Why would they cry when they won the house and can investigate Biden all day long?
Historical trends and off base media predictions at the end of day do not matter. They won, they control investigations, can veto any budget item and shut down the govt as much as they want.
Because Maricopa certified their election and Kari Lake is going to lose.
Can't disagree with you more regarding what happened in congress too. They have the slimmest of majorities. They will be fighting themselves for two years while investigating bullshit the majority of the country does not care about. That is not to their advantage at all. If they were smart they'd pivot to the center but the fringe wackos control the party now and that will never happen.
In fact, there may be floor votes for Speaker. I bet it's been 100 years since that took place. Early on, McCarthy was making concessions to the radical element. But enough of them have defected and said they will never vote for him, that he may be forced to make concessions to moderate Ds to win. Now i think he'll walk on coals before he does that, but I'm 100% sure McCarthy will do whatever it takes to be Speaker.
Why would they cry when they won the house and can investigate Biden all day long?
Historical trends and off base media predictions at the end of day do not matter. They won, they control investigations, can veto any budget item and shut down the govt as much as they want.
Because Maricopa certified their election and Kari Lake is going to lose.
Can't disagree with you more regarding what happened in congress too. They have the slimmest of majorities. They will be fighting themselves for two years while investigating bullshit the majority of the country does not care about. That is not to their advantage at all. If they were smart they'd pivot to the center but the fringe wackos control the party now and that will never happen.
In fact, there may be floor votes for Speaker. I bet it's been 100 years since that took place. Early on, McCarthy was making concessions to the radical element. But enough of them have defected and said they will never vote for him, that he may be forced to make concessions to moderate Ds to win. Now i think he'll walk on coals before he does that, but I'm 100% sure McCarthy will do whatever it takes to be Speaker.
The fucking snake won’t honour any concessions he says he’ll make to dems. I hope he goes down in a ball of flames. Have fun passing by the POOTWH’ers in the halls of Congress. No dems should vote for him.
Why would they cry when they won the house and can investigate Biden all day long?
Historical trends and off base media predictions at the end of day do not matter. They won, they control investigations, can veto any budget item and shut down the govt as much as they want.
Because Maricopa certified their election and Kari Lake is going to lose.
Can't disagree with you more regarding what happened in congress too. They have the slimmest of majorities. They will be fighting themselves for two years while investigating bullshit the majority of the country does not care about. That is not to their advantage at all. If they were smart they'd pivot to the center but the fringe wackos control the party now and that will never happen.
In fact, there may be floor votes for Speaker. I bet it's been 100 years since that took place. Early on, McCarthy was making concessions to the radical element. But enough of them have defected and said they will never vote for him, that he may be forced to make concessions to moderate Ds to win. Now i think he'll walk on coals before he does that, but I'm 100% sure McCarthy will do whatever it takes to be Speaker.
The fucking snake won’t honour any concessions he says he’ll make to dems. I hope he goes down in a ball of flames. Have fun passing by the POOTWH’ers in the halls of Congress. No dems should vote for him.
Well you have to decide who you're weakest opponent would be and help that person.
A spokesman for Mr. Walker’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the Texas comptroller, Mr. Walker’s use of the tax exemption while running in Georgia is legal. The comptroller’s website states that you may still receive the tax break after moving away from home temporarily, if “you do not establish a principal residence elsewhere, you intend to return to the home, and you are away less than two years.”
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Boebert's race against Frisch in Colorado goes to recount
Associated Press
Today
DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Secretary of State has ordered a recount in the congressional race where Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert led Democrat Adam Frisch by just 550 votes in an unexpectedly tight race.
The Associated Press has declared the race too close to call and will await the results of the recount. The recount, which was expected, was formally announced Wednesday.
The race garnered national attention because Boebert was largely considered a lock for reelection after redistricting made the sprawling 3rd Congressional District that covers much of western Colorado more Republican.
