Category Archives: US voting rights

‘They don’t include Native voices’: tribes fight to ensure their votes count

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As the Native American population grows to the largest in modern history, groups say it’s vital that they organize to make sure they’re not left out of the redistricting process

In a small unadorned conference room in the North Dakota state capitol, Collette Brown, a representative for the Spirit Lake Nation, stood up on 26 August to testify on behalf of the 7,559 members of her federally recognized tribe.

Speaking to a largely white, male Republican committee of lawmakers, she explained what Native American communities stand to lose with redistricting if the legislature decides to draw legislative boundaries that split Native American communities or create areas that have at-large representation, instead of single-member districts.

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Texas legislature gives final approval to sweeping voting restrictions bill

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Bill, nearly identical to a measure that passed last week, gives poll watchers more power and prohibits 24-hour and drive-thru voting

The Texas legislature gave its final approval on Tuesday to a new bill that would impose substantial new restrictions on voting access in the state.

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Republican election audits have led to voting system breaches, experts say

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MyPillow chief gave out election software at South Dakota event derived from Republican challenges in Colorado and Michigan

Republican efforts to question Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020 have led to voting system breaches experts say pose a risk to future elections.

Copies of Dominion Voting Systems softwares used for designing ballots, configuring voting machines and tallying results were distributed at an event this month in South Dakota organized by the MyPillow chief executive, Mike Lindell, a Trump ally who has made unsubstantiated claims about last year’s election.

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US House passes voting rights bill, restoring critical provision of landmark law

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Bill that requires places with history of discrimination to be under federal supervision passes 219-212 – but could fail in the Senate

The US House of Representatives has passed an update to the 1965 Voting Rights Act, restoring a critical provision of the landmark civil rights law that requires places with a history of voting discrimination to be under federal supervision.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act passed 219-212 on a party-line vote.

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Sheila Jackson Lee is third Black lawmaker to be arrested during voting rights protests

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Congress members Joyce Beatty and Hank Johnson were previously arrested for participating in separate demonstrations

Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democratic representative of Texas, was arrested in Washington DC on Thursday while protesting lawmakers’ delay in passing legislation to protect voting rights, becoming the third member of the Congressional Black Caucus to be arrested for civil disobedience in recent weeks.

Related: Voting curbs enacted in 18 US states this year despite none finding widespread fraud

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US democracy faces a momentous threat says Joe Biden – but is he up for the fight?

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The president’s speech in Philadelphia decried Republicans’ assault on voting rights but critics say it offered few answers, especially on Senate rules that let the minority to block reform

Few in the audience applauding Joe Biden could have questioned the sincerity of his warning about a momentous threat to American democracy.

But they may have walked away with lingering doubts about his ability to meet the moment or answer fears that even the office of the presidency will be found politically impotent in the face of the challenge.

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Arizona counties find fewer than 200 possible voter fraud cases among 3m 2020 ballots

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Findings undermine Trump’s claims after Biden beat him by more than 10,000 votes in state

Arizona county election officials have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3m ballots cast in last year’s presidential election, undercutting Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election as his allies continue a disputed ballot review in the state’s most populous county.

The 182 cases identified by the Associated Press represent instances where problems were clear enough that officials referred them for further review. So far, only four cases have led to charges, including those identified in a separate state investigation. No one has been convicted. No vote was counted twice.

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Joyce Beatty arrested during voting rights protest at US Capitol – video

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Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, was one of nine people arrested during a voting rights protest at the US Capitol on Thursday. Beatty was participating in a protest calling for the Senate to pass a sweeping election reform bill. The bill passed the House in March but is being held up in the Senate because of a Republican filibuster. Beatty and others were arrested by Capitol police for 'demonstrating in a prohibited area on Capitol grounds', said police

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Democratic congresswoman arrested during voting rights protest at Capitol

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Joyce Beatty, chair of Congressional Black Caucus, was calling on the Senate to pass a key election reform bill

Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Democrat of Ohio, was one of nine people arrested during a voting rights protest at the Capitol this afternoon.

Beatty, who serves as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, shared a photo on Twitter of US Capitol police (USCP) officers putting a zip-tie on her and escorting her out of the building.

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Biden condemns Trump’s claim of voter fraud: ‘The big lie is just that, a big lie’ – live

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  • President deflects questions over the filibuster in voting rights speech
  • Biden: ‘The 21st century Jim Crow assault is real. It’s unrelenting’
  • Lawmakers arrive in DC to call for legislation to strengthen voting rights
  • Explainer: why did Democratic lawmakers flee Texas?

Texas Democratic lawmakers have fled their state in a desperate attempt to stop the Republican-run legislature from passing laws they say will suppress the vote of people of color.

