American Democracy Minute

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 22, 2024 Another Tactic to Undermine Citizen Ballot Initiatives in Arizona:  Slap Signature Collectors with a Subpoena Yesterday, we reported on attempts by anti-voter legislators in Arizona to make it harder to get citizen ballot initiatives on the ballot, and a higher threshold to pass one.  Another suppression tactic by opponents?...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 21, 2024 Arizona Anti-Voter Legislators Up Their Game to Quash Citizen Ballot Initiatives How’s this for cruel irony:   Arizona anti-voter legislators are proposing voters pass their legislative constitutional ballot question this November to make it harder for voters to get a citizen ballot initiative on the ballot.   To view the wh...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 20, 2024 Why People Don’t Vote: Surveys Show Many Nonvoters Don’t Think Their Vote Matters A 2020 survey by political research site FiveThirtyEight.com found that many just don’t like the candidate, some have to wait in line for hours, and some, well, they just don’t think their vote makes a difference.  Today’s Links Articles:   Fiv...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 17, 2024 U.S. Supreme Court Stays 5th Circuit, Allowing Louisiana’s Fairer Congressional Maps - Apparently Invoking the Purcell Principle We recently explained the Supreme Court’s Purcell principle and its impact. May 15th, the  U.S. Supreme Court overturned a shocking Fifth Circuit decision to throw out fairer Congressional district...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 16, 2024 The Purcell Principle:  A SCOTUS Decision Intended to Avoid Voter Confusion May Now Be a Stealth Voter Suppression Tactic You may have heard references to the “Purcell principle” in news reports.  What started as a U.S. Supreme Court opinion to minimize confusion and disruption close to an election, may now be a partisan vot...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 14, 2024 Nevada Supreme Court Throws Out Citizen Ballot Initiatives on Redistricting, and May Have Damaged Future Direct Democracy Efforts in the Process Fair Maps Nevada had its ballot questions written and vetted by the secretary of state to put a citizen-run independent redistricting commission on November’s ballot.  But May 10th,...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 14, 2024 Shades of Corruption: Menendez & Cuellar Prosecuted for Accepting Cash & Cars; Trump Reportedly Promises Climate Rollbacks for $1B in Campaign Contributions from Big Oil The corruption trial of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez started May 13th for allegedly taking gold bars and cash in exchange for favors.  May 3rd, the...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 13, 2024 New York Appeals Court Protects the State Mail-in Voting Law, Dealing a Blow to NY Congresswoman & GOP Groups A New York state appeals court upheld a new state law allowing any state resident to vote by mail during the early voting period.  New York and national Republican committees, along with a NY Congresswoman, had s...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 10, 2024 South Dakota Democracy Advocates Submit Ballot Measure Signatures for a ‘Top 2’ Single Ballot Open Primary System.  If Approved, All Voters Get a Voice in the Primary May 7th, South Dakota democracy advocates submitted the necessary signatures to put a constitutional amendment establishing a ‘top two’ open primary system on...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 9, 2024 Betrayed by State Officials, North Dakota Native Americans Forced to Again Fight for the Right to Choose Their Own State Representation In 2021, Native Americans nations negotiated with the State of North Dakota to create majority minority state House districts under the Voting Rights Act, and together defended it in federal...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 8, 2024 What is the ‘Gingles Test’ and How Does it Impact Minority Voting Rights? Today, we’re looking at a principle called the “Gingles Test” that federal courts use  when determining whether a gerrymandered redistricting map is a violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.   How that test is interpreted can determine whether minority...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 7, 2024 Oklahoma Becomes the 7th State to Ban Ranked Choice Voting, While Pro-Voter States Consider Its Adoption After a 2023 resolution by the Republican National Committee, GOP state legislators have pushed legislation to ban ranked choice voting.  April 29th, Oklahoma became the seventh state to ban RCV.  But other states are cons...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 3, 2024 The Federal 5th Circuit Backtracks on Louisiana Congressional Maps, Throwing Out New Map Which Gave Black Voters & Candidates a Chance Louisiana’s voting age population is 30% Black, yet a 2022 Congressional district map drew only one of six Congressional districts as majority African American.  