Democracy
GOP, Trump build on immigration fears to push voting restrictions in states
With polls showing unauthorized immigration as Republicans’ best issue for the fall, the GOP is looking to raise the alarm about voting by non-citizens and the undocumented. The multi-pronged effort has been advanced in congressional legislation, public statements by top election officials and U.S. senators, plans produced by grassroots activists, and posts on X by […]
Bill outlaws ranked-choice voting?in Kentucky, but that’s not why Beshear vetoed it
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill that received a late addition to outlaw ranked-choice voting in Kentucky.? However, Beshear singled out another provision in House Bill 44 as the reason for the veto. That provision requires the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to annually furnish “lifetime Kentucky death records” to help the State […]
Republican Party of Kentucky building fund hits $2.9 million with horse racing interests’ help
FRANKFORT — Churchill Downs contributed $100,000 and The Jockey Club gave $50,000 earlier this year to the Republican Party of Kentucky’s fund drive to renovate and expand its party headquarters in Frankfort. The two recent contributions are listed in a report that the RPK’s Building Fund filed this week with the Kentucky Registry of Election […]
States rush to combat AI threat to elections
This year’s presidential election will be the first since generative AI — a form of artificial intelligence that can create new content, including images, audio, and video — became widely available. That’s raising fears that millions of voters could be deceived by a barrage of political deepfakes. But, while Congress has done little to address […]
Close call for open records law as panel un-adopts mass exemptions for Kentucky elected officials
FRANKFORT — In a rare change of mind, a Senate committee rejected a measure that open government advocates warned would dismantle Kentucky’s open records law.? An attorney for the Kentucky Press Association says the bill still has loopholes that would let government officials hide public records by keeping them on their private electronic devices.? The […]
AG Russell Coleman’s biggest donor is a California pharmaceutical exec
The largest donor to the various political committees supporting Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman last year is a newcomer to Kentucky’s world of political giving and lobbying: FFF Enterprises Inc., of Temecula, California. FFF Enterprises describes itself on its website as a “leading supplier of critical-care biopharmaceuticals, plasma products and vaccines.” It first registered to […]
House committee OKs bill to make interrupting legislative proceedings a crime in Kentucky
FRANKFORT —?Kentuckians could be charged with a new crime — “interference with a legislative proceeding” — under a bill backed Wednesday by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. The committee’s Democrats passed their votes on House Bill 626.? The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville, said the legislation was written with three scenarios in […]
Trump’s pick for RNC chief worked with top election denier’s group
Former President Donald Trump’s choice to be the next chair of the national Republican Party briefly teamed up last election cycle with a voter fraud watchdog group closely tied to Cleta Mitchell, the conservative lawyer who played a key role in Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 vote. Trump is backing Michael Whatley, the chair […]
Are Americans really committed to democracy in the 2024 election?
With former President Donald Trump having all but wrapped up the GOP presidential nomination, one issue looks set to be at the center of the general election campaign: the threat to democracy. In a major campaign speech in Pennsylvania in January, President Joe Biden detailed Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, his efforts to use […]
Cameron’s office agreed to $99,750 settlement in lawsuit over ‘ballot integrity’ task force records
Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office agreed to pay $99,750 to settle a long-running open records dispute in December just days before Cameron left to become CEO of an organization devoted to combatting “woke capitalism,” among other objectives. American Oversight, an open records advocacy group based in Washington D.C., had sued Cameron’s office in […]
Some Republican Party officials in Kentucky defend Jan. 6 rioters,?echoing Trump rhetoric
On the third anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, some Republican activists in Kentucky rallied support for those who stormed Congress and asserted that information about the violence of Jan. 6, 2021 is being withheld from the public. The Republican Party of Kentucky’s central committee narrowly approved a resolution to that effect on […]
How a new way to vote is gaining traction in states — and could transform US politics
With U.S. democracy plagued by extremism, polarization, and a growing disconnect between voters and lawmakers, a set of reforms that could dramatically upend how Americans vote is gaining momentum at surprising speed in Western states. Ranked choice voting, which asks voters to rank multiple candidates in order of preference, has seen its profile steadily expand […]