Friday, Aug. 9

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THE SCOREBOARD

Arizona judge’s ruling protects the safety of election workers

• An Arizona judge rejected a right-wing request to publicize the names of certain 2020 election workers, agreeing with Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer that granting the request could expose the officials to threats and harassment.

  
  

• We the People AZ Alliance, the group that filed the lawsuit, has a history of both spreading election conspiracy theories and making threats to public officials.

  
  

• In June, Shelby Busch, a member of the group, spoke at a GOP event where she threatened Richer. “If Stephen Richer were in this room, I would lynch him,” Busch said. “I don’t unify with people who don’t believe in the principles we believe in and the American cause that founded this country.”

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

• Vote.org's all-in-one platform helps voters register, verify their registration, request a mail-in ballot, sign up for election reminders, find their polling location & stay up-to-date on the laws or policies that affect their ability to vote.

Update on the RNC asking SCOTUS to reinstate Arizona voter suppression law

• U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan gave pro-voting groups until Aug. 16 to respond to the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) emergency request. The Court will likely issue its ruling quickly on whether to reinstate the Arizona law.

  
  

• Yesterday, the RNC filed an emergency request in the nation’s highest court to reinstate an Arizona law requiring strict documentary proof of citizenship to vote. The law is currently blocked by lower courts for violating federal law.

Trump campaign and RNC appeal mail-in voting case to Nevada Supreme Court

• The Trump campaign and the RNC asked the Nevada Supreme Court to toss certain timely cast mail-in ballots for the 2024 election after a lower court rejected their request.

  
  

• Earlier this week, a state court judge denied the campaign’s request to temporarily block Nevada from counting ballots received up to three days after Election Day that do not have a postmark.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

Vote.org is the largest get-out-the-vote organization in the country. Since 2020, we have helped over 7.8M people to get registered. Since July 21st, Vote.org has seen a record-breaking 162K+ registrations on our site with over 80% of those registrations being under age 35. Help us keep the momentum building by supporting Vote.org in our mission to reach voters where they are.

9th Circuit will hear challenge to Montana voter suppression law

• The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear a challenge on Wednesday to a Montana law that criminalizes voters who are registered in more than one place at a time. Pro-voting groups argue that the law violates the U.S. Constitution.

  
  

• In the lawsuit, the groups argue the law “criminalizes both the act of maintaining multiple voter registrations and the failure to include prior-registration information on applications, even if voters and registrants have no intention of actually voting in more than one place—and even if they never do.”

New Defending Democracy podcast episode out now

• While Congress makes laws for the whole country, the reality is that people’s everyday lives are more affected by their state legislature. So why don’t we pay more attention to state legislative races? Especially when extremist candidates are winning seats?

  
  

• In a new episode of Defending Democracy, Daniel Squadron of The States Project joins Marc to discuss the power of state legislatures, why everyone should pay attention to these down-ballot races this fall and how to get involved. Watch the episode now on YouTube and listen wherever you get your podcasts.