American Democracy Minute

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 23, 2026 In a Dystopian Moment, U.S. Senators Call on U.S. DOJ to “Forgo any actions that would interfere with the lawful administration of the 2026 elections” In a dystopian moment, three U.S. senators have sent a letter to the U.S. attorney general asking for the Department of Justice to “reaffirm its election non-interferenc...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 22, 2026 Many Alleged Registered Noncitizen Voters Arrested in CA Sweep Don’t Recall Registering; DOJ Asks Court to Stop CA from Counting Ballots from Voters on Its Suspect List There are more developments in the Trump administration’s arrests of noncitizens allegedly registered to vote in California.  The U.S. Department of Ju...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 21, 2026 Trump DOJ Escalates Fight with California Over Noncitizen Voters, Arrests 28 Green Card Holders Alleged to Have Registered to Vote or Have Voted The Department of Justice had already sued the State of California when the state did not cooperate with DOJ’s 48-hour deadline to verify 20,000 registered voters alleged to b...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 20, 2026 Elon Musk Settles 2024 Class Action Suit for an Allegedly Fixed $1M ‘Lottery’ Scheme. A Notably Less Flashy Musk Has Spent $276M in 2026. According to multiple reports, Elon Musk is settling two class action lawsuits against him for telling voters who gave their personal information to his America PAC they were entered...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 19, 2026 State Briefs:  Suspicious Envelopes Sent to Election Officials; CA Sued by DOJ After 48 Hour Deadline Passes; NH Appeals Student ID Rule to SCOTUS In state headlines, envelopes containing an unknown powder were sent to election officials around the country; the Trump Department of Justice sued the State of California a...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 16, 2026 Having Failed to Compel California to Turn Over Its Voter Records, DOJ Demanded the State Find Its Own Noncitizen Registered Voters – In 48 Hours. At last count, the Trump Department of Justice had lost 26 cases against states which refused to turn over personal voting data, including California.  In an October 13th le...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 15, 2026 A Dispute Over Georgia’s Election Machines Resulted in Georgia’s Election Board Inviting DOJ to Investigate, Opening the Door to Election Chaos There’s more dysfunction at the Georgia Elections Board.  In 2024, election deniers on the board threatened to make “reasonable inquiries” and delay certification of the presid...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 14, 2026 Federal Judge Orders Trump Vanity Ad Campaign Stopped.  So Far, the Taxpayers are Still on the Hook for the $19M Bill. A federal judge has blocked President Trump’s vanity ad campaign, temporarily suspending the ads and remaining schedule. At the moment, the taxpayers are still on the hook for the $19 Million cost. Som...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 13, 2026 A DC Federal Court Says DOJ’s Quixotic Quest for Private Voter Data was Illegal, Blocks Further Data Collection Nationwide. An Appeal is Likely. The Trump Department of Justice is now zero for 26 in lawsuits attempting to compel states to turn over voter data for the SAVE system database. But 18 states complied, and a...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 12, 2026 With Less Than a Month Before the Election, NH Students Still Don’t Know Whether They Can Use Their Student Photo IDs to Register and Vote Since 2012, voting-eligible New Hampshire students have been able to use an official high school or college photo ID to vote, with few issues.  In June, the legislature eliminated s...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 9, 2026 Chilling New FOIA-Obtained Documents Show Multi-State Investigation of Voter Registration Organizations by ICE and Other Agencies Documents released Oct. 7th by election law group Democracy Forward show a chilling campaign by ICE and other federal agencies to investigate voter registration organizations, seeking evidenc...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 8, 2026 President Trump Now Says the Government Won’t Pay for His Vanity Ads, His SuperPAC Will.  Coordinating Spending with His PAC is Illegal, Too. After defending the multi-million dollar vanity television advertising touting his conservative accomplishments, President Donald Trump now says his super PAC, not the U.S. Govern...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 7, 2026 Election Day Voter Registration is Good and Helps People Vote.  But for Most Voters, Registering Before the Election is Better. Procrastinators, take note.  