Over a week after the polls closed, Boebert claimed victory and Frisch conceded the race. Frisch, a former city councilman from the posh ski town of Aspen, acknowledged a recount is unlikely to change the results.
In Colorado, an automatic recount is triggered when the margin of votes between the top two candidates is at or below 0.5% of the leading candidate’s vote total. That margin was around 0.34% after all the ballots were tabulated.
After testing their tabulation machines, 26 counties in the district will rescan ballots while San Juan County — which hand counts ballots for all elections and recounts — will run a manual recount. The process must be completed by Dec. 13.
Boebert, a Republican lightning rod and one of Congress's staunchest supporters of former President Donald Trump, claimed victory in a tweeted video from the U.S. Capitol.
In a virtual press conference announcing his concession, Frisch argued that the thin margin is its own small victory after his campaign was largely considered futile by the political establishment. He added that he hasn’t ruled out another bid for the seat in 2024.
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PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona's top officials certified the midterm election results Monday, formalizing victories for Democrats over Republicans who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged.
The certification opens a five-day window for formal election challenges. Republican Kari Lake, who lost the race for governor, is expected to file a lawsuit after weeks of criticizing the administration of the election.
Election results have largely been certified without issue around the country, but Arizona was an exception. Several Republican-controlled counties delayed their certification despite no evidence of problems with the vote count. Cochise County in southeastern Arizona blew past the deadline last week, forcing a judge to intervene on Friday and order the county supervisors to certify the election by the end of the day.
“Arizona had a successful election,” Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said before signing the certification. “But too often throughout the process, powerful voices proliferated misinformation that threatened to disenfranchise voters.”
The statewide certification, known as a canvass, was signed by Hobbs, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, a Ducey appointee.
When the same group certified the 2020 election, Ducey silenced a call from then-President Donald Trump, who was at the time in a frenetic push to persuade Republican allies to go along with his attempts to overturn the election he lost.
“This is a responsibility I do not take lightly,” Ducey said. “It’s one that recognizes the votes cast by the citizens of our great state.”
Republicans have complained for weeks about Hobbs' role in certifying her own victory over Lake in the race for governor, though it is typical for election officials to maintain their position while running for higher office. Lake and her allies have focused on problems with ballot printers that produced about 17,000 ballots that could not be tabulated on site and had to be counted at the elections department headquarters.
Lines backed up in some polling places, fueling Republican suspicions that some supporters were unable to cast a ballot, though there's no evidence it affected the outcome. County officials say everyone was able to vote and all legal ballots were counted.
Hobbs planned to immediately petition the Maricopa County Superior Court to begin an automatic statewide recount required by law in three races decided by less than half a percentage point. The race for attorney general was one of the closest contests in state history, with Democrat Kris Mayes leading Republican Abe Hamadeh by just 510 votes out of 2.5 million cast.
The races for superintendent of public instruction and a state legislative seat in the Phoenix suburbs will also be recounted, but the margins are much larger.
Once a Democratic stronghold, Arizona's top races went resoundingly for Democrats after Republicans nominated a slate of candidates backed by Trump who focused on supporting his false claims about the 2020 election. In addition to Hobbs and Mayes, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was re-elected and Democrat Adrian Fontes won the race for secretary of state.
___
This story has been corrected to show that Fontes ran for secretary of state, not attorney general.
