The Debate? A Mess. Republican Candidates Just Can’t Walk Away From Trump.

On Wednesday night, the Republican presidential candidates met on the debate stage for the first time. That is, all eight qualifying candidates: Gov. Ron DeSantis (Fla.), former Vice President Mike Pence, former Gov. Nikki Haley (S.C.), former Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.), U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), Vivek Ramaswamy, former Gov. Doug Burgum (N.D.) and former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (Ark.). 

One big name that we are all too familiar with did not appear with the rest of the presidential hopefuls, however. Former President Donald Trump nixed the debate and instead opted to do a pre-recorded interview with disgraced, former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. 

The two competing stages had to cover a lot of ground. While we might be a bit biased, we were surprised at the lack of questions about voting and elections, given how committed the candidates are to suppressing voters. But one thing everyone did get a chance to debate is where they stand on Jan. 6 and Trump’s culpability. 

On the debate stage, candidates were asked to raise their hands as to whether they would pardon Trump if he is convicted for any of his 91 criminal charges. Six of them — DeSantis, Burgum, Haley, Pence, Ramaswamy and Scott — confirmed, once again, that they would pardon Trump. Only Christie and Hutchinson stood their ground against the looming, but absent, presence of the four-time-indicted former president.

Amongst other topics, like the alleged decline of cable TV and the Panama Canal, Trump reiterated to Carlson his beliefs that the 2020 election was rigged and that “Mike Pence had the absolute right to send the votes back to the legislatures.”

The former president also went after mail-in voting, despite appearing in a Republican National Committee (RNC) ad on Wednesday endorsing the voting practice: “We could go back, and we should go back, to all paper ballots, voter ID, same-day voting… Anytime you have mail-in ballots you’re going to have massive cheating on your elections.”

Though a lot is unclear right now about who stands to be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, one thing is abundantly clear: Every candidate, regardless of whether they appeared on a cable network or in a pre-taped video, stands on the wrong side of democracy. From an insurrection to disenfranchising Native voters by the thousands and young voters by the millions, restrictive photo ID requirements and gerrymandering galore, each one of these candidates gives us pause. Read more about their voting rights records and plans for the nation here.

Smile for the Camera, Y’all

Today is the deadline for Trump and the other defendants in the Fulton County, Georgia election subversion indictment to turn themselves over to authorities. Like every other alleged criminal, the indicted will be arrested and arraigned with their mugshots taken.

Always one for theatrics, Trump’s lawyers negotiated a booking time during evening prime time hours on Thursday.

The other defendants trickled into the Fulton County Jail throughout the week. On midday Tuesday, John Eastman, one of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys, surrendered, as one the first of the big names to turn themselves in. Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell all followed suit on Wednesday. 

Also on Wednesday, Jeffrey Clark and Mark Meadows’ requests to block their arrests were both denied by a federal judge. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) responded to Clark’s request to block his arrest  saying that Clark “seeks to avoid the inconvenience and unpleasantness of being arrested...but provides this Court with no legal basis to justify those ends." Both defendants had until 12 p.m. EDT today to surrender at the Fulton County Jail. Meadows surrendered yesterday afternoon. Stay up to date on the Georgia indictment here.

Voter Suppression Bill Senate Bill 747 Vetoed in North Carolina

Yesterday, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) vetoed S.B. 747, an omnibus voter suppression law. In announcing his veto, Cooper slammed against the Republicans who advanced the bill, calling out their thinly veiled goals and stating, “Right now, legislative Republicans in North Carolina are pushing an all-out assault on the right to vote, using the advice of Trump’s hand-picked election denier Cleta Mitchell who was on the call trying to help him overturn the election in Georgia.”

S.B. 747 would create a myriad of new voting restrictions. Critically, Republicans crammed in two proposals that Cooper previously vetoed: banning private grants for election administration and moving up the deadline to receive mail-in ballots from three days after Election Day to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. Drastically shortening the mail-in ballot return window could disenfranchise over 10,000 voters.

Next week, Cooper’s veto is likely to be overridden by Republicans, who have a veto-proof supermajority after Rep. Tricia Cotham, elected just last year as a Democrat, defected to the Republican Party, betraying the nearly 16,000 constituents who voted for her.

In Georgia, Line Warming Is Okay More Than 150 Feet From the Polling Place 

Last Friday, in a major win for voters in Georgia, a federal court temporarily blocked part of voter suppression law Senate Bill 202 for violating the Civil Rights Act's Materiality Provision, ruling that officials cannot reject an absentee ballot simply because the return envelope lacks the voter's birth date.

