Wisconsin State, Fair

This Week In Democracy

• The?U.S. Supreme Court?left sanctions in place against?Sidney Powell?and six other lawyers who filed baseless lawsuits challenging?President Biden’s?2020 election victory in Michigan.?“We are now focused on guaranteeing another fair, safe and secure election in 2024,”?a lawyer for Detroit said. ?

• Wisconsin Gov.?Tony Evers?signed new, fairer legislative maps into law, ending more than a decade of partisan gerrymandering in the state.

“Wisconsin is not a red state or a blue state — we’re a purple state, and?I believe our maps should reflect that basic fact,”?he said. ?

• The?Pennsylvania Supreme Court?ended an attempt?by members of the state legislature to subpoena voters’ private information, including?driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. The attempt to gain election records from the state’s election office was part of a continued?sham “election integrity investigation”?into the 2020 presidential election. ?

• More than?765,000?Michigan voters?have already voted?in the state’s upcoming Feb. 27 presidential primary. That includes?37,000?who have voted early in person,?a new option?for Michigan voters in this election cycle.?“It is an exciting moment,”?said Michigan Secretary of State?Jocelyn Benson.?“I’ve been seeing voters go in and out of early voting centers all day.”

Wisconsin State, Fair

Voters are supposed to choose their representatives, not the other way around.

But in Wisconsin, Republican state legislators drew?severely gerrymandered maps?in 2011. Ever since, the state’s closely divided electorate has voted in districts drawn to protect incumbents and elect a lopsided legislature.

That’s about to change. This week, Gov. Tony Evers?signed?fair maps into law. They create competitive districts that reject partisan bias and “reflect the reality of Wisconsinites,” as the governor?argued in court.

Evers drew the maps and the Republican-led legislature passed them, after a?groundbreaking decision by the state Supreme Court?determined that the old maps were unconstitutional. States United and the Wisconsin Department of Justice served as co-counsel to Evers in the case, helping to bring about the change.

After the signing ceremony, the governor?pronounced himself?“jazzed as hell.” Wisconsin voters should be, too.

• NBC News:?Prominent election deniers are running again in 2024, but some have toned down their claims “The election denial movement has damaged trust in our elections and has led to threats and harassment that election officials are dealing with every day,” said?Joanna Lydgate,?CEO of?States United Action,?a nonpartisan group that tracks election deniers running for office. … Many of those 17 Republican candidates running again are doing so in crucial swing states and for offices, including Senate and Congress, whose responsibilities in some cases could be tied to certifying results in those states. ?

• Axios Phoenix:?How Arizona is trying to fight election deepfakes The focus now is on disinformation before the election. But the potential use of deepfakes to spread the kinds of post-election falsehoods that proliferated after 2020 is "the huge space to watch," said?Katie Reisner,?senior counsel for …?States United Democracy Center. ?

• The New York Times:?Election Deniers Seek to Rewrite the Law ?

• The New York Times:?2020 Election Lies Keep Unraveling as Courts Push for Evidence ?

• NBC News:?Jan. 6 rioter who assaulted police calls for ‘accountability’ for 2020 election lies ?

• NBC News:?West Virginia’s top election official embraces conspiracy theories and election denial ?

• Votebeat:?How to safeguard elections against everything from AI to natural disasters ?

• The Philadelphia Inquirer:?Pa. election officials are bracing for another round of lawsuits, recount requests, and claims of fraud in 2024 ?

• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:?Tony Evers urges Wisconsin Supreme Court to reconsider congressional maps ?

• The Texas Tribune:?“A hornet’s nest”: How one Texas elections chief is doing his job amid ongoing conspiracy theories

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