The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 18, 2025

The Wisconsin Elections Commission issued a highly critical report of the City of Madison’s former clerk July 17th, after investigating how 193 mail-in ballots were left uncounted after the 2024 general election.  The clerk was suspended by the city, then subsequently resigned.

November 12th, a staff member alerted City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl that a sealed ballot courier bag had been found, but Witzel-Behl allegedly gave the staff no instructions to open or otherwise investigate, did not alert state or county officials, and went on vacation the next day.

Just before Thanksgiving, unaware that an unopened bag had been found, an elections inspector reported a discrepancy between the ballots received and the ballots counted in wards 56 and 65.  December 2nd, inspectors found another unopened courier bag containing 125 uncounted ballots. 

The 400-page report found several leadership and procedural failures, including several which violated state statutes.   The report’s conclusion, said QUOTE:

“Rather than acknowledge these significant errors, the City Clerk and her staff either ignored the issue or willfully refused to inform the necessary parties and seek assistance. These actions resulted in nearly 200 lawful voters’ votes going uncounted – an unconscionable result.” UNQUOTE.

The report orders the City of Madison to complete several procedural reforms before the next statewide election in February 2026. 
We’ve linked to the full report at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Some podcasting platforms strip out our links.  To read our resources and see the whole script of today’s report, please go to our website at https://AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Wisconsin Watch – Wisconsin Elections Commission launches investigation into uncounted Madison ballotsWisconsin Elections Commission –  Investigation of the City of Madison: Proposed Final Decision Letter and Order & Accompanying MaterialsCity of Madison – Statement on WEC Investigation 

Battleground Wisconsin – WEC report faults former Madison clerk for ‘astonishing’ lack of urgency over missing ballots 
Wisconsin Examiner – WEC blames missing Madison absentee ballots on ‘confluence of errors’ by city officials

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Wisconsin #Madison #MissingBallots 

The post Wisconsin Elections Commission Issues Report on 193 Uncounted Mail-In Ballots in Madison During the 2024 General Election appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 2, 2025

Almost five years after the election, impacts of debunked 2020 election fraud claims by President Donald Trump and his allies still reverberate.  We’re back in Shasta County, California, where once again, supervisors have stoked an election-denier dumpster fire. 

We last covered Shasta County when its county supervisors chose to drop electronic ballot tabulators and instead hand count ballots for the 2024 presidential election, against the recommendations of county election officials.  With over 111,000 registered voters, it would have taken days, not hours, to count the ballots.  The State of California forced the county to follow state standards and use tabulators, which are faster, cheaper and more accurate than hand counting. 

Recently, some of those same supervisors appointed an interim Registrar of Voters with no experience, Clint Curtis.  Curtis, after two weeks on the job, fired assistant registrar Joanna Francescut, with 17 years of experience in running elections.  

The Shasta Scout reports that Curtis recently said he needed to train the staff to run an election “the right way,” despite statements that he is suspicious of optical ballot readers, wants to reduce the number of state mandated ballot drop boxes, and wants ballots printed locally, not by a specialized ballot printer.   

Curtis has announced plans to run for the permanent registrar position in June 2026. Francescut has already announced her plans to run against him. 

We have more on Shasta County at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – (2023) Shasta County Almost Hand-Counted Its Ballots in November. Instead, it Lost an Expensive Game of Election Denial Chicken with the State of California
American Democracy Minute – (2024) Five States Are Considering Conspiracy-Fueled Legislation Which Bans Ballot Tabulators.  But Fed-Up Voters are Pushing Back.
Shasta County Scout – After Four Days in his Appointed Role As Registrar of Voters, Clint Curtis Announces Campaign During Private “Town Hall”
Shasta County Scout – New Shasta County Election Official Terminates Top Staffer
SF Gate – ‘Calm anger’: After 17 years, Shasta elections official suddenly fired 

Groups Taking Action:

Common Cause California,  League of Women Voters Redding

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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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

#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ShastaCounty #ElectionDeniers #ProtectElections #ElectionWorkers

The post Five Years After the 2020 Election, More Election Denier Turmoil in Shasta County, CA 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

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#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 April 11, 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.

