Year: 2018

Arizona Voter Registration Groups Sue Secretary Reagan For People Who Change Addresses With MVD; “Stamping Their Feet” Or “Protecting Qualified Voters”?

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The League of Women Voters has filed a federal lawsuit against Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan on Saturday, as a result of a disagreement over when and how to change people’s addresses for voting purposes after they  filed a change of address with the Motor Vehicle Division. Is it an example of “stamping their feet in front of a judge” – as claimed by Reagan’s office – or “protect(ing) thousands of Arizonans from the irreparable loss of their right to vote this November.” That will be among the questions for the judge to decide.

Joining LWV in bringing the suit are voter registration groups Promise Arizona and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, with legal assistance by the ACLU (national and Arizona chapter) and others. They are asking that the Court order the Secretary to instruct County Recorders to count provisional ballots that may be voted at the voters’ old address (because that still shows as their voter registration address despite filing a change with MVD).

The Court is also being asked to order the Secretary of State to notify – before mid-September – all voters who filed change of addresses with MVD. The letter would instruct them as to their voting options and would include a voter registration form. (Click here to read the Complaint and related filings.)

After the voter registration groups reached an understanding last week with MVD, AHCCCS and DES about future cure to the agreed violations of the federal Motor Voter Act, Secretary Reagan announced that she had rejected the demands because changes are already scheduled for 2019 and trying it now “would only produce voter confusion.” Secretary of State Communications Director Matt Roberts told Arizona’s Politics that:

“It’s disappointing that organizations like the ACLU, Mi Familia Vota and the League of Women Voters are seemingly more interested in stamping their feet in front of a judge rather than accepting the fact that the changes they want are already scheduled. We’re confident the court will agree that sending a letter to five hundred thousand people saying the state changed their voter registration address right before an election isn’t the greatest idea.”

 

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A travesty of justice: GOP stonewalls on Judge Brett Kavanaugh documents while rushing his confirmation hearing

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I previously explained that Judge Kavanaugh provided misleading testimony in his previous confirmation hearing.

Kavanaugh testified that he had no role in the Bush administration terrorist interrogation and torture program. A year after his confirmation, NPR reported Brett Kavanaugh may have been less-than-forthright with Congress at a crucial hearing last year to confirm his appointment to a seat on the powerful federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.  Federal Judge Downplayed Role in Detainee Cases.

In fact, in 2002, Kavanaugh and a group of top White House lawyers discussed whether the Supreme Court would uphold the Bush administration’s decision to deny lawyers to American enemy combatants. Kavanaugh advised the group that the Supreme Court’s swing voter, Justice Anthony Kennedy, would probably reject the president’s assertion that the men were not entitled to counsel. Kavanaugh had worked as a clerk for Kennedy. That meeting was first reported in The Washington Post. NPR independently confirmed the details with multiple sources.

Durbin now says he feels “perilously close to being lied to” at Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing.

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A clarion call to defeat congressman David Schweikert

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Arizona congressman David Schweikert, a member of the radical GOP House Freedom Caucus, recently drew an editorial opinion from The Arizona Republic practically begging voters to vote for his Democratic opponent — whoever wins the August primary. 5 reasons a Democrat could win David Schweikert’s seat, even in a Republican stronghold:

Everything about this contest seems superfluous. Why do you even go to the trouble of staging a Democratic primary in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District?

These are the posh enclaves of Paradise Valley, northeast Phoenix, Scottsdale and Cave Creek, where Republicans are born and bred to beat Democrats. They enjoy a substantial voter registration advantage of 45,000.

Consequently, the Republican incumbent has smashed his Democratic rival in the last three general elections by landslide margins of 24, 30 and 28 points.

Schweikert also enjoys the power of incumbency, and is currently far ahead in the money race.

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So why bother?

Here are five reasons Democrats and other Arizonans should care about the CD 6 Democratic primary:

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Michelle Reagan is terrible, but Steve Gaynor fancies himself the next Kris Kobach

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Arizona’s bumbling  Secretary of State, Michelle Reagan, appears headed for defeat in the GOP primary as a result of her demonstrated incompetence and repeated failures in performing the essential functions of her job.

Unfortunately her Republican opponent, millionaire businessman Steve Gaynor, fancies himself the next Kris Kobach, the GOP voter suppression specialist from Kansas.

Daily Kos reports GOP primary frontrunner for Arizona secretary of state wants to stop printing ballots in Spanish:

At a recent debate ahead of Arizona’s Aug. 28 Republican primary for secretary of state, businessman Steve Gaynor advocated for banning the printing of ballots and other election materials in Spanish, arguing that they should only be in English. Furthermore, Gaynor called for repealing the 1975 amendment to the federal Voting Rights Act that, thanks to a history of discrimination by many states—including Arizona itself—requires jurisdictions with large populations of non-English speakers to provide election materials in voters’ native languages.

Given that record of discrimination in a state that’s one-quarter Latino or Native American, it’s astonishing that a candidate would openly advocate for a measure that could make voting considerably more difficult for so many. But with Republicans escalating their voter suppression efforts thanks to a Supreme Court that seems determined to eviscerate the Voting Rights Act, Gaynor’s proposal isn’t an empty threat.

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