With the November election fewer than six weeks away, states and localities are cleaning up voter rolls and sending out ballots to voters. However, multiple jurisdictions are experiencing issues in preparation for Election Day.
As voters in some states have already begun the early and absentee voting process, several jurisdictions have recently found problems in the administrative process, such as non-citizens on voter rolls and duplicate ballots sent out to voters.
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The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday it is suing Alabama for trying to remove noncitizens from voting lists, arguing the effort comes too close to the presidential election in November.
According to the Washington Times, the DOJ asked a federal judge to order Alabama to put the names of the presumed ineligible voters back on the active voter lists, in part because it claims that some actual citizens were told that they had been moved to an inactive voter file.
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Alabama began sending out the first mail-in ballots to voters on Wednesday, over 50 days out from the November election, according to CNN.
Alabama residents who requested mail-in ballots will be the first to lock in their vote for the upcoming local, state and presidential races, with Wisconsin rolling out their mail-in ballots the following week on September 19, CNN reported. North Carolina was supposed to have kickstarted mail-in voting, but the state was held up by a court order to reprint their ballots after former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdrew from the race and appealed to have his name be taken off.
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The World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) avoided “evidence-based” reviews of child sex-change procedures on the advice of “social justice lawyers,” a court filing states.
Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall of Alabama filed a motion for summary judgment in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama Wednesday, seeking to beat back a challenge to Alabama’s law restricting the procedures. The Alabama attorney general’s office accused WPATH of placing “advocacy concerns” at the forefront of the creation of the organization’s “Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, Version 8” (SOC-8), which was based in part on the advice of the “social justice” attorneys who advised the organization to avoid seeking evidence-based recommendations.
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Changes in congressional district boundary lines across several states do not appear to have damaged Republicans’ chances of maintaining a majority in the House of Representatives after 2024’s elections, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
North Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana and New York have experienced redistricting processes ahead of the 2024 election. While experts had previously forecast adverse changes from redistricting in these states that could have cost GOP incumbents their seats, the processes have resulted, on balance, in races where likely losses of some GOP seats could be offset by the gains in other states, experts told the DCNF.
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As Alabama has banned ballot harvesting and Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania are fighting ballot drop boxes, GOP campaign efforts are using those same tools where legal.
Democrats have long focused on mail-in and early voting while Republicans have warned of potential insecurities of those methods. Now the GOP is starting to embrace it this election cycle. However, the acceptance of mail-in voting as a tool isn’t preventing Republicans from looking to secure or ban certain aspects of it, such as ballot harvesting and ballot drop boxes.
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Various state legislators are focusing on post-election audits ahead of the November 2024 general election, with Republicans looking to implement or improve audits in some states, while Democrats in one state are trying to prevent an audit of the presidential election.
Post-election audits have been on the books of some states for years, most famously, the “hanging chad recount” fought over in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, which was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. The issue of post-election audits and the ensuing litigation has received renewed attention since the 2020 presidential election, after numerous irregularities were discovered. The Arizona Senate post-election audit was one of the more famous following the 2020 race. Dispositive evidence that irregularities “moved the needle” one way or another is still a point of contention.
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Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill Wednesday evening that gives medical professionals who freeze embryos for fertility treatments immunity from criminal prosecution.
The bill was proposed by lawmakers in February after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created during the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) were “children” and multiple IVF clinics shut down as a result due to concerns about being prosecuted. Ivey announced that she had signed the bill in a statement released on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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Numerous election issues occurred in multiple counties throughout the U.S. on Super Tuesday – from malfunctioning ballot scanners to voters having problems checking in at polling stations and being directed to the wrong station.
Counties in Alabama, California, Texas and Utah all experienced problems, resulting in some voters leaving polling sites without casting a ballot.
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Former President Donald Trump on Friday espoused support for continued access to in vitro fertilization in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that determined frozen embryos have the same rights as “unborn children.”
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The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary order to lift an injunction preventing an Alabama law banning sex-change surgeries for minors from going into effect, according to court documents.
The law was halted in 2022 for the duration of the lawsuit by a district court, which claimed that the legislation illegally intruded into a patient’s medical decisions, according to the Associated Press. The appeals court ruled against the lower court’s decision in August, and on Thursday it lifted the injunction to allow the law to take effect while the appellate court continues to weigh the law.
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Alabama football coach Nick Saban has informed the team that he plans to retire, The Tuscaloosa News reported, citing “sources.”
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A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit unanimously reversed a district court’s temporary halt to enforcement of an Alabama law that prohibits minors from obtaining puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries for treating gender dysphoria.
In Eknes-Tucker v. Marshall, the appeals court on Monday rejected the plaintiffs’ arguments, described in the opinion as “a group of transgender minors, their parents, and other concerned individuals” who challenged the constitutionality of Alabama’s Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act.
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As House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, continues to blast the FBI and Department of Justice over alleged politicization of the justice system and law enforcement, he is eyeing a major move to separate the bureau from the intrigue of the nation’s capital.
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At least 20 states have either restricted or banned transgender procedures for minors, with many of them facing lawsuits and temporary blocks by courts as a result, while future litigation is possible in states considering adopting such laws.
