The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 16, 2025

The Brennan Center for Justice released its annual survey of local election officials.  It found continued concerns for threats, intimidation and violence against poll workers, and the loss of election security funding and staff now that the Trump administration has cut federal election security grants.

The survey of over 800 municipal election officials found 60% were very or somewhat concerned about federal cuts to election security services.  We reported in March on DOGE cuts of 300 cybersecurity experts from CISA, the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, and the suspension of grant funding to states for hardening systems to fight increasing cyber attacks from Russia, China and Iran.  

Of the surveyed officials, 62% were concerned by the loss of CISA’s direct technical support, and 80% said the federal government should be providing the same or more funding, not less.

One third of local election officials are very concerned about political leaders interfering with the work of poll workers, up 4% from a similar question in 2023.  An additional one quarter are somewhat worried about interference. 

Officials overwhelmingly, 81%, are concerned about false election information spread on social media, which contributes to 38% of local election officials saying they have been harassed, abused or threatened – for just doing their job.   

We have links to the full Brennan Center survey at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Brennan Center for Justice – Key Findings – Local Election Officials Survey — July 2025
American Democracy Minute – (2023)  Brennan Center Survey Shows Election Workers Concerned for Threats, Funding & Political Interference in Future Elections
American Democracy Minute – CISA Pauses All Election Security Programs for Full Review.  Hint:  It’s Not About Election Integrity, It’s Reprisal for Telling the Truth.
American Democracy Minute – DOGE Cuts 300 Experts From CISA’s Election Security Team and U.S. Agency Cybersecurity; Funding for State Cybersecurity Also Suspended
InfoSecurity Magazine –  Trump Administration Shakes Up CISA with Staff and Funding Cuts

Groups Taking Action:

Protect Democracy, IssueOne, Election Official Legal Defense Network

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ProtectElections #ProtectPollWorkers #ElectionOfficials

The post Local Election Officials Concerned by Trump Cuts to Election Security Funding and Personnel, According to New Survey appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for June 21, 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.

A new report outlines the types of harassment and intimidation we might face in the 2024 elections, how to identify it, and legal remedies to address it.  It’s a report you should share with your local election officials.

The Brennan Center for Justice compiled a bewildering list of tactics being used by anti-democracy activists bent on intimidating election workers and suppressing voters.  It includes:  Blockading, following, menacing, or shouting at voters and volunteers; intimidation by poll watchers or rogue poll workers; intimidation by door-to-door canvassers, or via online messages or telephone; intimidation by law enforcement officers or by bringing guns to polling places; and harassing election workers online or in person.

The report helps election officials identify these tactics by giving recent examples of each, such as the armed vigilantes in Arizona staking out ballot drop boxes; poll watchers who interfered with election operations using mass challenges to suppress Black and Brown voters; and door-to-door canvassers intimidating New York vote-by-mail voters last summer.  

Some intimidation is harder to identify, such as when the wearing of a firearm in a polling place becomes intimidation, or how the placement of police officers in or around a polling place can cross a line into intimidation. 

We’ve linked to this important report for you to share with your local election officials from AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Brennan Center for Justice – Guide to Laws Against Intimidation of Voters and Election Workers

Issue One – The High Cost of Election Official Turnover
U.S. Election Assistance Commission –  Election Official Security

Groups Taking Action:
Protect Elections, Campaign Legal Center, ACLU,  Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ProtectElections #ProtectPollWorkers #VoterIntimidation

The post What Voter Harassment & Intimidation Might We Face in 2024? A New Report Shows Election Officials What to Look For, and How to Combat It. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 10, 2023

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time) 

Today’s Links now below the script

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

We have ANOTHER democracy lawsuit  to watch, this time in Washington State.  The case challenges the Washington Voting Rights Act, the state’s response to portions of the FEDERAL Voting Rights Act being struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

May 11th, the Washington Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Portugal v. Franklin County.  The Brennan Center for Justice reports that many Washington counties use an at-large method of electing county commissioners, instead of voting districts.  In 2020, Latino voters sued Franklin County because its at-large system made it difficult for Hispanic candidates to get elected and represent their communities’ interests.  One-third of eligible voters in the county are Hispanic, and 54% of the population. The county settled and agreed to create voting districts.

A county resident challenged the Washington State Voting Rights Act under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause.  He claims the minority population isn’t sufficiently concentrated to draw districts as the federal Voting Rights Act prescribes, and therefore gives unfair treatment to minorities over other county voters. 

