The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 14, 2025

Governor Jared Polis signed the Colorado Voting Rights Act on May 12th, another state to take action in the face of ongoing erosion of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.  The Act forbids discrimination in voting practices, protects registration and voting for Native voters, and curbs racial gerrymandering, among several provisions.

Colorado’s VRA is the ninth in the U.S., and 2025 legislation is pending in Alabama, Arizona and Maryland.  Attacks on the federal VRA by the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court have added urgency to state protections against voter suppression, dilution of voting power through gerrymandering, and blocking an individual’s ability to challenge voting laws.

The Colorado provision guarantees access for Native voters, who have been subject to voter suppression for decades in some western states. It also protects access for Hispanic, Black and disabled voters, and expands multi-lingual ballot access. It protects LGBTQ voters from registration and voting discrimination, and forbids additional barriers to voting for eligible incarcerated citizens.  

At the bill signing, Colorado Newsline quoted the sponsor, State Senator Julie Gonzales:  “We are taking action here today to ensure that every Coloradan can cast a ballot free from discrimination and free from fear.”

We’ve linked to the details of the bill at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Colorado Legislature – Senate Bill 25-1 – The Colorado Voting Rights Act
National Conference of State Legislatures – Legislatures Pursue State-Level Voting Rights Acts
Colorado Public Radio – Colorado lawmakers approve voting rights bill, despite pushback from local officials
Colorado Newsline – Gov. Polis signs voting rights bill, shielding Colorado from federal backsliding

Movement Advancement Project – Democracy 101: Understanding State Voting Rights Acts

Groups Taking Action:

NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Common Cause CO, Campaign Legal Center, League of Women Voters

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #COVRA #Colorado #VotingRightsAct #StateVRA

The post Governor Signs Colorado Voting Rights Act in Effort to Guarantee Access and Voting Power for Native, Hispanic, Black and LGBTQ Voters appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 7, 2025

Returning Tennessee citizens convicted of most felonies can now have their voting rights returned by a court order, rather than a pardon from the governor, under a law enacted May 2nd.  It also removed the requirement that all fees be paid prior to those rights being restored.

According to The Sentencing Project, Tennessee follows only Florida and Texas in the percent of its citizens denied the right to vote.  Over 300,000 Tennesseans  who have completed their sentences cannot vote due to a past felony conviction – 6% of otherwise eligible voters.  May 2nd, Governor Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 407, allowing courts to issue an order that a formerly-incarcerated citizen convicted of a common felony qualifies to have “citizenship rights” restored.  

Unlike other states’ reforms, however, Tennessee will still require a pardon to restore rights to those convicted of so-called “infamous” felonies, including murder, rape, treason, voter fraud, certain felonies involving bribery, misconduct by public officials, and  sexual offenses where the victim was a minor.  

SB 407 also removes the stipulation that any outstanding fees be paid before voting rights are restored, wielded as a voter suppression tactic by Florida and other states.  Mississippi’s legislature, which considered rights restoration legislation earlier this year, again defeated all of  its proposed bills.

We have more on the specifics of Tennessee’s new rights restoration law and state-by-state rules at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Tennessee Lookout – (2023)  Restoring voting rights after a felony is rare in Tennessee. This year, the process got harder.
Tennessee Secretary of State – Restoration of Voting Rights
The Sentencing Project – Tennessee Should Restore Voting Rights to Nearly 400,000 Citizens
Tennessee Legislature –  Bill text for Senate Bill 407
The Sentencing Project – Locked Out 2024: Four Million Denied Voting Rights Due to a Felony Conviction
National Conference of State Legislatures – Restoration of Voting Rights for Felons

Groups Taking Action:

The Sentencing Project, Campaign Legal Center, The Equity Alliance, ACLU TN 

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Disenfranchisement  #ReturningCitizens #FelonyConvictions

The post Tennessee Enacts Voting Rights Restoration for Citizens Returning from Incarceration for Common Felonies appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 9, 2025

Democracy advocates fear that the recent Louisiana case heard in the U.S. Supreme Court could further erode the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  The Colorado Senate just passes a state VRA to ensure that all of its citizens have access to registration and voting. 

The Colorado Senate advanced SB 1 March 28th, prohibiting voter suppression for any group based on race, color, or language, and keeps voting jurisdictions from diluting voting power of concentrations of minority citizens through redistricting or other means.  

The act strengthens voter registration protections for Native American voters, and makes sure polling places, election notices and ballots are accessible to disabled voters.  

It specifically allows alternatives to in-person voting for primaries, and provides for multilingual ballots and election materials for communities with concentrations of minority language speakers.  It also expands notices of elections at government offices beyond just election offices, and prohibits barriers to voting for eligible incarcerated citizens.

Alabama, Arizona, and Maryland are also considering state VRAs in 2025.  If Colorado passes SB 1, it would join California, Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Washington which recently passed VRA statutes

The bill now goes to the Colorado House.   