The states that have enacted legislation against such procedures are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia – essentially all conservative-leaning.
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Chief Justice John Roberts made a major error in judgment last week in rejecting the State of Alabama’s 2022 congressional redistricting plan in Allen v. Milligan, an error that, as dissenting Justice Samuel Alito says, puts the Voting Rights Act “on a perilous and unfortunate path.”
Joined by the three liberal justices and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Roberts, writing for the majority, approved race being the driving factor in drawing up the boundary lines of political districts, while glibly denying he was doing that. That violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.
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by Eric Lendrum On April 7th, an amicus brief was filed in favor of Florida’s current ban on using state funds to support “transgender” treatments, with 17 state attorneys general voicing their support for the law. According to the Daily Caller, the brief’s filing was part of an ongoing legal…
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Several states are advocating for harsher fentanyl penalties as overdose deaths surge in the U.S.
Nevada, Oregon, Alabama, Texas, West Virginia and South Carolina have all pushed to increase the length of sentences for fentanyl dealers, according to the Associated Press. Fentanyl is largely responsible for the more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths that occurred in 2021 up from 93,331 drug overdose deaths in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Three more red states — Florida, Missouri, and West Virginia — this week followed Louisiana and Alabama in withdrawing from a multistate data-sharing partnership that facilitates voter registration and maintenance of voter rolls, citing unmet concerns over protecting voter information and partisan influence at the nonprofit.
The latest withdrawals from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) came after the nonprofit’s board of directors rejected changes proposed by a bipartisan working group of several member states.
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Although he has been in office for only a few days, Secretary of State Wes Allen has some legislative priorities in mind for the 2023 session.
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Even though U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-55) would win the House Speaker’s race, it may have been overshadowed by an incident moments earlier on the U.S. House of Representatives floor involving U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-AL-03) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL-01). Throughout the week, Gaetz had been the figurehead for the opposition to McCarthy’s bid, which kept McCarthy from reaching the required majority to earn the role.
Rogers had emerged as one of McCarthy’s most staunch allies in the ordeal by taking an aggressive tack against the 20-something holdouts led by Gaetz. At one point, Rogers called for stripping the holdouts of their committee assignments, which drew the ire of U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX-21).
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Half of the states in the U.S. no longer require residents to hold a concealed carry permit to carry firearms in public after Alabama, Indiana, Georgia and Ohio passed laws in 2022 removing permit requirements.
On Monday, Alabama began enforcing its permitless carry law, becoming the 25th state to do so, while Indiana, Georgia and Ohio also passed laws this year allowing residents to concealed carry firearms without a permit. Over the last two years 10 states have moved to permitless carry, including Utah, Montana, Iowa, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas.
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Following South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem’s lead, nearly half of U.S. states have put restrictions on or banned the use of Chinese-based social media app TikTok.
At least 19 states have banned TikTok on government-issued devices – Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utha, Virginia and West Virginia.
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Days after Gov. Kay Ivey issued a memo banning TikTok from government devices, Auburn University announced its plans to prohibit the app as well.
On Wednesday, Auburn’s IT department sent out a notice saying the popular video-sharing app would be banned on campus WiFi and devices, according to AL.com. The IT department on Thursday tweeted a link to the new policy. However, that tweet has since been removed, and the school’s IT page posted an update Saturday saying, “Auburn is monitoring the developments related to accessing TikTok and will provide information as we receive it. Check back later for more information.”
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Google agreed to a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states after an investigation found that the tech giant participated in questionable location-tracking practices, state attorneys general announced Monday.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong called it a “historic win for consumers.”
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A fuel supply and logistics company is warning about diesel shortages across the Southeast United States, issuing an alert on Friday about “rapidly devolving” conditions in North Carolina and six other states.
Mansfield moved to “Alert Level 4” to address market volatility, and “Code Red” in the Southeast, which means the company is now requesting 72 hour notice for deliveries when possible “to ensure fuel and freight can be secured at economical levels.”
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The alleged kidnapper of a 12-year-old girl in Alabama was a previously deported illegal alien, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation Thursday.
José Paulino Pascual-Reyes, 37, who was arrested for alleged kidnapping in the first degree about 25 miles from Auburn, Alabama, was deported in 2014 and is currently in the U.S. illegally, the ICE spokesperson told the DCNF. He has since been charged with three counts of capital murder, Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett told the DCNF.
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A federal judge in Tennessee ruled in favor of Tennessee, Georgia, and 18 other states in their effort to block federal guidelines on transgender athletes and school locker rooms.
The lawsuit, brought by Tennessee, challenged guidance from the United States Department of Education and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that would allow athletes who were marked as males on their birth certificates to compete in girls and women’s sports. The federal guidance also would have prohibited student shower and locker room access from being determined by birth gender and provided guidance on required pronoun use.
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Five years in the making, the Red Clay Strays’ debut album, ‘Moment of Truth,’ is a crowdfunded masterpiece that is not to be missed. This innovative, southern rock band will have you jumping all over the pews in the Rockabilly Church of the Delta Blues.
