An assault on American voters is underway

[China]

Trump-inspired death threats are terrorizing election workers

 

Late on the night of April 24, the wife of Georgia’s top election official got a chilling text message: “You and your family will be killed very slowly.”

 

A week earlier, Tricia Raffensperger, wife of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, had received another anonymous text: “We plan for the death of you and your family every day.”

 

That followed an April 5 text warning. A family member, the texter told her, was “going to have a very unfortunate incident.”

 

Those messages, which have not been previously reported, illustrate the continuing barrage of threats and intimidation against election officials and their families months after former U.S. President Donald Trump’s November election defeat. While reports of threats against Georgia officials emerged in the heated weeks after the voting, Reuters interviews with more than a dozen election workers and top officials – and a review of disturbing texts, voicemails and emails that they and their families received – reveal the previously hidden breadth and severity of the menacing tactics.

 

The Raffenspergers – Tricia, 65, and Brad, 66 – began receiving death threats almost immediately after Trump’s surprise loss in Georgia, long a Republican bastion. Tricia Raffensperger started taking precautions. She canceled regular weekly visits in her home with two grandchildren, ages 3 and 5 – the children of her eldest son, Brenton, who died from a drug overdose in 2018.

 

“I couldn’t have them come to my house anymore,” she said. “You don’t know if these people are actually going to act on this stuff.”

 

In late November, the family went into hiding for nearly a week after intruders broke into the home of the Raffenspergers’ widowed daughter-in-law, an incident the family believed was intended to intimidate them. That evening, people who identified themselves to police as Oath Keepers – a far-right militia group that has supported Trump’s bid to overturn the election – were found outside the Raffenspergers’ home, according to Tricia Raffensperger and two sources with direct knowledge of the family’s ordeal. Neither incident has been previously reported.

“Brad and I didn’t feel like we could protect ourselves,” she said, explaining the decision to flee their home.

 

The intimidation in Georgia has gone well beyond Raffensperger and his family. Election workers – from local volunteers to senior administrators – continue enduring regular harassing phone calls and emails, according to interviews with election workers and the Reuters review of texts, emails and audio files provided by Georgia officials.

 

Click on the link for the full article

Edited June 11, 2021 by China

[LD0506]

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

 

[China]

Manchin proposes compromise on voting bills ahead of crucial Senate vote

 

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., opened the door to a compromise on federal voting and campaign finance legislation Wednesday with a memo outlining provisions that he would support.

 

Manchin has emerged as a key figure in his party's fight to pass federal legislation aimed at protecting voting rights. The moderate Democrat has opposed his party’s voting legislation, dubbed the For the People Act (S.1), saying it’s too partisan and arguing that any voting changes should have bipartisan support.

 

Manchin has supported a narrower bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, but said he doesn’t believe the filibuster rules should be changed to pass it despite opposition from most Republicans.

 

On Wednesday, he reaffirmed to reporters that he still believes voting legislation — including his own proposed version — should be passed on a bipartisan basis and he doesn’t back amending the filibuster rules to pass it without Republican support.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[The Evil Genius]

 

[NoCalMike]

Manchin doesn't seem very keen on explaining what the GOP "compromises" are on either voting rights bills.  He also has no answer for the fact that the GOP simply does not want anything having to do with voting right passed at all.  How do you negotiate on bills that protect voting rights, with people who don't want voting rights protected in the first place?

[Burgold]

7 hours ago, China said:

Manchin proposes compromise on voting bills ahead of crucial Senate vote

 

 

Manchin has emerged as a key figure in his party's fight to pass federal legislation aimed at protecting voting rights. The moderate Democrat has opposed his party’s voting legislation, dubbed the For the People Act (S.1), saying it’s too partisan and arguing that any voting changes should have bipartisan support.

I wish people would stop calling Manchin a moderate. The positions he's taking on voting rights and some issues are not moderate. They are not middle of the road.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

 

 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

So what's this thing that will super charge cancel culture?

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 2021 by Cooked Crack

[Larry]

Odds of any Republican voting for any law that would block the gerrymandering they are no doubt already doing?  
 

If so much as one votes for it, then either he thinks he's figured out a way to ignore it, or at the least he's convinced that it isn't won't happen till 10 years from now. 

