Free Republic

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s June 2 primary election is approaching, with ballots set to begin arriving for registered voters Monday. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, voters will receive four key pieces of mail: a state voter information guide, a county voter information guide, a sample ballot and an official ballot. “Democracy is a messy business, and it can take some work,” political analyst Steve Swatt said. “And it’s incumbent on us as voters to do our homework.” At the top of the ticket is the race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, a contest that analysts say remains...

A box containing hundreds of unopened Washington state ballots was reportedly discovered on the ground next to a dumpster behind a strip mall in Renton, raising serious questions about ballot handling and election security. Washington State Republican Party Chairman Jim Walsh said a concerned citizen brought the ballots to the GOP’s Bellevue headquarters after finding them discarded. “Earlier today, a concerned citizen contacted me and came and dropped off at the Bellevue headquarters a large box of ballots, Washington State ballots, specifically King County elections ballots, that were mailed to people and never received,” Walsh said in a video posted...

Michigan is among states doubling down on rejecting Trump administration investigations and oversight into elections, claiming protection of the right to vote, potentially setting up a battle that could escalate to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Justice Department is demanding roughly 865,000 ballots and hundreds of thousands of related election records from the Detroit area’s 2024 election, threatening to seek a court order if the materials are not turned over within 14 days. In an April 14 letter to Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon asked for "all ballots (including absentee and provisional), ballot receipts,...

Law enforcement officials cautioned that they had not yet determined a motive for the Pacific Northwest arson fires. But the messages have heightened the sensitivity of the investigation. Investigators responding to arson fires at two ballot boxes in the Pacific Northwest this week found devices at both scenes marked with the words “Free Gaza,” according to two law enforcement officials. Investigators are trying to determine if the perpetrator was actually a pro-Palestinian activist or someone using that prominent cause to sow discord, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. But the message...

<p>The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a county sheriff who seized more than half a million 2025 election ballots to pause his probe into election fraud allegations while the judges review the legal challenge against it.</p><p>The order came after California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, last month asked the court to step in. A voting rights group is also challenging the ballot seizure.</p>

Gov. Josh Shapiro reacted swiftly to news that President Donald Trump had signed an executive order attempting to restrict voting rights, blasting it with a post on the governor’s social media pages: “President Trump can sign whatever the hell he wants to, but it won’t change the Constitution. The authority to set our election rules belongs to the states — and as Governor, I will protect your right to vote. That includes your right to vote by mail." Trump’s order would create a nationwide list of eligible voters and restrict mail-in voting, among other restrictions. Under the order, the Department...

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday cracking down on mail-in voting across the country, the Daily Caller learned first. The executive order will require the Secretary of Homeland Security to create a list of verified U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state with the Social Security Administration’s help, according to a fact sheet shared with the Caller. The presidential action will also require that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) only send absentee ballots to those on each state’s approved mail-in ballot list. Ballots will now have specific secure envelopes, with unique barcodes...

President Trump is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday that would crack down on mail-in voting across the country. The order will require newly appointed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, aided by the Social Security Administration, to create a list of verified U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote, according to a fact sheet first shared with The Daily Caller. The White House confirmed The Daily Caller’s reporting to The Hill. The order also calls for the U.S. Postal Service to only send ballots to citizens on the state’s approved mail-in ballot list, and the ballots will now have...

Three weeks after the Georgia Senate failed to pass a bill requiring hand-marked ballots for the November elections, a revamped House bill with the same requirement was approved. In its original form, House Bill 960 would have added a 12th Superior Court judge to the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit. The amended bill presented by Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, on Friday contained some of the same language as Senate Bill 568, which failed on crossover day. House Bill 960 still requires hand-marked ballots for the November 2026 general election and requires a manual recount of some elections. The new version reduces the...

The New York Times reported from the U.S. Supreme Court today that the Mississippi Elections Case would likely be overturned: Justices Appear Poised to Reject Mississippi Law on Late-Arriving Ballots.Politico had a different headline: Supreme Court worries Trump's attack on late ballots could also threaten early voting.Both showed how concerned the Left is about retaining provisions in numerous states that allow mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day to be counted and processed. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 17 states and territories, including California, Maryland, New York, and D.C., are overly generous in accepting mail-in ballots after Election...

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said that a legal theory supported by the Republican National Committee in a case related to mail-in ballots “imperils a lot of different things.” Jackson noted during oral arguments in the case on Monday that election practices have changed over time, which she said undermines the idea that there was ever a consistent practice across all states. “It's been changing throughout the course in a way that undermines the notion that there was one consistent practice first of all, or that Congress's law, the meaning of Election Day in the federal statutes, somehow was...

