Local Election Subversion Efforts Are A National Story

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Thanks to the hundreds of you who responded to our survey of Franchise readers a couple weeks ago, we're now working with a better understanding of your priorities and interests — and we've got some story ideas, too.

For one thing, I wasn't following the ongoing slog of a process to replace Louisiana's ancient voting machines. Thanks to reader Arturo for flagging that story. You also spoke loudly about your interest in gerrymandering, as well as bread-and-butter coverage of voting barriers like photo ID laws.

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Alright, let’s dig in.

SCOTUS Will Hear From North Carolina GOPers Who Want To Defend Photo ID Law 

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case over who exactly can argue in defense of NORTH CAROLINA's strict voter ID law in court — the Democratic attorney general or the Republican legislative leadership. 
 

As election law professor Rick Hasen notes here, the dispute represents a fairly common conflict, which occurs when state executives (such as the attorney general) are Democrats and legislatures are controlled by Republicans: The legislature wants certain actions or legal strategies that the executive branch isn’t willing to pursue. 
 

In North Carolina’s case, Republican legislative leaders say Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein isn’t effectively defending the law against a legal challenge brought by the NAACP.

“Attorneys in our office have worked diligently on behalf of the state throughout this case, and will continue to do so,” a spokesperson for Stein told Politico. 

National News Orgs Shine Spotlight On Local Election Subversion Efforts

National news outlets are beginning to take a closer look at Republican efforts at the state level to influence, and potentially sabotage, election administration.
 

The Washington Post and NBC News both published stories in recent days focusing on the past several months of developments at the state level, particularly in MICHIGAN. Trump himself, and his supporters at the local level, are working to install partisan election referees there whose help may be invaluable in 2022 and 2024. 
 

The Post’s lengthy Monday morning story features an interview with Robert Boyd, who TPM interviewed last month. Boyd was picked by local Republican Party officials to sit on the Wayne County, Michigan (home of Detroit) Board of Canvassers, replacing the former Republican officeholder, who voted under immense pressure to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

But the Post story includes some juicy new tidbits: COLORADO right-wingers are sharing election job listings on conservatives social media sites, in hopes of installing allies in the offices. Also new to me: The national Republican Party is turning its Election Day poll-watching operation into a permanent, year-round program, permanently staffed with attorneys and organizers.

Around The States

NEW YORK CITY is set to expand the franchise, at least in municipal elections, to more than 800,000 new potential voters: legal residents who aren’t U.S. citizens. The change is years in the making and could set a precedent for other cities around the country. There are some remaining concerns about legal roadblocks or a potential mayoral veto, though. 
 

A Dutchess County, NEW YORK elections commissioner called for his Democratic counterpart to face felony charges over a dispute concerning a handful of disputed ballots in a town board election. 
 

Early voting site closures ahead of a special election in Jacksonville, FLORIDA will disproportionately impact Black and low-income residents, activists say. 
 

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is keeping up his calls for WISCONSIN’s Republican-controlled legislature to take control of federal elections in the state. 
 

ILLINOIS Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has signed new congressional maps into law. Capitol News Illinois notes, “Analysts at the Princeton Gerrymandering Project gave the new maps an overall grade of F in the categories of partisan fairness, competitiveness and compactness.” (See that rating here.)
 

Ever wanted to see what the national voter registration form looks like in NAVAJO? Well, now you can! 
 

Special thanks this week to the good folks at Election Line, who keep diligent watch over local and state election news — even items that occurred during this TPM reporter’s Thanksgiving break!

The Latest In Audit Mania

In October, we reported that 138 state lawmakers had signed onto a letter from far-right ARIZONA state Sen. Wendy Rogers (R) raising the prospect of decertifying the 2020 election, a legal impossibility that serves one clear purpose — virtue-signaling to Republican voters. Now, the list is up to 188 state lawmakers. 
 

Two pro-Trump lawyers in COLORADO have been ordered to pay $180,000 in legal fees to Dominion Voting Systems, Facebook and others months after filing what a judge called their “wasteful, extraordinarily over broad, and dangerous” lawsuit over the 2020 election. 
 

Legislative Republicans in PENNSYLVANIA have awarded a no-bid contract to the consulting firm Envoy Sage to lead their politicized investigation into the 2020 election, costing taxpayers $270,000 for six months’ work. No, the firm has never conducted an election review, and it’s not clear why they were selected.
 

Fifty-two percent of absentee ballot application rejections in GEORGIA’s 2021 election were due to timing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported: They arrived after the new deadline set by the state’s new voting law. Prior to the new law, voters could request an absentee ballot up to the Friday before Election Day. The new deadline is a full 11 days before Election Day, which proponents say will leave some time for mail processing, but critics argue limits participation. 
 

MyPillow CEO MIKE LINDELL’s long-promised Supreme Court complaint about the 2020 election looks like an unfinished Mad Lib.

Mother Jones: Republicans Are Rigging Elections for the Next Decade
 

Reuters: U.N. expert decries near 'tyranny' in U.S. against minority voting rights
 

Politico: In North Carolina, a few hundred fraudulent ballots changed the outcome of a race. It had nothing to do with Donald Trump.

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