Staunch GOP Attorney General of Arizona belittles election deniers

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2022/10/30/arizona-attorney-general-tells-60-minutes-election-deniers-are-clowns-engaged-in-a-giant-grift/?sh=55f2c57465ac

In this text article a 42-second video, AZ AG Brnovich (yes, the one who made it harder for people to vote) says that election deniers have no evidence.

"Brnovich, a lifelong Republican, supported Donald Trump in 2020 and investigated claims of election fraud in Arizona after [the 2020] election. He ultimately found just 12 cases—12 fraudulent ballots—cast in a state where Joe Biden won by 10,000 votes."

Charlie Cooper

Republican leader of Maricopa Co. election board speaks out on election deniers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFpU8pjduWw

CBS 60 minutes video interview of 3 minutes.

Charlie Cooper

Pelosi quoted on electoral count reform

https://www.newsitem.com/opinion/editorials/congress-must-act-to-safeguard-elections/article_08570adc-ea85-5f5f-9bab-f87da1ad78d7.html

The speaker said that electoral reform could be folded into a larger bill and that it "might" get done in the lame duck.

Charlie Cooper

Center for American Progress proposes a compromise voting rights bill

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/a-legislative-proposal-to-help-safeguard-elections/

The bill does away with almost all of the Freedom to Vote Act and comprises vague language about not discriminating in opportunity to vote. It creates a private cause of action for anyone whose opportunity to vote has been restricted.

Charlie Cooper

GMOM founder Joe Garonzik op-ed

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-1031-voting-inflation-20221028-c24yjfizpbckncpmrr4rtdti34-story.html

Garonzik goes beyond the headline inflation numbers to show how policy choices impact middle- and working-class pocketbooks.

Charlie Cooper

Why people believe that voter fraud stole the election for Biden

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/70-percent-republicans-falsely-believe-stolen-election-trump/

Charlie Cooper

Federal judge refuses to block Arizona vigilantes from "monitoring" drop boxes

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/judge-allows-arizona-vigilantes-to-continue-monitoring-drop-boxes/?emci=3823850c-1c57-ed11-819c-002248258d2f&emdi=819d19a9-2157-ed11-819c-002248258d2f&ceid=6010516

The judge ruled that "Clean Elections USA's" First Amendment rights outweigh voters' rights under the Voting Rights Act and the Ku Klux Klan act of 1871.

Charlie Cooper

Biggest wave ever of money in midterms

https://us12.campaign-archive.com/?u=7fdad23a80f54c4dc24833bd8&id=0d3d28587d

Top 50 billionaires have given $1.1 billion, and that doesn't include dark money.

Charlie Cooper

Rural Nevada still obsessing about 2020 election lies

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/how-rural-nevada-became-the-next-battleground-for-the-big-lie

Rural Nevada accounts for less than 3% of the states' votes. Trump won by double digits in most places, with margins sometimes exceeding 50%. But rural Nevada election boards continue to obsess about purported voter fraud in and around Reno and Las Vegas. They want to eliminate all voting machines and use hand counting of ballots, and they somehow believe that if they switch to these methods, that the urban jurisdictions will be forced to follow suit.

Election administrators have been subjected to harassment and death threats and some have resigned, creating a prospect of chaos in administering the upcoming elections in these small counties.

Charlie Cooper

2-minutes video explains Independent State Legislature Theory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdPZCMpP3u4

Animation from the Brennan Center.

from Shayne Dizard

Michael Flynn group surveying election officials about voting machines

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-surveys/

The article alleges that the group misrepresents its purpose when asking for interviews with election officials. "Chris Quackenbush, a Republican who interviewed officials in Florida [for Flynn's group], told Reuters the surveyors only 'pretended' to be nonpartisan. The real objective was to gather technical information on voting machines to help wage a campaign against them, said Quackenbush, a former software executive who wore a 'NO VOTING MACHINES' badge during an interview"

Charlie Cooper

Election deniers are wreaking havoc with Nevada's election administration apparatus

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/21/nevada-republicans-election-denier-sabotage-midterms/

Many local election officials have resigned due to harassment and threats and visible errors have appeared on ballots prepared by their replacements. Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant is leading the charge of election deniers.

Charlie Cooper

Manchin and Hickenlooper team up for fossil fuels

https://prospect.org/power/how-manchin-capitalized-on-being-at-center-of-ira-debate/

As he was negotiating with Chuck Schumer for the energy permitting piece of the "Inflation Reduction Act" in the summer, Manchin created a new fundraising vehicle. Colorado Senator Hickenlooper supported the fossil-friendly part of the bill, and then contributions from Colorado energy companies flowed to Manchin. The fossil-friendly provision did not pass, but the two will keep trying.

Charlie Cooper

What a secretary of state can do to skew elections

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-doug-ducey-arizona-donald-trump-710d8d35d6414784255fa133e08f190e

A secretary of state (especially in tandem with governor and attorney general) could rewrite election manuals, make it harder to register, limit drop boxes, scuttle valid voter initiative petitions, change machines, select/fire contractors, purge the voter rolls and much more.

