The Commentariat -- June 10, 2020
Late Morning Update:
Richard Fausset & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Georgia was waiting early Wednesday for the results of primary elections riddled with serious problems, as voting machines all over the state malfunctioned and frustrated voters waited in long lines for hours. Much of the attention was on whether Jon Ossoff, the 33-year-old Democrat who earned national headlines in 2017 with a spirited but unsuccessful congressional race in the Atlanta suburbs, would capture his party's nomination in a race for a Senate seat. Early Wednesday, he was well ahead of Teresa Tomlinson, the former mayor of Columbus, Ga., and Sarah Riggs Amico, a former candidate for lieutenant governor, but still short of the 50 percent vote threshold needed to avoid a runoff. They are facing off for the opportunity to challenge Senator David Perdue, an incumbent Republican and ally of President Trump's." The story has more primary results for Georgia & other states.
Dan Diamond of Politico: "The coronavirus is still killing as many as 1,000 Americans per day -- but the Trump administration isn't saying much about it.... 'We've made every decision correctly,' Trump claimed in remarks in the Rose Garden Friday morning.... Inside the White House, top advisers like Jared Kushner privately assured colleagues last month that the outbreak was well in hand.... Meanwhile, officials in at least 19 states have recorded two-week trends of increasing coronavirus cases, including spikes of more than 200 percent in Arizona and more than 180 percent in Kentucky. Two months after the White House issued so-called gating criteria that it recommended states hit before resuming business and social activities, only a handful of states -- like Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and South Dakota -- currently meet all of those benchmarks, according to CovidExitStrategy.org."
Trump to Crown Jacksonville Coronavirus City. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Republicans expect to move their national convention from Charlotte, N.C., to Jacksonville, Fla., a shift planned after President Trump told officials in North Carolina that he did not want to use social distancing measures aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus, according to three senior Republicans. The decision could change, the Republicans cautioned, but as of now, officials are on track to announce the new location as early a Thursday. Jacksonville has been Republicans' top choice for days, after Mr. Trump told the governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, a Democrat, that he needed an answer about whether Charlotte could accommodate the convention in August with a promise that there would not be social distancing.Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida, where Ron DeSantis, a Republican and an ally of Mr. Trump, is the governor. Jacksonville's mayor, Lenny Curry, is a longtime Republican official." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Jacksonville, from I-10 anyway, is a beautiful, sparkling city. It is a hot city in August. But most of all, it is much more a southern city than a Florida city.
A Bully AND a Liar. Ryan Lukas of NPR: "U.S. Attorney General William Barr has repeatedly blamed anti-fascist activists for the violence that has erupted during demonstrations over George Floyd's death, but federal court records show no sign of so-called antifa links so far in cases brought by the Justice Department. NPR has reviewed court documents of 51 individuals facing federal charges in connection with the unrest. As of Tuesday morning, none is alleged to have links to the antifa movement."
Massachusetts, Virginia. Morgan Gstalter of the Hill: "Statues of Christopher Columbus were targeted by protesters in Massachusetts and Virginia on Tuesday night in an act of solidarity with indigenous peoples. The 8-foot-tall memorial to the explorer in Richmond, Va., was pulled down with ropes and dragged roughly 200 yards to nearby Landing at Foundation Lake, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It was also reportedly briefly lit on fire.... Another statue of Columbus was beheaded in Boston overnight in the park named after him, according to CBS Boston."
New Jersey. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "As a peaceful Black Lives Matter march made its way through Franklin Township, N.J., the group protesting against police brutality and systemic racism walked past a white man kneeling on the neck of another white man in a mocking reenactment of George Floyd's death. The men were part of a group of white counterprotesters with flags supporting President Trump and 'Blue Lives Matter' that barked, 'Black lives matter to no one,' and 'Police lives matter,' at those marching on Monday to remember Floyd.... 'This is what happens when you don't comply with the cops!' yelled the man who was kneeling on the other man's neck.... 'Comply with the cops and this wouldn't have happened! He didn't comply!' (Floyd did indeed comply with police, according to the criminal complaint filed against the officers.)... On Tuesday, after the angry encounter was denounced by state leaders and law enforcement, one of the men in the video, a corrections officer, has been suspended, while another was fired from his job at FedEx." A Cherry Hill, N.J., Courier Post story, which includes videos, is here.
