Tag Archives: voter fraud

‘I Did Not Believe It For One Second,’ Hannity Says of Trump’s Big Lie While Under Oath

One public policy expert called sworn depositions from Sean Hannity and other Fox personnel the “strongest evidence yet to emerge publicly that some Fox employees knew that what they were broadcasting was false.”

By Brett Wilkins Published 12-23-2022 by Common Dreams

Sean Hannity speaking at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/CC

Sean Hannity, the Fox News opinion host and erstwhile purveyor of Donald Trump’s “Big Lie,” did not believe the disgraced former president’s 2020 election fraud claims “for one second,” details from a sworn deposition revealed Wednesday.

Hannity, who was deposed as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News, was asked under oath if he believed claims by conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, amplified on his show, that the Colorado-based company was part of a plot to rig its voting machines to switch large numbers of votes from Trump to President Joe Biden. Continue reading →

The US Christian Right groups actively involved in voter suppression

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OPINION: Religious and anti-abortion groups are trying to restrict voting rights ahead of the midterm elections

By Annika Brockschmidt Published 11-3-2022 by openDemocracy

Occupy Wall Street joined the NAACP as thousands marched in midtown Manhattan on December 10, 2011 to defend voting rights. Photo: Michael Fleshman/flickr/CC

Anyone who wants a future in today’s Republican Party must openly claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump, or at least dance around the question of electoral fraud enough to appease their dear leader.

Meanwhile, a coalition of conservative dark money groups with strong ties to the religious Right have made it their mission to curb voting rights in potentially election-deciding swing states. They are using allegations of Democratic voter fraud and ‘election integrity’ as tactics to engage in voter suppression. Continue reading →

PA Supreme Court Ruling Could Toss Thousands of Ballots Over ‘Irrelevant Technicality’

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Siding with a coalition of Republican groups, Pennsylvania’s high court ruled a week before the midterms that mail-in ballots received without a correct date on the outer envelope cannot be counted.

By Jake Johnson Published 11-2-2022 by Common Dreams

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court – State Capitol. Photo: Craig Fildes/flickr/CC

Just a week before the midterms, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that state election officials cannot count ballots submitted without a correct date on the outer envelope, siding with a coalition of Republican groups that sued to block undated mail-in ballots.

In a two-page order, the six-judge high court ordered election officials to “refrain from counting any absentee and mail-in ballots received for the November 8, 2022 general election that are contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes” even if they were received on time, pointing to two specific Pennsylvania statutes. Continue reading →

Warnings of Right-Wing Violence Mount as Bolsonaro’s Son Claims ‘Biggest Electoral Fraud Ever’

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One expert said that former U.S. President Donald Trump is Bolsonaro’s “idol and his model” as the Brazilian leader and his allies launch baseless attacks on the electoral system.

By Julia Conley Published 10-28-2022 by Common Dreams

Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil speaking during the Session: “Special Address by Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil“ at the Annual Meeting 2019 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 22, 2018. Photo: World Economic Forum/Flickr/CC

Political experts in Brazil are warning that President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies may be using a “roadmap” provided by former U.S. President Donald Trump to call the results of the country’s upcoming election into question before the votes are even cast.

Deploying almost the exact same language used by Trump following his loss of the 2020 presidential election, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the right-wing president’s son, said Wednesday on social media that his father is “the victim of the biggest electoral fraud ever seen,” adding that there have been attempts “to manipulate the result” of the runoff election scheduled to take place Sunday. Continue reading →

‘Cold Hard Threat to Democracy’: GOP Sowing Chaos at Polls Even Before Election Day

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“Voters deserve better than this when they exercise their constitutional right at the polls,” said one government watchdog.

By Julia Conley Published 10-27-2022 by Common Dreams

A ‘Vote Here’ sign outside an election polling place at Woodbury City Hall in Woodbury, Minnesota during the 2020 general election. Photo: Tony Webster/flickr/CC

Government watchdogs are warning that Republicans are operating a well-funded, well-organized campaign to sow “an unprecedented level of suspicion and unfounded doubt” in this year’s midterm elections by lodging dubious legal challenges even before Election Day arrives and training thousands on how to create confusion at the polls.

As the Associated Press reported Thursday, more than 100 lawsuits have already been filed regarding the election, which is still 12 days away. The lawsuits have largely been filed by Republicans and focus on issues including mail-in voting, voting machines, and access for partisan poll watchers. Continue reading →

Armed ‘Poll Watchers’ in Arizona Heighten Alarm Over Right-Wing Voter Intimidation

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“This is obviously totally incompatible with liberal democracy and an open society,” said one commentator.

