RandySF
RandySF's JournalAlabama Passes Legislation To Make Sure Biden Makes It To November Ballot
President Joe Biden will make it to the November ballot in Alabama after state officials made sure that his name will be on the ballots by then. Officials just passed legislation that will ensure his name appears in all 50 states in time for November elections.
In a vote of 93-0, the House of Representatives passed the legislation that pushes back the certification deadline from 82 days to 74 days, which would then allow Democrats to have the time to submit Biden's name after clinching the spot for the Dem nominee at the national convention, CNN reported.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) reportedly signed the bill into law on the same day, The Hill revealed.
The same kind of accommodation was seen four years ago with then President Donald Trump. Democratic state Sen. Merika Coleman, who sponsored the bill, stated that the day they passed the bill favoring Biden was truly a great day.
https://www.ibtimes.com/alabama-passes-legislation-make-sure-biden-makes-it-november-ballot-3731205
Georgia bill to strip QR codes from ballots would cost tens of millions of dollars
Tucked inside a massive elections bill passed last month by Georgia’s legislature is a provision that requires the state to spend millions of dollars to overhaul the state’s existing voting system, or to purchase a new one before 2026.
Election officials and experts say it’s an impossible timeline, and that the vague language of the bill may prevent the use of electronic tabulators altogether. Lawmakers allocated no money for the change, which would remove computer-readable QR codes and other barcodes that the state’s voting system relies on to accurately tabulate ballots.
“We’re talking about an expense of about $25-to-$26 million, to about $300 million, depending on how you want to do it,” Gabe Sterling, the chief operating officer in the secretary of state’s office, told the House Governmental Affairs Committee on March 20, eight days before the bill passed the House. If lawmakers wanted to proceed, Sterling told them, they should write the legislation to make the changes contingent on appropriating enough money to pay for them, and move the effective date back to give election officials more time.
Lawmakers have already pushed the effective date back two years — from 2024 to 2026 — but did not make the change contingent on providing funding. So if the governor signs the bill now, it’s not clear where election officials will get the money.
https://thecurrentga.org/2024/05/03/georgia-bill-to-strip-qr-codes-from-ballots-would-cost-tens-of-millions-of-dollars/
This November's State Legislative Elections Are Key To Protecting the Presidential Election
Ahead of former President Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the presidential election through state legislatures in 2020, conventional wisdom evolved from underestimating the risk posed by state legislatures, to acknowledging the risk, to an effort to reduce the risk. Today, with Trump back on the ballot, conventional wisdom has swung right back where it started: underestimating the danger posed by state legislatures. As in 2020, that view is dangerously myopic but, with enough attention and resources, this significant risk could still be reduced.
There are some ways in which the path for subversion through state legislatures has been narrowed. In last year’s Moore v. Harper decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the idea that state legislatures alone, without regard for state law, the state’s governor or state court, could determine the outcome of an election. Congress also enacted the Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA) to require the “executive of each state” to appoint electors to the Electoral College by Dec. 11, based on the state laws in place before Election Day.
But neither change shuts the door to subversion by state legislatures. In Moore, the Court specifically said that if there is a dispute between branches of state government about a federal election, federal courts can decide which branch is right, including by siding with the legislature.
The decision points to the same unchanged fact that could well limit the scope of the ECRA: under the U.S. Constitution, states have a uniquely important role in federal elections — and picking presidential electors in particular. When it comes to a legislature involving itself in electing the president, neither the Supreme Court nor Congress can erase the argument that the legislature is acting within authority granted to it by the U.S. Constitution and state laws.
https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/this-novembers-state-legislative-elections-are-key-to-protecting-the-presidential-election/
Trump Campaign Files First Election Lawsuit of the Cycle, Targets Nevada Mail-in Voting
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump campaign is challenging Nevada’s mail-in ballot receipt deadline in its first election lawsuit of the year with the help of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Nevada Republican Party. With the road to 270 electoral votes almost certainly going through the state, Republicans are zeroing in on voting rules in Nevada.
This lawsuit seeking to invalidate mail-in ballots that are timely cast and received after Election Day is the latest in a slew of anti-voting lawsuits Republicans are filing in the leadup to the 2024 presidential election. Though this is the first anti-voting lawsuit filed this year by Trump’s presidential campaign, the RNC has already filed five other active lawsuits targeting the right to vote across six states.
The RNC and Trump campaign’s lawsuit — aimed at disenfranchising Nevada voters who cast mail in ballots — argues that the state’s mail-in ballot receipt deadline violates federal law. Currently, for the Nov. 5 election, mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day will be counted if they are received on or before 5 p.m. on Nov. 9, 2024. If a ballot’s postmarked date cannot be determined, it will be counted if received on or before Nov. 8, 2024. The lawsuit alleges that counting ballots received after Election Day “dilutes” votes and “disproportionately harms Republican candidates and voters.”
Despite evidence that widespread voter fraud is not prevalent, the complaint pushes the fraud theory: “Dilution of honest votes, to any degree, by the casting of fraudulent or illegitimate votes violates the right to vote.”