James Carville became a national figure as an advisor to Gov. Bill Clinton's successful 1992 campaign for president. Since that time he's made a good living as a so-called political expert. His November 2024 New York Times op-ed "Three Reasons I'm Certain Kamala Harris Will Win" was far short of accurate. Likewise, his 2009 book "40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation" seems off-base. During an interview with ESPN sports analyst Stephen A. Smith, Carville admitted "the truth of the matter is, I'm not a very good predictor of elections. I can't even remember what the...

The Supreme Court appeared ready Monday to rein in one of the most controversial election practices still allowed in several states: counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. During oral arguments in Watson v. Republican National Committee, the Court’s conservative justices signaled deep skepticism toward a Mississippi law allowing absentee ballots to be counted up to five days after Election Day, so long as they are postmarked on time. The case could have sweeping consequences ahead of the November midterms, especially in battleground contests where delayed ballot counting could once again fuel chaos, suspicion, and legal warfare. Mississippi is...

The Supreme Court‘s conservative majority sounds skeptical of state laws that allow the counting of late-arriving mail ballots, a persistent target of President Donald Trump. The court heard arguments in a case from Mississippi that could also affect voters in 13 other states and the District of Columbia, which have varying grace periods for mail ballots. The decision may also impact an additional 15 states that have more forgiving deadlines for ballots from military and overseas voters. A ruling is expected by late June, early enough to govern the counting of ballots in the 2026 midterm congressional elections. What to...

At 10:00 this morning, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the issue of ballots arriving after election day.QUESTION PRESENTED: The federal election-day statutes-2 U.S.C. § 7, 2 U.S.C. § 1, and 3 U.S.C. § 1-set the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in certain years as the "election" day for federal offices. Like all other States, Mississippi requires that ballots for federal offices be cast-marked and submitted to election officials-by that day. And like most other States, Mississippi allows some of those timely cast ballots (mail-in absentee ballots, in Mississippi's case) to be counted if they are...

A California sheriff and top Republican candidate for governor seized over 650,000 votes from the state’s November elections this weekend. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco launched an investigation into the state’s November 2025 special election on Proposition 50 after a third-party organization, the Riverside Election Integrity Team, claimed it found roughly 45,000 excess votes. California elections officials have dismissed the team’s findings, but Bianco says his office will conduct another count. “This investigation is simple: Physically count the ballots and compare that result with the total votes recorded,” Bianco told reporters at a Friday press conference. Proposition 50 was a...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will hear arguments in a consequential case to determine at what point states can accept and count mail-in ballots. The case, Watson v. RNC, challenges a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be received up to five days after Election Day, as long as the ballot is postmarked by Election Day. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia also allow mail-in ballots to be received after Election Day. Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, said the case would give an opportunity for mail-in ballot laws to be uniform across the...

After the election offices of Georgia’s most populous county were raided last month, the FBI has disclosed information indicating where its investigation is heading.FBI agents are seen at the facility in Union City, Ga., on Jan. 28, 2026. Federal laws may have been broken during the 2020 election according to the affidavit supporting the court-approved raid. Yet the breadth of the materials seized shows the FBI may be able to check the integrity of the ballots more broadly, uncovering further issues or putting speculation to bed.President Donald Trump’s campaign challenged the Georgia election most vigorously, as he lost the state...

A federal judge in Georgia ordered documents related to a Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on an election facility in Fulton County to be unsealed by Tuesday. The FBI raid that took place late last month was executed under a judicial warrant and resulted in troves of ballots from the 2020 election being taken into federal custody. Information related to the warrant including the affidavit must be unsealed by Tuesday, which could provide new details into the government’s interest in obtaining the ballots. Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chair Robb Pitts and the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections...

https://x.com/JohnBasham/status/2019203289146093795 "Senator Perdue claimed to have received a phone call in November 2021 from Vic Reynolds, then-Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). Reynolds told Perdue, “We’re not going to investigate. The governor wants me to tell you why we’re not going to investigate.” Perdue revealed that in May of 2021, Reynolds was presented with evidence of ballot harvesting. “…Video evidence and cell phone evidence, along with testimony and bank records that are corroborated…” Perdue stated that Reynolds “looked at that and said it was compelling [enough] to be investigated.” Perdue would go on to reveal that the reason...