Get Money Out - Maryland Posts of Interest about Money in Politics and Voting Rights

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Daily Kos <campaigns@dailykos.com>
Date: Tue, Sep 6, 2022 at 4:02 PM
Subject: Arizona's Supreme Court is blocking the voters' constitutional rights
To: <rdbtenor@gmail.com>

Renaud, in an unprecedented instance of interference, the Arizona Supreme Court has subverted the will of nearly half a million Arizonans, and dealt a blow to the ballot initiative process.

Our friends Arizonans for Fair Elections and many other pro-democracy groups in the state gathered 475,000 signatures to put the Free and Fair Elections Act–which would have protected the freedom to vote, limited the influence of money in politics, and prevented the legislature from overturning election results–on the ballot. This is double the 237,465 necessary to get a ballot initiative certified.

However, right-wing extremist Governor Doug Ducey's unfairly stacked Supreme Court invalidated more than 50% of those signatures and tossed the initiative off the ballot. Meanwhile, several other initiatives (Propositions 128, 129, and 132)–referred by the legislature, not the voters–to limit the right to pass ballot measures will still appear on the November ballot.

This attack on ballot initiatives from the people cannot stand. Please contribute $2 to each of these grassroots Arizona organizations to help mobilize voters to defeat Propositions 128, 129, and 132, and defend the people's right to ballot initiatives.

DONATE
As a part of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, Trump's cronies leaned hard on U.S. Representative Rusty Bowers (R-AZ-25) to "find" fraud in Arizona's election results and submit an alternate slate of electors. Luckily, he knew this request was a betrayal of his duty, and the people of Arizona know it, too.

The Free and Fair Elections Act, unjustly rejected by the state Supreme Court, would explicitly prevent the state legislature from overturning election results, in addition to securing and expanding voting rights. Yet, the GOP-controlled state legislature and the highest court in the state are conspiring against voters to make ballot initiatives nearly impossible to pass.

The Arizona Supreme Court's overreach is unprecedented and blatantly partisan. We must turn out a wave of voters to defeat this attack against democracy. Please donate $2 to each of these organizations doing deep, progressive, pro-democracy voter engagement in Arizona ahead of the 2022 elections.

DONATE
Thank you and keep fighting,
Irna Landrum, Daily Kos

If you wish to donate by mail instead, please send a check to Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Contributions to Daily Kos are not tax deductible. (Please note that we may be slow to process checks during the coronavirus outbreak.)

Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Daily Kos, please click here.

Relationship of Electoral Count Act and Independent State Legislature Theory

https://www.justsecurity.org/82685/independent-state-legislatures-and-presidential-elections-addressing-misconceptions-about-current-law-and-prospects-for-reform/

A conservative interpretation discusses a range of areas where the two concepts might overlap.

Charlie Cooper

Sunday, September 4, 2022

DeSantis prosecution of "fraudulent" voters is itself fraudulent

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/04/desantis-election-police-voter-arrests/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F37d557a%2F6314c742ab732227d00b714c%2F596bf11fae7e8a44e7e24152%2F10%2F72%2F6314c742ab732227d00b714c&wp_cu=a978da95a6d8c1553195474a09748f62%7Cfaf1cfba-0f88-11e0-a478-1231380f446b

Returning citizens find themselves under arrest for voter fraud, even though election officials told them they were eligible to vote.

Charlie Cooper

Fwd: Leonard Leo: the secretive rightwinger using billions to reshape America

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/04/leonard-leo-federalist-society-conservative-abortion?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

A good picture of Leonard Leo and a peek into his group that's designed to purge voter rolls, maintain the Electoral College, and make it harder to vote.

Thanks to Sheila Ruth

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Overview of our campaign finance mess

https://wapo.st/3Ts3gUE

Using the example of the $1.6 billion donation to a right-wing 501(c)(4), this editorial by the Washington Post itemizes what can be fixed by Congress and the IRS and what requires a constitutional amendment or a U-turn by the Supreme Court.

Charlie Cooper

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Electoral Count Reform Act -- popular election for President

https://www.startribune.com/counterpoint-the-electoral-count-acts-poison-pill/600198867/

The authors parse a phrase in the 14th Amendment,:

"Section 2 specified a substantial penalty if 'the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States … [was] denied ... or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime.' Any state that abridges this fundamental right to vote is to have its political representation in the House and in the Electoral College reduced."

Charlie Cooper

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Largest single political donation in U.S. history

https://www.propublica.org/article/dark-money-leonard-leo-barre-seid

This is not campaign money, nor is it dark money. It is merely an example of how the concentration of wealth gives conservative causes a boost.

Charlie Cooper