American Democracy Minute

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Aug. 1, 2024 Do You Support Democracy and Want to Protect Our Elections?   August 1 is National Poll Worker Recruitment Day. National Poll Worker Recruitment Day is Aug. 1st.  The pool of roughly 800,000 poll workers nationwide is aging, and shortages have been reported in some areas.  If you have been vocal about making sure our electio...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 31, 2024 New York’s Early Mail-In Voting Law Heads to State Supreme Court, Challenged by State & National GOP Leadership New York Republicans challenged a new voting law in state supreme court July 30th, allowing citizens to vote by mail during the state’s early voting period. The law has been upheld in two lower courts. To view...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 29, 2024 When Voter Registration Purges Cross the Line from Standard Practice to Suppression When citizens move or die, voter registration lists need to be updated as part of routine list hygiene.  But when lists are aggressively purged, particularly close to an election, it crosses the line into voter suppression. To view the whole...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 29, 2024 Election-Day Voter Registration Does Help People Vote, But it’s Better to Register Early to Make Sure Your Vote Counts In 21 states plus DC, election-day voter registration has a proven record of enabling younger, nonwhite, and frequently moving citizens to vote - which is why anti-voter legislatures are scrambling to end o...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 26, 2024 If You Want to Vote this Fall, You’ll Need to Be Registered.   To Register, You Need to Be Prepared, and Time is Running Out. If you want to vote this fall and you’re not registered, it’s time to get busy.   Fifteen states require a citizen to register 30 days prior to an election.  And a recent study showed 9% of Americans...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 25, 2024 Signatures for Ohio Citizen-Led Redistricting Ballot Measure Certified; Ohio Disabled Absentee Voters Win in Federal Court Two significant wins for Ohio voters, with signatures certified for a citizen-led redistricting commission ballot measure, and a federal court ruling striking down a portion of a state voter suppression...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 24, 2024 Claims of Widespread Voting by Undocumented Immigrants Might Be Red Meat for the Base, But It’s Complete Nonsense. At the Republican National Convention, Sen. Ted Cruz claimed that Democrats tolerated illegal immigration so noncitizens would fraudulently vote.  Such claims might rile up the GOP base, but they are patently f...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 23, 2024 Biden Withdraws as the Presumptive Nominee and Endorses Harris. What Happens Now? President Joe Biden withdrew July 21st as the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.  What’s next in the process, and how does that process work?  T o view the whole script of today’s report, ple...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 22, 2024 Some Campaign Strategists Hope You’ll Show Up at the Polls, Only to Find that Your Voter Registration has been Purged.  Don’t Let that Happen.  Here’s a scenario likely to be more common in the 2024 elections:  You show up expecting to cast your ballot, but the clerk says you’re no longer registered.  In many states, you us...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 19, 2024 Utah Voters Fought Back After Their Fair Voting Districts Constitutional Amendment was Gutted by an Anti-Voter Legislature.  They Won.  Utah voters passed the Better Boundaries Proposition 4 in 2018, setting standards for competitive, nonpartisan redistricting.  Utah’s legislature, in an effort to retain partisan power, gut...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 18, 2024 ‘This wasn’t politics as usual, this was politics for profit.’  U.S. Senator Robert Menendez Convicted of Bribery & Conspiracy Charges.  U.S. Senator Robert Menendez was convicted July 16th on all federal charges of conspiracy, bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction and acting as a foreign agent in schemes involvin...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 17, 2024 Civil Rights and Democracy Champion John Lewis Remembered With National Day of Commemoration and Action July 17th July 17th marks the anniversary of the death of civil rights icon and democracy champion Congressman John Lewis.  Exactly two years before he died, he gave a speech before the U.S. House on the right to vote, in...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 16, 2024 Wins in Wisconsin for Mail-In Ballot Voters as Drop Boxes Reinstated, Favorable Absentee Witness Decision Upheld In a win for Wisconsin voters, a more moderate Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstated the use of ballot drop boxes, and a state appellate court upheld a lower court’s decision on common sense rules governing absentee...