Georgia runoff: Democratic U.S. Senator Warnock beats Trump-backed rival
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock won re-election in a tight Georgia runoff on Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger and former football star Herschel Walker. Warnock’s victory comes at a great benefit to Senate Democrats, strengthening their slim majority; the Democratic win was narrow with Warnock receiving 51.4% of the vote and Walker receiving 48.6%. The runoff result cements Georgia as a battleground state that will certainly be highly consequential in the 2024 presidential election. In response to his victory Senator Warnock said, “Let's celebrate for a
2020 Election Conspiracists Could Soon Oversee Voting in U.S. Battleground States
Two far-right U.S. politicians, Republicans Jim Marchant of Nevada and Mark Finchem of Arizona, are tied or leading in races to become the top election administrators in their states. A victory in November could allow them, as secretaries of state, to restrict voting access or seek to block certification of results in two key battleground states for presidential elections. Both candidates want to shorten or abolish early voting, mail in voting, and ballot drop boxes claiming without evidence that they breed fraud. Finchem and
Twitter plan to fight midterm misinformation falls short, voting rights experts say
While the major social media company Twitter is reviving policies it first instituted in 2018 - this time to combat the spread of misinformation in the lead up to the 2022 midterm elections - many experts on voting rights believe these practices will not be sufficient. Twitter’s current policies emphasize creating special labels for posts which may not be reliable, or which may seek to undermine public confidence in an election. However, critics say that this practice isn’t nearly as effective as removing such
Governors’ races in ‘blue wall’ states carry high stakes for voting rights
Democratic party operatives and voting rights advocates are sounding the alarm about the potentially dire implications that three 2022 gubernatorial races hold for the 2024 elections writ large. In 2020, the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania formed a so-called “blue wall” to help Joe Biden to victory over Donald Trump. All three of these states are currently led by Democratic governors, but their legislatures are dominated by the Republican party. Some voting rights advocates believe that the Democratic governors’ continued ability to
U.S. Senate confirms voting rights advocate Perez to 2nd Circuit
In spite of GOP objections, the US Senate has confirmed voting rights advocate Myrna Perez as a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in New York. Perez has served as the director of the voting rights and elections program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. She was confirmed by a vote of 48-43. Unlike the requirement for closing debate over legislation, closing debate over whether the Senate will confirm a nominee is