• Far-Right Influence at Trump Commerce Department
• Bureau of Prisons’ Early Lack of Pandemic Mitigation Measures
• New DOJ Records Published

The Big Story

It’s been a week since Gov. Brian Kemp signed Georgia’s restrictive new voting law, which — among other measures that make voting harder — imposes stricter ID requirements for absentee voting, limits ballot drop boxes, and expands the state legislature’s power over county election officials.
 
On Wednesday, following a campaign by prominent Black business executives that called upon companies to oppose the law, the CEO of Georgia-based Delta Air Lines issued a statement calling the restrictions “unacceptable” and “based on a lie” about widespread voter fraud. The head of Coca-Cola, another Georgia-based company, said Coca-Cola did not support the legislation, which “makes it harder for people to vote, not easier.”
 
But the legislation, of course, has already been signed, and troubling new restrictions are still circulating in the legislatures of other states. The Brennan Center for Justice has updated its tally of new state voting provisions, finding that as of March 24, state legislators have introduced 361 new bills with further restrictions — an increase of more than 100 bills since their last update in February.

• This week, the Texas Senate advanced a bill that would limit early voting hours and prohibit drive-through voting and the sending of vote-by-mail applications to voters. 
• A Florida bill would, like Georgia, ban giving water or food to people waiting in line to vote. 
• In Michigan, state Republicans are working on a plan to circumvent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by introducing a petition initiative that would blend current legislative proposals containing new or stricter ID requirements, limiting ballot drop boxes, and prohibiting the secretary of state from sending all voters absentee ballot applications.
• On Wednesday, lawmakers in Kansas advanced a bill that would limit the ability of civic groups, neighbors, or candidates to collect and return voters’ absentee ballots. 

• West Virginia House bill dealing with social media, elections turns contentious (Parkersburg News and Sentinel)
• Transparency advocates raise concerns over North Dakota redistricting plan (Grand Forks Herald)
• Former Trump adviser takes prominent role in voting battle (Detroit News)
• Georgia's Republican Party accused of illegally accepting in-kind contributions from an election integrity nonprofit in a new FEC complaint (Yahoo News)
• Arizona Senate hires a ‘Stop the Steal’ advocate to lead 2020 election audit (Arizona Mirror)

On the Records

Far-Right Influence at Trump Commerce Department
In the Trump administration’s final year, following its failed bid to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, it sought to cut short the decennial count and to exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment numbers used to divvy up congressional seats — strategies long sought by conservatives for diluting representation of groups less likely to support them. We published records from the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, that further demonstrate the influence of far-right and anti-immigration groups at the department.
 
The Creation of the DOJ ‘Denaturalization’ Section
Up till the end, the Trump administration was intent on advancing its anti-immigration agenda, including by creating a new section within the Justice Department focused on stripping citizenship from naturalized immigrants who had committed serious crimes. We obtained the application of the DOJ official who ultimately became the head of that section — here are highlights from his application along with background on the creation of the section.
 
Bureau of Prisons’ Early Lack of Pandemic Mitigation Measures
American Oversight obtained communications from the Federal Bureau of Prisons containing communications from March and April 2020 that provide further details of the agency’s pandemic response, showing that BOP relied on inadequate mitigation measures in dealing with a pandemic that has had a disproportionate impact on people in detention centers.
 
The Meatpacking Industry and Covid-19
The Milwaukee Independent reported on documents we obtained with Public Citizen that reveal the meatpacking industry’s fight against implementing Covid-19 safety measures for workers. Among the emails is guidance developed by the Food and Beverage Industry Alliance, shared on March 20, 2020, that said, “Unless required by authorities, physical (social) distancing should be a tool but not a requirement in facilities needed to operate at capacity.”
 
New DOJ Records Published
We obtained a PowerPoint presentation on the Freedom of Information Act that was used in an October 2019 Justice Department training, which contains some rather interesting slides. The records were included in a response to our requests for former Attorney General William Barr’s calendars and phone logs. In a related request, we also obtained text messages Barr exchanged with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy following Barr’s July 2020 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, where he defended the federal government’s use of force against protesters.

• Internal CDC data shows virus regaining foothold as Biden urges states to pause reopening (Politico)
• The CDC extends its moratorium on evictions until June 30 to ease hardships caused by the virus (New York Times)
• New accounts detail how New York health officials were told to prioritize testing of people connected to Andrew Cuomo (Washington Post)
• The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is said to be powerfully protective in adolescents (New York Times)
• Covid-19 has been more deadly in Florida than reported, especially in rural counties, study shows (South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• House panel releases new details of Trump administration Covid contracts (Politico)
• Republicans seek to make vaccine passports the next battle in the pandemic culture wars (Washington Post)
• Company at heard of J&J vaccine woes has series of citations (Associated Press)
• Iowa withholds nursing home outbreak data while asking that open-records complaint be dismissed (Iowa Capital Dispatch)