American Democracy Minute

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 4, 2024 Ohio Voters May See Both Voting Rights and Anti-Gerrymandering Amendments on the November 2024 Ballot After Ohio voters defeated a GOP attempt last year to make it harder to pass ballot initiatives, democracy groups are now proposing two constitutional amendment ballot measures to expand voting rights, and fix Ohio’s failed...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 3, 2024 Federal Judge Approves Map with Additional Majority-Minority District in Georgia, But Also Hands Georgia Legislature a Gerrymandering Victory A Georgia racial gerrymandering case was finalized December 28th, approving a new map which included another majority-minority Congressional district.  The map puts Georgia in complian...

Happy New Year, listeners!  Thank you for staying informed on YOUR democracy! The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 1, 2024 (This is a rebroadcast from Oct. 19, 2023) Report Finds False Election Fraud Claims, Intimidation, Burdensome Rules, and ‘Election Integrity’ Vigilantes Lead to an Election Official Brain-Drain A new report chronicles a brain-drain of experienced p...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 1, 2024 Trump’s Ballot Disqualification in Colorado is Headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.   What Issues Will SCOTUS Consider? December 27th, state Republicans appealed former President Donald Trump’s disqualification from the Colorado primary ballot to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Fourteenth Amendment seems clear:  If you took an oat...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 29, 2023 Michigan Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Trump Ballot Qualification Appeal Based on State Statute, Allowing Trump to Remain in State Primary The Michigan Supreme Court decided December 27th not to hear an appeal, keeping Donald Trump on Michigan’s primary ballot. But unlike Colorado’s recent decision, it didn’t consider the U...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 28, 2023 How the Changing Social Media Landscape Could Hamper the Fight Against Disinformation from Both Foreign and Domestic Bad Actors We reported recently on Russia’s anticipated 2024 election influence campaign, much of which is based on exploitation of social media platforms. But under free speech pressure from American Conserv...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 27, 2023 Russian Interference in the 2024 U.S. Election Expected to Support Trump and Amplify Declining Republican Support for Ukraine In October, the U.S. State Department circulated a report to countries around the world, warning of ongoing Russian election interference.  Analysts are now drawing a picture of what Russian interfer...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 26, 2023 Brian is off today, so this is a rebroadcast from Oct. 20, 2023 Tight Labor Market, Demographics, Health Concerns and Harassment Contribute to Shortages of Poll Workers Around the U.S. As states, counties and municipalities prepare for elections in November and next year’s Presidential race, reports have surfaced of short-t...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 25, 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court Puts State Legislature’s Maps on Naughty List, Orders Legislature to Draw Constitutional Voting Districts Citing over 50 violations of the Wisconsin constitution, the newly-configured Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled December 22nd that the state’s legislative maps must be replaced before the 2024 electi...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 22, 2023 A Kansas Law Stopped Voter Registration Groups from Doing Their Work.  A Kansas Supreme Court Ruling May Help them Fight Back. A 2021 Kansas law, H.B. 2183 made impersonating an election official a felony.  But its vague language unintentionally or intentionally swept up voter registration groups like the League of Women Vo...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 21, 2023 Colorado Supreme Court Rules Trump was a “Officer of the United States” Participating in Insurrection, and Bars Him from the State’s Ballot.  A SCOTUS Challenge is Likely We’ve been keeping you updated on attempts to bar former President Donald Trump from 2024 state ballots.  A ruling in the Colorado Supreme Court December...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 19, 2023 State and Federal Bills Propose Extending Voting Rights to the Currently and Formerly Incarcerated, Following Minnesota and New Mexico in 2023 Allowing the currently or formerly incarcerated the right to vote has been a political football for decades. But attitudes are shifting, and at the state and federal level, pro-voter...