voter suppression
Florida gave voting rights to people with felony convictions. Now some face charges for voting.
Florida authorities arrested a Black man while he was staying in a homeless shelter and charged him with voting illegally in a case tied to Republicans’ drive to root out election fraud. But Kelvin Bolton’s arrest raises questions about the rollout of Amendment 4, passed by Florida voters in 2018 to restore voting rights to […]
A moment of clarity on voting rights
During Thursday’s Milwaukee Press Club panel discussion about the latest Marquette University Law School poll, Charles Franklin, the poll’s director and one of the most respected pollsters in the country, took a rare break from his usual careful neutrality to answer a question about his childhood in the segregated south in the 1950s and 60s. […]
Voting snafus in Texas primary show what may be on the way for other states
HOUSTON — Standing outside a polling location in the historically Black neighborhood of Kashmere Gardens on Election Day, lieutenant governor candidate Carla Brailey predicted that Texas’ performance in 2022’s first primary would gain national attention — no matter the outcome. Texas is already a model for other Republican-controlled states for its new law that makes […]
Republicans in Wisconsin try to curb our freedom to vote
Almost all of the bills that Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature rammed through in the last week would have the effect of curbing our freedom to vote.Two bills would make voting by absentee ballot more difficult for all voters in Wisconsin. SB 939 would prohibit the Wisconsin Elections Commission or any local clerk from sending out […]
Assembly committee knocks down measure to recall 2020 electors
Assembly Democrats have attempted to drive a stake in the heart of a resolution from a Republican lawmaker who has demanded that his party recall Wisconsin’s presidential electors from 2020 — a demand that is impossible to fulfill and sparked conflict inside the Legislature’s GOP caucus. The Assembly’s Republican leader twice publicly renounced the rogue […]
Congressional Black Caucus calls for Senate action on voting rights
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Senate Democrats on Thursday to push for the swift passage of two voting rights bills, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are applying pressure for action as well. During a press conference at the Capitol on Wednesday, caucus Chair Joyce Beatty said that members […]
Schumer insists ‘failure is not an option’ as voting rights fight intensifies
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the Senate will act as soon as Wednesday to attempt to again pass voting rights legislation. “Failure is not an option for the democracy of America,” the New York Democrat said at a Tuesday press conference with other Senate Democrats. “We’re running out of time.” Schumer […]
How Wisconsin became ground zero for the ‘Big Lie’
Wisconsin is at the center of the attack on American democracy that reached a frightening crescendo a year ago with the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Apart from Derrick Van Orden, the Republican candidate for the Congressional seat soon to vacated by Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse), there were not many cheeseheads actually present for the […]
Candidates fighting 2020 misinformation run to administer local elections
As a chemist and immigrant from Vietnam, Linh Nguyen never thought she could have a role in U.S. politics. But then Donald Trump was elected president in 2016 and he “unknowingly inspired minority leaders, women of color like me, to be more actively engaged in politics,” she said. She joined the nonpartisan League of Women […]
League of Women Voters lawsuit seeks to reactivate over 31,000 purged voters
The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, represented by the Fair Elections Center, Law Forward and Stafford Rosenbaum, LLP, filed suit in federal court on Wednesday to reinstate 31,854 registered Wisconsin voters who were purged from the voter rolls in July 2021. The voters were not provided notice before they were deactivated, and therefore, the […]
Activists target corporate campaign cash in battle against voting restrictions
Members of the Defend Black Voters Coalition chose Detroit’s Huntington Center as their backdrop earlier this month when they issued a warning about the dangers of “voter suppression legislation” backed by Republican state lawmakers. The building behind them, formerly known as the TCF Center, was a powerful symbol of what could happen if elections indeed […]
How undermining elections became central to the GOP plan
Harassing election officials and working to undermine the integrity of Wisconsin elections has become a central part of Republicans’ electoral strategy. On Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters that it is “possible if not likely” that his election investigator, former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, will interrogate Meagan Wolfe, the beleaguered administrator of the […]