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brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,285
Detroit 2000, Detroit 2003 1-2, Grand Rapids VFC 2004, Philly 2005, Grand Rapids 2006, Detroit 2006, Cleveland 2006, Lollapalooza 2007, Detroit Eddie Solo 2011, Detroit 2014, Chicago 2016 1-2, Chicago 2018 1-2, Ohana Encore 2021 1-2, Chicago Eddie/Earthlings 2022 1-2, Nashville 2022, St. Louis 2022
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brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,285
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The red wave will be revealed...stick with the plan duh
A sure sign what with the last three digits of your avatar matching the last two digits of the time of your post. And if you add all of the digits up, what do you get? You might need two hands and one of your friends but I have faith in you. 11. Static111 + 6:11 (1+1+1=3+6=9+1+1=11) equals up to 11. Coincidences? I think not. A sure sign. You know why? Think about it. Ok, are you ready? What does 6:11, or 611 minus 111 equal? Now I know these are some pretty big numbers and stuff but get paper and a pencil and line them up. Always use a pencil. Okay, moving on:
611 -111 ____
=500
And do you know what 500 signifies? What has 500 in it? Think! Begins with a D. Goes round and round? Occurs in a key electoral state? With a certain gubner? Give up? The Daytona 500 everyone! So, you know what that means! Deathsantis will endorse POOTWH, refusing to run so that POOTWH can retake the mantel that was so unjustly stolen from him and by extension, you! More signs to come. You heard it here first.
Now I'm wondering if that Musk/Taibbi release last Friday was made solely to try and influence the GA runoff.
Epic failure if so
Was the Trump org verdict expected this week? Getting this story out in front of that crossed my mind as well, although your suggestion is probably more realistic.
Now I'm wondering if that Musk/Taibbi release last Friday was made solely to try and influence the GA runoff.
Epic failure if so
Was the Trump org verdict expected this week? Getting this story out in front of that crossed my mind as well, although your suggestion is probably more realistic.
quite possible...I wondered that as well.
I do think it was expected.
Remember the Thomas Nine !! (10/02/2018) The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago 2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy 2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE) 2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston 2020: Oakland, Oakland:2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana 2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville 2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
The red wave will be revealed...stick with the plan duh
A sure sign what with the last three digits of your avatar matching the last two digits of the time of your post. And if you add all of the digits up, what do you get? You might need two hands and one of your friends but I have faith in you. 11. Static111 + 6:11 (1+1+1=3+6=9+1+1=11) equals up to 11. Coincidences? I think not. A sure sign. You know why? Think about it. Ok, are you ready? What does 6:11, or 611 minus 111 equal? Now I know these are some pretty big numbers and stuff but get paper and a pencil and line them up. Always use a pencil. Okay, moving on:
611 -111 ____
=500
And do you know what 500 signifies? What has 500 in it? Think! Begins with a D. Goes round and round? Occurs in a key electoral state? With a certain gubner? Give up? The Daytona 500 everyone! So, you know what that means! Deathsantis will endorse POOTWH, refusing to run so that POOTWH can retake the mantel that was so unjustly stolen from him and by extension, you! More signs to come. You heard it here first.
Supreme Court considers massive change in election authority
The Supreme Court on Wednesday began debating whether state legislators havethe power to set federal voting rules without oversight from state courts, in what would be a fundamental change in the way elections are conducted.
If the justices side with North Carolina’s Republican legislative leaders, state lawmakers throughout the country could have exclusive authority to structure federal elections, subject only to intervention by Congress, even if their actions result in extreme partisan voting maps for congressional seats – and violate voter protections enshrined in state constitutions. The case could have a major impact on the 2024 election.
Republican leaders in North Carolina want the Supreme Court to restore a redistricting map that was drawn by the GOP-led legislature but rejected as a violation of the state constitution by the state’s supreme court. The state Republican leaders are asking the justices to embrace the “independent state legislature theory,” which could end oversight by state courts enforcing the state constitution and put at risk citizen-backed initiatives aimed at taking partisan politics out of map-drawing and election rules.