Charlie Cooper

Summary of briefs filed in Moore v. Harper (re: ISLT)

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/moore-v-harper-parties-submit-briefs-to-the-u-s-supreme-court/?emci=09b4d95d-ae50-ed11-819c-002248258e08&emdi=e6b680e6-3751-ed11-819c-002248258e08&ceid=6010516

Summary of briefs written by an attorney for the Democratic Party. It points out that the NC legislature had explicitly enacted provisions for court review of election laws vis a vis compliance with the state's constitution.

Charlie Cooper

Poll reveals current attitudes toward the fairness of elections

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-presidential-election-2020-democracy-33823de7f22a601a192fc82eeb88e630?user_email=96eb705c0db50c27ac3d234439d4e34535193f1d552af2727344ed6896c6e3aa&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Oct19_MorningWire&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers

Republicans and Democrats have flipped their attitudes on whether democracy is working well. No mention is made of money in politics. It seems Trump sets the agenda -- even for these pollsters who clearly reject Trump's Big Lie.

Charlie Cooper

American-Israel PAC funds Trump Republicans

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/18/pro-israel-lobby-group-aipac-midterms-election-deniers-and-extremist-republicans

The pro-Israel group spends money to defeat Democratic progressives who speak up for rights of Palestinians and also sometimes funds "racists, homophobes and election deniers running for Congress next month because they have pledged to defend Israel against stiffening criticism of its oppression of the Palestinians."

Charlie Cooper

Another rundown of corporations financing elections for Big Lie proponents

https://popular.info/p/corporations-donated-more-than-356?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

" This single newsletter involved analyzing hundreds of thousands of campaign finance records filed with 16 states and the federal government."

Charlie Cooper

DeSantis removes an elected prosecutor on flimsy grounds

https://truthout.org/articles/ron-desantiss-ousting-of-elected-official-sets-a-dangerous-precedent/

Florida governor has removed a local elected prosecutor, using a state statute that allows the Governor to remove officials for malfeasance, misfeasance, drunkenness, etc. The official is fighting back in federal courts.

Charlie Cooper

What's so bad about Independent State Legislature Theory (ISLT)

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/supreme-court-may-adopt-extreme-maga-election-theory-that-threatens-democracy/

This article contains an enlightening list of particular ways that ultra-partisan state legislatures can deny the popular will in federal elections if the Supreme Court greenlights ISLT. In addition, chaos would ensue because state elections would continue to be subject to the usual checks and balances by governors, state courts, and administrative officials.

Charlie Cooper

Supreme Court reform is constitutional and has been attempted before

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/opinion/supreme-court-reform.html?searchResultPosition=1

In a review of Reconstruction Era history, Jamelle Bouie explains how Republicans almost imposed supermajority requirements on certain types of decisions by the Supreme Court.

Charlie Cooper

Tech billionaire Ellison funds election deniers

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2022/10/12/tech-billionaire-larry-ellisons-record-political-giving-funds-election-deniers-in-midterms/?sh=61cb94582934 

Larry Ellison has 86 billion dollars and he's funding a super PAC.

Charlie Cooper

Pence supports Kari Lake for governor of Arizona despite her election denial

https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/midterm-elections-roundup-standing-election-deniers-rcna51831 

Prominent Republicans who accept Biden's victory nevertheless support election denies because they agree with them on other issues and for party solidarity.

Charlie Cooper

Certain prominent corporate leaders have contributed to election deniers

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/12/2022-midterms-corporate-leaders-fund-election-deniers-in-secretary-of-state-races.html 

Charlie Cooper

CATO Institute explains benefits of the Electoral Count Reform Act

https://www.cato.org/blog/electoral-count-act-rule-law-political-violence

The libertarian think tank does a good job of laying out how the changes in the Electoral Count Reform Act respond affirmatively to actual behaviors of MAGA election deniers.

Charlie Cooper

New CNN poll shows election deniers ahead in AZ, NV secretary of state races

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/07/politics/secretary-of-state-election-denier-poll-arizona-nevada

Charlie Cooper

Texas election administrators face harassment, death threats

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-election-poll-workers-battle-activists/ 

One Republican legislator said that his colleagues know that the vote suppression law they passed are based on "bullshit" claims of voter fraud.

Charlie Cooper

Software firm CEO charge with storing election related data in China

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/ceo-election-software-firm-held-id-info-theft-91016852 

The firm had a contract with Los Angeles county which required it to keep the data in the US according to the charging documents.

Charlie Cooper

Guardian series on threats to Democracy

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/04/us-democracy-attack-midterms-election-constitutional-crisis-2024

This series starts with Nevada secretary of state candidate Jim Marchant's claims that only hand-counting of ballots is reliable. The county replaced its election administrator with an MAGA election denier.

Charlie Cooper

Details of campaign funding for Arizona governorship

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/arizona-election-update-blake-masters-kari-lake/

Charlie Cooper

ISLT could override electoral count reform

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/30/supreme-court-could-effectively-nullify-electoral-count-act/ 

Should we share this with Helen Rogers and Bill Van Horne prior to our meeting?

Charlie Cooper

Poll results show Finchem and Marchant leading

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/10/01/world/politics-diplomacy-world/election-conspiracy-theorists-leading-polls/

This article shows actual poll results with election deniers Finchem in AZ and Marchant in NV leading in secretary of state races.

Charlie Cooper