Cold Case Solved. Probably. Thomas Erdbrink & Christina Anderson of the New York Times: "Bedeviled for over 34 years by the mysterious killing of Olof Palme, the Swedish prime minister who was shot in the back by an unknown assailant on a quiet Stockholm street, Sweden's judiciary finally made its case on Wednesday. At a news conference in Stockholm, the prosecutor Krister Petersson said that there was 'reasonable evidence' that the assailant was Stig Engstrom, a graphic designer at an insurance company, who killed himself in 2000, at the age of 66. He added that only a court could rule on whether Mr. Engstrom was guilty or not, but that since the suspect is deceased, there would be no court case. But the prosecutor said he could not rule out the possibility that Mr. Engstrom had acted as part of a larger conspiracy.... The ... case was widely considered solved in 2018 by a freelance journalist, Thomas Pettersson, whose reporting led to Mr. Engstrom." Mrs. McC: They should have put Wallander on the case. Oh, wait. He sort of was.
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The Washington Post's live updates of protest developments Tuesday are here. @9:30 am ET:"The National Park Service will remove most of the tall metal fencing surrounding Lafayette Square by Wednesday, the agency said.... Protesters have converted the fencing to a crowdsourced memorial wall, filled with posters, names and paintings of black men and women who died during encounters with police. A National Park Service spokeswoman did not immediately respond Tuesday to a question about what would happen to the artwork when the fence comes down." Mrs. McC: Say, maybe the Park Service could put a display of the posters in the Trump "Presidential* Library" so there will be some written material there besides the Articles of Impeachment. (Also linked yesterday.)
Ryan Foley of the AP: "Minneapolis police initially told the public that George Floyd died after a 'medical incident during a police interaction.' The Buffalo, New York, department said a protester 'tripped and fell.' Philadelphia police alleged that a college student who suffered a serious head wound had assaulted an officer. All three claims were quickly disproved by videos seen widely on the internet and television, fueling mistrust and embarrassing agencies that made misleading or incomplete statements that painted their actions in a far more favorable light.... Defense lawyers say the inaccurate statements are encouraged by a culture of silence in which officers protect misbehaving colleagues, a court system that rarely holds officers accountable and a public that has given police the benefit of the doubt.... The habit of police giving false testimony is so widely known in New York that it has long been nicknamed 'testilying.' Officers are rarely held accountable because they enjoy broad legal protections, and prosecutors almost never charge them with perjury, [Michael] Avery [of the National Police Accountability Project] said.... '... what is happening now with video, this is getting out into the larger world, into the media, into white communities, suburban communities, and people outside the affected communities are becoming more aware of what's going on,' he said." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Say what you will about social media; there's an upside. So then this: ~~~
~~~ Scott Clement & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Americans overwhelmingly support the nationwide protests that have taken place since the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, and they say police forces have not done enough to ensure that blacks are treated equally to whites, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll. President Trump receives negative marks for his handling of the protests, with 61 percent saying they disapprove and 35 percent saying they approve. Much of the opposition to Trump is vehement, as 47 percent of Americans say they strongly disapprove of the way the president has responded to the protests. The poll highlights how attitudes about police treatment of black Americans are changing dramatically. More than 2 in 3 Americans (69 percent) say the killing of Floyd represents a broader problem within law enforcement, compared with fewer than 1 in 3 (29 percent) who say the Minneapolis killing is an isolated incident."
