Free Republic

New Jersey is holding its primary today, in which the default is to vote by mail. Anyone voting in person must fill out a provisional ballot. And the provisional ballot requires your drivers license number. So voting in person now requires Voter ID, you fill out a lengthy form, and vote with a paper ballot. Normal voting in person does not exist. I've heard for years that Voter ID is a republican plot which suppresses minority Voters. But now it's required if you want to vote in person. I'm hearing numerous reports of people voting in person and telling the...

Ever since President-elect Donald Trump soundly defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, several electors in the Electoral College have threatened to vote against the will of the people in their state to against both Trump and Hillary Clinton. One group of electors who are supposed to vote for Hillary Clinton experienced a major setback in court and one judge has reminded them that they can be replaced.

WASHINGTON — The 538 people who cast the actual votes for president in December as part of the Electoral College are not free agents and must vote as the laws of their states direct, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous decision in the "faithless elector" case was a defeat for advocates of changing the Electoral College, who hoped a win would force a shift in the method of electing presidents toward a nationwide popular vote. But it was a win for state election officials who feared that empowering rogue electors would cause chaos. The November general election is...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that states can require presidential electors to back their states’ popular vote winner in the Electoral College. The ruling, just under four months before the 2020 election, leaves in place laws in 32 states and the District of Columbia that bind electors to vote for the popular-vote winner, and electors almost always do so anyway. So-called faithless electors have not been critical to the outcome of a presidential election, but that could change in a race decided by just a few electoral votes. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the...

The Supreme Court will decide whether Electoral College voters are required to support presidential candidate who wins state. After lower courts split on the question, the U.S. Supreme Court decided today it will hear a case to decide whether presidential electors are bound to support the popular vote winner in their states or can opt for someone else. States want the ability to punish or replace these so-called "faithless" electors...

As the Democrat Left seeks to circumvent the Electoral College with the National Popular Vote Compact, in which states agree to assign their presidential electors to whomever receives the most votes nationally, even if the other candidate won their state, a federal appeals court has thrown even more shade at voters. As the Washington Free Beacon reported Wednesday, a federal appeals court in Colorado ruled 2-1 that the then-secretary of state was wrong to remove and replace an elector who wanted to cast his ballot for GOP alternative John Kasich rather than Hillary Clinton, who won in Colorado. [...] You...

Long before discussions of impeachment became commonplace, a means of denying President-elect Donald Trump the White House was floated and circulated among liberal groups. They formed a national alliance shortly after the 2016 election designed to manipulate the Electoral College by persuading and pressuring electors not to vote for Trump when members of the Electoral College met to cast their votes on Dec. 19, 2016, but to vote for an alternative candidate. As we all know, they were not successful. But what happened to the small handful of electors who broke their pledges ? There were seven nationwide, including...

On May 7, the plaintiffs filed this 40-page brief in League of United Latin American Citizens v Abbott, w.d. Texas, 5:18cv-175. This sets forth why the plaintiffs believe that the winner-take-all system for choosing presidential electors in 48 states violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. There are similar cases pending in three other states. It just happens that the Texas case is the first one in which the plaintiffs have set forth their legal argument. All four cases have the same high-powered law firms working for the plaintiffs.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that states may punish “faithless electors” — those members of the Electoral College who refuse to cast their ballots for the candidate whom the majority of voters in the state have chosen.

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that states can prohibit their Electoral College representatives from disregarding voters when casting their ballots in presidential elections. The unanimous decision, arising out of a case from Washington state, essentially gives states the right to outlaw "faithless electors" who cast their votes for people other than those chosen by their voters. "Nothing in the Constitution expressly prohibits States from taking away presidential electors’ voting discretion as Washington does," Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the majority decision. --This breaking news report will be updated.

One of the most pernicious phenomena of modern times is the collusive lawsuit. This is how it works: a left-wing organization sues a government agency that is also controlled by the left. The lawsuit alleges that the agency is obliged to do something that the agency would like to do, but the Democrats can’t get it passed. Then the parties–supposedly adverse, but actually in collusion–“settle” the case by having the agency agree to do what it wanted to do all along. If all goes well, a court enters an order enforcing the settlement. So the net effect is that a...

