RandySF
RandySF's JournalRepublicans seek winning strategy on abortion for 2024 - with Democrats also in a tricky spot
As the 2024 election season ramps up, Republicans continue to struggle to find a winning national strategy on the flashpoint issue of abortion – where restricting the procedure has animated the conservative movement for half a century but tormented the party since the fall of Roe.
The supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade delivered Republicans one of their most significant policy victories in a generation. But in the year and a half since the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the ruling has also become one of their biggest political vulnerabilities.
Over the last 18 months, voters have favored abortion rights in seven consecutive ballot measures, including in conservative states. Republicans underperformed in the 2022 midterm elections while Democrats scored off-year election wins in Wisconsin, Kentucky and Virginia – results that again emphasized the enduring power of abortion rights.
Now the presidential election year brings a further huge test.
“With abortion, there’s really a kind of catch-22 for Republicans,” said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis and a leading expert on the history of abortion in the US. “On the one hand, you have a lot of base Republican voters who really care about opposing abortion and on the other you have a huge group of something like 70% of Americans who don’t like abortion bans.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/29/republicans-democrats-abortion-plans-election-2024-trump-biden
ND election administrator: Prepare for long waits if hand counting advances
Petitions are being circulated for a potential ballot question in North Dakota that calls for the state to go back to counting votes by hand during elections. Administrators are not embracing the idea.
Several provisions are being floated under the Election Integrity Act Initiative, and moving away from electronic machines for processing ballots is among them.
Supporters contend that fixes are needed because they feel people have lost faith in elections. But Pierce County Auditor Karen Migler said the machines are effective in tabulating votes.
She suggested the proposed change would be too risky compared with current methods.
https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2023-12-29/civic-engagement-and-voting/nd-election-administrator-prepare-for-long-waits-if-hand-counting-advances/a88003-1
Democratic Republic of Congo rules out election re-run as observers flag irregularities
KINSHASA: The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Thursday refused opposition calls for a re-run of disputed elections, as the main observer mission reported “numerous irregularities” that could undermine some results.
Provisional results issued so far from the Dec. 20 general show President Felix Tshisekedi with a commanding lead, but his opponents have demanded they be annulled, citing widespread issues with the roll-out and tabulation of the vote.
The dispute threatens to further destabilise Congo, which is already grappling with a security crisis in eastern areas. Congo is the world’s top producer of cobalt and other industrial minerals and metals.
In a new report on the presidential and legislative elections based on feedback from thousands of observers, the independent joint vote-monitoring mission of Congo’s powerful Catholic Church and its Protestant Church said it had received 5,402 reports of incidents at polling stations, over 60% of which interrupted voting.
https://finnoexpert.com/2023/12/29/democratic-republic-of-congo-rules-out-election-re-run-as-observers-flag-irregularities-times-of-india/#
As Postelection Protests Rock Serbia, Hunger Striker Becomes The Face Of The Opposition
BELGRADE -- An opposition lawmaker and mother of two has vowed to continue her 11-day-old hunger strike to protest the fairness of Serbia's national and local elections this month, saying she has a duty to fight for democracy and the country's European future, rather than being in Russia's orbit.
Marinika Tepic and five fellow members of a newly united opposition Serbia Against Violence (SPN) alliance began their hunger strikes after President Aleksandar Vucic's election-night declaration of landslide victories for his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the December 17 voting.
"I thought that I had not only the right to run for office and to be elected and to be the face of the [Serbia Against Violence] campaign, but also that I had a greater responsibility than anyone else to fight for this," Tepic told RFE/RL's Balkan Service in an interview from a couch on the third floor of a parliament building that houses Serbia's elections overseer, the Republic Election Commission.
She said public institutions had been turned into "accomplices" for what the opposition has alleged are fraudulent elections.
https://www.rferl.org/a/serbia-tepic-hunger-strike-fraudulent-elections-opposition-vucic/32752757.html
Michigan's redistricting commission will hold elections in early January
Three members of Michigan's redistricting commission have resigned, and now it's looking to fill those empty seats in early January.
Commissioners M.C. Rothhorn (D), Douglas Clark (R), and Dustin Witjes (D) have all stepped down from the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which is made up of Republican, Democrat, and Independent citizens, tasked with drawing electoral district boundaries.
The Michigan Secretary of State announced in a press release that an election will be held January 3 to fill these positions.
These resignations come after a three-judge panel found that the the boundaries of 13 Detroit-area seats, all held by Democrats, must be redrawn due to illegal influencing by race.
https://www.fox47news.com/neighborhoods/state-capitol/michigans-redistricting-commission-will-hold-elections-in-early-january
Republican lawmakers ask Wisconsin Supreme Court to reconsider gerrymandering case
MADISON – Attorneys for Republican lawmakers are asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reconsider its 4-3 decision that found the state's current legislative maps unconstitutional and ordered them to draw new ones, arguing their timeline to do so is rushed.
The court ordered parties on Dec. 22 to submit map proposals by Jan. 12, and consultants are set to review them by Feb. 1. The Wisconsin Elections Commission has said maps must be in place by March 15 for the fall legislative races. Candidates must circulate nomination papers for an Aug. 13 partisan primary ahead of the Nov. 5 general election.
