American Democracy Minute

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 26, 2026 In 6–3 Decision, Supreme Court Majority Stops Lower Court’s Ruling Blocking U.S. Postal Service Plans for Mail-In Voter Citizenship Verification    June 25th, a Massachusetts federal district court blocked portions of President Trump’s executive order directing the U.S. Postal Service to verify a voter’s citizenship be...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 25, 2026 Elon Musk and America PAC Face Prosecution for ‘Election Bribery’ for Million Dollar Check Giveaway During 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court Race In a 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race, Elon Musk gave $1 million dollar checks to three voters, quote, “In appreciation for you taking the time to vote.” The Wisconsin Elections...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 24, 2026 Does the Missouri Constitution Allow Ballot Initiatives to Change Voting Districts? Updates on Epic Battle Over Racially Gerrymandered KC Map We’re back in Missouri, where a Cole county circuit judge ruled August 19th that a proposed November citizen ballot initiative, stonewalled by the secretary of state, could not c...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 21, 2026 Election Officials are Worried About Midterm Election Interference, Replacing Lost Federal Funding, and Their Safety & Security, Says Brennan Center Poll An annual poll of election officials just updated by the Brennan Center for Justice April 13th shows half of those surveyed worry about election interference by p...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 20, 2026 ‘Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating,’ He Says, But President Trump Voted Again by Mail, This Time in the 2026 Florida Primary Election President Trump again recently condemned mail-in voting, used by an estimated 30% of Americans in the 2024 election, as “inherently corrupt.”  Yet the president voted by mail August...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 19, 2026 Kansas Voters Reject Constitutional Amendment to Elect the State Supreme Court;  North Carolina Governor Vetoes Anti-Voter Bill We have updates from Kansas and North Carolina today.   August 4th, Kansas voters rejected a measure to elect state supreme court justices, and August 17th, North Carolina’s governor vetoed an...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 18, 2026 Updates on Challenge to Missouri SOS Invalidation of Redistricting Ballot Measure, and DOJ Loses Two More State Voter Data Cases A Missouri district court will hear a case September 8th challenging the state’s invalidation of a citizen ballot initiative rolling back a racially gerrymandered Kansas City congressional di...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 14, 2026 Brian is gone today, so we're resharing a report from April. An April Poll Suggests Half of Americans are Concerned President Trump May Use the Military to Seize Ballots or Election Machines.  A poll released April 6th found 49% of Americans are concerned that President Donald Trump will order the military to seize bal...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 14, 2026 District Court Block of Executive Order for USPS Citizenship Verification Now Nationwide; DOJ Asks SCOTUS to Quickly Overturn the Ruling In late June, a federal district court issued a temporary injunction preventing the U.S. Postal Service from implementing President Trump’s plan to have the USPS verify citizenship fo...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 13, 2026 Alabama Holds 2nd Primary Election With Legislature’s Discriminatory Congressional Districts, Restored After SCOTUS Callais Decision The U.S. Supreme Court majority’s April 29th Callais decision invalidated use of race for redistricting, and sent some GOP-led states running to redraw congressional maps to dilute Black...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 12, 2026 Let’s Just Say the Trump Administration’s Quest to Obtain State Voter Data Has Not Gone Well.  DOJ is now 0 for 22, With 9 More Cases Pending. We’ve been reporting since last spring on attempts by the Trump administration to obtain state voter and personal data for the expanded SAVE Database. That effort included lawsu...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 11, 2026 The U.S. Senate Will Leave for Summer Recess Without Passing the SAVE America Act, But the Restrictive Voting Bill Will Be Back in the Fall At 4:36 AM August 8th, before legislators were released for the summer recess, the U.S. Senate voted on a subset of the SAVE America Act. This version required narrow types of phot...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 10, 2026 Delaware Enacts State Voting Rights Act; Virginia Strengthens Its VRA, Laying Groundwork for Automatic Voter Registration On the 61st anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Delaware enacted a state VRA prohibiting voter discrimination, suppression and vote dilution.  Virginia’s governor signed legislation to expand...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 7, 2026 North Carolina Governor Signals Veto of Bill Shortening Early Voting, and Lengthening the Window for Ballot Challenges We’re in North Carolina today, where Governor Josh Stein signalled he would veto a bill shortening early voting for primaries, lengthening the time for activists to challenge a voter’s eligibility, and...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 6, 2026 Missouri Voters Block GOP’s Attempt to Change Ballot Measure Rules;  State SOS Blocks Nov. Measure Trying to Overturn Legislature’s Racially-Gerrymandered Congressional Map A ballot measure by the GOP-majority legislature to raise the bar for passing citizen ballot initiatives was overwhelmingly defeated in Missouri’s s...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 5, 2026 The Supreme Court’s Callais Decision Likely to Take Down Another Majority-Minority District, This Time Impacting Native Americans Back in April we reported on the seizure of over 600,000 Riverside County, California ballots by County Sheriff Chad Bianco.  The state attorney general and a group of voters asked the state...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 4, 2026 California Supreme Court Schedules Special Session to Hear Cases Against Riverside County Sheriff Who Seized 600,000 Ballots Back in April we reported on the seizure of over 600,000 Riverside County, California ballots by County Sheriff Chad Bianco.  The state attorney general and a group of voters asked the state supre...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 3, 2026 Virginia’s Governor Has Restored Rights to Over 66,000 Formerly Incarcerated Citizens. November’s Question 3 Would Make it Automatic. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger announced July 31st that she has restored the voting and civil rights to over 66,000 formerly incarcerated citizens since she took office in January....

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 31, 2026 Community Poll Workers are Essential to Key a Safe, Secure and Accessible Election. August 11 is National Poll Worker Recruitment Day. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission reports over 772,000 poll workers served during the 2024 general election, but shortages were common. National Poll Worker Recruitment Day is Aug...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 30, 2026 Making Sense of Latest Conflicting Appeals Court Rulings on Trump’s March Executive Order on Elections. Has Harm Been Done . . . Yet? A second appeals court handed down a ruling on President Trump’s March 31st executive order on elections, this time allowing the U.S. Postal Service’s preparations for checking eligibili...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 29, 2026 Largely Blocked by Lower Courts, Administration Asks SCOTUS to Allow Executive Order Directing USPS to Verify Citizenship of Mail-In Voters The lower courts have largely blocked President Trump’s March executive order on elections as violations of the Constitution’s Elections Clause. July 27th, his administration asked...

American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 28, 2026 Software Design Error and Slow DOT Response Likely Led to Noncitizen Registrations in New Jersey, Not Intentional Fraud A software design error in an automatic voter registration system, compounded by a slow New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission response to correct it, apparently led to the voter registration of approximatel...

American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 27, 2026 Trump Administration Withholds FEMA Disaster Relief Funding Because States Refused to Provide Voter Data.  In response, 24 States & DC Sued. The Trump administration threatened to withhold 20% of routine FEMA emergency disaster funding unless states complied with Department of Justice demands to turn over voter informa...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 24, 2026 U.S. House Passes the SAVE America Act and Will Combine It With a Defense Appropriations Bill to Make it Harder to Vote Down in the Senate The U.S. House passed the SAVE America Act again, this time with language to attach it to a normally bipartisan defense appropriations bill before it’s sent to the Senate. It’s a la...

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 23, 2026 Yet Another ‘Election Integrity’ Crusading Politician is in Hot Water, This Time for Not Being a Registered Voter:  MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Yet another “election integrity” crusader, MyPillow CEO and candidate for Minnesota governor, Mike Lindell, is in hot water.  The 2020 election skeptic doesn’t appear to be a reg...