 23, 2024 Republicans Appeal to Georgia Supreme Court to Restore Fringe Georgia Election Board Rulings Struck Down by Lower Courts There are developments in a court challenge to questionable Georgia Election Board rules recently struck down by state courts.  The rules are widely seen as inviting partisan obstruction to Georgia’s elec...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 22, 2024 Reporting Shows Pro-Trump Dark Money Group Funding Misleading Fake ‘Pro-Harris” Website & Ads Money-in-Politics watchdog Open Secrets reports that online advertising and a website popped up in early October, pretending to be pro-Harris political action committee.  It’s actually backed by a pro-Trump dark money group, wh...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 21, 2024 Early Voting Begins in 18 States This Week, But Voter Registration Ends in 6 States.  You Can’t Vote If You’re Not Registered. Early voting is well under way in 22 states, and will be joined by another 11 states Oct. 21st and 22nd.   But if you’re not registered in Pennsylvania, Alabama or South Dakota, your time runs out b...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 18, 2024 Courts Order Halt to Alabama Voter Purge and to Allow Nebraska’s Formerly Incarcerated Felon Citizens to Register & Vote In separate rulings October 16th, courts in Alabama and Nebraska sided with voters over zealous state officials, protecting the right to register and vote in the 2024 election.  To view the whole scri...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 17, 2024 In Case with 2024 Presidential Election Implications, Georgia Judge Blocks Controversial State Election Board Rules for Hand Counting & Certification In two cases with national implications, a Fulton County Superior Court Judge temporarily blocked implementation of new Georgia Election Board rules which appeared designe...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 16, 2024 Polling Shows Ohio Voters Lean Toward Passing Citizen-Led Redistricting Commission Ballot Measure, Despite Disinformation from State Officials We’ve reported for months about state officials in heavily-gerrymandered Ohio attempting to derail a citizen-led redistricting commission ballot measure.  Despite disinformation from...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 15, 2024 Disabled Alabama Voters Get Win as Federal Judge Stays Portions of Law Prohibiting Assistance with Absentee Ballots Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a law in March prohibiting voters from receiving assistance in filling out or delivering their absentee ballots.  A federal judge stayed portions of that law for at least the 2...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 14, 2024 Suppression of Native American Voters is on the Rise.  Three Pieces of Pending Legislation Could Stop It. The ink wasn’t yet dry on the Indian Citizens Act of 1924 when voter suppression of Native Americans began.  Natives have been fighting for their right to register and vote, proper representation, and fair voting distri...