Q: Will Trump's assault on voting rights disenfranchise / block overseas (out of the country) voters from voting?

 — Andrew 

A: Overseas voters already face barriers to casting their ballot. They may be confused by differing state laws, have difficulty accessing the proper paperwork or face issues receiving their ballot. 

Trump and the Republican Party’s assault on voting rights threatens to make it worse. We saw this when Republicans in North Carolina tried to throw out overseas ballots for voters who didn’t register with identification information — a law that wasn’t required at the time many of these voters registered. Republicans also tried to disenfranchise voters who are United States citizens, but have lived outside of the country throughout their lives — these often include military families. 

We will see more attacks like this — especially as Trump ramps up his battle against mail-in voting. 

Q: Please explain how the state of Texas is legally able to do what they are to Collier and her Democratic colleagues. (Holding them hostage, under surveillance silencing them etc.) What legal recourse do they have? 

— Nina 

A: They had no legal basis to do what they did, and it should be a bigger scandal — they illegally confined her. 

Rep. Collier’s confinement was another blatant example of targeting and threatening Democrats, and while her courage and strength should not have been necessary, it was needed. We must continue to shine a light on those who stand up to these undemocratic measures. 

Q: This is democracy adjacent, perhaps. But how will we ever know if various Epstein file documents were destroyed or fabricated? If redacted, at least we know those exist.

— Scott

A: We know they exist because Republicans have been scrambling to hide them. If the files were destroyed, we may not know what they said, but always assume that where there’s smoke, there’s fire.