By Jake Johnson Published 10-22-2022 by Common Dreams

Two masked individuals dressed in tactical gear sit near a ballot dropbox location in Mesa, Arizona on October 21, 2022. (Photo: Nicole Grigg/ABC15 Arizona/Twitter Screengrab)

Video footage released Friday night showing armed individuals sitting near a ballot drop box in Mesa, Arizona is heightening alarm over right-wing intimidation efforts as early voting kicks off across the United States.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office told a local ABC affiliate that it is investigating several individuals who were watching a Mesa voting location on Friday. The department confirmed that two individuals at the site were armed. Continue reading →

Critics Warn Florida GOP Bill Designed to ‘Criminalize’ the Voting Process

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“American exceptionalism and denial means that no one will admit it, but between book burning, abortion bans, criminalizing trans kids, the Supreme Court’s attack on voting rights, and now this, we are truly veering on fascism.”

By Julia Conley. Published 3-10-2022 by Common Dreams

Photo: ACLU

Florida is poised to establish a first-of-its-kind police force dedicated to stopping and investigating so-called “voter fraud” following the passage on Wednesday of a bill further overhauling the state’s voting system, a year after sweeping changes to election laws sparked outcry among voting rights advocates.

The Republican-led state House passed the new legislation, S.B. 524 in a vote of 76-41 on Wednesday, days after the state Senate approved the bill in a vote of 24-14. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had requested even more spending on an election police force than that $3.7 million plan that was passed, is expected to sign the bill. Continue reading →

A crisis of democracy in the US – what to watch for in 2022

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The future is gloomy, with abortion rights threatened, rampant voter suppression and radical Republicans undermining democracy at every turn

By Chrissy Stroop Published 12-30-2021 by openDemocracy

The March to Save America rally on January 6 2021 that preceded the US Capitol ‘insurrection. Photo: Blink O’fanaye/flickr/CC

Sad to say, when it comes to political life and civil society in the United States, 2021 has not given proponents of democracy and human rights much to celebrate.

The year was dominated by three negative trends: the authoritarian Right’s ‘Big Lie’ that the 2020 presidential election was ‘stolen’ from former president Donald Trump; the impact of Republican stacking of the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, with far-Right extremists; and the relative impotence of President Joe Biden’s administration to pursue necessary reforms in the face of Republican obstruction, even with a nominal legislative majority. Continue reading →

In First, US Labeled ‘Backsliding’ Democracy as Global Authoritarianism Grows

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A new report calls the rejection of the 2020 election results by many in the Republican Party as an “historic turning point” for the United States.

By Julia Conley. Published 11-22-2021 by Common Dreams

The Capitol riot. Photo: Blink O’fanaye/flickr/CC

For the first time in its four years of compiling annual data on the state of democracy around the world, an international think tank added the United States to its list of “backsliding” democracies in the report it released Monday, pointing to factors including politicians’ continued false claims that the 2020 presidential election results were illegitimate as one of the key elements weakening the country’s democratic system.

The Global State of Democracy report, released by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), called former President Donald Trump’s public questioning of the election results in November 2020 “a historic turning point” both for U.S. democracy and the world, pointing to a knock-on effect in several countries. Continue reading →

‘Blatant Partisan Power Grab’: Wisconsin GOP Attempts to Seize Control of State’s Elections

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“Give Republicans this: they’re not dismantling democracy in secret. They’re doing it right out in the open.”

By Jake Johnson. Published 11-20-2021 by Common Dreams

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin speaking at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/CC

Wisconsin Republicans, at the urging of Sen. Ron Johnson, are pushing to unilaterally seize control over federal elections in the battleground state, an effort that observers warned is part of the GOP’s multi-pronged assault on democracy in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s defeat last year.

The New York Times reported Friday that the state Republican Party is taking “direct aim” at the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), an agency that the GOP established six years ago. According to the Times, “The onslaught picked up late last month after a long-awaited report on the 2020 results that was ordered by Republican state legislators found no evidence of fraud but made dozens of suggestions for the election commission and the GOP-led Legislature, fueling Republican demands for more control of elections.” Continue reading →

Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: voter fraud

‘I Did Not Believe It For One Second,’ Hannity Says of Trump’s Big Lie While Under Oath

One public policy expert called sworn depositions from Sean Hannity and other Fox personnel the “strongest evidence yet to emerge publicly that some Fox employees knew that what they were broadcasting was false.”

Warnings of Right-Wing Violence Mount as Bolsonaro’s Son Claims ‘Biggest Electoral Fraud Ever’

One expert said that former U.S. President Donald Trump is Bolsonaro’s “idol and his model” as the Brazilian leader and his allies launch baseless attacks on the electoral system.

Armed ‘Poll Watchers’ in Arizona Heighten Alarm Over Right-Wing Voter Intimidation

“This is obviously totally incompatible with liberal democracy and an open society,” said one commentator.

Critics Warn Florida GOP Bill Designed to ‘Criminalize’ the Voting Process

“American exceptionalism and denial means that no one will admit it, but between book burning, abortion bans, criminalizing trans kids, the Supreme Court’s attack on voting rights, and now this, we are truly veering on fascism.”