Tag Archives: election integrity

A Tale Of Two States

Posted on by under Election 2024, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary, voting rights

Back in 1980, Heritage Foundation co-founder Paul Weyrich told a group of Republicans working on the Reagan campaign …

“Now many of our Christians have what I call the ‘goo-goo syndrome.’ Good government. They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Today, it seems that many, especially in the Republican Party, live by his creed of reducing the number of voters to leverage elections, and they have pulled many a stunt toward that end, such as gerrymandering; strict voter ID laws; shuttering polling places in predominantly Black, Hispanic and poor neighborhoods; disallowing postal voting in some states; and other laws that make it harder for people to register and to vote.

Only 59 miles (95 km) of water (Lake Michigan) separate the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, but oh what a difference between those two states!  Two stories about voting rights in each state highlight the differences.  Starting with the better of the two …

On November 30th, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a voting rights expansion bill intended to “ensure every eligible voter can participate in our democratic process.”  The bill will allow 16-year-olds to register before they can legally vote at 18 and will automatically register individuals to vote when they are released from incarceration.  Earlier in November, Whitmer signed a bill to no longer make it a misdemeanor for individuals to pay for rides to polling locations through apps such as Uber and Lyft. Michigan election law had previously stated that “a person shall not hire a motor vehicle” to take them to vote unless they could not walk.

Additionally, the package will further protect election officials by criminalizing acts of intimidation during an election. An individual who intimidates an election official “with the specific intent of interfering with the performance of that election official’s election related duties,” could be punished with a misdemeanor for the first two violations and a felony for the third violation, according to the law.

The goal in Michigan is to ensure that every eligible voter can participate in the democratic process of voting.

And then, 59 miles across the lake to the west, in the state of Wisconsin …

Brett Galaszewski, a member of the right-wing youth group Turning Point Action and also serves as vice chair of the Milwaukee County GOP, recently appeared on a talk show where he advised viewers to do three things: join the county party’s newly formed “Election Integrity Committee,” become a poll worker, and push to get the state’s top elections official removed from office.  In a normal world, the phrase “Election Integrity” wouldn’t throw up red flags, but after the Big Lie surrounding the 2020 election, our world is far from ‘normal’ and it sets off alarms. 🚨

Galaszewski told his host that his group has set out to recruit “upwards of 2,000 poll workers in Milwaukee County to make sure that we have our eyes and ears in all facets of next year’s election.” The purpose of this effort, he explained, is to “just shave off a small percentage of liberal votes” in order to shift the statewide outcome, because “the left is going to try everything that they can to mess with this again.”

2,000 poll workers in a county of less than a million people … to “just shave off a small percentage of liberal votes.”  He doesn’t even bother to hide the real goal.

Two states … so close in distance and yet so far in ideology, in their views of ‘democracy’, of civil rights.  Let us hope that more states are like Michigan than Wisconsin.  Better yet … let’s make sure that no matter what obstacles or hurdles are thrown in front of us, we VOTE and help our neighbors, family members, young people and senior citizens to VOTE!

Meanwhile In Michigan … Justice!

Posted on by under Election 2020, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Political “good” news is rare these days, so when we find some, we seize it!  (We’ve learned to redefine “good” over the last decade, but that’s a story for another day) Some good news came out of Michigan this week, as Heather Cox Richardson notes in part of her daily newsletter yesterday …

Then, today, Michigan’s attorney general Dana Nessel charged sixteen fake electors who signed fake certificates claiming that Trump had won Michigan’s electoral votes in 2020 with felonies: forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, election law forgery, conspiracy to commit election law forgery, publishing a counterfeit record, and conspiring to publish a counterfeit record.

The sixteen Republicans met in the basement of the state Republican Party’s headquarters and signed fake documents claiming that they were the state’s legitimate electors and that Trump had won the state. Their actions were part of a plan to claim that the electoral votes of certain states were “contested,” allowing then–vice president Mike Pence to reject the votes of those states and throw the election to Trump.

The fake electors attested they were “the duly elected and qualified electors for president and vice president of the United States of America for the state of Michigan,” Nessel said. “That was a lie. They weren’t the duly elected and qualified electors, and each of the defendants knew it.” “The false electors’ actions undermine the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections and not only violated the spirit of the laws enshrining and defending our democracy, but we believe also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan and peaceably transfer power in America,” Nessel said. “This plan, to reject the will of the voters and undermine democracy, was fraudulent and legally baseless.”

