The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for June 20, 2025

Voting Rights Lab reports there were 59 state bills introduced on proof of citizenship for voter registration this year, and 160 bills concerning voter ID.  A handful have made it near the finish line, including in New Hampshire, Texas and Nevada, but not all have passed.  

Since President Donald Trump’s baseless accusations of mail-in voting fraud in 2020, and his unfounded claims of widespread noncitizen voting in the 2024 election, Republican-dominated legislatures have raced to pass stricter voter ID and proof of citizenship laws, despite no widespread abuse of either. 

In New Hampshire, versions of SB 218 were advanced, requiring submission of ID and proof of citizenship for absentee registration, and are now in a committee of conference.  It’s likely to pass.  In Texas, a high-priority documentary proof of citizenship bill died without action at the end of session.  In Texas alone, there were 15 bills introduced to provide documentary proof of citizenship, and 10 tightening voter ID laws.  A 2024 Brennan Center for Justice study found 1 in 9 Americans don’t have ready access to documents proving citizenship, and only half of Americans have a U.S. Passport.

Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo surprisingly vetoed a bipartisan voter ID bill attempting to codify a widely-supported ballot initiative. Democrats negotiated expanded ballot drop boxes in exchange for supporting voter ID. His veto statement said the bill did not address implementing voter ID for mail-in ballots. 

Wyoming and Indiana passed proof of citizenship for registration earlier this year.  

We have a link to the Voting Rights Lab tracker at  AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Brennan Center for Justice – Millions of Americans Don’t Have Documents Proving Their Citizenship Readily AvailableVoting Rights Lab –  Bill Search:  Issues/Proof of Citizenship;  Issues/ID

New Hampshire Bulletin – House, Senate negotiators agree on absentee voting bill despite pushback from disability community
Houston Public Media – Texas bill requiring proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration dies at end of session
Associated Press – Nevada GOP governor vetoes voter ID bill that he pushed for in a deal with Democrats
Wyoming Public Radio – Gordon lets proof of voter residency bill become law without his signature
Citizen Portal  – Indiana House Bill 1680 faces opposition for citizenship proof and voting assistance restrictions

Groups Taking Action:

American Friends Service Committee NH,  Vote Riders TX, Let Nevadans Vote

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ProofofCitizenship #VotingRights #FreedomtoVote #VoterID

The post Restrictive State Voter ID & Proof of Citizenship Bills Near the Finish Line, But Not All Have Passed appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 5, 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.

While some state legislatures are making it harder to vote, a 2023 recap from Voting Rights Lab shows a few states passed legislation to help people register to vote and to make voting more accessible to all citizens.

Michigan passed several laws to implement an expansion of voting rights passed by ballot measure in 2022.  It includes automatic voter registration at the DMV and other state agencies, a permanent vote by mail list, nine days of early voting, making secure drop boxes available, and pre-registration for 16 & 17 year olds.

Minnesota restored voting rights to returning felons upon release, helping an estimated 55,000 citizens to vote. It also expanded automatic voter registration to more state agencies, created a permanent mail-in voting list, and offered pre-registration to 16 & 17 year olds.

The New Mexico Voting Rights Act passed in March.  It automatically registers voters at the DMV and other state offices, restores the vote for the formerly incarcerated, creates a permanent absentee voter list, mandates same-day registration, and enacts the first Native American Voting Rights Act.

Connecticut voters passed a 14-day early voting period, and its legislature moved a constitutional amendment to a November 2024 vote which would allow no-excuse absentee voting.   

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro directed that automatic voter registration be implemented by the DMV.  And all New York voters have the opportunity to vote by mail, though this new law is being challenged in court.  

We have links to the legislation summarized at Voting Rights Lab at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Voting Rights Lab – The Top Ten Election Laws of 2023
Michigan Advance – At Detroit NAACP, Whitmer signs voting rights bills
Minnesota Public Radio – Voting rights restored to 50,000 under new Minnesota law
New Mexico Governor’s Office – Gov. Lujan Grisham signs New Mexico Voting Rights Act into law
Associated Press – Connecticut Senate passes early voting bill, new system allows up to 14 days of in-person voting
Spotlight PA/Votebeat – Pa. will now prompt people to register to vote when they get a driver’s license

Democracy Docket – New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Signs Package of Voting Rights Laws

Groups Taking Action:
Common Cause, League of Women Voters, Public Citizen, Declaration for American Democracy, NAACP, Native American Rights Fund,  League of United Latin American Citizens,  National Disability Rights Network

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FreedomtoVote #VotingRights #LetUsVote

The post Democracy News Wasn’t All Bad in 2023;  MI, MN, NM, CT, PA, & NY All Passed Substantial Pro-Voter Legislation  appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 4, 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.

Thomas Jefferson was an owner of enslaved people when he wrote this line in the Declaration of Independence:  “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.”

Who could give that Consent by voting was debated by the landed White male gentry, framing what became the U.S. Constitution in 1787.  James Madison encapsulated this argument, writing:

“The right of suffrage is a fundamental Article in Republican Constitutions. The regulation of it is, at the same time, a task of peculiar delicacy. Allow the right [to vote] exclusively to property [owners], and the rights of persons may be oppressed… . Extend it equally to all, and the rights of property [owners] …may be overruled by a majority without property….”  

