American Democracy Minute

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 2, 2025 More Accountability for Trump ‘Big Lie’ Allies as Voting Tech Companies Prevail Over Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell As President Donald Trump seeks retribution against the prosecutors and law enforcement who investigated him, some of his 2020 allies are on the hook in civil court.  Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 1, 2025 New Hampshire Tightens Absentee Voting to Stop Purported Voter Fraud, But Makes it Harder for Elders, the Disabled and Students to Vote, Too September 30th, New Hampshire implemented new hurdles for registering to vote by mail and requesting an absentee ballot.  The regulations hit students, elders and the disabled the...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 30, 2025 What States are Next?  Updates on Pre-Midterm Gerrymandering Prospects in Missouri, Kansas, Florida, Ohio, Alabama & New Hampshire The midterm gerrymandering arms race is on, with the current balance of power in the U.S. Congress  219 Republicans to 213 Democrats. Red states Texas and Missouri have finished manipu...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 26, 2025 Restrictions for Mail-In Voting and Voter ID on the Ballot in Maine Nov. 4th Even Though Voter Fraud in Maine is Almost Nonexistent Maine voters decide November 4th whether adding more ID and mail-in voting restrictions for most voters justifies preventing almost nonexistent voter fraud.   Question 1 tightens voter ID...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 25, 2025 Appeals Court Affirms North Carolina’s Jim Crow-Era Returning Felon Voting Law is Unconstitutional, and Questions Why It Wasn’t Repealed The striking down of an 1877 Jim Crow-era law making it a crime for citizens convicted of a felony to vote when their rights had not yet been restored was affirmed by a federal appea...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 24, 2025 Legal Action by States Can Move Forward Against Trump’s Restrictive Executive Order on Elections, Says Federal District Judge President Donald Trump’s March 25th executive order on elections, attempting to override the U.S. Constitution’s grant of election authority to states and Congress, has so far been blocked by f...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 23, 2025 New Federal Policy Bans League of Women Voters and Other Pro-Voter Groups from Registering New Americans at Naturalization Ceremonies The League of Women Voters reports that for decades, over 100 local League affiliates assisted new citizens with registering to vote immediately following their naturalization ceremony....

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 22, 2025 South Carolina Supreme Court Decides ‘All elections shall be free and open’ Doesn’t Mean Partisan Gerrymandering is Unconstitutional In June, we told you about a South Carolina state supreme court case challenging the state constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering. The court ruled September 17th that manipulating...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 19, 2025 Justice Department Sues Maine & Oregon for Withholding State Voter Registration and Voting Data from Trump Administration Earlier this summer the Trump Justice Department requested states turn over massive amounts of voter registration, balloting, and election administration records.  Two states which refused the...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 18, 2025 Effort by UT Legislature to Stop Court-Ordered Fair Congressional Map Before the 2026 Midterm Fails, as State Supreme Court Denies Stay We reported September 9th that a Utah state district court ordered a new Congressional district map be drawn by September 25th.  Shortly after, the GOP-dominated Utah legislature aske...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 17, 2025 Bipartisan Bill Introduced Banning Members of Congress from Owning or Trading Individual Stocks and Bonds, but Gives Tax Benefits to Them, Too A bipartisan bill banning members of Congress from owning or trading individual stocks has been introduced in the U.S. House.  It appears the reform could pass, due in no small...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 16, 2025 American Bar Association Report Recommends Major Democracy Reforms to Boost Confidence in Elections & Reduce Partisan Polarization The American Bar Association has issued a final report and recommendations from its ABA Task Force for American Democracy. The report calls for major reforms to elections, civics educa...

American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 15, 2025 Missouri Legislature Passes New Gerrymandered Congressional Map with One More GOP Seat and Moves to Quash Future Citizen Ballot Initiatives The Missouri Senate approved a new mid-decade Congressional map Sept.12th, manipulated to gain one more GOP seat and preserve a majority in the U.S. House. To make sure voters don’t o...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 12, 2025 Native Nations Call on the U.S. Supreme Court to Uphold ‘Private Right of Action’ of Citizens to Bring Complaints Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act September 4th, Native nations asked the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the longstanding right of individuals to bring voting rights complaints to federal court.  If the high...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 11, 2025 Voting Dogs, Habeas Corpus and Fake Electors:  Updates on Election Deniers and Their Legal Jeopardy Did the dog catch the car?  We have election denier legal trouble involving voting dogs, former election officials claiming they’re political prisoners, and 2020 fake electors who claim they didn’t know what they were d...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 10, 2025 National Voter Registration Day is Sept. 16th and Millions of Americans Aren’t Registered or May Not Know Their Voter Registration Status National Voter Registration Day is coming up on September 16th, with nationwide events to encourage eligible voters to register and check their registration. With no national electi...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 9, 2025 Judge Orders Utah to Immediately Draw New Congressional Map, After the Legislature Circumvented the Voters – and the State Constitution Utah voters are back on a path to fair maps, as a state circuit court judge ruled Congressional districts must be redrawn by September 25th.  The state’s supreme court ruled last summe...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 8, 2025 Pro-Voter Groups Respond to State of Louisiana’s Equal Protection Clause Defense in October’s Consequential U.S. Supreme Court Case We reported that the State of Louisiana shifted its argument in Louisiana vs. Callais, and now claims the protections of Voting Rights Act of 1965 Section 2, are unconstitutional and no lo...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 5, 2025 Louisiana’s Racial Gerrymandering Defense to SCOTUS Switches from ‘It was for Partisan Reasons’ to ‘The VRA is Unconstitutional’ The State of Louisiana’s new brief for a U.S. Supreme Court racial gerrymandering case now claims Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional because it uses race-conscious...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 4, 2025 Missouri’s Special Session was Called to Gerrymander Another GOP Seat, But There May Be More Voter Suppression Ahead We reported recently on the Missouri governor’s call for a special legislative session to gerrymander another GOP Congressional seat.  What didn’t make the headlines was the governor’s additional request...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 3, 2025 Texas Governor Signs Gerrymandered Congressional Maps; Missouri Governor Calls Special Session, with More States Likely to Follow Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed his legislature’s mid-decade Congressional redistricting maps August 29th, manipulated to gain the GOP five seats at President Donald Trump’s request.  Afte...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 29, 2025 Pennsylvania Must Count Mail-In Ballots with Missing or Incorrect Dates, Says Federal Appeals Court, Protecting Thousands of Voters Each Election A Federal appeals court panel ruled August 26th that Pennsylvania counties must count mail-in ballots with a missing or incorrect date.  The decision could protect the vote o...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 28, 2025 Tarrant County, TX, Already Embroiled in VRA Racial Gerrymandering Litigation, Cuts Election Day VotingGand Early Voting Precincts We recently told you about Tarrant County, Texas, which in June voted to approve blatantly racially gerrymandered county commissioner districts, and was immediately sued under the Voting Ri...

American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 27, 2025 President Trump Agitates for Release of Convicted Colorado Clerk Tina Peters; Federal Judge Won’t Dismiss Class Action Suit Against Elon Musk We have updates on two stories we brought you last year, as President Donald Trump attempts to get convicted Colorado county clerk Tina Peters released, and Elon Musk faces a class a...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 26, 2025 Federal 5th District Court Rules Mississippi Must Redraw State Supreme Court Districts to Allow Black Voters to Elect a Candidate of Their Choice Recent estimates put Mississippi’s Black population at around 37%.  Of Mississippi’s former and current 104 state supreme court justices, only four have been African American...