In rural Georgia, an unlikely rebel against Trumpism By Stephanie McCrummen December 22, 2022 at 6:00 ET BEULAH, Ga. — As he pulled into the parking lot of Beulahland Baptist Church on Election Day last month, nearly everything about Cody Johnson suggested he would vote a certain way. He was White. He was 33. He was an electrician with no college degree. He had a beard and a used pickup with 151,000 miles, and he was angry at what the country was becoming. Most of all, he was from northwest Georgia, a swath of rural America where people who looked like him had voted in large majorities to send Donald Trump to the White House and Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress, many of them swept up in the emotional appeal at the heart of the Trump movement, which Greene now deployed in her own rallies. “They hate you,” she would say, casting politicians as elitists, conspirators, communists, pedophiles and enemies of America — by which she always meant a certain kind of America, one that created the kind of person Johnson was expected to be. Now he took a last inhale on his vape, walked into the polling place and voted against all of that. He voted against Greene, whom he called “an embarrassment.” He voted against the Trump-backed U.S. Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, because he didn’t want “some stupid s--- to happen.” He voted against every single Republican on the ballot for the same reason he supported Joe Biden in 2020, which had been the first time he voted in his life. “I don’t want extremists in office,” he said, walking back to his truck. “And I have some small glimmer of hope that maybe things aren’t as screwed up as I think they are.”
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Lake loses suit over her defeat in Arizona governor’s race
By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Yesterday
PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has thrown out Republican Kari Lake’s challenge of her defeat in the Arizona governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs, rejecting her claim that problems with ballot printers at some polling places on Election Day were the result of intentional misconduct.
In a decision Saturday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, who was appointed by former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, found that the court did not find clear and convincing evidence of the widespread misconduct that Lake had alleged had affected the result of the 2022 general election. Lake will appeal the ruling, she said in a statement.
The judge said Lake’s witnesses didn’t have any personal knowledge of intentional misconduct.
“The Court cannot accept speculation or conjecture in place of clear and convincing evidence,” Thompson said.
Lake, who lost to Hobbs by just over 17,000 votes, was among the most vocal 2022 Republicans promoting former President Donald Trump’s election lies, which she made the centerpiece of her campaign. While most of the other election deniers around the country conceded after losing their races in November, Lake has not. Instead, she asked the judge to either declare her the winner or order a revote in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of Arizona’s voters.
In the ruling, the judge acknowledged the “anger and frustration” of voters who were inconvenienced in the election and noted that setting aside the results of an election “has never been done in the history of the United States.”
“But this Court’s duty is not solely to incline an ear to public outcry,” the judge continued. “It is to subject Plaintiff’s claims and Defendants’ actions to the light of the courtroom and scrutiny of the law."
Lawyers for Lake focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County. The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines backed up in some areas amid the confusion.
County officials say everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were counted, since ballots affected by the printers were taken to more sophisticated counters at the elections department headquarters. They are in the process of investigating the root cause of the printer problems.
Lake’s attorneys also claimed the chain of custody for ballots was broken at an off-site facility, where a contractor scans mail ballots to prepare them for processing. They claimed workers at the facility put their own mail ballots into the pile, rather than sending their ballots through normal channels, and also that paperwork documenting the transfer of ballots was missing. The county disputes the claim.
Lake faced extremely long odds in her challenge, needing to prove not only that misconduct occurred, but also that it was intended to deny her victory and did in fact result in the wrong woman being declared the winner.
Her attorneys pointed to a witness who examined ballots on behalf of her campaign and discovered 14 ballots that had 19-inch (48-centimeter) images of the ballot printed on 20-inch paper, meaning the ballots wouldn’t be read by a tabulator. The witness insisted someone changed those printer configurations, a claim disputed by elections officials.
County officials say the ballot images were slightly smaller as a result of a shrink-to-fit feature being selected on a printer by a tech employee who was looking for solutions to Election Day issues. They say about 1,200 ballots were affected by turning on the feature and that those ballots were duplicated so that they could be read by a tabulator. Ultimately, these ballots were counted, officials said.
A person who takes public opinion polls testified on behalf of Lake, claiming technical problems at polling places had disenfranchised enough voters that it would have changed the outcome of the race in Lake’s favor. But an expert who was called to testify by election officials said there was no evidence to back up the pollster’s claim that 25,000 to 40,000 people who would normally have voted actually didn’t cast ballots as a result of Election Day problems.