Josh Feldman of Mediaite: Citing the Wall Street Journal, "'President Trump last week was on the brink of firing Defense Secretary Mark Esper over their differing views of domestic use of active-duty military, before advisers and allies on Capitol Hill talked him out of it, according to several officials.... The president consulted several advisers to ask their opinion of the disagreement, intent that day on removing Mr. Esper, his fourth defense secretary since taking office in January 2017, according to the officials. After talks with the advisers, who cautioned against the move, Mr. Trump set aside the plans to immediately fire Mr. Esper.' However, the Journal reveals that Esper was ready to resign and started writing a letter before 'he was persuaded not to do so by aides and other advisers.'" The WSJ report is here. Mrs. McC: And now they have a great working relationship. ~~~
~~~ Summer Concepcion of TPM: "Officials told the Journal that Trump was 'furious' over the defense secretary's opposition to invoking the Insurrection Act.... The officials also told WSJ that Trump consulted several advisers -- which included White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; longtime Trump friend and outside adviser David Urban; and Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and James Inhofe (R-OK) -- about their opinion regarding Esper's stance, and Trump intended to fire the defense secretary that day."
Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Politico spoke to 10 National Guardsmen who have taken part in the protest response across the country since the killing of George Floyd.... Many Guardsmen said they felt uncomfortable with the way they were used to handle the unrest because demonstrators lumped them in with the police. They felt that while they swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, their presence at times intimidated Americans from expressing their opinions and even escalated the tension. And in the case of Guardsmen involved in the Lafayette incident, some felt used. 'As a military officer, what I saw was more or less really f---ed up,' said one D.C. Guardsman who was deployed to Lafayette Square last Monday and who, like some others, spoke on condition of anonymity.... The official line from the White House that the protesters had turned violent, he said, is false. 'The crowd was loud but peaceful, and at no point did I feel in danger, and I was standing right there in the front of the line,' he said. '... I believe I saw civil rights being violated in order for a photo op. I'm here to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and what I just saw goes against my oath and to see everyone try to cover up what really happened,' the Guardsman continued. 'What I saw was just absolutely wrong.'"
** A George Wallace for Our Times. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump said last month that he had 'learned a lot from Richard Nixon,' and many interpreted his hard-line response to the street protests of recent days as a homage of sorts to the 1968 campaign. The president's Twitter feed has been filled with phrases famous from the Nixon lexicon like 'LAW & ORDER' and even '"SILENT MAJORITY.' But if anything, Mr. Trump seems to be occupying the political lane held that year by George Wallace, the segregationist former governor of Alabama who ran as a third-party candidate to the right of Nixon. While he does not share Wallace's extreme positions, Mr. Trump is running hard on a combative pro-police, anti-protester platform, appealing to Americans turned off by unrest in the streets. Mr. Trump's talk of 'shooting' looters, his bellicose denunciation of 'thugs' and 'terrorists,' his threats to unleash 'vicious dogs' and 'ominous weapons' and his vow to call in troops to 'dominate' the streets all evoke Wallace's inflammatory language more than Nixon's that year. Mr. Trump has offered little empathy for the goals of peaceful protesters against racial injustice, emphasizing instead the sporadic looting and violence even as he has sought to discredit the victims of police brutality.... While Nixon spoke out strongly for law and order, he also spoke in favor of civil rights and preached the need for unity under a campaign slogan of 'Bring Us Together.'"
