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State Senate panel backs bill to end automatic voter registration in Georgia
ATLANTA — A Senate committee passed voting restrictions Friday that would end automatic voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting in Georgia. The Senate Ethics Committee voted mostly along party lines to advance the bills, which could reach the full Senate next week. The voting limitations advanced Friday are the latest in a series of bills pushed by Republican legislators after record turnout led to Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Republican Donald Trump. Other legislation advancing in the General Assembly would add voter ID requirements for absentee voting, restrict ballot drop boxe...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Internal emails reveal Michigan county's response to voting problem that fueled conspiracies
DETROIT — Antrim County has inspired nationwide conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 presidential election, but internal emails from the northern Michigan county clerk's office show election officials quickly identified the human errors that led to problems with initial results. There wasn't a mysterious glitch with the Dominion Voting Systems election technology, as some lawyers and advocates have suggested without providing clear evidence. Instead, late changes to the ballot and the lack of a thorough rechecking of the machinery led to the discrepancies. Antrim County election officials ...
The Detroit News
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Bill requiring ID for absentee voting passes Georgia Senate
ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate approved a bill Tuesday to require more identification for absentee voting, the first elections bill to pass either legislative chamber as lawmakers consider new voting rules after last year’s heated presidential race. Voters would have to provide a driver’s license number, state ID number or a copy of photo ID when requesting absentee ballots, according to Senate Bill 67. Currently, absentee ballots are verified based on voters’ signatures and registration information rather than an ID. The Senate approved the bill mostly along party lines, 35-18. It will next be ...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Loeffler launches group to boost GOP turnout, promote 'big tent' policies
ATLANTA — Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler is wading back into Georgia politics weeks after her runoff defeat with the start of a new voter registration group aimed at helping Republicans recover from the stunning Democratic victories in November and January. The former financial executive framed the launch Monday of the Greater Georgia organization as a Republican answer to the powerful Fair Fight voting rights group that Stacey Abrams started days after her 2018 defeat in the race for governor. In her first extensive interview since her Jan. 5 loss to Raphael Warnock, Loeffler said the group ...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Voting by mail in Florida was a success, so why do legislators want to make it harder?
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Bypassing the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” question, Florida Senate Republicans agreed Tuesday that Florida’s vote-by-mail process worked smoothly in the last election cycle but still needed a change. They want to erase all standing requests for mail-in ballots in 2022 and require voters to start over. “It’s not that big of a change. Some people are nervous about change,” said Sen. Dennis Baxley, a Republican from Ocala who sponsored the bill. “Why not try this? It may invigorate participation.” After a record 4.8 million Floridians voted by mail in November, the Senat...
Miami Herald
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Judge’s ruling focuses Georgia voting rights lawsuit on purges
ATLANTA — A federal judge scaled down a 2018 lawsuit alleging broad problems with Georgia’s elections, ruling Tuesday that he will only consider allegations involving voter registration cancellations, inaccurate voter lists and election worker training. The decision allows the case, filed by allies of Democrat Stacey Abrams in the wake of her 2018 loss in the race for governor, to move toward a trial. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones threw out claims about voting machines, voter list security, potential hacking vulnerabilities, polling place closures and inadequate resources. Those allegations ...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Trump boasts he’ll be back after impeachment acquittal by 57-43 vote
Former President Donald Trump cheered his impeachment acquittal Saturday after the Senate voted 57-43 against holding him accountable for inciting the violent storming of the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. The vote fell well short of the two-thirds needed to convict Trump as seven Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in voting to convict the former president. Trump lauded his acquittal as the end of “yet another chapter in the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country.” The ex-president vowed to use his vindication as a springboard to return to the political arena even after the wi...
New York Daily News
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Calvin Johnson elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame, joins rare group of first-ballot WRs
DETROIT — Calvin Johnson is going to Canton. Johnson, the leading receiver in Detroit Lions history, was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in voting that was announced Saturday at the NFL Honors show. Johnson is the seventh receiver selected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, the third in the past 25 years, and the first modern-era Lions player elected since Barry Sanders. He joins Randy Moss (Class of 2018), Jerry Rice (2010), Steve Largent (1995), Paul Warfield (1983), Lance Alworth (1978) and Raymond Berry (1973) as receivers to get in on their first try. Johnson’s candidacy ge...
Detroit Free Press
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A tale of two Joshes. California Democrat faces anger intended for Missouri’s Hawley
WASHINGTON — A California Democrat wants voters across the nation to know an important piece of information: He’s not Josh Hawley. Since Jan. 6, Rep. Josh Harder, a Democrat from California, has been besieged with phone calls, emails, letters and tweets excoriating him for voting against the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory. Harder voted to certify Biden’s win — along with every Democrat in the House and Senate. But the Modesto-area Democrat’s name is close enough to that of the Missouri GOP senator that he has become an accidental vessel for some voters’ wrath. “I would like to ...
The Kansas City Star
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Pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood faces allegations of illegal voting
ATLANTA — Georgia election officials opened an investigation Tuesday into whether L. Lin Wood, a prominent attorney who has promoted conspiracy theories about the presidential election, voted illegally in November. The secretary of state’s office confirmed the investigation after WSB-TV first reported that Wood had moved to South Carolina. Wood told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he has lived in Georgia since 1955, and he said he was a legal resident at the time of the Nov. 3 election. Wood said he announced Monday he had changed his residency. “They’re trying to destroy me because I’m revea...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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