Text messages at the time show that the sixteen were “all asked to keep silent [so] as to not draw attention to what the other states were doing similar to ours!” One of those charged was former co-chair of the state Republican committee, Meshawn Maddock, who called the charges “political persecution.”  

Legal analyst Renato Mariotti noted that the charges against the sixteen fake electors send a powerful message for those at the state level who might consider abetting Trump in the future. Those fake electors aren’t part of Trump’s inner circle who might get some kind of a reward for their trouble. They are just party operatives who are facing an expensive, stressful, and humiliating experience that could lead to hefty fines or imprisonment. Their example might well make others think carefully before they sign on to similar plans.

I’m told they could spend quite a long time – a decade or more – in prison and while I hate to say it, that is as it should be.  First, because they knowingly attempted to overthrow an election that would have had grievous consequences reaching far into the future; and second because this is precedent-setting, and they must serve as a deterrent for any who consider similar actions in the future.  If they just get a slap on the wrist, that wouldn’t be much of a deterrent now, would it?

The sixteen are:

  • Kathy Berden, 70, of Snover
  • William (Hank) Choate, 72, of Cement City
  • Amy Facchinello, 55, of Grand Blanc
  • Clifford Frost, 75, of Warren
  • Stanley Grot, 71, of Shelby Township
  • John Haggard, 82, of Charlevoix
  • Mari-Ann Henry, 65, of Brighton
  • Timothy King, 56, of Ypsilanti
  • Michele Lundgren, 73, of Detroit
  • Meshawn Maddock, 55, of Milford
  • James Renner, 76, of Lansing
  • Mayra Rodriguez, 64, of Grosse Pointe Farms
  • Rose Rook, 81, of Paw Paw
  • Marian Sheridan, 69, of West Bloomfield
  • Ken Thompson, 68, of Orleans
  • Kent Vanderwood, 69, of Wyoming

Every single one is over the age of 50, certainly old enough to have known better!

Was 2020 Just A Dress Rehearsal?

Posted on by under Election 2020, Election 2024, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, voting rights

If you thought the chaos and violence that surrounded last year’s presidential election was bad, many speculate that what will happen in 2024 will make 2020 look like a walk in the park.  Take a look at what Washington Post editor Fred Hiatt has to say … a view that is shared by many political analysts today.

Voter suppression is bad. But this tactic is even worse.

Opinion by 

Fred Hiatt

Editorial page editor

President Donald Trump’s effort to steal the 2020 presidential election fell short. Now Republicans across the country are promoting changes to laws and personnel that could allow him — or someone like him — to succeed in 2024.

I’m not referring to the hundreds of GOP proposals in statehouses across the country that will make it harder for many people, in particular Black Democrats, to vote. Those measures are egregious and offensive. They are the strategy of a party that has given up on winning by putting forward more appealing policies and candidates and so hopes to win by keeping as many of its opponents away from the ballot box as possible.

What I’m talking about is in some ways even more insidious: an insurance policy to potentially steal the election if the vote-suppression strategy fails.

Recall Trump’s post-election campaign last fall. Having lost decisively, he thought he could pressure local and state officials to nullify the results.

He implored the Republican majority in the Pennsylvania legislature to defy their people’s will and appoint a slate of electors who would vote for him in Washington.

He urged the Georgia secretary of state to claim that Joe Biden’s victory there was fraudulent.

He pressured the Michigan Board of State Canvassers not to certify Biden’s clear victory in their state.

He failed because enough local officials had more integrity and courage than a majority of the Republican caucus in the U.S. House has mustered. The leaders of the Pennsylvania legislature said they didn’t have the authority to do what Trump was demanding. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger simply refused to go along. One of two Republicans on the Michigan board caved to the pressure, but the other, Aaron Van Langevelde, listened to his conscience, and his vote alongside the board’s two Democrats was enough to turn aside Trump’s attempted theft.

All of this was inspiring to many of us. To the anti-democracy forces ascendant in the Republican Party, it provided a challenge and a road map.

Michigan Republicans chose not to nominate Van Langevelde to another term. Raffensperger will face a primary challenge from an amplifier of Trump’s lies about election fraud, Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), who already has Trump’s endorsement.

“At the end of the day, there were good people on both sides of the aisle who were determined to protect people’s right to vote,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said in a meeting with Post reporters and editors this month. “If those people change in 2022, then you have a scenario in 2024 where the good people who protected their states in 2020 aren’t there any more.”