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 18, 2023 Encouraging New Decisions for North Dakota and Louisiana Push Back on the U.S. Eighth Circuit’s “No Right of Private Action” Voting Rights Act Ruling Last week we reported on the aftershocks of an Arkansas racial gerrymandering case, where the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decided voters and groups had “No private ri...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 15, 2023 Ripple Effects After Radical Federal 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling Restricting Who Can Bring Voting Rights Act Suits; Red State AGs Pile On Our podcasting host recently made changes which stops us from including our entire script as part of the podcast content.  To view the whole script, please go to our website and f...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 14, 2023 Plot Twist in New York’s Ongoing Redistricting Drama, as Appeals Court Throws Out Competitive Maps Drawn by a Lower Court’s Special Master There was another plot twist in New York’s redistricting drama, as New York’s highest court threw out a special master’s Congressional maps, and directed the state’s redistricting commis...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 13, 2023 Montana Group Readies Ballot Initiatives for Top 4 Open Primaries, and Winning by a Majority, Not Just a Plurality A bipartisan group in Montana passed a critical court test last month for a Nov. 2024 ballot measure reforming the state’s election system, implementing a “top 4” open primary system. Our podcasting host recent...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 12, 2023 Tennessee Supreme Court Stays Order for New State Senate Maps, Likely Keeping Gerrymandered Maps for 2024 and Protecting GOP Supermajority Just a week after a lower court upheld state House maps and ordered new state Senate voting district maps, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled – for the second time – that it would tempora...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 11, 2023 Developments in GOP Fake Presidential Elector Plots in Nevada & Wisconsin; Investigations Continue in Arizona, New Mexico & Georgia There were developments the week of December 4th in the GOP fake Presidential elector plots in Nevada, Wisconsin and Arizona.  Investigations continue in New Mexico and Georgia, with on...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 8, 2023 Missouri Candidate for Secretary of State Proposes Hand Counting 3 Million Ballots; Wisconsin Legislators Propose Abolishing the Election Commission Legislators in Missouri and Wisconsin continue to throw shade on the validity of the 2020 election, proposing bills perpetuating the myth that widespread fraud cost Donald Trump...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 7, 2023 After a Federal Court Mandate, Georgia Lawmakers Add Majority-Minority Districts – But Still Gerrymander the Maps October 26th, a federal circuit court judge ordered Georgia’s redistricting maps to be redrawn to include majority-minority “opportunity districts” for Congress, state senate and state house.  Legislators appear...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 6, 2023 DeSantis Congressional Map Diluting Black Voting Power Heads to Florida Supreme Court After Being Upheld by Appeals Court A North Florida Congressional district map pushed by Governor Ron DeSantis which diluted Black voting power, was upheld by a Florida appeals court December 1st.  The 10-judge panel ruled that plaintiffs d...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 5, 2023 Shasta County, CA Almost Hand-Counted Its Ballots in November, Losing an Expensive Game of Election Denial Chicken with the State of California Just days before the Nov. 2023 election, the chair of the Shasta County, CA Board of Supervisors was threatening to defy a new California law, and hand count ballots instead of using...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 4, 2023 New Hampshire Supreme Court Won’t Hear Future Gerrymandering Cases, Abandoning Fair Representation for State’s Voters Saying the state constitution doesn’t specifically prohibit partisan gerrymandering, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled November 29th that state courts have no jurisdiction and would not hear future gerrym...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec 1, 2023 Michigan a Democracy Bright Spot as it Implements Proposition 2 Constitutional Amendment Protecting and Expanding Voting Rights In November 2022, Michigan voters passed a constitutional amendment enshrining voting protections and expanding ballot access. Throughout 2023, the legislature codified those mandates, and passed add...

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 30, 2023 Former New Hampshire GOP State Representative Who Consistently Voted for Tighter “Election Integrity” Laws is Charged with Voting Illegally A former New Hampshire GOP State Representative who repeatedly voted for so-called “election integrity” laws, has been arrested for a Class B felony of Wrongful Voting, among other frau...