A court-ordered 2024 map f...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 3, 2024 Revelations from Crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Show How Reported – And Unreported -Money Funds Our Candidates In our final Dark Money report this week, we revisit Sam Bankman-Fried’s frank admissions of buying influence with U.S. politicians. Bankman-Fried was sentenced in March 2024 to 25 years for defrauding investors of $8...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 2, 2024 How NY, AZ & MN are Fighting Back Against the Influence of Anonymous Campaign Cash The LLC Loophole in most states is big enough that you could drive a yacht through it. So while Brian’s on vacation this week, we’re rerunning our series on Dark Money in our campaigns and its influence on our candidates. Click on the headl...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 1, 2024 How the Rich Use the LLC Loophole to Circumvent Personal Donation Limits The LLC Loophole in most states is big enough that you could drive a yacht through it. So while Brian’s on vacation this week, we’re rerunning our series on Dark Money, today exploring how the wealthy use the “LLC Loophole” to circumvent a state’s person...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 30, 2024 Shedding Light on Dark Money: How LLCs Hide Political Donors, Especially in State Races Already in the 2024 election, Open Secrets estimates over $162 Million in Dark Money has infiltrated the election — and the primaries aren’t even over. So while Brian’s on vacation this week, we continue our series on Dark Money today,...

American Democracy Minute Radio Report for April 29, 2024 How 501c Nonprofits are Exploited to Hide Political Donors While Brian is on vacation, we're rerunning our 2023 series explaining Dark Money, starting with “charitable” & “social welfare” 501c3 groups.  Most of these groups do great work and don’t engage in sketchy political activity.  But the tax code has been exploited by Conservative...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 26, 2024 U.S. Justice Department Revamps Site for Voting Rights Information, Violation Reporting The U.S. Justice Department announced changes to its voting rights information and violation reporting page on April 17th, including a new guide on voting-related language assistance, and a video explaining protections against voter int...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 25, 2024 2020 Fake Elector Scheme Investigations Grind On in Michigan, Nevada and Georgia, and Arizona  The first Trump criminal trial is underway, but the 2020 fake electors still face months of investigation before any alleged conspirators are brought to trial.  Michigan, Georgia, and Nevada are the furthest along, having charged...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 24, 2024 U.S. Supreme Court Passes on Texas Access to Mail-In Voting Case April 22nd, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a 2020 Texas case testing whether the state’s no-excuse mail-in voting law for seniors discriminated against younger voters. To view the whole script of today’s report, please go to our website . Today’s Links Artic...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 23, 2024 Pro-Voter Pushback in Wisconsin on Drop Boxes and Electronic Voting for Disabled Citizens We’re in Wisconsin today, where Governor Tony Evers signed on to a state supreme case to restore drop boxes, and disability and democracy groups are pushing to allow electronic ballots for disabled citizens. To view the whole script o...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 22, 2024 FBI, CISA and ODNI Issue Guidance to Election Officials to Harden Websites, Train Staff and Educate Voters, Anticipating Foreign Influence Campaigns U.S. government cybersecurity experts issued warnings April 17th to election and public officials to lock down computer systems and train staff, in preparation for expected di...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 19, 2024 Maine Becomes the 17th State to Join the National Popular Vote Compact Maine became the 17th state to join the National Popular Vote Compact April 15th, pledging the state’s Presidential electoral votes to the candidate with the most overall votes nationally.   It won’t impact the 2024 election, but brings the national eff...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 18, 2024 Georgia Omnibus Voter Suppression Law Banning Line Warming, Curtailing Drop Boxes & Restricting Mail-In Voting Goes on Trial After the Georgia legislature passed its omnibus voter suppression bill SB 202 in 2021, a firestorm of criticism erupted, including the moving of that year’s Major League Baseball All-Star game o...