The extreme move – which saw dozens of Democrats leave via planes and head to Washington DC – is the latest and wildest escalation in a fight over voting rights in the state and in America more broadly.

Related: Why did Democratic lawmakers flee Texas over voter restrictions?

As fires propagate throughout the US west on the heels of record heatwaves, experts are warning that the region is caught in a vicious feedback cycle of extreme heat, drought and fire, all amplified by the climate crisis.

Firefighters are battling blazes from Arizona to Washington state that are burning with a worrying ferocity, while officials say California is already set to outpace last year’s record-breaking fire season.

Related: American west stuck in cycle of ‘heat, drought and fire’, experts warn

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‘Have you no shame?’: Biden decries Republican attacks on voting rights

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President condemns Trump’s ‘big lie’ about a stolen election but fails to mention filibuster in 20-minute Philadelphia speech

Joe Biden has made an impassioned attack on racist voting laws sweeping America, warning that “the 21st-century Jim Crow assault is real” and demanding of Republicans: “Have you no shame?”

Related: Biden defends voting rights – but no word on ending the filibuster

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Biden defends voting rights – but no word on ending the filibuster

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The president gave an impassioned defense of the right to vote, but while the 60-vote Senate rule is in place, reform looks a pipe dream

Joe Biden gave his most muscular defense of the right to vote yet on Tuesday, but offered few specifics on how Democrats could overcome Republican efforts to stymie federal voting reform.

Related: Governor vows to arrest Democrats who fled Texas to block voting restrictions

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Biden to denounce Trump’s lies about stolen election in Tuesday speech

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Jen Psaki said he will also ‘decry efforts to strip the right to vote’ as Republican state legislatures pass voter suppression bills

Joe Biden, who has been criticised for failing to use his “bully pulpit” to defend voting rights, is set to deliver on Tuesday an aggressive denunciation of Donald Trump’s “big lie” about a stolen election.

After months of sidestepping acrimony with his predecessor in a bid to lower the political temperature, Biden will argue that Trump’s false conspiracy theories led to the 6 January insurrection and a rash of voter restrictions, the White House said.

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Texas Democrats flee the state to thwart voting restrictions law

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Texas Democrats fled the state as part of an all-out effort to block Republicans from passing new restrictions on voting in the state.

The move, first reported by NBC News, escalates one of the most high-stakes battles over efforts to make it harder to vote in America.

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Texas Republicans advance voting restrictions at special session after Democrat walkout

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Texans from across the ideological spectrum flocked to testify in person at public hearings convened by governor Greg Abbott

Hailee Mouch woke up at 2am Saturday morning so she could drive to her state’s capital city of Austin and testify at two competing public hearings on Texas’s restrictive voting bills.

She knew she had to return to the Dallas area to be at work by 6am Sunday. But she was determined to stay as long as possible to tell state lawmakers how their proposals would hurt democracy in the small city where she goes to college.

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Conservative justices make it clear: they won’t stop anti-democratic voting laws | Fight to vote

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The court’s majority opinion unequivocally narrows the law and gives politicians ammunition to pass more restrictive voting laws

Happy Thursday,

In a hugely consequential ruling last week, the US supreme court upheld two Arizona voting restrictions and, in the process, significantly curtailed one of the most powerful provisions that remain of the Voting Rights Act.

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Justice department sues state of Georgia over laws that ‘deny the right to vote’ – video

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The justice department is suing the state of Georgia over the new voting laws it says violate the Voting Rights Act and suppress Black Americans' right to vote.

Attorney General Merrick Garland made the announcement after the justice department scrutinized a wave of new laws in Republican-controlled states that tighten voting rules.

Under the bill, the legislature gave itself power to remove local election officials deemed to be underperforming and added a voter ID requirement for mail ballots. It will result in fewer ballot drop boxes in metro Atlanta

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Kamala Harris to visit US-Mexico border for first time as vice-president – live

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Rising homicide rates and gun violence has become a major issue in local political races, including in the New York mayoral primary elections.

For Joe Biden, rising concern about crime has proved to be a politically convenient opportunity for him to boost gun control reforms he touted as a candidate. But the president’s wide-ranging policy proposals are sure to divide Democrats.

We can't let legitimate concerns about shootings and homicides undermine momentum to overhaul law enforcement. We can't repeat the mistakes of the past and think that we can arrest our way out of rising gun violence. https://t.co/0ifVpEJCFE

Biden is speaking at the White House to explain his administration’s plans to address crime and gun trafficking.

My colleague David Smith is covering the event live:

Joe Biden: “Crime historically rises during the summer.” As we open after the pandemic; the summer spike might be higher than usual. pic.twitter.com/XfWoQ0JGQd

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