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The election of Donald Trump — a twice-impeached former president facing multiple criminal charges, who four years ago tried to overturn a free and fair election — is a severe blow to our democracy.
We know from his first administration what a Trump presidency means: unprecedented self-dealing and brazen ethical violations, disdain for both the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power, the trampling of civil rights and the dismantling of regulatory protections, and frequent racist, sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic attacks on people of color, immigrants and marginalized groups.
During and after his time in the White House, he has taken no pains to mask his authoritarian ambitions and dictatorial impulses, from his politicization of the U.S. Justice Department and threats to use the military against his enemies to his alarming claims of immunity from criminal prosecution and fixation on political loyalty among federal workers. And he has frequently signaled contempt for transparency, having shielded from disclosure White House visitor logs, made employees sign non-disclosure agreements, and sued to block financial disclosures.
Notably, the election denial movement largely went quiet with its false claims of fraud once it became clear that its preferred candidate would win the election. But as the Washington Post reported, experts have “cautioned that election denial is not dead, pointing to the dozens of candidates for Congress as well as local office who won on Tuesday and who have questioned Trump’s defeat in 2020.”
Those same anti-democratic forces are abundant as Trump looks to move back into the White House. American Oversight is prepared to fight the corruption and abuses of power that he has promised, and we will use all the tools at our disposal to hold the incoming administration accountable to the people. As we learn more about how he plans to unleash the promises in Agenda 47 and Project 2025 — and about who will be helping him to do so — we stand with the pro-democracy movement and the American people as we prepare to aggressively defend the public’s right to hold its leaders accountable.
On the Records
Youngkin’s Executive Order Targeting Noncitizens
In August, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order that included measures requiring the state Department of Motor Vehicles to create daily lists of non-citizen transactions to share with the state Department of Elections.
- We obtained records from the elections department related to the implementation of this executive order. The records include an agreement between the department and the Virginia DMV regarding data about citizenship.
Voter Registration Using True the Vote’s IV3 App in Florida
IV3, an app developed by voter-fraud alarmist group True the Vote, enables users to submit voter registration challenges to local election offices. The group has claimed that thousands of people have used IV3 to contest hundreds of thousands of registrations across the country.
- Records we obtained, reported on by Wired, show that in May, an “anonymous tipster” calling themselves Totes Legit Votes used IV3 to challenge the registrations of 5,000 people in Florida.
- The documents show Florida Elections Director Maria Matthews forwarded the challenges to county elections directors and directed them to review the challenges.
Other Stories We're Following
National and State News
- Wave of racist texts after election prompts FBI’s scrutiny (New York Times)
- DOJ moving to wind down Trump criminal cases before he takes office (NBC News)
- Judge hits pause on Trump's election interference criminal case (NBC News)
- Who might make up Trump’s Cabinet (Politico)
- For Trump and Republicans in Congress, ‘everything is in play’ on tax cuts (Washington Post)
- The Bureau of Prisons under a Trump administration (Forbes)
- Newsom moves quickly to counter Trump in California (New York Times)
- The Haitians of Springfield, a Trump campaign target, brace for his presidency (Washington Post)
Election Denial and Voting Rights
- Judge rejects Fulton election board member’s demand for more documents (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Formatting errors prompt false claims of voter fraud in Michigan (MLive)
- Bomb threats disrupted what was otherwise relatively smooth voting on Election Day (NPR)
- Virginia’s top elections official says no additional voters were removed from the rolls after Oct. 15 (Virginia Mercury)
- Noncitizen voting bans pass in state ballot measures, despite lack of evidence (MSNBC)
- Election skeptics are ahead in county races across Arizona (Arizona Republic)
- N.C. election officials, GOP leaders revealed to have close ties to key election denial group (Facing South)
Abortion and Reproductive Rights
- The next Trump administration’s crackdown on abortion will be swift, brutal, and nationwide (Slate)
- Abortion rights advocates win in 7 states and clear way to overturn Missouri ban but lose in 3 (Associated Press)
- Voters overwhelmingly chose to protect abortion — even when they didn’t choose Harris (Intercept)
LGBTQ+ Rights
- LGBTQ+ hotlines experience influx in crisis calls amid 2024 presidential election (USA Today)
- What Project 2025 could mean for LGBTQ+ Americans (Axios)
- How ‘wildly successful’ anti-trans ads fired up Texas voters for Republicans (Texas Tribune)
Threats to Education
- Trump's push to expand choice, nix the ed. dept. takes on new momentum (Education Week)
- Who could be Donald Trump's next education secretary? (Education Week)
- Superintendent Walters prepares Oklahoma schools for elimination of US Department of Education (KOSU)
Border and Immigration
- Trump allies, private sector quietly prepare for mass detention of immigrants (CNN)
- Texas will be on the ‘front lines’ of mass deportation (Texas Observer)
- Judge tosses out Biden program for undocumented spouses (New York Times)
- ICE has been lying about its racial data collection, advocacy organizations find (Prism)
- Arizona voters approve state-level immigration enforcement (Arizona Luminaria)
Government Transparency and Public Records Law
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