The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Dec. 30, 2025

We’re looking back at our most important stories of 2025, and what changes to expect for American democracy in 2026.  If you’re a voter, it’s been a tough year.   If you’re a minority voter, it’s been a really BAD year.

After a federal district court found that the Louisiana legislature had racially gerrymandered the state’s congressional maps, it mandated two majority-minority districts to give Louisiana’s 33% Black population a chance to elect a candidate of their choice. Such accommodation is allowed under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Section 2.  But a group of, QUOTE, “non-African American voters” appealed, claiming such districts violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, among other complaints.

Oral arguments in Louisiana v. Callais were heard in March 2025, but the conservative justices asked for more briefs and oral arguments in October.  This time, it was apparent that the court is poised to strike down 60 years of Congressional support and court precedent and neutralize Section 2’s protections of minority voters.  Without those protections, expect widespread dilution of African American, Hispanic, and Native American voting districts, and a loss of minority representation in Congress and state government.  

A 2024 high court decision made racial gerrymandering much harder to prove and impacted this year’s Trump gerrymandering arms race.    More on that tomorrow.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

American Democracy Minute – (October)  In a Big Week for Voting Rights, U.S Supreme Court Hears More Arguments in Louisiana vs. Callais.  VRA Protections for Minority Voters are at Stake.
American Democracy Minute – (March) US Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments March 24th in Louisiana v. Callais with Protections for Minority Voters Hanging in the Balance
SCOTUS Blog – Louisiana v. Callais
Ballotpedia – Majority-minority districts
NAACP Legal Defense Fund – What’s at Stake in Louisiana v. Callais
Brennan Center for Justice – Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court

Groups Taking Action:

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, ACLU, Legal Defense Fund, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

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

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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #MajorityMinority #VRASection2 #VotingRights #RacialGerrymandering #VRA

The post American Democracy in 2025:   The SCOTUS Case Which May End 60 Years of Protection for Minority Voters appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Nov. 27, 2025

For Thanksgiving, we’re rebroadcasting a story from 2024.  Sadly, nothing has changed in this story, and the proposed solutions remain in limbo.

The ink wasn’t yet dry on the Indian Citizens Act of 1924 when voter suppression of Native Americans began.  Natives have been fighting for their right to register and vote, proper representation, and fair voting districts ever since.

The Brennan Center for Justice writes that for decades, Arizona disenfranchised Native citizens because they were, QUOTE, “Persons under guardianship.”  New Mexico’s constitution stipulated that people who didn’t pay taxes, including Natives on reservations, could not vote.  

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited these suppression tactics.  But the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby decision opened a floodgate of new Native suppression in Arizona, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Nevada and other states.

Recently, proof of citizenship and voter ID laws have targeted Natives, some of whom don’t have an ID, or live in remote areas without street numbers.  Counties have used “at-large” voting districts to dilute Native voting power, or removed drop boxes or polling places, forcing voters to drive sometimes more than a hundred miles to vote.  

What can be done?  The federal Native American Voting Rights Act is stuck in Congress, but New Mexico passed its own version in 2023.  The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act restores protections stripped from the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the Freedom to Vote Act would expand voting access for ALL Americans.  

We have resources at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.  

Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Native American Rights Fund – (2020) Obstacles at Every Turn

Alaska Beacon – The importance of the Voting Rights Act for Indian Country
Brennan Center for Justice – How Voter Suppression Laws Target Native Americans
NPR – Sometimes overlooked by campaigns, Native voters could decide major elections in 2024
Split Ticket – The Largest Native American Voting Blocs
Intermountain Histories – Trujillo v. Garley: The Struggle for Native American Voting Rights
The White House – (2022) REPORT OF THE INTERAGENCY STEERING GROUP ON NATIVE AMERICAN VOTING RIGHTS
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren – Native American Voting Rights Act
U.S. Congress – John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act

Groups Taking Action:
Native American Rights Fund, Native Vote, National Congress of American Indians, Declaration for American Democracy

Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #NativeVote #VoterSuppression #JohnLewisAct #FreedomtoVoteAct #NativeAmerican #Thanksgiving

The post The Supreme Court’s Attack on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Affects Native American Voters, Too.  Proposed Legislation Could Fix It. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Oct. 28, 2025

The Trump Department of Justice announced October 24th it would deploy election monitors at five California counties on November 4th. DOJ says it is to ensure transparency & ballot security, but most of the counties are heavily Latino, competitive or lean liberal, and the Proposition 50 redistricting question is on the ballot. 

In a statement, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “We will commit the resources necessary to ensure the American people get the fair, free, and transparent elections they deserve.”

Proposition 50 would suspend California’s independent redistricting commission until 2030, allowing the legislature to gerrymander more Democratic Congressional seats, countering five Texas seats gerrymandered at President Trump’s request.  

Kern, Riverside, Fresno, Orange and Los Angeles counties were targeted, largely blue or toss up counties.  CalMatters reports that Fresno, Kern and Riverside counties are majority Latino. A poll shows 54% of Latinos support Proposition 50.  According to the Associated Press, the monitoring was requested by the California GOP.