** Donald Trump, Russian Troll. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday shared an unfounded conspiracy theory that an incident in which an elderly man was pushed to the ground by police in Buffalo, N.Y., during a protest ... could be a 'set up.' The president cited right-wing One America News Network (OANN) in making the incendiary claim, which comes amid a national debate over police brutality. 'Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment,' Trump tweeted, appearing to refer to a report on OANN. 'I watched, he fell harder than was pushed,' the president added. 'Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?'" Mrs. McC: According to John Harwood, speaking on CNN, the "reporter" on the OANN story is a former "reporter" for Sputnik, a Russian propaganda outlet. It should go without saying that it is outrageous that any president, even this one*, would make an unfounded accusation against an ordinary citizen -- especially an elderly person hospitalized because of police brutality. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Ben Collins of NBC News: "Trump's claims appeared to have been ripped from a conspiracy theory that aired Tuesday morning on One America News Network, a far-right cable news channel. The theory was originally posted to an anonymous conservative blog.... [Kristian] Rouz claimed [on OANN] that 'newly released video' showed [victim Martin] Gugino 'using a police tracker on his phone.' The video is not newly released, but merely slowed down and does not show Gugino using a 'police tracker.' Rouz calls it an 'old trick used by antifa,' without providing evidence or other examples. Trump and many of his supporters have claimed with little evidence that antifa has been executing plans to cause unrest and spark violence during recent protests.... Rouz, who previously worked for the Russian state media organization Sputnik, has a record of pushing baseless conspiracy theories on OANN." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Gugino has an attorney. I hope he sues the Buffalo police department for his injuries AND Donald Trump personally for defamation of character. Trump should have to pay hard, cold cash for at least a little of his abusive behavior. ~~~
~~~ Adam Rawnsley & Will Sommer of the Daily Beast describe the Conservative Treehouse, the blog that made up the story about Martin Gugino's being an antifa provocateur, & the "source" the Russian troll at OANN cited as his "research" on Gugino. ~~~
~~~ The Chicken Caucus. Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "A number of Republican senators dodged questions or were silent on Tuesday when pressed for reaction after ... Donald Trump suggested without evidence that a 75-year-old man who was seriously injured after being shoved by police officers in Buffalo, New York, last week, may have been part of a 'set up.'... At a news conference following a Republican policy lunch, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky refused to say whether Trump's tweet was appropriate.... Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican from Georgia, wouldn't answer a question about the President's tweet as she hopped on an elevator....CNN printed out a copy of the President's tweet and tried to read it to Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, who said he hadn't seen it, and [didn't want to.] Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told CNN he hadn't seen the tweet, but he also didn't want it read to him. 'I would rather not hear it,' he said as he walked onto an elevator." And so forth. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, Schumer said. "When a 75-year-old man is pushed to the floor and he's bleeding and Donald Trump blames the victim and comes up with a conspiracy theory probably put out by the Russians about who this man is -- that's a disgrace. They can't even speak out on that? Wow."
** Dana Milbank: Billy Barr has been a bully since he was a schoolboy at New York's Horace Mann School, where he & his brothers were known as "the bully Barrs." Mrs. McC: The job of the attorney general is to stand up fir the rights of the American people. There is no chance a bully will do that.
Delaware. Ira Porter & Jordan Culver of USA Today: "A staff photographer/reporter for the USA Today Network was taken into custody by Delaware State Police on Tuesday night while covering a protest near the state's capital. Andre Lamar, who has covered several demonstrations for The Dover Post since the death of George Floyd..., was filming a Facebook Live of police officers detaining several protesters. The protesters are seen on the ground with their hands behinds their backs, their signs nearby. Lamar can be heard on the video saying, 'The police have arrested protesters. We don't know why they arrested them. They slammed them to the ground.'... Then he filmed himself being tackled and taken into custody. His camera is turned upside down and Lamar can be heard screaming, 'I'm with the press!' multiple times as police placed him on the ground. He is later heard saying that he can't breathe.... Officers confiscat[ed] his press badge and a camera bag. Lamar was later released from police custody after being held in cell with other protesters...." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I found a photo of Lamar on the Internets. Surprise! He's black.
New York. That's Why They Wear Badges, Bill Barr. Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "A New York City police officer surrendered to face criminal charges on Tuesday, 11 days after he was recorded on video shoving a woman to the ground and cursing at her during a protest against police brutality, law enforcement officials said. The Brooklyn district attorney's office charged the officer, Vincent D'Andraia, in a criminal complaint with misdemeanor assault, criminal mischief, harassment and menacing over the May 29 incident, according to a statement." (Also linked yesterday.)
Virginia. Laura Vozzella & Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: "A Richmond judge on Monday temporarily blocked Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam from removing a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the Monument Avenue traffic circle where it has stood for 130 years. Richmond Circuit Court Judge Bradley B. Cavedo granted a 10-day injunction sought by William C. Gregory, who contends in a lawsuit that the state promised to 'affectionately protect' the statue when it annexed the land it stands on from Henrico County. The suit identifies Gregory as a great-grandson of a couple who were signatories to the deed. Northam (D) announced plans to remove the monument and put it in storage last week amid protests in Richmond and across the country...." Mrs. McC: Seems to me packing that statue away in a dark place is a fine way to "affectionately protect" it. (Also linked yesterday.)