A witness called on behalf of Lake acknowledged that that people who had their vote rejected by tabulators or ballot-on-demand printers — an occurrence for many voters — could still cast a ballot and have it counted.
“The BOD printer failures did not actually affect the results of the election,” the judge said.
Thompson had previously dismissed eight of the 10 claims Lake raised in her lawsuit. Among those was Lake’s allegation that Hobbs, in her capacity as secretary of state, and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer engaged in censorship by flagging social media posts with election misinformation for possible removal by Twitter. He also dismissed her claims of discrimination against Republicans and that mail-in voting procedures are illegal.
Hobbs takes office as governor on Jan. 2.
Earlier on Friday, another judge dismissed Republican Abraham Hamadeh’s challenge of results in his race against Democrat Kris Mayes for Arizona attorney general. The court concluded that Hamadeh, who finished 511 votes behind Mayes and hasn’t conceded the race, didn’t prove the errors in vote counting that he had alleged.
A court hearing is scheduled Thursday to present results of recounts in the races for attorney general, state superintendent and for a state legislative seat.
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Democrat wins Arizona attorney general race after recount
By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Today
PHOENIX (AP) — A recount of votes has confirmed Democrat Kris Mayes narrowly defeated Republican Abraham Hamadeh in the Arizona attorney general’s race, one of the closest elections in state history.
The highly anticipated results announced Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court are among the last in the country to come out of November’s election and solidified another victory for Democrats who shunned election fraud conspiracies in what used to be a solidly Republican state.
With Hamadeh's defeat, Republicans running statewide in battleground states who spread former President Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen have all lost their races.
Mayes finished 280 votes ahead of Hamadeh, down from a lead of 511 in the original count. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
“I'm excited and ready to get to work as your next attorney general and vow to be your lawyer for the people," Mayes said in a statement.
Judge Timothy Thomason, who also announced the results of recounts in two other races, said Republican Tom Horne prevailed in the race for state superintendent of public instruction and Republican Liz Harris won a state legislative seat in the Phoenix suburbs.
The automatic recounts were required because the races were so close.
Outside court, Mayes attorney Dan Barr said the results should give the public confidence in elections, despite the adjustments in vote totals as a result of the recount.
“They didn’t just do a rubber stamp of what it was,” Barr said. “They did a careful evaluation of the votes and they came up with a different result. And so I think people should have a lot of confidence in the process.”
In a tweet, Hamadeh said the discrepancies in the latest results from his race were shockingly high. “My legal team will be assessing our options to make sure every vote is counted,” wrote Hamadeh, who hasn't conceded to Mayes.
Mayes and Hamadeh were not in court during the hearing.
Hamadeh had filed a separate challenge of the results in his race, but a judge dismissed that case last week.
Hamadeh alleged problems with ballot printers in Maricopa County had led to a series of issues that disenfranchised voters and that his race was affected by improper handling of ballots that were duplicated or adjudicated by people because they could not be read by tabulators. In throwing out the lawsuit, a judge concluded Hamadeh didn’t prove the errors in vote counting that he had alleged. Records show there were 623 more votes recorded in the recount than results that were certified across the state about a month ago. About 500 were identified in Pinal County, which attributed the discrepancy between the certified returns and the recount results to human errors. One of the issues, which affected 63 ballots, was tied to voting machine settings and ballots with unclear markings.
In the race for superintendent of public instruction, Horne ended the recount with a 9,188-vote lead. Hoffman had previously conceded to Horne, a former schools chief who served one term as attorney general before losing the 2014 primary. Horne posted a net gain of 221 votes in the recount.
Horne had criticized Hoffman for embracing progressive teaching and promised to shut down any hint of “critical race theory,” which is not taught in state schools but is a hot-button issue for social conservatives. He also had said schools were shut down for far too long during the pandemic at Hoffman’s urging.
