News Roundup: The Big Lie Becomes Big Policy
* Trump Administration Accountability
* ‘Not Handwriting Experts’
* One Year of the Pandemic

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The Big Story

The sheer number of voting-restriction bills currently floating in state legislatures makes it hard to keep track of where each proposal stands. But they all point to the fact that conservative leaders and fundraisers have increasingly adopted such restrictions as a primary policy position.

“In Restricting Early Voting, the Right Sees a New ‘Center of Gravity,’” read one New York Times headline ([link removed]) late last week. “‘All-hands moment’: GOP rallies behind voting limits,” said the Associated Press ([link removed]) the same day. On Wednesday, the Times also reported ([link removed]) on the efforts of Republican leaders and allies to draft legislative proposals that can be exported to multiple states. “Out of power in both Congress and the White House,” wrote reporters Nick Corasaniti and Reid J. Epstein, “the party views its path to regaining a foothold in Washington not solely through animated opposition to [President Joe] Biden’s agenda, but rather through an intense focus on re
-engineering the voting system in states where it holds control.”

Rather than attempting to persuade voters ([link removed]) , conservative leaders are seeking ways to prevent many of those voters from casting ballots in the first place, continuing to justify those measures by repeating the lie that widespread voter fraud stole the 2020 presidential election. While Arizona and Georgia have been held up as the poster children of this rash of new restrictions, bills that seek to reduce early voting time, restrict absentee voting, or enact more hurdles to accessing the ballot look alarmingly familiar across multiple states. The Brennan Center has a comprehensive guide to these proposals here ([link removed]) .

In Texas, an ACLU analysis ([link removed]) of voter-fraud cases prosecuted by Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office since 2015 found that 72 percent of individuals prosecuted were people of color. This week, Paxton — who spearheaded a lawsuit ([link removed]) that sought to overturn multiple states’ election results — said he was refusing to release messages ([link removed]) about his attendance at the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

We’ve been investigating ([link removed]) state and local officials’ promotion of and participation in that rally, and this week obtained the calendars ([link removed]) of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich in response to a public records request. Notably, the entries for Jan. 6 were missing. Brnovich had dismissed false claims ([link removed]) of voter fraud in November, saying, “There is no evidence … that would lead anyone to believe that the election results will change,” but has recently been in the national news for his defense of two Arizona voting-restriction laws in a Supreme Court case
([link removed]) that has the potential to further gut the Voting Rights Act.

Here are some other voting- and election-related stories from across the country:
* New Mexico approves independent redistricting panel (The Hill ([link removed]) )
* Arizona Senate President Fann wants hand count of 2.1 million ballots, may use volunteers (Arizona Mirror ([link removed]) )
* Tennessee election office aided push to oust judge over voting ruling (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Pennsylvania still has a problem with mail ballot deadlines and it could be worse than 2020 (Philadelphia Inquirer ([link removed]) )
* After 20 years, Florida Republicans look to ban ballot harvesting — again (Tampa Bay Times ([link removed]) )
* Republicans who backed Trump’s impeachment warn Democrats not to challenge Iowa election (Reuters ([link removed]) )
* Secret until now, records reveal clash over the Trump DOJ’s demand for North Carolina voter data (Raleigh News & Observer ([link removed]) )



On the Records

Trump Administration Accountability
This week, Politico reported ([link removed]) that former acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf was returning to the consulting world, a common move of former government officials seeking to leverage their high-level experience. In Wolf’s case, that experience includes ([link removed]) his time as former Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s chief of staff while the department was systematically separating children from their families. And while he served as the (illegally appointed ([link removed]) ) secretary, he oversaw an agency that was increasingly being weaponized for the political aims of former President Donald Trump.

‘Not Handwriting Experts’
We uncovered records, reported on by Votebeat ([link removed]) , that include a November 2019 PowerPoint in which Texas wrote that members of its Signature Verification Committee — who help decide if signatures on absentee ballot envelopes match another signature on file — “are not handwriting experts.” A lot of states don’t offer training for this responsibility, but those states usually have a “cure” process to let voters verify their ballots. Not so in Texas.

One Year of the Pandemic
It’s now been more than a year since the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life. Since then, it has claimed more than half a million lives in the United States alone and exacerbated deep-rooted inequities in our society. We’ve compiled summaries of various watchdog investigations, government reports, and news stories from the past year, looking at the Trump administration’s stumbling response ([link removed]) to the crisis as well as the impact on vulnerable populations, including workers in meat-packing plants ([link removed]) and people in detention centers ([link removed]) .

How AG Garland Can Strengthen FOIA Implementation
Testifying at his confirmation hearing, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that reading the Freedom of Information Act “generously” was a key part of restoring integrity to the Justice Department. At Just Security, American Oversight’s Daniel McGrath ([link removed]) explains why improving transparency should be an early priority — and how the attorney general could do so by issuing a FOIA policy memo seeking to prevent unreasonable withholdings and discourage politicization.

News We're Following

In the States
* First Amendment advocates decry creep toward denying public information to Floridians (Florida Phoenix ([link removed]) )
* Texas has only made 3 rent relief payments (Houston Chronicle ([link removed]) )
* Sonny Perdue under consideration to lead Georgia’s higher ed system (Atlanta Journal-Constitution ([link removed]) )
* Top Wisconsin Republican says arresting perpetrators is likely the only thing that can be done in response to mass shootings (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ([link removed]) )
* Beshear vetoes McConnell-backed Senate vacancy bill; signs bill capping insulin co-pays (Louisville Courier-Journal ([link removed]) )

The Covid-19 Pandemic
* Andrew Cuomo’s family members were given special access to Covid testing, according to people familiar with the arrangement (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* AstraZeneca confirms strong vaccine protection after U.S. rift (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* ‘Backroom vaccine politics’ block jail inmates from getting shots, Palm Beach County rep says (South Florida Sun Sentinel ([link removed]) )
* Executive resigns from hospital that offered early vaccines to employees at Trump’s Chicago hotel (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* A rapid Covid-19 vaccine rollout backfired in some U.S. states (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Vaccine mystery: Why J&J’s shots aren’t reaching more arms (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Tom Wolf administration refuses to release details of wasted Covid-19 vaccine doses (Philadelphia Inquirer ([link removed]) )
* Florida releases Covid-19 variant data day after Orlando Sentinel sues for it (Orlando Sentinel ([link removed]) )

State senator wants to shield people from gun-control laws by making them all militia members (Washington Post ([link removed]) )

DOJ refers former Capitol riot prosecutor for internal investigation after ‘60 Minutes’ interview (CNN ([link removed]) )

Did CNN air a staged migrant crossing of the Rio Grande? (American Prospect ([link removed]) )

Teens at migrant site warned not to drink water (E&E News ([link removed]) )

Trump plans to launch his own social network in two to three months (Washington Post ([link removed]) )

Democrats say agency run by Trump holdover is delaying stimulus checks (HuffPost ([link removed]) )

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says only 0.1 percent of Trump administration’s Covid farm relief went to Black farmers (Washington Post ([link removed]) )

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans visit to Iowa to address conservatives (Kansas City Star ([link removed]) )

Videos show ally of Marjorie Taylor Greene among mob inside Capitol during January 6 riot (CNN ([link removed]) )

USPS chief DeJoy said to cut post office hours, lengthen delivery times in 10-year plan (Washington Post ([link removed]) )

States sue Biden in bid to revive Keystone XL pipeline (Associated Press ([link removed]) )

Trump officials hindered at least nine key oversight probes, watchdogs said. Some may finally be released in coming months. (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
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