Doubling up on the victory, the court also blocked another provision that prohibited individuals from handing out food and water to voters within 25 feet of a voter standing in line to vote at a polling place and imposed criminal penalties on those who violated this rule. The practice, known as line warming, is now allowed if the voter is further than 150 feet from the polling place. Supporting voters is especially important in places, like Georgia, where lines to vote are often long as a result of other Republican policies, like closing polling locations.

The Peddlers of “2000 Mules” Face Consequences

Yesterday, the debunked election propaganda movie “2000 Mules” headed to federal court. A Georgia voter sued the movie's creator Dinesh D’Souza and others, arguing that he was defamed and illegally intimidated by being falsely portrayed as a "ballot mule."

• The lawsuit notes that despite being publicly exonerated back in May 2022, the voter continues to be portrayed by D’Souza and other right-wing groups as a “criminal mule,” resulting in him and his family receiving threats and "living in fear."

The harmful disinformation and rhetoric in “2000 Mules” did not just impact Georgia voters. During the 2022 midterms, armed vigilantes in Arizona staked out drop boxes in search of these so-called ballot mules, though a federal judge was able to limit the vigilantes' activities.

And in Arizona, election denialism continues to thrive. Last week, two Arizona voters filed a fringe lawsuit seeking to invalidate the results of the 2022 midterm election results, 255 days after Arizona certified the election. The plaintiffs, including one Cochise County official, are no strangers to election subversion. Luckily, yesterday the case was dismissed.

Conspiracy theories about mail-in voting contributed to Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Media like “2000 Mules” has only fueled these baseless right-wing conspiracies that run rampant among the Republican Party today.

Those conspiracies might begin to see some consequences, however, as yesterday, the Arizona Supreme Court sanctioned the RNC and election denier and failed 2022 attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh for misrepresenting facts in a petition to the court.

Anyone Can Use Suppressive Voting Tactics! Atlanta Democrats Come Under Fire for “Cop City” Signature Verification

On Tuesday, more than 25 Georgia-based voting rights organizations signed a letter calling on Atlanta Democrats to abandon their plan to utilize signature matching in the validation process for a referendum on the building of the controversial "Cop City" in Atlanta, Georgia.

Why are voting rights groups up in arms? Signature matching is a notoriously fickle practice that, as Fair Fight argued on Monday, “disproportionately impacts voters of color, and is biased against disabled and elderly voters.” Republicans interested in restricting access to the ballot have pushed the practice more and more in recent years, from Florida to, most recently, North Carolina.

To Recuse or Not to Recuse, Wisconsin Battles Are Waged

Wisconsin Republican lawmakers asked for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, who was sworn in earlier this month, to be recused from a lawsuit alleging that the state's legislative maps are gerrymandered to unfairly benefit the GOP. In 2017, when the conservatives still held the majority, the justices rejected a recusal requirement as it did not stand to benefit them. 

• Also in Wisconsin this week, the Republican-controlled Legislature moved to defend the state's restrictive absentee ballot rules from a lawsuit arguing that the requirements violate the state constitution. In the intervention, the conservative lawmakers continue to maintain that absentee voting is a privilege and not a right.

More News

• The Texas Supreme Court denied Harris County's request to stop the enforcement of Senate Bill 1750 as litigation continues. The law eliminates Harris County’s appointed election administrator and splits election duties between the county clerk and tax assessor's offices, both of which are elected positions.

• Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) rejected ballot language submitted by a pro-voting group seeking to implement a citizen-led redistricting commission. Yost claimed the summary was not a “fair and truthful representation of the proposed amendment.” The pro-voting group can revise the language and re-submit it after gathering 1,000 new signatures.

• The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled oral argument for Oct. 6 in an appeal of a case challenging Louisiana’s congressional map. The state’s congressional map — which was blocked in June 2022 for likely violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — remains blocked as litigation continues.

OPINION:  How Ohioans Saved Direct Democracy for Us All

By Sarah Walker, the policy and legal advocacy director for the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC). Read more ➡️

This Saturday, the 19th Amendment turns 103! The path to women’s suffrage was fraught and it would be remiss of us to not acknowledge the racism of the suffragettes. In the century and three years since women gained the right to vote, rights have been gained — and lost. 

Last year, in his majority opinion of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Justice Samuel Alito wrote, “Women are not without electoral or political power,” daring them to reclaim their right to bodily autonomy. So, to celebrate the 19th Amendment, we are reminding folks that abortion rights have won in every election since Dobbs. 
 
If you are in the Washington, D.C. area, you can also join the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington. Six decades later and the fight for freedom, justice and equality is not over.

It’s summer break for our podcast, Defending Democracy! So, there won’t be a new episode until after Labor Day. But, it’s the perfect time to catch up on everything that has been covered so far this year. Listen on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.