American Democracy Minute for June 20, 2022: NM, NH & LA Court Updates on Election Subversion, Voter Suppression & Gerrymandering

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NM Supreme Court compels Otero County to certify the election

Articles:   
NM:  Washington Post – “New Mexico county certifies election results, bowing to court order”

NH:  InDepth NH – “Lawsuit Filed Against Affidavit Ballot Bill Soon After Sununu Signs It Into Law
LA:   AP – “Louisiana asks Supreme Court to delay mostly Black district” ,  Louisiana Illuminator – “GOP lawmakers invoke ‘precedent’ to stall on 2nd Black congressional district”,

Groups Taking Action:
NM:  Common Cause NM,   ACLU NM
NH:  603 ForwardLeague of Women Voters NHOpen Democracy Action
LA:  Power Coaliltion,  ACLU-LALeague of Women Voters LA

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Quick updates on court action on election subversion, voting rights and redistricting in the states of New Mexico, New Hampshire and Louisiana.

Last week we brought you the story of New Mexico’s Otero County Commission, which refused to certify the county’s state primary election results because they didn’t trust the state-inspected tabulation machines.  On Thursday, the New Mexico Secretary of State’s request to the courts to compel the commission to certify the results was granted.   The commission then voted 2-1 to certify, with election-denier and convicted January 6th participant Couy Griffin the holdout.

Friday, within hours of signing a New Hampshire voter suppression provisional ballot bill particularly targeted at young voters, Governor Chris Sununu and the NH legislature now face a lawsuit by voting rights groups.  SB 418 throws out a system which currently allows voters lacking a piece of documentation to still vote and have it count.   Now, voters will have to return within 5 days with documentation or the vote is invalidated.  Typically, over 600 people each election used the former system with almost no abuse.  

Finally to Louisiana, where the state’s attorney general has joined in an appeal to the US Supreme Court to derail a lower court ruling allowing a redrawing of the Congressional voting district map.  Gov. John Bel Edwards had vetoed the legislature’s map, saying that the map should include a second African-American district, since one-third of the state’s population is Black.  

Links to articles on these cases, and where you can take action are at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we have, it’s something we DO.” 

For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.

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