We’ve linked to local reporting at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Colorado Senate – SB25-001 Colorado Voting Rights Act
Colorado Newsline – Colorado Senate gives preliminary approval to Voting Rights Act, which mirrors federal law
National Conference of State Legislatures – State Voting Rights Acts
National Conference of State Legislatures – Legislatures Pursue State-Level Voting Rights Acts
Campaign Legal Center – Protecting the Freedom to Vote Through State Voting Rights Acts 

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU CO, League of Women Voters CO, Common Cause CO, New Era Colorado Action Fund

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Colorado #VotingRightsAct #SB1 

The post Colorado Senate Advances State Voting Rights Act, As Federal VRA is Under Threat by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Conservative Majority appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 26, 2025

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

In the coming weeks, Virginia GOP Governor Glenn Youngkin considers multiple pro-voter bills sent to his desk by a Democratic-majority legislature.  A state constitutional amendment also moves to the November ballot which restores voting rights to returning citizens after felony convictions.

Almost a dozen pro-voter bills have advanced in January and February, most recently protecting voters from premature purges.  Last August, Younkin ordered voter registration purges within 90 days of the election, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court just two weeks before the election.

In response, the Virginia legislature passed House bills 2002 and 2276, prohibiting the purging of a voter using unverified external data as justification, and establishing specific criteria for removal.   SB 813 specifically prohibits voter list purges within 90 days of the election.  

After blocking GOP attempts to shorten early voting in primaries from 45 days to 14 days, the legislature passed SB 760, extending deadlines for returning mail-in ballots to three days after election day and allowing curing of deficient ballots, and passed SB 991, giving more time to voters to register before election day.

In 2023, Governor Youngkin reversed policies of recent governors, and restores voting rights to citizens who’ve completed felony sentences only on a case-by-case basis.   House Resolution 2, now passed in both houses, would  automatically restore those rights, and will appear on the November 2025 ballot.  

Find links to the bills at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – U.S. Supreme Court Allows Virginia to Purge of Alleged Non Citizen Voters Only Days Before the Election, Ignoring Established Federal Law. Eligible Voters Were on the List, Too.
Virginia Mercury – Senate moves to strengthen protections against voter roll purges
Virginia Mercury – Historic push for constitutional protections in Virginia gains momentum

Virginia Legislature – HB 2002, HB 2276, SB 813, SB 760, SB 991, HR 2

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU Virginia,  Virginia Election Protection, UpVote VA, 

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Virginia #RightsRestoration #VotingRights #DemocracyReform

The post VA Legislature Sends Several Pro-Voter Bills to Gov. Youngkin, and a Constitutional Amendment Restoring Returning Citizen Rights to Voters appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 18, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

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

In separate rulings October 16th, courts in Alabama and Nebraska sided with voters over zealous state officials, protecting the right to register and vote in the 2024 election.

In August, the Alabama Secretary of State announced a purge of registered voters who had, or once had, a “noncitizens identification number,” issued with a federal “green card” as a legal resident alien. But many of those registered are now naturalized citizens.

A federal district court judge ruled that Alabama must halt that process, and restore the voting rights to those affected, citing long standing federal law requiring purges to be completed 90 days or earlier from an election.

The Nebraska Supreme Court rejected an attempt by the secretary of state to subvert a 20-year-old state law allowing formerly incarcerated Nebraskans convicted of a felony to register and vote. Secretary of State Robert Evnen cited an opinion by the Nebraska attorney general that only the Nebraska Board of Pardons could restore that right. He directed election officials in July to ignore the law and stop registering those citizens.

The state supreme court’s reversal of that order affects as many as 7,000 returning citizens. Those already registered will automatically be restored, and those eligible have until Oct. 25th to register in person.

We have resources for checking voter registration status at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama (via Democracy Docket) – ALABAMA COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE v. WES ALLEN
Alabama Reflector – Federal judge blocks Alabama Secretary of State’s voter removal plan
NPR – A federal judge has ordered Alabama to stop trying to purge voters before Election Day
Nebraska Supreme Court – Gregory Spung  v. Robert Evnen, Nebraska Secretary of
State
Daily Nebraskan – BREAKING: Nebraska Supreme Court rules felons eligible to vote upon release

Groups Taking Action:

ACLU Nebraska,  Campaign Legal Center, Fair Elections Center, Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice

Check Your Voter Registration:

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
• USA Vote Foundation – Registration, Eligibility, State Election Office Links
• Vote.Gov – Register to Vote in Your State
• Vote.Org – Check Your Registration to Vote
  
  

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Alabama #Nebraska #VoterPurge #VotingRights

The post Courts Order Halt to Alabama Voter Purge and to Allow Nebraska’s Formerly Incarcerated Felon Citizens to Register & Vote appeared first on American Democracy Minute.