"This Has to Stop." Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday invoked the recent death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in denying legal immunity to five cops in West Virginia who were sued for shooting a Black man 22 times while he lay motionless on the ground. Judge Henry Floyd of the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit wrote on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel that to dismiss the case against officers who shot and killed Wayne Jones in 2013 'would signal absolute immunity for fear-based use of deadly force, which we cannot accept.... Although we recognize that our police officers are often asked to make split-second decisions, we expect them to do so with respect for the dignity and worth of black lives. Before the ink dried on this opinion, the FBI opened an investigation into yet another death of a black man at the hands of police, this time George Floyd in Minneapolis,' wrote Floyd, who is not believed to be related to George Floyd. 'This has to stop.'"
Ryan Brooks & David Mack of BuzzFeed News: "Hours before he posted a controversial tweet on Saturday night that has sparked backlash against his company, Greg Glassman, CrossFit's CEO and founder, told gym owners on a private Zoom call, 'We're not mourning for George Floyd -- I don't think me or any of my staff are,' according to a full recording of the meeting obtained by BuzzFeed News. 'Can you tell me why I should mourn for him? Other than that it's the white thing to do -- other than that, give me another reason,' he asked a Minneapolis gym owner who had questioned why the brand hadn't posted a statement about the protests across the country.... The call was held hours before Glassman responded to a tweet on Saturday night that called racism a public health issue, writing, 'It's FLOYD-19.' His tweet drew immediate backlash from gym owners and caused Reebok to end a partnership deal with the company.... On Tuesday night, shortly after publication of this story, the company released a statement from Glassman saying that he had 'decided to retire' and was stepping down as CEO." Mrs. McC: Doesn't matter how fit your body may be, Greg; with that kind of mindset, you're a messed-up blob.
Rick Porter of the Hollywood Reporter: "Paramount Network has pulled the plug on Cops for good. The ViacomCBS-owned cabler had removed the long-running show from its schedule in the wake of nationwide protests following the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25. Now, the network says it's dropping the show altogether.... Paramount Network's forerunner, Spike TV, picked up Cops in 2013 after it ended a 25-season run on Fox. The series continued following the 2018 rebranding of the channel as Paramount Network, which also had syndication rights to many past seasons.... The show's 33rd season had been schedule to premiere on Monday, but no episode has aired on Paramount Network since at least June 1 as protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement continued across the country."
Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "... Dr. Anthony Fauci ... is warning that the coronavirus pandemic is not finished ravaging America.... 'Dr. Fauci said that he had spent much of his career studying H.I.V., and that the disease it caused was "really simple compared to what's going on with Covid-19,"' said [a New York Times] report. 'The differences, he said, included Covid's broad range of severity: no symptoms at all to critical illness and death, with lung damage, intense immune responses and clotting disorders that have caused strokes even in young people, as well as a separate inflammatory syndrome causing severe illness in some children.'" The Times report, part of the paper's live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday is here.
Trump's Slaughterhouse Alaska. Darryl Fears of the Washington Post: "Hunters will soon be allowed to venture into national preserves in Alaska and engage in practices that conservation groups say are reprehensible: baiting hibernating bears from their dens with doughnuts to kill them and using artificial light such as headlamps to scurry into wolf dens to slaughter mothers and their pups. With a final rule published Tuesday in the Federal Register, the Trump administration is ending a five-year-old ban on the practices, which also include shooting swimming caribou from a boat and targeting animals from airplanes and snowmobiles. It will take effect in 30 days." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Junior Bagged an Endangered Sheep & I Didn't Even Get a Lamb Chop. Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "Donald Trump Jr.'s trip last summer to Mongolia to kill an endangered sheep cost American taxpayers nearly $77,000 in Secret Service costs alone, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported Monday. The Secret Service provided documents in March revealing that the agency's cost for Trump's trip to bag a rare argali sheep was more than $17,000. But after additional Freedom of Information Act requests, officials turned over other documents that disclosed an additional $60,000 in spending. Trump Jr.'s eight-day trip was highly controversial, not only for the killing of the sheep, but because of his secretive meeting with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga. Trump appeared to have hunted with a major Republican donor, ProPublica reported." (Also linked yesterday.)