Nor are the anti-democracy forces focused only on top officials. Another Democratic secretary of state, Arizona’s Katie Hobbs, told us that “people around the state are very worried that they’re going to come infiltrate poll workers in the next election.” The law requires a balance of Republicans and Democrats as poll workers — but, Hobbs noted, “it’s very easy to change your affiliation from R to D.”

As they target the people and positions that stood in their way last time, they also are attempting to change the rules, so a pro-Trump legislature could more easily override the will of the people — and the objections of any honest secretary of state who stood in the way.

“In 2021, state legislatures across the country — through at least 148 bills filed in 36 states — are moving to muscle their way into election administration, as they attempt to dislodge or unsettle the executive branch and/or local election officials who, traditionally, have run our voting systems.”

That is the conclusion of a recent report, “A Democracy Crisis in the Making,” by two nonpartisan organizations, States United Democracy Center and Protect Democracy, and a nonprofit law firm in Wisconsin, Law Forward.

“Had these bills been in place in 2020,” the report found, “they would have significantly added to the turmoil that surrounded the election, and they would have raised the alarming prospect that the outcome of the presidential election could have been decided contrary to how the people voted.”

One such measure was included in Georgia’s recent electoral “reform.” While many of us paid attention to the mean-spirited ban on giving water to people waiting in line — and understandably so — the intrusion of the legislature into the counting process could have far more nefarious consequences.

This is why it matters so much that Trump continues to lie about 2020, and that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and most of his party have abjectly surrendered to the lie. It’s not just about history. The lie is being used to give cover for actions that in 2024 could turn the big lie into the big steal.

The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Posted on by under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Our good friend David from ‘cross the pond has clearly assessed our situation here. He and other friends in the UK, Germany, Australia and elsewhere see our situation quite clearly and are sending us good vibes, hoping we can survive and overcome this madness. Thank you, David.

The BUTHIDARS

There was a time this blog would only contain posts relating to peace in the world and the value of Hugs. Of equality and of reminding the world if we have, we must not stint of sharing. We cannot accept the fate of children starving in Africa, and yet these days we cannot accept of children starving in so called civilised societies.

I needn’t go into the fact that there has been an election in the United States. The statement would normally end there and life would go on as normal until the change of one President for another and new people in all the top jobs. Things are hugely different this year since the President would not accept he results of the election claiming massive voter fraud by Joe Biden and his Democrat election team. I have no idea whether the President actually believed his own hype since he’s…

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Republican Congressman slams Trump loyalists

Posted on by under Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Won’t you all be glad when (if) the day comes that we have better things to write about than Trump? I know I will, but for today … sigh. Our friend Keith writes of yet another Republican member of Congress who has stepped off of the Trump train … now if only the rest would consider the fate of the nation rather than their own … Thanks, Keith, for keeping us informed!

musingsofanoldfart

An article entitled “GOP Lawmaker Slams Republican Trump Loyalists, Calls MAGA Base ‘Anti-American,’ Says He’s ‘Damn Sick of It'” by Christina Zhao of Newsweek reveals that more Republicans are saying the obvious about their party leader and silent colleagues. Here are the first three paragraphs:

“Outgoing Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman of Virginia on Saturday unleashed a barrage of criticism againstDonald Trump, his allies and ‘anti-American’ supporters, as the president continues to cast doubt on his election loss.

Riggleman is among the few Republicans who have acknowledged President-electJoe Biden‘s victory over Trump. Most media outlets called the election for the Democrat, who has secured 306 Electoral College votes, over two weeks ago, but Trump has refused to concede.

In an interview withForbes, Riggleman condemned his fellow Republicans for remaining quiet amid Trump’s attempts to cast doubt on the election process by claiming a ‘rigged and stolen”…

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A Few Filosofian Thoughts …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Just a few thoughts bouncing around in my mind today …

In case you haven’t seen any news outside of the ongoing U.S. election, a new strain of the coronavirus has broken out in Denmark.  Kåre Mølbak, head of the State Serum Institute, the national authority for the control of infectious diseases, said the strain posed a potential threat to the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines.  Additionally, he said …

“The worst-case scenario is that we would start off a new pandemic in Denmark. There’s a risk that this mutated virus is so different from the others that we’d have to put new things in a vaccine and therefore would slam us all in the whole world back to the start.”