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 15, 2024 Multiple Polls Suggest that a Disturbing Number of Americans are More Accepting of Extreme Political Violence The attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life came as a shock to many Americans.  But as violent rhetoric and actions have increased in recent election cycles, multiple polls confirm that a disturbing number o...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 12, 2024 Why People Don’t Vote Week: Some of the Solutions to Getting Nonvoters to Register & Vote Our last installment for “Why People Don’t Vote Week” discusses what solutions are being proposed to encourage eligible citizens to register and vote.  The Center for American Progress outlined reforms which would encourage registr...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 11, 2024 Why People Don’t Vote Week: You Can’t Vote if You Don’t Register — So Why Don’t Nonvoters Register? We continue our “Why People Don’t Vote Week” with why eligible citizens don’t register to vote.   Polls show that it’s a combination of apathy, available time, lack of information, and other social and systemic barriers.     ...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 10, 2024 Brian is on vacation this week, so we're running a series from 2022 called "Why Americans Don't Vote."    Why People Don’t Vote Week: Nonvoters Cite Lack of Faith in Electoral System as Reason Not to Show Up Today, we have another in our series of why Americans don’t vote.  In the 2016 election, over 41%, 100 million people...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 9, 2024 Brian’s on vacation this week, but we’re replaying a series from 2022 on why people decide not to vote. Why People Don’t Vote Week: Nonvoters Less Likely to Follow News, Discuss Politics with Others This week we’re looking at the reasons why people don’t vote.  Research shows when citizens don’t follow the daily news, or whe...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 8, 2024 Brian’s on vacation this week, so we’re re-running a series from fall of 2022 on why people don’t vote. The more we understand it, the more efficient we can be in changing their minds! Why People Don’t Vote Week: Surveys Show Many Nonvoters Don’t Think Their Vote Matters This week we’re looking at the reasons why people don’...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 5, 2024 Following Three Chaotic Years of Politician-Run Redistricting, Ohio Organizers Submit Ballot Measure Signatures for Citizen-Led Commission  After three chaotic years with a politician-led commission and an anti-voter legislature failing to produce Ohio redistricting maps without gerrymandering, a ballot measure proposing a c...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 4, 2024 Would the Founding Fathers Have Embraced Having Unfettered Power for the Presidency?   Not Likely. Anti-authoritarian feelings ran high in the years before and after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, as the Declaration’s litany of complaints against the King suggests.  So it’s unlikely the founding fathers woul...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 3, 2024 U.S. Supreme Court Majority Says Trump Immunity Hinges on ‘Official’ vs. ‘Private’ Actions, and Alarmingly Expands Presidential Powers The U.S. Supreme Court ruled July 1st that former President Donald Trump has criminal immunity for his “official” acts as President, but not for “private” acts.   The majority’s decision was...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 2, 2024 North Carolina Senate Sends ‘Citizen-Voting-Only’ Ballot Measure to Voters, Fails Measure to Repeal Jim Crow-Era Literacy Test The North Carolina Senate endorsed a ballot measure June 25th prohibiting noncitizens from voting - for which there is already existing law. And the Senate declined another measure repealing a racist...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 1, 2024 What Are ‘Open’, ‘Brokered’, and ‘Contested’ Party Conventions, and Could We See One This Summer? President Joe Biden’s poor performance at the first debate with Donald Trump precipitated conversations about nominating another candidate at the convention.  Can that happen?  And what’s the difference between an ‘open’, ‘broke...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for June 28, 2024 Federal 5th Circuit Refuses Challenge to ‘Private Right of Action’ - For Now.  It’s the New Battleground to Dismantle the 1965 Voting Rights Act A 2023 decision in an Arkansas redistricting case found individual voters did not have a “private right of action” to challenge the maps. The State of Louisiana tried the same tact...