Elections 2020
The New York Times has live primary election updates & results here.
Simone Pathe & Alex Rogers of CNN: "Five states vote on Tuesday -- Georgia, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina and West Virginia. Georgia and West Virginia moved their primaries from earlier this spring because of the coronavirus pandemic." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Astead Herndon & Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: "Georgia election officials, poll workers and voters reported major trouble with voting in Atlanta and elsewhere on Tuesday as the state's primaries got underway, most critically a series of problems with new voting machines that forced many people across the state to wait in long lines and cast provisional ballots. [Atlanta] Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said on Twitter that voting machines were not working in many parts of the city. Poll workers in several locations were having difficulty operating the machines, which were new models. 'If you are in line, PLEASE do not allow your vote to be suppressed,' Ms. Bottoms wrote. 'PLEASE stay in line.'... Voting is a deeply felt and politically intense issue in Georgia because of its long history of disenfranchising black voters. The [2018] governor's race was marred by accusations of voter suppression, particularly of African-American and other minority voters, which [then-secretary of state in charge of elections, now governor (surprise!) Brian] Kemp [R] denied. This year's elections are bringing a new spotlight to Georgia, which has two competitive Senate races and for the first time in a generation is expected to be a presidential battleground." (Also linked yesterday.) A Politico story is here. ~~~
It is a disaster that was preventable. It is emblematic of the deep systemic issues we have here in Georgia. One of the reasons we are so insistent upon better operations is that you can have good laws, but if you have incompetent management and malfeasance, voters get hurt, and that's what we see happening in Georgia today. -- Stacey Abrams ~~~
~~~ Update. "Full-scale Meltdown." Richard Fausset, et al., of the New York Times: "Georgia's statewide primary elections on Tuesday were overwhelmed by a full-scale meltdown of new voting systems put in place after widespread claims of voter suppression during the state's 2018 governor's election. Scores of new state-ordered voting machines were reported to be missing or malfunctioning, and hourslong lines materialized at polling places across Georgia. Some people gave up and left before casting a ballot, and concerns spread that the problems would disenfranchise untold voters, particularly African-Americans. Predominantly black areas experienced some of the worst problems."
Iowa. Nicole Goodkind of Fortune: "Iowa set a new record for primary election turnout this month after secretary of state Paul Pate sent applications for mail-in ballots to all registered voters. More than 520,000 ballots were cast, according to Pate's office, beating the previous record of 450,000 set in 1994. Now, Republicans in the state senate are trying to prevent him from doing the same in the general election this November. The Iowa Senate State Government Committee advanced a 30-page bill on a party-line vote late last week that would prohibit Pate, also a Republican, from proactively sending applications for mail-in-ballots to all registered voters. Anyone who wanted a mail-in ballot would need to submit a written request on their own and show proof of valid voter identification.... The Iowa State Association of County Auditors, a nonpartisan group, expressed confusion over the purpose of the bill. 'County auditors, as local commissioners of elections, are baffled by this,' wrote president Roxanna Moritz in a letter to Iowa lawmakers. 'The 2020 primary was very successful, based on a variety of metrics, largely due to the steps taken by the secretary. Counties experienced record or near-record turnout. Election Day went very smoothly. Results were rapidly available. Why would the state want to cripple the process that led to such success?'" ~~~
~~~ Des Moines Register Editors: "Republican state lawmakers are on a mission: Make it as difficult as possible for Iowans to vote. Their latest effort to fulfill this mission came in the form of a last-minute 30-page amendment to a previously simple, noncontroversial bill. Sen. Roby Smith, R-Davenport, said the new legislation, passed along party lines after a contentious late-night debate, is intended to support 'safe, secure and reliable elections.' It is not. Iowa already has safe, secure and reliable elections. The goal is voter suppression. The bill, among other things, prohibits the secretary of state from mailing absentee ballot requests to Iowans without a written voter request."
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