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Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is suing the Biden administration over claims it is ignoring immigration law that requires the federal government to arrest, detain and deport foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally.
The lawsuit alleges that the Biden administration’s immigration policy exceeds the authority of the Department of Homeland Security, is arbitrary and capricious, illegally bypassed notice and public commenting, and is unconstitutional.
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Twenty-one states have filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s continued mask mandate on public transportation, including on airplanes.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody are leading the effort. Moody filed the suit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida along with 20 other attorneys general. DeSantis said the mask mandate was misguided and heavy-handed.
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Alabama officials reversed a decision to revoke a license plate belonging to Nathan Kirk, referring to the slogan criticizing President Joe Biden — “Let’s go, Brandon” — according to The Washington Post.
The state previously demanded that Kirk surrender his license plate within 10 days in a Feb. 17 letter that called the plate an affront to the “peace and dignity of the State of Alabama,” according to the Post.
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Sixteen states again are challenging a federal COVID-19 vaccination mandate for health care workers who work at facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding.
Friday’s filing in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana comes after the issuance of final guidance on the mandate from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS), arguing the guidance is an action that is reviewable.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled by 5-4 vote Jan. 13 against the original Louisiana challenge to the mandate and a similar Missouri filing.
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Amazon employees in Bessemer, Alabama, are set to hold a second union vote after the first election was deemed illegal, a federal labor agency said Tuesday.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that workers at the Bessemer warehouse would vote again on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) on Feb. 4. The second vote comes almost a year after the first election in which Amazon employees overwhelmingly rejected the proposal to join the RWDSU.
Following the unsuccessful unionization bid, labor organizers demanded a new vote, alleging that Amazon improperly placed the election ballot box on company property, which the union argued was a form of intimidation. The union also alleged that Amazon threatened warehouse workers with messages saying the facility might close or they might lose benefits if the union vote succeeded.
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Jefferson County, Alabama, Judge Nakita Blocton was removed from her job after numerous accusations of abuse against employees, colleagues and litigants while reportedly under the influence of Phentermine or other prescription drugs.
Blocton was accused of calling another judge a “fat bitch” and “Uncle Tom,” according to the judgment of the Alabama Court of the Judiciary.
One employee accused Blocton of forcing her and others to take Phentermine, a diet pill, to “pep” them up after working late in a complaint to the Alabama Judiciary.
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A junior nominated for a position on Auburn University’s student government was successfully shot down because he expressed Christian and conservative beliefs on social media.
Stephen Morris was nominated for the position of chief justice of Auburn University’s Student Government Association. To his surprise, at the session where his nomination was to be taken up, held remotely over video, several members of the student senate strongly opposed his nomination.
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An African American man who allegedly shot and wounded five white men in Phenix City, Alabama last weekend and then crossed the Chattahoochee River into nearby Columbus, Georgia could face federal hate crimes charges. This, according to Phenix City Assistant Police Chief George Staudinger.
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Alabama will soon cease participating in the federal government’s unemployment insurance program that grants out-of-work Americans an extra $300 per week, the state’s governor said.
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey announced that the state would withdraw from the coronavirus relief program by June 19, 2021, arguing that the $300 in additional weekly payments was incentivizing people not to look for jobs. She suggested that the labor shortages reported in states across the country have been caused by the unemployment boost.
“As Alabama’s economy continues its recovery, we are hearing from more and more business owners and employers that it is increasingly difficult to find workers to fill available jobs, even though job openings are abundant,” Ivey said in a statement.
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Alabama A&M University in Huntsville is the latest school to close its Confucius Institute.
According to a press release from Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), the university’s board “voted to close their Confucius Institute and end their relationship with the Communist Chinese Party.”
“Confucius Institutes are nothing more than Communist Chinese Party propaganda and spying units,” said Rep. Brooks. “For nearly a year, I, and other patriotic Alabamians have called on Alabama A&M University and Troy University to close their Communist Chinese Party-controlled Confucius Institutes.”
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Thirteen states sued President Joe Biden’s administration over an American Rescue Plan provision prohibiting states from cutting taxes after accepting coronavirus relief funds.
The 13-state coalition argued that the provision included in the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package preventing states from cutting taxes if they accept relief from the federal government is unconstitutional. The coalition, led by Republican West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday evening in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
“Never before has the federal government attempted such a complete takeover of state finances,” Morrisey said in a Wednesday statement. “We cannot stand for such overreach.”
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U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL-05) is scheduled to make what he calls a major announcement regarding his future Monday. This, according to a press release that Brooks and his staff emailed late last week. Brooks also promoted the event on Twitter.
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A group of red states sued President Biden and members of his administration on Wednesday over his decision to revoke a key permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, The Hill reported.
The lawsuit is led by Montana and Texas, and backed by 19 other states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
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The Alabama state Senate voted Tuesday to criminalize performing gender transition surgeries or hormone therapy on minors who identify as transgender.
Under the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, doctors would be prohibited from treating Alabama minors with hormone therapy, surgery, or puberty blockers “intended to alter the minor child’s gender or delay puberty.”
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