Voting rights groups worry that should the case reach the current anti-voter U.S. Supreme Court, it could further erode protections of minority voters in states like California, Oregon, New York, and Virginia, which adopted similar state voting rights protections.

We’ll keep you updated.  We have links and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Brennan Center for Justice – Washington Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to State Voting Rights Act
Brennan Center for Justice – Portugal v. Franklin County (Amicus Brief)

Election Law Clinic, Harvard Law – Portugal v. Franklin County
Democracy Docket – Washington Franklin County Electoral System Challenge

Groups Taking Action:
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC),  Campaign Legal Center, Brennan Center for Justice, American Civil Rights Project,

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRights

The post Challenge to Washington Voting Rights Act in the State’s High Court Raises Concern Among Democracy Advocates appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 3, 2023

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time) 

Today’s Links now below the script

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

The Brennan Center for Justice just released its annual survey of election workers.  A majority of election officials say they are under threat, understaffed and underfunded, and they’re worried about political leaders trying to influence the next election.  

The study showed that 22% of experienced election workers knew two or more colleagues who had left their posts because of fear for their safety, increased threats, or intimidation. Three-quarters feel those threats have increased, and 30% of election workers have been harassed or threatened.   For the 2024 election the study suggests that 1 in 5 election workers will be new since 2020. 

When asked:  “How worried are you about political leaders engaging in efforts to interfere with how your fellow election officials around the country do their jobs?”, 24% said they were a little worried; 27% somewhat worried; and 29% said they were VERY worried – totaling 81% of election workers surveyed.  

Another concern of a large majority of poll workers is the lack of funding.  To manage the piling on of requirements for elections, three of four election officials said their election budgets needed to grow at least somewhat, with one quarter saying they needed significant growth in their budgets. More poll workers, election equipment, office staff, polling place security and cyber security were cited as priorities. 

There’s much more in the Brennan Center for Justice report, so we’ve linked it at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Brennan Center for Justice – Local Election Officials Survey APRIL 2023
Politico – ‘People are fearful’: Threats to midterm election workers spur law enforcement response across U.S.
Associated Press – Man gets prison for threatening Colorado election official
Reuters – Nevada man charged with threatening state election worker
U.S. Justice Dept – Man Charged with Making Threat to Arizona Election Official
Office of Sen. Klobuchar – Klobuchar, Colleagues Urge Election Assistance Commission to Take Additional Steps to Address Election Worker Shortages

Groups Taking Action:
Center for American Progress, Bipartisan Policy Center, League of Women Voters US, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Election Official Legal Defense Network, ACLU GA

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ProtectPollWorkers

The post New Brennan Center Survey Shows Election Workers Concerned for Threats, Funding & Political Interference in Future Elections appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

Listen!

Today’s Links

Articles:
CNN – At least 10 Republican nominees for state elections chief have disputed the legitimacy of the 2020 election
Brennan Center for Justice – Financing of Races for Offices that Oversee Elections: August 2022

Center for Politics – Secretary of State Races: Election Deniers Carry GOP Banner in Several Key States

Groups Taking Action:
Brennan Center for Justice, Safeguarding Democracy Project, Campaign Legal Center

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

For most state elections, the races for Secretary of State are not on most voters’ radar. Not this year. The pervasive Big Lie narrative that the election was stolen is being used by Secretary of State candidates to rile up the base and to raise money – on both sides of the issue.

CNN reports on Secretary of State candidates in 10 states who are, or have previously, espoused that the 2020 election was stolen. Some, like Arizona’s Mark Finchem and Massachusetts’ Rayla Campbell, are still advocating for reviews of the results, despite no legitimate evidence of irregularities.

The Brennan Center for Justice has looked at the fundraising totals in six of those ten states and reports that compared with past elections, money is pouring into Secretary of State races. In Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, and Wisconsin, the fundraising totals have doubled from 2018 levels to $16.3 Million dollars. Among 12 election-denying candidates, Brennan finds that they account for $7.3 million, while candidates who’ve spoken out supporting the security of elections raised $8.1 million dollars.

Stop the Steal donors like former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne and Uline founder Richard Uihlein, are actively contributing to multiple election-denying Secretary of State races, too.

CNN and the Brennan Center’s reports can be found 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.

The post ADM for August 15, 2022: Secretary of State Candidates on Both Sides of the Big Lie Raising Record Campaign Money appeared first on American Democracy Minute.