We know how that worked out.  By 1807 New York had abolished land requirements for White men, but kept them in place for free Black men. It wasn’t until the 15th Amendment in 1869 did all Black men theoretically get the right to vote, for which citizens of color have been fighting ever since. Women had to wait another 50 years for the 19th Amendment.

As you celebrate your freedoms this July 4th, remember that recent voter suppression, racial gerrymandering, and voting restrictions demonstrate that the freedom to vote for ALL Americans has still not been achieved – a wrong we must all fight to correct.  

Find more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
National Archives – The Declaration of Independence

U.S. Library of Congress – The Founders and the Vote
Prof. Thomas Jewett – Jefferson, Education and The Franchise
U.S. History.org – The Expansion of the Vote: A White Man’s Democracy
National Archives – The Fifteenth Amendment
National Archives – The Nineteenth Amendment

Groups Taking Action:
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, League of Women Voters US, ACLU, Common Cause, Declaration for American Democracy

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRights #FreedomtoVote

The post Would the Founding Fathers Have Given You the Freedom to Vote? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for June 30, 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.

Fueled by 2020 election conspiracy theories, the Kansas legislature overrode the Governor’s veto on two 2021 bills erecting barriers to voting by mail.  Citizens and freedom to vote groups are fighting back.

Driven by debunked claims of former President Trump and his campaign legal team, the Kansas legislature passed House Bill 2183, making it a misdemeanor for anyone but a family member to touch a voter’s mail ballot, or to assist in requesting a ballot.  For groups assisting in return of ballots – it caps the total – for an entire organization per election cycle –  to ten.  The Kansas Reflector reports that groups like the League of Women Voters have suspended voter assistance programs as a result.   

HB 2332 mandates notoriously-inaccurate signature matching on mail-in ballots, what Kansas refers to as “advance ballots.”  The bill allows for both automated and human review, but unlike 24 other states, Kansas does not have a provision to “cure” a rejected ballot with a signature mismatch, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.   The provision could disenfranchise thousands.  

So democracy groups sued over portions in the two bills which disenfranchise voters and restrict free speech, and after a successful appeal, the Kansas Supreme Court has agreed this week to hear the case.  After oral arguments, a  decision is expected before the 2024 election. 

We have text of the bills, analysis  and articles at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Center for Public Integrity – In Kansas, inequality in voting widens with new limits
Associated Press – Kansas appeals court reinstates lawsuit over voting law
Campaign Legal Center – Kansas Anti-Voter Law Targeting Civic Engagement Groups Struck Down
Kansas Reflector – Court of Appeals reverses lower court on Kansas lawsuit challenging restraint of voting rights
Kansas Reflector – Voting rights case sent to Kansas Supreme Court, challenging 2021 election law
Campaign Legal Center – Signature Matching and Mail Ballots: Safeguards to Ensure That Every Vote Counts
National Conference of State Legislatures – States With Signature Cure Processes
U.S. Cybesecurity and Infrastructure Agency –  Signature Verification and Cure Process

Groups Taking Action:
League of Women Voters Kansas, Loud Light, Kansas Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, Topeka Independent Living Resource Center

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRights #FreedomtoVote #VoteatHome

The post Challenge to Portions of Kansas Voter Suppression Laws Reach the State’s High Court appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for December 7, 2022

Listen!

What Happens if the SCOTUS Majority Embraces the Independent State Legislature Theory in Moore v. Harper?

Today’s Links

Articles: 

Brennan Center for Justice – Moore v. Harper, Explained
The Atlantic – Is Democracy Constitutional?
PBS NewsHour – How the outcome of Moore v. Harper could impact federal elections
League of Women Voters US – State Legislature Seeks Unchecked Power over Elections in Moore v. Harper
Brookings / Democracy 21 – Democracy on the ballot—the “independent state legislature theory” will not empower state legislatures to override presidential election results
Arizona Mirror – Brnovich joins 12 other GOP AGs in ‘independent state legislature’ case
Groups Taking Action:
League of Conservation Voters NC, Common Cause NC, Democracy Docket, Campaign Legal Center, Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD)
DFAD Rallies on Moore v Harper – “Hands Off Our Vote”

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

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

December 7, the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Moore vs. Harper, a case testing the “Independent State Legislature” theory. So, what could happen if the majority embraces this theory?

At stake is whether state legislatures have ultimate authority over elections: Higher authority than the U.S. Constitution & statutes, higher than state supreme courts and constitutions, and higher than a Governor’s veto. The U.S. Supreme Court has already said in 2019 that only state courts have the authority to decide partisan redistricting cases. That decision essentially greenlighted the widespread gerrymandering we saw in the 2020 redistricting process.

The Brennan Center for Justice and other scholars suggest citizen ballot initiatives could be nullified. State legislatures could ignore the U.S. or state constitution’s voting rights provisions and establish unchecked barriers to voting. Existing state laws like early voting or voting by mail could be repealed without the check of a gubernatorial veto. Some scholars have suggested that legislatures could change the electors for a Presidential election, or overturn election results. Democracy 21’s Fred Werthheimer says this is unlikely, but Congress should pass the Electoral Count Reform Act to close that loophole.

In short, the impact of Moore v. Harper could reshape American democracy, and it could be one of the most consequential and destructive Supreme Court decisions of our time.

Find out more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.

The post What Happens if the SCOTUS Majority Embraces the Independent State Legislature Theory in Moore v. Harper? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.