American Democracy Minute

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 11, 2026 With Time Running Short, All Eyes on SCOTUS Rulings for Trump USPS Mail-In Ballot Cases; MO Blocked - Again - From Using 2025 Congressional Map With more states poised to distribute mail-in ballots, all eyes are on the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on President Trump’s USPS order for mail-in voting eligibility. September...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 10, 2026 U.S. Supreme Court Denies MO Secretary of State’s Appeal on Redistricting Ballot Measure, But a New Federal District Court Ruling Conflicts U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh September 8th refused the Missouri Secretary of State’s appeal of a state supreme court ruling. It allows a redistricting ballot measure...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 9, 2026 Brian is out "doing democracy" today.  This is a rebroadcast of February 24, 2026. ‘These are The Times that Try Men’s Souls’ About Which the Founders’ Warned, Former Appeals Court Judge J. Michael Luttig Says in Speech  In a February 17th speech before the New York City Bar Association, retired 4th Circuit Appeals Cou...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 8, 2026 Missouri Supreme Court Rules Pro-Voter Redistricting Ballot Measure Must Be Added to the Ballot;  Secretary of State Appeals to U.S. Supreme Court In a unanimous vote, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled September 3rd that a ballot measure rolling back a gerrymandered 2025 congressional district map must be placed on the...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 7, 2026 Court Battles Rage Over Trump USPS Mail-In Ballot Order As First Midterm Absentee Ballots are Sent Out in North Carolina Lawyers labored over Labor Day weekend to submit responses to the U.S. Supreme Court, after a Federal district judge blocked two more parts of President Donald Trump’s USPS mail-in voting order.  Bri...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 4, 2026 Tarrant County, TX Commissioners Close 92 Polling Places; Convicted CO County Clerk Tina Peters Withdraws from Shasta County, CA Job Offer Just eight weeks from the midterm election, Tarrant County, Texas commissioners voted to close one third of the growing county’s polling places.   And in California, after Shasta Co...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 3, 2026 USPS Whistleblower Claims Portal to Verify Citizenship of Mail-In Voters Risks ‘Catastrophic Failure’ and Could ‘Derail the Midterms’ A U.S. Postal Service whistleblower is warning that the new portal to be used to verify citizenship for mail-in voters, risks “catastrophic failure” and could “derail the midterms.”  The...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 2, 2026 Tarrant County, TX Proposes Eliminating 93 Polling Places Just Before the 2026 Election for Financial Reasons.  Voters Aren’t Buying It. The Tarrant County, Texas Commissioners meet September 1st to vote on reducing polling places for the Nov. 3rd election by 93 locations.  In the last two years, the county serving Dal...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 1, 2026 Trump USPS Mail-In Ballot Order Now Faces 2nd Appeal, Now That ‘State Citizenship List Rules’ are Finalized.  The Clock is Ticking. The U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction August 24th, blocking the U.S. Postal Service from checking citizenship of mail-in voters, because the rules had not yet been finalized, and sta...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 31, 2026 On the 63rd Anniversary of the March on Washington, ‘Defend the Vote’ Decries Erosion of Voting Rights and Gutting of the Voting Rights Act On the 63rd anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, civil rights and pro-democracy leaders spoke to supporters gathered for ‘Defend the Vote” at the Lincoln Memorial.  Speaker...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 28, 2026 WI District Attorney Punts on Musk Charges; CA Justices Not Buying Sheriff’s Ballot Seizure Defense; Callais Decision Threatens GA Districts We have updates on stories we’ve been following on Elon Musk “election bribery” accusations in Wisconsin, a state supreme court ballot seizure hearing for a California county sher...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 27, 2026 The SCOTUS USPS Mail-In Ballot Ruling May Not Be the Final Word.  USPS Has Now Released Its Rules and Challenges Have Already Been Filed The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision August 24th allowing President Donald Trump’s plan for the U.S. Postal Service to verify the citizenship of mail-in voters to proceed may not be the...