‌How 3.4% Of Michigan’s Population Can Change The Rules For Everyone

?? Hello readers! 

Michigan Republicans are positioning themselves to change the state’s election procedures with the support of just a few thousand of the state’s 10 million residents. We’ll get into that, plus, how the shenanigans in Mesa County, Colorado could affect California’s recall vote.

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Alright, let’s dig in.

How 3.4% Of Michigan’s Population Can Change The Rules For Everyone

Republicans in the MICHIGAN legislature can’t pass the new voter laws they want through the normal route. You know: having them be signed by the governor. That’s because Democrat Gretchen Whitmer (D) would veto the sorts of restrictions they want to enact, like new voter ID laws.

So the GOP has a plan: Use the state’s unusual petition system.

Under those rules, if they collect enough signatures to surpass just 8% of the vote in the last gubernatorial election, or around 340,000 signatures, then the proposal can be made law solely through a vote of the Republican-controlled legislature.

Republican operatives launched that effort, dubbed “Secure MI Vote,” last week. What do they want? A new, strict voter ID rule, one that trashes the current rule allowing voters without the right identification to attest to their identity through an affidavit at their polling place. Also, they want new ID requirements for mail-in votes, and a prohibition on elections officials sending out unsolicited absentee ballot applications.

On Thursday, the group submitted the full text of its proposed changes. They run five packed pages. 

Colorado Software Leak Could Impact the California Recall Vote

Folks, I’m sorry if you’re sick of hearing about this. But I will simply not stop covering the stupendous breach of procedure in Mesa County, COLORADO, where an elected clerk is accused of facilitating the leak of election machine software and passwords to an infamous QAnon grifter, who then joined the clerk at Mike Lindell’s “Cyber Symposium” last month.

The latest: We reported last week that, in addition to the Mesa County software images, some symposium attendees were also shown copies of the Dominion software from Antrim County, MICHIGAN — meaning that someone, somewhere along the line, violated a judge’s order to keep the software under seal.

What does it matter? Well, now, it’s a lot easier to mess with Dominion machines — no matter where they are. And that includes CALIFORNIA’s upcoming recall election. A group of election-focused cybersecurity experts called on the state to perform a thorough review of its results after the vote to ensure their integrity.

As a bonus: While there was plenty of potentially illegal behavior on display, some of the material at Lindell’s symposium was pure hacker theater. Like the contents of a publicly accessible wifi network in Las Vegas. 

Around The States

In PENNSYLVANIA, Republican lawmakers are going to court to challenge a 2019 law — one many of them voted for — expanding mail-in voting.

GEORGIA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger wants to know: Who’s really behind the DOJ lawsuit over the state’s new voting law?

As TEXAS Gov. Greg Abbott prepares to sign Republicans’ new voting package in that state, we’ve already got lawsuits lined up. (There’s a lot going on with the package you may not have heard about.) For good measure, a separate suit over redistricting.

Buffalo, NEW YORK’s presumptive mayor was a socialist. After winning the Democratic primary, defeating incumbent Mayor Byron Brown, India Walton was the heavy favorite in November. Now, she’s presumptive no more: Despite missing the filing deadline, Brown will be on the ballot under his new party, the Buffalo Party, after a judge ruled his way. 

The Latest In Audit Mania

ARIZONA’s “audit” report, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, faces even more delay: It’ll be “at least two weeks” until the state Senate sees a final report, one Senate attorney said Wednesday.

In the meantime, do some light reading: After much legal wrangling, the watchdog group American Oversight is digging through nearly 90,000 pages of audit records. Meantime, weird canvassing efforts continue. Reporters are just now breaking into the good stuff.

A legislative committee in WISCONSIN approved a $680,000 budget for one of several audits there. Separately, Milwaukee County has said it will ignore a seemingly impotent subpoena in one of the other audits the state is dealing with. Good news though: While being secretly filmed, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) made a passionate case for the legitimacy of the last election.

You may have seen NORTH CAROLINA Rep. Madison Cawthorn publicly fret about “bloodshed” that will ensue if elections “continue to be rigged.” What you may not have heard: he was just the opening act at a county Republican meeting. He passed the mic to Dave Goetze, the local election truther. Of course, donations were collected.

Slate: “The Legal Minds Who Tried to Overturn the Election for Trump Are Being Welcomed Back Into Polite Society”

Reuters: “Democrats counter Republican-led voter restrictions with early, aggressive outreach”

WaPo: “How to prevent the next Jan. 6, as revealed in an important new analysis”