Senate Dems ask DOJ to take more action to protect election workers
A letter sent to the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D), Dick Durbin (D) and nearly two dozen other Democratic senators urged the agency to take more action to protect election workers, citing “an ongoing barrage of threats and abusive conduct.”
The letter praised the agency’s 2021 establishment of the Election Threats Task Force and other efforts to address threats to election workers, but acknowledged “that the law enforcement response to threats in 2020 was ‘inadequate.’”
The letter cited a recent Reuters investigation that revealed how election workers get little help from law enforcement in response to threats and harassment.
Key status conference delayed in Trump’s federal election subversion case
A district court judge granted a request from Special Counsel Jack Smith to delay a status conference in former President Donald Trump’s election subversion case from this Friday to Sept. 5.
Smith wanted the conference delayed to have more time to determine the effect of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent immunity ruling.
Speaking of the Supreme Court…
A SCOTUS seat is a lifetime appointment. Could term limits create a fairer court?
A key reason Biden and others want term limits — specifically 18-year terms — is to ensure the bench changes with greater regularity. If each administration gets two appointees, instead of the number varying with each administration, depending on the justice, supporters say turnover will increase over time. Read the details here.
You shouldn’t need an excuse to cast an absentee ballot
In a majority of states — 36 of them, to be exact — you don’t need an excuse to cast an absentee ballot in lieu of voting in person on Election Day. But there’s still 14 states that require an excuse to cast an absentee ballot.
Support for no-excuse absentee voting is high — at least 60% of voters support it, according to a recent Pew Research survey. But it’s still an ongoing fight to allow no-excuse absentee voting in the rest of the country.
That could change in Connecticut and New York, where a ballot initiative and court ruling could determine the fate of no-excuse absentee voting in those states.
Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) on gerrymandering and voting rights
In the latest episode of our Candidate Q+A series, the Wisconsin senator talks about her reelection campaign, the impact of gerrymandering in such a pivotal state, her commitment to restoring voting rights and more.