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-campaign-files-first-election-lawsuit-of-the-cycle-targets-nevada-mail-in-voting/
Labour candidate celebrates election victory on Sunak's doorstep: 'The message is clear'
Labour’s David Skaith celebrated as he won the York and North Yorkshire mayoral election on Rishi Sunak's doorstep.
The area contains the prime minister's own constituency of Richmond and was previously considered a Conservative stronghold.
It came as another blow to Mr Sunak as the Tories were set to be hit with a humiliating defeat in this year’s local elections.
Mr Skaithe was elected as the region’s first leader with 35.1 per cent of the vote, compared with the Tory candidate’s 27.3 per cent.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/labour-candidate-celebrates-election-victory-153955130.html
Tories in a 'very tough situation' after election losses, party chair admits
The Conservative chair has conceded his party is in “a very tough situation” after a difficult night at the local elections triggered calls for Rishi Sunak to change course.
Richard Holden admitted it had been “a tough set of elections” for his party, which has suffered heavy losses including in the Blackpool South byelection with a 26-point swing to Labour.
In results counted overnight, the Conservatives lost more than 100 councillors. The elections expert John Curtice said the Tories could be on course to lose 500 council seats in “one of the worst, if not the worst” performances by the party in 40 years. Counting will continue into the weekend.
Despite calls for Sunak to heed the message of the elections, Tory rebels have admitted that they lack the support to oust him.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/03/tories-in-a-very-tough-situation-after-election-losses-party-chair-admits
Missouri abortion rights group collects enough signatures to advance ballot measure
A proposed amendment to enshrine abortion access in Missouri’s constitution cleared a key hurdle Friday to appear on the ballot this year after a coalition of reproductive rights advocates submitted the required number of valid signatures to state officials.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the group leading the ballot effort, announced it had collected signatures from more than 380,000 registered voters — more than the approximately 172,000 it needed to move forward with the process of qualifying their proposal for the ballot.
The group had faced a May 5 deadline to submit the signatures.
The proposed amendment would enshrine language in the state constitution that protects abortion rights up until fetal viability, or around the 24th week of pregnancy, with exceptions after that point for the life and health of the mother.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/missouri-abortion-rights-ballot-measure-rcna150448
Georgia's next election will be referendum for or against Europe: President Zourabichvili
Georgia has erupted in protest once again, as the ruling Georgian Dream party pursues a "foreign agents" bill in parliament – something that has left a question mark hanging over the country’s European ambitions. The EU granted the ex-Soviet nation candidate status to join the bloc last December. We speak to Georgia's President Salomé Zourabichvili, who plans to veto the final draft of the law, but admits that parliament can still override her veto. That makes the October 26 election even more crucial for re-asserting the country’s European path, she says.
Zourabichvili explains that, contrary to what Georgia's ruling party says, the draft law is not equivalent to transparency legislation in Western countries. "It's an exact copy of the law that was passed by Russia and which allowed Russia to clamp down on nongovernmental organisations first and on the media next," she says. "And the Georgian authorities are pushing this law for the second time. Last year they declined to go forward with it, and now they are proposing the same law and their aim and objective is no different."
The Georgian president says she will veto the bill after it has gone through various readings. But she admits that the ruling party has the votes in parliament to ultimately overturn her veto. In that case, what is the answer? "The answer to this law, and to many other laws, and to the anti-European, anti-Western rhetoric coming from the governing party, will be in the elections," she states.
"We have elections on October 26 of this year. And now it's very clear that the elections will be a kind of referendum for or against Europe. What type of future do we want for Georgia? The Georgian population has been supporting the European path for years and years now, with 80 percent of all the opinion polls in favour. The granting of EU candidate status to Georgia has only reinforced the sense that we are now close to the next stage, and that is a stage that nobody here wants to see escaping us. Georgians will probably vote en masse next October. I'm very confident and I'm very hopeful."
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/talking-europe/20240503-georgia-s-next-election-will-be-referendum-for-or-against-europe-president-zourabichvili
London mayoral election on a knife edge, warn Labour insiders
Labour insiders have warned that the London mayoral election is on a knife edge after the party was hit by a local elections backlash from Muslim voters over its stance on Gaza.
One ally of Sadiq Khan, the incumbent mayor, said the fight with Conservative Susan Hall was “definitely going to be close” and suggested there could be just a few points in it.
The warnings suggested Ms Hall could defy expectations, despite having largely been written off ahead of the election.
On Friday night, the Conservatives were buoyed by low turnout data suggesting that many of Mr Khan’s previous supporters may have stayed home.
The number of ballots cast was down in some areas where he performed well last time, while it was up in Tory strongholds such as Bexley and Bromley.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/03/london-mayoral-election-on-knife-edge-warn-labour-insiders/
Rishi Sunak calls local election losses disappointing as Labour make gains
The Conservatives have lost over 400 council seats, while Labour won the Blackpool South by-election.
Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said voters showed Mr Sunak they wanted a change in the last big test of public opinion before a general election.
Nearly 90% of the 107 councils up for election have declared so far.
Sir Keir said the Blackpool result - a massive 26% swing to Labour - was a message to the Tory leader that it was time to move on and call a general election
.https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68947838
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