If you haven’t yet registered to vote, registering earlier, rather than later, has advantages.  Election day registration is a critical last resort, but also makes...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 6, 2026 In-Person Voter Registration Deadlines Are Imminent for 16 States. Local Election Offices are Your Best Source for Options & Information. Voter registration deadlines are imminent in several states the weeks of Oct. 5th and Oct. 12th.  While election day registration is available in 19 states, rule changes in some s...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 5, 2026 ‘Paid for by the US Government’:  Is President Trump’s Propaganda Advertising Illegal Under Federal Law?  Yes, Say Government Watchdogs. The Trump administration began airing paid television advertising Sept. 23rd  designed to tout President Trump’s conservative accomplishments right before the midterms  - and carrying...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 2, 2026 What Happened to the 16,000 Nevada Noncitizen Voters Announced by Trump’s DHS Secretary in July?  Turns Out There Weren’t Any. President Donald Trump claimed in his July 16th speech that the Department of Homeland Security found 278,000 noncitizens on U.S. voter rolls, almost 16,000  of them in Nevada.  How many of thos...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 1, 2026 Sec. of Defense Pete Hegseth Announces Use of Military Cyber Command Assets Against Foreign Election Interference, Backstopping Gutted CISA The Department of Defense has released a September 22nd memo from Secretary Pete Hegseth, directing the U.S. Cyber Command to combat foreign interference in the November election. S...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 30, 2026 California Updates: County Sheriff Must Return the Ballots He Seized; County Registrar Under Scrutiny After Alleging Primary Ballot Stuffing We have updates from California today, where Riverside County’s sheriff was ordered to return over 650,000 2025 ballots he seized earlier this year, and state and federal officia...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 29, 2026 The U.S. Supreme Court Again Blocks Third Attempt to Restore Missouri’s Gerrymandered 2025 Map for the Midterm.  Now It’s Up to the Voters. For the third time, the U.S. Supreme Court has blocked a gerrymandered Missouri congressional map from being used in the 2026 general election.  The September 25th decision ends,...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 28, 2026 U.S. Supreme Court’s Majority Allows Use of Social Security Data for SAVE Database, But Limits Through the Election; Case Sent Back to DC Circuit There’s been a decision in a U.S. Supreme Court voting rights & data privacy case we’ve been following.  Sept. 25th, the high court’s majority allowed Social Security da...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 25, 2026 Maine Senator Susan Collins Embroiled in ‘Pay-to-Play’ Allegations, After ProPublica Investigation Exposes a Shelved DOJ Investigation Nonprofit investigative news outlet ProPublica is reporting a previously unknown 2024 FBI investigation involving a super PAC associated with U.S. Senator Susan Collins, and possibly C...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 24, 2026 Third SCOTUS Appeal Now Submitted in Missouri Congressional Map; Secretary of State Faces Three Lawsuits Over His Conduct As anticipated, an appeal of an 8th Circuit ruling reviving Missouri’s gerrymandered 2025 congressional maps has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Back in Missouri, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins f...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 23, 2026 The Fight Over Missouri’s Congressional Maps is Not Over as 8th Circuit Allows Gerrymandered 2025 Map, Tees Up 3nd U.S. Supreme Court Ruling The fight over what Missouri congressional map will be used for the November election is apparently not over.  The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals made a decision opposite from t...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 22, 2026 In Quest to Find Noncitizen Voters, DOJ Allegedly Violated State Privacy Laws Thousands of Times Using State Voter Portals, Says Whistleblower In its Holy Grail quest to find noncitizen voters, the U.S. Department of Justice allegedly violated state privacy laws by looking up voter information on state voter registrat...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Sept. 21, 2026 With USPS Blocked from Mail-In Voter Verification, Pro-Democracy Groups Go to Court to Keep Armed Federal Agents Out of Polling Places After the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the U.S. Postal Service from conducting mail-in ballot citizenship verification, pro-voter groups have shifted their attention to keeping federal a...