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 26, 2026 In 6–3 Decision, Supreme Court Majority Stops Lower Court’s Ruling Blocking U.S. Postal Service Plans for Mail-In Voter Citizenship Verification    June 25th, a Massachusetts federal district court blocked portions of President Trump’s executive order directing the U.S. Postal Service to verify a voter’s citizenship be...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 25, 2026 Elon Musk and America PAC Face Prosecution for ‘Election Bribery’ for Million Dollar Check Giveaway During 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court Race In a 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race, Elon Musk gave $1 million dollar checks to three voters, quote, “In appreciation for you taking the time to vote.” The Wisconsin Elections...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 24, 2026 Does the Missouri Constitution Allow Ballot Initiatives to Change Voting Districts? Updates on Epic Battle Over Racially Gerrymandered KC Map We’re back in Missouri, where a Cole county circuit judge ruled August 19th that a proposed November citizen ballot initiative, stonewalled by the secretary of state, could not c...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 21, 2026 Election Officials are Worried About Midterm Election Interference, Replacing Lost Federal Funding, and Their Safety & Security, Says Brennan Center Poll An annual poll of election officials just updated by the Brennan Center for Justice April 13th shows half of those surveyed worry about election interference by p...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 20, 2026 ‘Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating,’ He Says, But President Trump Voted Again by Mail, This Time in the 2026 Florida Primary Election President Trump again recently condemned mail-in voting, used by an estimated 30% of Americans in the 2024 election, as “inherently corrupt.”  Yet the president voted by mail August...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 19, 2026 Kansas Voters Reject Constitutional Amendment to Elect the State Supreme Court;  North Carolina Governor Vetoes Anti-Voter Bill We have updates from Kansas and North Carolina today.   August 4th, Kansas voters rejected a measure to elect state supreme court justices, and August 17th, North Carolina’s governor vetoed an...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 18, 2026 Updates on Challenge to Missouri SOS Invalidation of Redistricting Ballot Measure, and DOJ Loses Two More State Voter Data Cases A Missouri district court will hear a case September 8th challenging the state’s invalidation of a citizen ballot initiative rolling back a racially gerrymandered Kansas City congressional di...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 14, 2026 Brian is gone today, so we're resharing a report from April. An April Poll Suggests Half of Americans are Concerned President Trump May Use the Military to Seize Ballots or Election Machines.  A poll released April 6th found 49% of Americans are concerned that President Donald Trump will order the military to seize bal...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 14, 2026 District Court Block of Executive Order for USPS Citizenship Verification Now Nationwide; DOJ Asks SCOTUS to Quickly Overturn the Ruling In late June, a federal district court issued a temporary injunction preventing the U.S. Postal Service from implementing President Trump’s plan to have the USPS verify citizenship fo...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 13, 2026 Alabama Holds 2nd Primary Election With Legislature’s Discriminatory Congressional Districts, Restored After SCOTUS Callais Decision The U.S. Supreme Court majority’s April 29th Callais decision invalidated use of race for redistricting, and sent some GOP-led states running to redraw congressional maps to dilute Black...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 12, 2026 Let’s Just Say the Trump Administration’s Quest to Obtain State Voter Data Has Not Gone Well.  DOJ is now 0 for 22, With 9 More Cases Pending. We’ve been reporting since last spring on attempts by the Trump administration to obtain state voter and personal data for the expanded SAVE Database. That effort included lawsu...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 11, 2026 The U.S. Senate Will Leave for Summer Recess Without Passing the SAVE America Act, But the Restrictive Voting Bill Will Be Back in the Fall At 4:36 AM August 8th, before legislators were released for the summer recess, the U.S. Senate voted on a subset of the SAVE America Act. This version required narrow types of phot...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 10, 2026 Delaware Enacts State Voting Rights Act; Virginia Strengthens Its VRA, Laying Groundwork for Automatic Voter Registration On the 61st anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Delaware enacted a state VRA prohibiting voter discrimination, suppression and vote dilution.  Virginia’s governor signed legislation to expand...