Denmark has taken strict measures to attempt to isolate the virus, imposing tighter lockdown measures and closing restaurants and bars.  I’m not suggesting it’s time to worry, but we definitely need to be aware of this, and it’s very doubtful you’ll hear much about it with the election sucking all the air out of the room.  In fact, I strongly suspect news of this may be suppressed or downplayed by the White House.

And speaking of the pandemic …

The U.S. set yet another new record yesterday with 108,389 new cases, 1,201 deaths.  No, my friends, we have not ’rounded a corner’ and it is not ‘going away’.

I’m thoroughly puzzled over the calls by Trump and by Trump supporters in certain states demanding “Stop the counting!”  WTF???  Every vote is to be counted … that’s the only way to ensure a fair and honest election – or as close as we can come to one, given that the electoral college effectively diminishes some of our voices.  So … if I’m understanding this, they want to stop the counting of the absentee votes because Donald Trump realizes that the majority of those votes may be for his opponent, Joe Biden?  How utterly ridiculous is this?  In Arizona, armed Trump supporters presented at a vote-counting center, even trying to push their way into the building, until being told to leave by law enforcement.  🙄

Yesterday, the U.S. officially exited the Paris Climate Accords, becoming the first nation to exit the agreement, to fail to honour its commitment.  The news, like most other, was barely noted in the shadow of the election coverage, but in truth it was only a legality, for the U.S. has failed to honour that commitment for nearly four years now.  This is only one of the many reasons the U.S. has lost stature in the eyes of the world, but it is arguably the single most important one, for the future of every living thing on the planet relies on all nations doing their part to reduce carbon emissions, to clean up the environment, reduce the use of plastics, and preserve wildlife.  The U.S. under Trump scoffs at all of the above, taking on a “live for today and to hell with tomorrow” attitude.

And as for the election … while I’m more optimistic about Joe Biden’s chances to win than I was 36 hours ago, I’m disappointed in the Senate and House results.  The failure of democrats to win a majority in the Senate mean that if Biden is president, he will be constantly fighting an uphill battle for everything from his cabinet choices to court appointments to any legislation he might ask for.  This can only serve to further divide this nation if that’s even possible.  I am also disappointed in the behaviour of some of the people in this country who apparently believe that “might equals right”, and are waving their guns threatening violence.  And as for the incumbent who is panicking and doing all sorts of asinine things such as filing lawsuits to try to stop vote-counting in certain states, well … what did you expect, folks?  I’ll have more to say on it all later, but for now, suffice it to say that his behaviour is exactly what I expected and frankly, I’m finding it boring. 🥱  I hope that when all the votes are tallied, this nation elects a responsible man instead of a sadistic clown.

And on that note, I leave you with a bit of election humour …

toon-1toon-2toon-3

The Week’s Best Cartoons 8/22

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Humour, Law and justice, Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

As always, our friend TokyoSand has found the best of the best political cartoons this week. Some will bring a smile, others a growl, but they sum up the state of our nation with few or no words … such talent! Thanks again, TS!

Political⚡Charge

ByRick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle

This week, editorial cartoonists captured the latest with the Post Office, as well as the Democratic Convention, Steve Bannon getting arrested, Trump trying to “cancel” Goodyear Tires in Ohio, and more.

Which one is your favorite this week?

Democratic Convention

ByAnn Telnaes, Washington Post

ByMatt Wuerker, Politico

ByClay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press

ByMike Thompson, Detroit Free Press

ByChristopher Weyant

ByBill Bramhall, New York Daily News

ByClay Jones

The Post Office

ByMike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ByMichael de Adder

ByPat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

By Dan Wasserman

By Walt Handelsman,The Advocate

By Mark Fiore, KQED News

Steve Bannon Arrested

ByMonte Wolverton

ByMatt Davies, Newsday

ByRick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle

Trump Attacks Goodyear

By eighthourlunch

ByJack Ohman, The…

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America Needs an Election Intervention

Posted on by under Election 2020, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Jeff over at On the Fence Voters, like most of us, has been giving a lot of thought to the upcoming election. He shares some of those thoughts and a possible solution to the dreaded scenarios that have played through our heads, in his post tonight. Please take a minute to read his thoughts, and let him know what you think. Thanks Jeff!!!