But Republicans argue instituting new maps as the 2024 elections draw closer would "needlessly disrupt the electoral process." They are asking those deadlines to be reconsidered and for the court to halt all proceedings in the meantime.
"Announced the Friday before Christmas, the parties have been given 21 days — a third of them falling on weekends and state holidays — to submit proposed remedies, lengthy remedial briefs and expert reports," attorneys wrote in a filing late Thursday.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/12/29/gop-asks-wisconsin-supreme-court-to-reconsider-gerrymandering-ruling/72058808007/
GOP rep warns House has final say over election after states deem Trump ineligible for ballots
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) issued a warning to states moving to keep former President Trump off the presidential ballot, saying the House of Representatives has the final say over whether electors from those states are certified on Jan. 6, 2025.
“Maine, Colorado, and other states that might try to bureaucratically deny ballot access to any Republican nominee should remember the U.S. House of Representatives is the ultimate arbiter of whether to certify electors from those states,” Massie posted Friday on X, formerly Twitter.
Billionaire Elon Musk, owner of X, replied to Massie’s tweet about certification: “Interesting.”
Trump was declared ineligible by Colorado’s Supreme Court last week and by Maine’s secretary of state on Thursday under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause, pointing to Trump’s denial of 2020 election results and actions leading up to a mob of his supporters attacking the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, as it met to certify electors from each state.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4382017-thomas-massie-house-2024-election-trump-ballots/
Strike averted: NYC office cleaning workers agree to new contract through 2024
Just days before thousands of commercial janitorial workers were set to go on strike, their union reached a tentative contract agreement Wednesday night with the proprietors of New York’s biggest commercial real estate buildings.
The Realty Advisory Board (RAB), which represents the owners and operators of office buildings, agreed to the new contract that covers around 20,000 office janitors and commercial cleaners on Thursday morning, as their previous deal was set to expire on Dec. 31.
The office janitors and commercial cleaners are responsible for upkeep of the buildings, renegotiates their contract every four years, with this round of talks coming amid a collapse in office usage stemming from the COVID-induced remote work trend.
This year’s negotiations focused on a proposed plan by the RAB, which would mandate healthcare premium sharing that would force workers to pay more out-of-pocket for coverage. The two parties were also negotiating about cuts to benefits and overtime, and a plan that would lead to newer employees receiving less benefits than tenured workers.
https://www.amny.com/news/strike-averted-nyc-office-cleaning-workers/
PA: Meet Three Of The Neighbors Who United To Defend Public Education In Central Bucks School District
Teachers, staff, parents, students and community members are raising their hands and voices in praise for the hard work of Central Bucks Neighbors United, as they helped orchestrate sweeping changes to the Central Bucks School Board in November. The team that some would say wrought a miracle election sweep includes Diana Leygerman, Steve Sullivan, and Tracy Suits. Their leadership and enthusiasm rallied a dedicated group of local volunteers who helped educate and mobilize the public, and get out the vote, which ushered in a new school board majority dedicated to students’ rights (including LGBTQ+), teaching accurate history, the freedom to read, and empowering teachers and librarians – all things under attack by the previous Republican majority.
CBSD Neighbors United was born in 2021 out of the need to support school board candidates. When the slate of candidates ran in ‘21, we quickly realized no one was really paying attention to school board races, and there wasn’t much interest in helping/supporting those running for school board. We were building the plane as we were flying it, as they say. So, we formed the NU (Neighbors United) PAC as a way to combat some of the apathy toward school board candidates.
There’s a calculated attack on public education by people who seek to defund it and then line their own pockets with taxpayer money when they privatize it. This attack on public schools isn’t one you’d see if you weren’t really paying attention. Also, none of the people who want to destroy public education are very forthcoming about their goals. They use coded language like “school choice,” “school vouchers,” “parental rights,” and so on. They seek to sow distrust in public schools by using groups like Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education, who manufacture issues that simply don’t exist to divide communities and public perception of public schools.
Finally, these “parental rights” advocates seem to forget about the rights of students, our children. They ignore the rights of children and the rights of all other parents who make different choices than they do. If we don’t pay attention and aren’t vocal about this, these folks will succeed, and public education will crumble.
https://buckscountybeacon.com/2023/12/meet-three-of-the-neighbors-who-united-to-defend-public-education-in-central-bucks-school-district/
Ron DeSantis needs the 'good meat' to 'subsist'
Gov. Ron DeSantis is giving carnivores something to cheer about, as he promises to protect animal products from the left.
“A lot of this ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) movement has agriculture in the crosshairs. They don’t want people eating meat,” DeSantis said at a “meet and greet” event in Clayton County, Iowa.
The Governor promised to protect the meat supply if he gets elected nationally.
“I can tell you when I’m President, I’m not going to let anyone take away your meat, that’s for sure. I mean, I couldn’t subsist if I didn’t have the good meat. So don’t worry about that,” DeSantis added.
The Governor voiced similar themes during an interview on the Doug Wagner Show Friday.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/650654-ron-desantis-needs-the-good-meat-to-subsist/
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