Disinformation spread about the 2020 election by candidates & partisan groups mobilized extremists to harass or threaten election officials. Many of those officials resigned.  But a large national study also found other reasons for large-scale turnover, and some hope for the 2024 election.

The Bipartisan Policy Center surveyed over 18,000 chief elections officers in all 50 states and confirmed that turnover reached a 20-year high in 2022 of 38.7%. While the survey acknowledges that threats and harassment are factors, it also found that older election officials are retiring, due to an increasing workload, underfunding, and an increasingly complex election system.  Turnover is not just limited to specific states, either, but both red and blue states, and large and small communities.

Despite the turnover nationally, the researchers found that most officials were being replaced with election workers with recent experience.  For 2024, 65% of local election officials will have run a Presidential election previously, down only slightly from 2020.  

It also found that turnover was highest for election officials in large jurisdictions, reaching 46% between 2018 and 2022.  Sixty-seven percent of those officials also reported being abused, harassed or threatened.  The good news is that researchers found most replacement chief election officers have multiple years of experience in running federal elections.

You can find the Bipartisan Policy Center study linked from our website, AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Bipartisan Policy Center – Election Official Turnover Rates from 2000-2024
American Democracy Minute – Rules, and ‘Election Integrity’ Vigilantes Led to an Election Official Brain-Drain
Pew Research Center – Older people account for large shares of poll workers and voters in U.S. general elections
Brennan Center for Justice – Election Officials Under Attack
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Be a Poll Worker!
Power the Polls – HELP STAFF YOUR LOCAL POLLING PLACE

Groups Taking Action:
Issue One, Election Official Legal Defense Network, Power the Polls, Center for American Progress

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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 #ProtectElections #ProtectPollWorkers #BeaPollWorker

The post National Study of Elections Officials Confirms Turnover from Harassment, But Also Finds An Aging Workforce and Increasing Workloads are Factors appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 23, 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.

We’re in the Carolinas today, where South Carolina’s election director appealed for higher pay to replace poll workers driven off by threats and low wages, and North Carolina democracy groups want clarity of new restrictive voter ID rules.

States Newsroom reports the director of the South Carolina Election Commission asked for $4 Million dollars from a South Carolina House budget committee to raise stipends for county poll workers, and help retain state staff.  Director Howard Knapp said turnover was the highest that he’d seen in his 12 years in state government, and blamed it on a combination of low pay and sustained personal threats.   

Knapp also asked for an additional $11.5 Million to cover an expected doubling of election costs due to expected higher turnout and the addition of early voting.

In North Carolina, democracy groups asked the state election board to clarify rules for the state’s new voter ID law.  Three counties were cited by the groups as having violated state guidance in 2023 and subjectively rejecting voters based on their reason for a lack of ID. 

North Carolina Newsline reports that voters were given an opportunity to fill out an exception form and provisional ballot, but that county officials in Guilford, Mecklenburg, and Brunswick counties second-guessed some voters’ exception reasons, including that of a wheelchair-bound voter with Huntington’s disease.

We have links to more details at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
PBS Newshour – Election workers are being bombarded with death threats, the U.S. government says
NPR –  In the face of threats, election workers say they feel unsafe doing their jobs
States Newsroom – Threats, low pay causing high turnover in SC election offices. Legislators asked to up stipends.
North Carolina Newsline – Voting rights groups find new photo ID law caused trouble for voters and county officials
North Carolina Newsline – NC voting rights groups ask for clearer voter ID rules for county boards ahead of the first batches of absentee ballots going out Friday
Southern Coalition for Social Justice – Comment on Proposed Permanent Rules on Voter Photo Identification

Groups Taking Action:
Election Official Legal Defense Network, Brennan Center, NAACP Legal Defense Fund,  Power the Polls, Fair Elections Center
Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Common Cause North Carolina, and Democracy North Carolina

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

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 #ProtectElections #ProtectPollWorkers #SouthCarolinaPolitics #NorthCarolinaPolitics #FreedomtoVote 

The post Voter ID Clarity Needed in North Carolina, and Better Pay Requested for Poll Workers in South Carolina appeared first on American Democracy Minute.