Governor Gavin Newsom and Hispanic leaders had warned that the Trump administration might deploy Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents at the polls, a charge the administration denies.  Quoted in CalMatters, Christian Arana of the Latino Community Foundation said, “These are citizens of this country. And if they are concerned about immigration or any type of federal presence at in-person voting sites, that is alarming.” 

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

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

U.S. Department of Justice – Justice Department to Monitor Polling Sites in California, New Jersey
CalMatters – Trump’s DOJ is sending election monitors to California with voting on Prop. 50 underway
CalMatters – California Latinos take pride in casting ballots in person. ICE at polls could deter that
De Los/Los Angeles Times – What are Calfornia’s Latinx voters most concerned about? 
De Los/Los Angeles Times – Poll of California LatinX Voters 
Princeton Gerrymandering Project – California Congressional Districts
LAist – Newsom says Trump is ‘rigging the election’ with federal poll monitors

Groups Taking Action:

Latino Community Foundation

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – How to 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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Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FreedomtoVote #LatinoVote #California #Prop50

The post Trump DOJ Says It Will Monitor Elections Nov. 4th in Five California Counties. Many Fear It’s a Voter Intimidation Tactic. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Aug. 6, 2025

You may think racial gerrymandering happened long ago and just in southern states with legacies of suppressing of African Americans.  Think again. Anti-voter legislatures around the country still employ racial gerrymandering to retain political power. 

In addition to recent racial gerrymandering cases involving African Americans in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Arkansas, there have been multiple racial gerrymandering complaints from Native Americans in North Dakota, and Hispanic Americans in Washington State and Texas.  

To provide equity in representation, the Voting Rights Act’s Section 2 allows districts of dense populations of minority voters to choose the candidate of their choice. But elected officials continue to evade those rules. 

South Carolina’s legislature split Charleston by moving 30,000 residents from 11 of 12 of the highest concentrations of Black voters into another district, in the words of the lower court, “bleaching” Congressional District 1.

Louisiana’s population is almost 33% Black. But Louisiana’s legislature defiantly drew only one of its six Congressional districts as a majority-minority Black district, diluting the rest of their vote.    A county in North Dakota elected its commissioners at large, to reduce the chance of a  Native American candidate being elected.    

Tomorrow, we’ll tell you how some states prohibit gerrymandering and create fair maps.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Legal Defense Fund – Why Race Matters in Redistricting
National Archives – Voting Rights Act (1965)
American Democracy Minute –  (2024) Federal Court Releases Redistricting New WA Maps After Striking Down Districts Diluting Latino Voting Power
American Democracy Minute – (2023) U.S. Supreme Court Finds South Carolina Gerrymandering Case ‘Bleaching’ Congressional District Not Racially Motivated
American Democracy Minute – (2022) Native American Tribe Unrigs Voting in its County with Court Redistricting Decision
Redistricting Online – Racial Gerrymandering

Groups Taking Action:

Campaign Legal Center, Legal Defense Fund, NARF, LULAC

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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#News #Democracy  #DemocracyNews #RacialGerrymandering #BlackVoters #LatinoVoters #NativeVoters

The post Redistricting Week:  60 Years After The Voting Rights Act, Racial Gerrymandering Persists, Driven by State Legislatures Trying to Retain Power appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 11, 2025

Nineteen states and several pro-voter groups filed suit against a March 25th executive order by President Donald Trump.  The order appears to override Congressional and state jurisdiction granted by the U.S. Constitution, and its noncitizen voting restrictions could actually disenfranchise millions of eligible Americans.

To be clear, there is NO evidence of widespread noncitizen voting in any state.  But the March 25th order requires documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, which in practice would require it for state elections, too.  States who don’t follow the Trump directive could lose federal funding.  

Problem is, one in nine Americans don’t have ready access to their citizenship papers.  An estimated 69 million married women use a name different from their birth certificate, and only half of Americans have a valid U.S. Passport.

The order also requires states to comb their voter rolls for possible noncitizens, gives states access to federal databases, and mandates states report voting infractions to the U.S. Justice Department.  It requires that mail ballots be received by election day, eliminating grace periods.

The U.S. Constitution assigns administration of elections to the states and Congress, which is the basis of states’ challenge.  The Campaign Legal Center and four other pro-democracy groups also challenged the ruling on similar grounds.

We’ve linked to Trump’s order and the legal challenges at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

The White House – Executive Order:  PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS
NPR – 19 states sue over Trump’s voting executive order, arguing it’s unconstitutional
PBS – Election watchdog groups sue Trump administration over executive order, calling it unconstitutional
Campaign Legal Center – CLC Sues to Block Trump Administration’s Illegal Election Overreach
Campaign Legal Center  – Complaint in U.S. District Court for DC Against Trump Executive Order
U.S. District Court for MA, via State of NY – Complaint by 19 States Against Trump Executive Order

Groups Taking Action:

Campaign Legal Center, State Democracy Defenders Fund, LULAC, Arizona Students’ Association, Secure Families Initiative

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

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #DonaldTrump #ExecutiveOrders #Unconstitutional #Disenfranchisement

The post Pro-Voter Groups and 19 States Challenge Trump Executive Order on Voting Rules as Unconstitutional and Likely to Disenfranchise Millions appeared first on American Democracy Minute.