Out of the pool

Posted on by under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Re-blogs

Once again, our friend Keith has been thinking and come up with some ideas that I think have a great deal of merit. Granted, they will likely never see the light of day, but … I surely wish they would. Heck, I’m all for starting a campaign to elect Keith Wilson as the next president of the United States! All in favour? Thank you, Keith, for some excellent thoughts.

musingsofanoldfart

I think it is time to fire any politician in Washington who is forgetting why they are there. We could start with the White House incumbent and then take out hundreds of members of Congress in both Houses. I understand fully Congress must investigate and provide oversight over the Executive Branch. That is part of their job and the current incumbent has given them cause to dig further.

Yet, I have this simple idea that leaders of both houses sit down with legislative liaisons from the White House and figure out some things they can pass and sign into law. I think a civilian board could list about a dozen major issues to focus on and say work these out. It should not take a civilian board, but these folks are too beholden to funders to come up with a workable list.

A key reason for not listing the problems…

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Mitch McConnell: Enemy of the People

Posted on by under Election 2020, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary

Senator Mitch McConnell has gone too far, has far overstepped his bounds.  In fact, it would seem that there are no limits, no boundaries to what McConnell believes is within his rights.

There is hard, irrefutable, fact-based evidence that the Russians interfered in numerous ways with our 2016 election, likely the only reason we have a madman in the Oval Office today.  Set aside for the moment the issue of how involved Donald Trump’s campaign was with the Russian efforts, for while that is important, today I wish to address something else. mcconnell-2Our intelligence agencies have warned that the Russians are already up to their shenanigans in an effort to do a repeat performance in 2020.  Even Trump’s butt-kissing Attorney General Barr has said that conditions still exist that would allow this scenario to repeat in 2020.  FBI Director Christopher Wray and Robert Mueller have warned that if we do nothing, the 2020 election will be compromised.

Last year, a bill with bipartisan support in the Senate, the Secure Elections Act, that would have …

  • Promoted better information sharing about cybersecurity threats
  • Funded improvements to state election systems and processes through federal grants
  • Established a bug bounty program to uncover new vulnerabilities in election systems

Not enough, but a darn good start.  The bill was squelched just 90 minutes before it was set to be heard on August 22nd.  We now know who squelched it … Mitch McConnell.  Today, there are three bills in the Senate that address election security:

  • Protecting the Right to Independent and Democratic Elections (PRIDE) Act
  • Protecting American Votes and Elections (PAVE) Act
  • Honest Ads Act, which would give online political ads the same disclosure requirements as political ads on television and other media

All three were introduced last year and re-introduced this year after the 115th Congress failed to act.  And, it looks as if the 116th will also fail to act, all because of one man:  Mitch McConnell.mcconnell-1Last week, it came to light from another senator, Roy Blunt of Missouri, that McConnell has made it quite clear that he will not allow the Senate to consider any election security bills.  Process that for a minute.  One man … one single man has the power to ensure that we will have an election, perhaps the most important election in our lifetimes, that completely lacks integrity.

His reason appears to be that any talk of the 2016 Russian interference upsets Donald Trump, and McConnell, among others, lacks the courage, the guts, to stand up to Trump and do the right thing.  How does such a wimp get elected to the Senate to begin with, let alone stay there for thirty-four years?  Mitch is 77 years of age … he’s well past his prime and is another of those old, bigoted white men that we need to purge from Congress!

This is the third time in a week that I have heard of people doing the wrong thing for the sole purpose of protecting Don Trump’s fragile ego.  Wake up, people!  Don Trump is 72 years old, not two.  If he couldn’t take the heat, he should have stayed out of the kitchen!

There is but one republican in all of Congress who I can respect, who has courage, who is not attached by puppet strings to Donald Trump, and that is Justin Amash.  But again, that is a story for another day.

I don’t know about you folks, but I am livid at the thought that an elected official, one who has been taking taxpayer money for 34 years now, would so blatantly act against the best interests of every single person in this nation in order to keep Trump happy, for everyone knows that if you make Trump angry, he will call you names.

Consider for a moment the results of the Russian interference in 2016.  We ended up with the most corrupt president the nation has ever seen.  A madman, a warmonger, a fool who acts first and thinks later, if he thinks at all.  And now, according to McConnell, we may well end up stuck with him for at least another four years, just because Mitch wishes to stay in the good graces of that same fool?  Not only that, but quite possibly the interference will filter down to congressional elections also, and it may be that he who gets the most votes … loses.

We’ve heard a lot about ‘obstruction of justice’ lately … is what McConnell is doing not also obstruction of justice?  He is, after all, keeping Congress from doing their job and denying the people of this nation, the people who pay his salary, the right to a fair and unfettered election.