‌‌‌‌‌Florida Supreme Court Ends Redistricting Wars, For Now

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SPONSORED MESSAGE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN*

Franchise readers, Wisconsin is ground zero in the fight for voting rights: whether we beat back far-right attacks on the freedom to vote could determine the future of our democracy. Add your name to help us fight back.

Hello readers!

For the time being, the redistricting wars have been decided: Dems made no significant gains, and the nation’s congressional districts have grown more partisan.

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Alright, let’s dig in.

Redistricting Wars End With A Fizzle

The FLORIDA Supreme Court last week denied voting rights organizations’ request to review Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) extremely gerrymandered congressional maps, saying that the issue was still before an appeals court and therefore out of its jurisdiction. A lower court ruled last month that the map illegally diminished the power of Black voters by eliminating a plurality-Black district in the north of the state.
 

That decision means the DeSantis map — which is roughly 70% Republican districts, even though Donald Trump won Florida in 2020 with just 51% of the vote — will be in use for the 2022 elections.

And with that, the redistricting wars are basically over: New York Democrats’ map was redrawn by an independent arbiter, Ohio Republicans played a waiting game until their own slanted map was the only option — and so on. 
 

All in all, the nation added two congressional districts that Joe Biden would have won in 2020, The New York Times reported. But, as important, the both red and blue congressional districts grew more polarized — that is, less likely to elect someone of the minority party.

Michigan Voter ID Measure Delayed By Forgeries 

The Republican candidates for MICHIGAN governor who submitted thousands of forged signatures were kept off the ballot by a series of court rulings last week. 
 

But another item was affected by the signature forgeries: A petition effort to institute strict new voter ID rules in the state. As we reported last year, the petition initiative would circumvent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) veto pen and go straight to the Republican-controlled legislature.

The “Secure MI Vote” leaders said they found 20,000 fraudulent signatures. But, personally, I bet it was more than that: The effort only needed 340,047 valid signatures, and Secure MI Vote said it gathered over 435,000  noting including those already excluded. In other words, if organizers were confident there were just 20,000 frauds, they’d probably submit everything else for an official count.

The effort will submit its signatures in a few months — they still have time, they just missed an early opportunity. The delay could mean that the issue gets punted to 2024, depending on how the measure is handled by Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state.

Of that possibility, Jamie Roe, a spokesperson for the effort, said at a press conference Wednesday: “We hope that we can count on the professionalism of the Bureau of Elections to — when we do submit it — to promptly go through and certify the results.” 

Around The States

SPONSORED MESSAGE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN*

Franchise readers, Wisconsin is ground zero in the fight for voting rights: whether we beat back far-right attacks on the freedom to vote could determine the future of our democracy. Add your name to help us fight back.

An ARIZONA judge ruled against the Republican Party’s lawsuit — it’s second suit, actually — to end early voting in the state. Early voting, including through ballot drop boxes or the Postal Service, is the state’s preferred method by far, used by 90% of voters in 2020. But the state’s Republican Party argued that it compromises ballot secrecy and could lead to voter intimidation. 
 

“There is nothing in the Arizona Constitution which expressly prohibits the legislature from authoring new voting laws, including ‘no-excuse’ mail-in ballots’” Superior Court Judge Lee F. Jantzen wrote, citing several privacy protections in the state’s mail-in voting system. 
 

NEW YORK has a new voter protection bill headed to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) desk, but a bill that would move local elections to even-numbered years, which could help boost turnout, won’t be moving forward. 
 

Local OHIO election officials are protesting gerrymandered congressional maps that are only in place because the state’s Republican-dominated redistricting commission ran out the clock. Unfortunately, they’re stuck with these districts this year. 

The Latest In Election Sabotage

Republican Party officials and conservative activists are coaching true Trump believers on how to score government election jobs. That could lead to an amped-up round of false propaganda this election cycle, part of an effort to secure illegitimate wins for conservatives. 
 

A Republican lawmaker in ARIZONA basically called for a stalking campaign to combat the non-existent threat of mass ballot harvesting depicted in the nonsensical Dinesh D’Souza film “2000 Mules.”

“I have been so pleased to hear about all you vigilantes out there that want to camp out at these drop boxes,” Sen. Kelly Townsend said. “We’re going to have hidden trail cameras, we are going to have people parked out there watching you and they are going to follow you to your car and get your license plate, so don’t try it. Don’t try it anymore.”
 

FLORIDA Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) comes out in favor of guns at the polls — to combat voter intimidation. 
 

MICHIGAN authorities have broadened their investigation into breaches of voting machines across the state after the 2020 election, Reuters reported. According to the story, “documents depict a statewide push by pro-Trump activists to access election machinery in search of evidence for debunked theories that equipment was rigged in a crucial swing state that voted for Trump in 2016 and for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.” 
 

PENNSYLVANIA gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano (R) wants to make everyone in the state re-register to vote. To which federal law says: You can’t do that! 
 

A WASHINGTON judge fined an “election integrity” group $28,000 after their lawsuit alleging that state officials registered non-citizens to vote turned out to be based on claims that were basically made up. 
 

The bogus investigation of WISCONSIN’s 2020 election results has cost taxpayers nearly $900,000.

WaPo: Woodward and Bernstein thought Nixon defined corruption. Then came Trump.
 

LA Times: Trump allies explored sending armed private contractors to seize voting machines in 2020 election
 

NYT: In Races to Run Elections, Candidates Are Backed by Key 2020 Deniers

*Paid for by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Wisdems.org. Not authorized by any candidate’s campaign or committee. Donations to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin are not tax deductible.

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