Skidaway Island Democrats

2 weeks ago

This week made one thing crystal clear: Georgia Republicans are in complete disarray, and working families are paying the price. The GOP primary for governor has devolved into one of the most chaotic, expensive, and extreme races in state history, with Burt Jones and billionaire Rick Jackson torching millions of dollars attacking each other and chasing Donald Trump’s approval. At the same time, “MAGA warriors” Buddy Carter and Mike Collins voted to back Trump’s cost-raising tariffs that are squeezing Georgia families and businesses, while statehouse Republicans are fast-tracking a reckless tax scheme that threatens to drive up costs for working families.

As you all also know, Donald Trump’s dangerous obsession with his 2020 election loss reached a new peak with his FBI raid on Fulton County’s election center last month. The unsealing of the ‘justification’ for the raid confirms what we already knew: these are the actions of an increasingly manic president who is politicizing federal law enforcement to push repeatedly-disproven conspiracy theories about his election loss. This is clearly an attempt to lay the groundwork for partisan interference in the 2026 and 2028 elections, and we will not be intimidated. Georgia Democrats won’t stop fighting until we get all the election materials back. ... See MoreSee Less

Skidaway Island Democrats

2 weeks ago

From the Brennan Center for Justice:

For months, we have warned of a drive by President Trump and his administration to undermine the 2026 election. It is unprecedented, outlandish. Now Trump himself is blaring his intent — and over the past week, the public issue has exploded. The fight for a free and fair vote is taking shape, starting on the floor of the House this week as it once again considers the SAVE Act.

Make no mistake: The SAVE Act would stop millions of American citizens from voting. It would be the most restrictive voting bill ever passed by Congress. It is Trump’s power grab in legislative garb.

Today, the House Rules Committee is voting to send the measure to the full House for a vote. Effectively, the bill would require Americans to produce a passport or a birth certificate to register and thus to vote. Brennan Center research shows that 21 million people lack ready access to these documents. Half of all Americans don’t have a passport, for example. And millions of married women who have changed their names might need to jump through extra hoops to vote.

The measure likely will pass the House, as it did in an earlier form last year. Once again, it will be up to senators to block it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) declared it “dead on arrival.” But this time around, a mobilized outside drive is pushing lawmakers to restrict voting. “It must be done or democracy is dead,” instructed Elon Musk. The SAVE Act will not expire quietly, surrounded by loved ones. It’s on all of us to stand up and speak out, once again.

And now we see how it fits into the broader strategy.
In recent days, Trump has repeatedly demanded that Republicans “nationalize” the elections on behalf of his political party. Each time his aides try to clean up his remarks, he doubles down. “A state is an agent for the federal government in elections,” he wrongly insisted.

Constitutionally, that’s upside-down land. The Constitution is unambiguous: States run elections. Presidents have no role.
Congress, appropriately, can enact national legislation. It should use that power to pass national standards to protect the freedom to vote, not restrict it.

Then there’s the appalling abuse of federal law enforcement. We still do not know why Kash Patel’s FBI raided election offices in Fulton County, Georgia, nearly two weeks ago. A judge has ordered that the underlying legal papers, secret until now, be released. ProPublica reports the raid may be linked to agitation by a “conservative researcher” who has peddled discredited conspiracy theories.

Intelligence chief/gadfly Tulsi Gabbard showed up at the Atlanta raid. FOMO? Amid Justice Department ducking and a denial by Trump, Gabbard wrote to Congress that in fact the president ordered her to go even though her office plays no part in elections. Now it turns out that Gabbard last year obtained voting machines in Puerto Rico. And Trump’s allies in 2020 claimed that Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, long dead, had masterminded a plot.
This is comic opera stuff. But it’s deadly serious, too — certainly for the public servants in Fulton County. It all aims to send a message to intimidate election officials around the country. If you preside over an election and we don’t like the result, we may come after you.

Steve Bannon, the Trump strategist who served prison time for defying a congressional subpoena, declared on Tuesday, “We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November. We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again.” When we see how politicized and aggressive immigration forces have become, that threat becomes more than a podcaster’s bombast.
Here, the law is clear: That would be a federal crime. My colleague Sean Morales-Doyle explains: “Can the president send troops or ICE agents to polling places? No — both federal and state laws explicitly prohibit the federal government from carrying out these implied threats.” It’s a federal crime to intimidate voters, too.

In coming months, if we see abuses of power like this, what can we all do to ensure that voters have their voice?

So far, we and others have staved off Trump’s worst impulses. After Trump signed an executive order last year purporting to unilaterally rewrite election rules, we sued the administration, and we won. And as the Trump administration continues to sue states for sensitive voter information, courts in California, Michigan, and Oregon have reaffirmed states’ right to refuse.

State and local governments, too, must be ready to act to protect the polls.

And voters will need to know that, despite all the noise and drama, we can make sure the 2026 elections are free, fair, secure, and, yes, uneventful. It may require voting early or by mail, for example.

In an election year, voting rights advocates often ponder whether pointing to threats risks demobilizing citizens. At some point, warning about voter suppression can accidentally dampen participation.

Not this year, it seems. Each time Trump declares that his goal is to “nationalize” the election — not for the greater good, but for his own political interests — the stakes become clearer. When he wrongly insists American elections are “rigged,” as he did over the weekend, it’s more than bluster. He’s saying the quiet part out loud.

In 2026, the right to vote will demand a fight to vote. ... See MoreSee Less

Skidaway Island Democrats

2 weeks ago

Yesterday, the affidavit was unsealed that allowed Trump’s FBI to raid the Fulton County elections center. The Democratic Party of Georgia made the following comment:

This affidavit only confirms that the warrant and seizure of 700 boxes of ballots and sensitive election materials are based on nothing more than the same long-debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

But now the goal is even more dangerous – the President is not actually trying to overturn the results of a long past election, he is laying the groundwork for his plan to put himself and his party – not state and local election officials – in charge of elections in 2026.

The affidavit only confirms that none of this is a legitimate investigation.

REMINDER: All it tells us is Trump/Bondi finally found an FBI agent and a prosecutor willing to sign their name to an affidavit that relies on debunked conspiracy theories to allege a crime was committed.

And because the real “evidence” is nonexistent, they had to go all the way to Missouri – quite a way from the Northern District of Georgia – to find a prosecutor willing to carry this water for the President.

In issuing the warrant, the magistrate judge did not in any way evaluate the credibility of those claims – that is not the judge’s role. The judge just confirmed that the warrant alleged the elements of a crime were met by probable cause, the lowest burden of proof in any criminal proceeding.

The only thing that the press and American people should take seriously about this investigation is what it tells us about the President’s willingness to weaponize the Department of Justice to further his desire to control the results of state and local elections.

The press and our elected officials should all be standing up and calling this investigation what it is – the President testing out his ability to take physical control of voted ballots in clear violation of the U.S. Constitution. ... See MoreSee Less