[China]

 

[mistertim]

Wait, so...expanding access to voting will...supercharge cancel culture?

 

[China]

23 minutes ago, mistertim said:

Wait, so...expanding access to voting will...supercharge cancel culture?

 

 

Presumably because they realize that if more minorities and people of color vote that their good ol' white boy control will disappear (be canceled).

[China]

"Same rotten core": McConnell rejects Manchin's voting rights compromise

 

[China]

Florida's new voting law has elections supervisors stumped

 

State Republicans' stab at election reform has confused the hell out of the 67 county elections supervisors from around Florida.

 

What's new: The supervisors vented at a summer conference Wednesday with Florida Division of Elections director Maria Matthews at Tampa's Water Street Marriott.

 

"We’re all still struggling with how vague some of the new things put into law are," Okaloosa County election supervisor Paul Lux told the Tampa Bay Times. "We need answers."

The state of play: If supervisors are confused about SB 90, which is already facing four separate lawsuits, voters likely will be too.

 

"Some of this is unworkable. Some of it just doesn’t make much sense. Some of it seems to disenfranchise voters," Leon County supervisor Mark Earley told the Times.

 

Click on the link for the rest

[Larry]

11 minutes ago, China said:

"Some of this is unworkable. Some of it just doesn’t make much sense. Some of it seems to disenfranchise voters," Leon County supervisor Mark Earley told the Times.

 

Only some?  

[China]

Illinois governor signs law expanding curbside voting, permanent vote by mail

 

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law on Thursday expanding curbside voting and establishing permanent vote by mail.

 

Senate Bill 825 lays out procedures for election authorities to establish curbside voting during early voting or on Election Day. The measure also establishes permanent voting lists that voters can choose to opt-in or opt-out of at any time.

 

The bill also directs authorities to establish central polling places where “all voters in its jurisdiction are allowed to vote on election day … regardless of the precinct in which they are registered,” according to its text.

 

The measure also allows sheriffs to establish temporary polling locations at county jails. These sites would be available to people who live in the county and are in custody, but have not been convicted of the offense for which they are detained.

 

Pritzker’s office said that the practice is already in place in Cook County.

 

The legislation also establishes June 28, 2022, as the new date of the state's primary election.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Abbott vetoes funding for Texas legislature over Democrats' walkout

 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Friday vetoed a portion of the state budget bill funding the state legislature, fulfilling a promise made last month in response to state Democratic lawmakers’ walkout to prevent the passage of a sweeping elections bill.

 

The veto, which was first reported by the Texas Tribune, has raised concerns on how it will impact legislative staff and agencies, which are funded by the now struck down Article 10. 

 

Abbott late last month vowed to veto the article hours after state Democrats walked off the House floor in opposition to a Senate-passed bill that called for new election restrictions in the state, including limits on early and curbside voting and a ban on 24-hour voting and temporary outdoor polling places. 

 

Opponents of the legislation, considered to be one of the most sweeping election bills in the series that have come out of GOP-led legislatures this year, have argued that it would disproportionately add impediments on voting for certain segments of the population, including low-income and handicapped voters. 

 

Democrats left the House floor in protest last month, leaving the chamber without enough members present for a quorum and Republicans unable to pass the elections bill before its midnight deadline. 

 

In a statement following the incident, Abbott said it was “deeply disappointing and concerning” that the election bill, whose passage he had made a central priority, was not able to reach his desk. 

 

Abbott said at the time that he would add the legislation to the state’s special session agenda, adding that he expected lawmakers to have “worked out their differences” before returning to the Capitol.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[LD0506]

"I've got a lunch order here for Abbott--- Abbott, order up"

 

 

[China]

Georgia removes 100,000 names from voter registration rolls

 

More than 100,000 names will be removed from Georgia's voter registration rolls in an attempt to keep the state's voter files "up to date," Georgia's secretary of state announced Friday.

 

"Making sure Georgia's voter rolls are up to date is key to ensuring the integrity of our elections," Republican Brad Raffensperger said in a statement. "There is no legitimate reason to keep ineligible voters on the rolls."