President Trump said Wednesday that he will “strongly regulate” or even “close down” social media platforms, one day after Twitter flagged two of his posts. The president made the vow on Twitter after the social media platform added a message to the tweets that linked to a page disputing the accuracy of his posts. Trump and other conservatives argue that social media is censuring or silencing their messages. Read more “Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices,” Trump said over two tweets Wednesday morning. “We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow...

Whenever I write about voter fraud, I feel obliged to inject some nuance and caveats, which typically boil down to this: The Right tends to exaggerate the prevalence of the problem, while the Left tends to dismiss and downplay it entirely. The truth is that while there is no evidence of widespread and systemic abuses, fraud does occur, and common-sense steps to ensure the integrity of the ballot and electoral process should not be reflexively assailed as racist or forms of (heavily debunked) "suppression." Indeed, measures like voter ID requirements are broadly popular among the electorate, despite frequent demonization. Democrats...

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., pushed mail-in voting as a way to counter alleged Republican attempts to suppress minority votes. “It's really a great system," Merkley said, referring to mail-in voting. "One of those valuable things, which will become more and more important is it stops so many forms of voter suppression and voter intimidation. The Republicans are trying to stop poor people from voting, they’re trying to stop college students from voting, people of color from voting, Indian tribes from voting." He made those comments during a Tuesday interview with Sirius XM host Dean Obeidallah. Merkley added that mail-in balloting...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court is set on Wednesday to consider a dispute involving whether “electors” in the complex Electoral College system that decides the winner of U.S. presidential elections are free to disregard laws directing them to back the candidate who prevails in their state’s popular vote. If enough electors do so, it could upend an election. The nine justices will hear two closely watched cases - one from Colorado and one from Washington state - less than six months before the Nov. 3 election in which presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden challenges Republican President Donald Trump. The...

As part of a string of voting laws signed by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam in mid-April, the state became the 34th in the country whose residents may vote by mail without having to prove that they couldn’t vote in person. Of the remaining 16 states that don’t grant that right, governors and election officials in 11 allowed exceptions during the primaries on account of the pandemic—and if the coronavirus is still lingering in November, might be expected to continue those exceptions. “Whether they want to or not, all states are going to see a dramatic surge in mail voting this...

America holds its “Greatest Generation” in a unique place of honor. We treasure the enormous contributions the men and women who are now our senior citizens have made to our freedom and prosperity, at home and abroad. Yet the sacred right of today’s seniors to have their political choices honored at the ballot box are at high risk because of vote fraud. Faced with challenges of aging such as sensory and mobility changes, access to transportation or a residence change to a new voting jurisdiction, seniors often rely on others to assist them with voting. They are also the trusting...

One of Donald Trump’s special talents is to hold every conceivable position on a given subject at the same time. So it is with voting by mail in American elections. The president used a postal ballot to vote in Florida’s Republican primary last month. He has also denounced postal voting as an invitation to fraud. He has said voting by mail “doesn’t work out well for Republicans”. And he has said that postal voting should be expanded for older voters and for members of the armed forces, two groups he assumes would favour him in November. The president’s interventions have...

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky's Republican state lawmakers took advantage of their supermajority in both the House and Senate on Tuesday and voted to override Gov. Andy Beshear's vetoes of five bills. They're also expected to vote to override his line-item vetoes of the budget either Tuesday night or Wednesday. Advertisement By far, the most high-profile of the bills Beshear vetoed in its entirety was Senate Bill 2, which requires voters to present a photo ID at their polling location.

KKK-Blackface Governor Ralph Northam (D) on Monday signed sweeping legislation repealing voter ID laws and expanded early voting programs. “Voting is a fundamental right, and these new laws strengthen our democracy by making it easier to cast a ballot, not harder,” said Governor Northam in a statement. “No matter who you are or where you live in Virginia, your voice deserves to be heard. I’m proud to sign these bills into law.” Northam signed legislation allowing early voting 45 days prior to an election without even stating an excuse. Voters used to have to provide a reason for absentee voting from an approved...