The voter files being removed are "obsolete and outdated," according to the statement, which says that since the 2020 election, Raffensperger has "made it a priority to continue with the list maintenance process."

The announcement follows a blitz of new voting restrictions in Republican-led states with Georgia as the first presidential battleground to impose new voting restrictions following President Joe Biden's victory in the state.

 

The effort to remove 101,789 names from Georgia's voter files marks the first time the state has conducted a "major cleaning" since 2019, but Georgia regularly removes the voter files of convicted felons and the dead on a monthly basis, according to the statement.

"The 101,789 obsolete voter files that will be removed include 67,286 voter files associated with a National Change of Address form submitted to the U.S. Postal Service; 34,227 voter files that had election mail returned to sender; and 276 that had no-contact with elections officials for at least five years," the statement said. "In each of these cases, the individual had no contact with Georgia's elections officials in any way - either directly or through the Department of Driver Services - for two general elections."

The full list of "obsolete and outdated" names that are being removed was published publicly with the statement.

In addition to the "obsolete and outdated" files, Georgia also removed "18,486 voter files of dead individuals based on information received from Georgia's Office of Vital Records and the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), an interstate partnership of 30 states and the District of Columbia focused on maintaining accurate voter rolls," the statement says.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Dan T.]

This Twitter thread is an eye-opening, systematic takedown of Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw after he tweeted "facts" about the voting rights bill.  Hoo boy.

 

Michael Harriot on Twitter: "Ohhh @DanCrenshawTX likes to get "facts straight" about voting rights. So let's do it. A thread." / Twitter

[Dan T.]

Harriot, among other things, notes that the 2010 census showed that Texas grew by 4 million people, and 90% of that growth was non-white citizens.  Yet, due to gerrymandering, Texas gained zero minority districts.

 

Below is an image of the 2nd Congressional District of Dan Crenshaw.

 

Harriot: "It's hard to explain because Crenshaw's district can only be accurately described as: "the white people near Houston" "

 

 

 

[mistertim]

@Dan T.that's absolutely nuts.

 

For anyone else wanting to read that thread (it's really good), here's an easy way :

 

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1407933088039067649.html

[The Sisko]

On 6/17/2021 at 6:20 AM, Burgold said:

I wish people would stop calling Manchin a moderate. The positions he's taking on voting rights and some issues are not moderate. They are not middle of the road.

He’s a Dixiecrat.

[China]

Former Sen. Wendy Davis joins lawsuits against ‘Trump Train’ protestors and San Marcos officials

 

Former state Sen. Wendy Davis and others are suing the Trump supporters in vehicles who surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus on I-35 south of Austin last fall and the law enforcement officials who allegedly ignored the campaign’s requests for help.

 

Both lawsuits were filed in federal court Thursday. They allege the protesters engaged in political violence in direct violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act, an 1871 law that prohibits voter intimidation, according to lawyers for the nonprofit advocacy group Protect Democracy.

 

On Oct. 30, 2020, Davis and several others were on a campaign bus for then-candidate Joe Biden, on I-35 between San Antonio and Texas, when a “Trump Train” – people in multiple vehicles sporting Trump flags and signs – pulled alongside them, yelling profanities and threats.

 

Davis, who represented a North Texas state Senate district from 2009-2015, and three other plaintiffs – bus driver Timothy Holloway, campaign staffer David Gins and volunteer Eric Cervini – allege in the first lawsuit that campaign vehicles were surrounded by “dozens of individuals in at least forty vehicles” that were marked with Trump paraphernalia. These vehicles came within inches of the campaign bus and other cars, forcing both to slow down significantly and causing the plaintiffs to fear for their lives, the lawsuit says.

 

It names five defendants who were identified through photos and video footage.

 

The second lawsuit was filed against two law enforcement officials in San Marcos, including Director of Public Safety Chase Stapp. It alleges that city officials failed to respond to requests for a police escort for the bus and other campaign vehicles, even after staffers called the department and 911 multiple times.

 

“We were on the phone the whole time. No one ever came,” Holloway said in a press conference Thursday. “We had no protection until we finally got out of their jurisdiction. It was frustrating. They’re the people that are supposed to protect us.”

 

Click on the link for the full article