Harris won with a 275-vote advantage over Republican Julie Willoughby in the race for a seat in state House District 13, which includes parts of the Phoenix-area suburbs of Chandler, Sun Lakes and Gilbert. Harris had a net gain of five votes in the recount.
Although Republican Kari Lake filed an unsuccessful lawsuit challenging her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs in the Arizona governor’s race by just over 17,000 votes, the governor’s race wasn’t close enough to trigger an automatic recount.
Recounts are required in Arizona in races where the margin between the leading candidates is 0.5% or less. Hobbs defeated Lake by 0.67%.
The judge who dismissed Lake’s case rejected her claim that problems with ballot printers at some polling places on Election Day were the result of intentional misconduct.
Lake, who has not conceded to Lake, is appealing the dismissal of her lawsuit with the Arizona Supreme Court. Hobbs takes office as governor on Monday.
Once a Republican stronghold, Arizona's top races were won by Democrats in November. Republicans had nominated a slate of candidates backed by Trump who focused on supporting his false claims about the 2020 election. In addition to Hobbs and Mayes, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was reelected and Democrat Adrian Fontes won the race for secretary of state.
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Florida city highlights conflicts over local gerrymandering
BY AYANNA ALEXANDER
1 hour ago
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Not far from the postcard images of Jacksonville -- the white sand beaches, the riverfront fountain, the upscale shopping district — is another side of the city.
Here, neighborhood roads are pitted with potholes and sometimes unpaved. Weeds swallow abandoned cars in empty lots. Grocery stores are sparse.
The people who live in this other Jacksonville are mostly Black, and many of them lay blame for their neighborhoods’ lack of services on the city’s politics. They point to a lack of representation resulting in part from the way the districts have been drawn for the city council, the decision-making body for Jacksonville’s 950,000 residents.
“It’s about diluting Black representation, Black power and change that needs to happen in the Black community,” said Moné Holder, a city resident who holds a leadership role at Florida Rising, a local voting rights group that focuses on communities of color. “Others may tell a different story as to why it is, but we see it in the lack of resources that go into those communities.”
A group of Jacksonville residents and local civil rights organizations sued the city last year, alleging that the council’s redistricting maps packed Black communities into four of the 19 council districts, five of which are at-large.
A U.S. district court judge last fall ruled in their favor and ordered the maps redrawn. Advocates said the city returned with more of the same, and in December the same court ordered that a map proposed by the advocates be used for Jacksonville’s elections this spring.
“There’s just naturally an incentive to keep things the same, and that’s what you saw in the Jacksonville process,” said Nick Warren, staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida.
The council argued in its court filings that the advocates’ latest plan would be the third council map in less than a year and would “cause voter confusion and undermine voter confidence.” The court rejected the appeal in early January, so voters will be casting ballots in new council districts for the city’s March elections.
The fight over how Jacksonville’s districts are drawn reflects an aspect of redistricting that often remains in the shadows. Redistricting for congressional and state legislative boundaries captures wide attention after new census numbers are released every 10 years, as the two major political parties seek mapmaking advantages that will help them retain or regain power at the federal or state level — a process known as gerrymandering.
No less fierce are the battles over the way voting lines are drawn in local governments, for city councils, county commissions and even school boards.
Conflicts over local redistricting erupted into public view late last year when a leaked audiotape revealed how Latino members of the Los Angeles City Council were plotting to gerrymander council districts in a way that would boost political power for their community at the expense of traditionally Black ones.
“Self-interest should not be the deciding factor,” said the bill’s sponsor, Democratic state Sen. María Elena Durazo. “It should be the Voting Rights Act, the California Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.”
When the city was going through the redistricting process, Los Angeles City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson recalled bringing up topics important to his constituents related to what he termed the “One Black district” but said he was ignored.
“Now I understand that that was on purpose,” he said.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling a decade ago gutting a section of the federal Voting Rights Act gave state and local governments tremendous freedom to change voting procedures and to redraw political boundaries, even if redistricting was done in a way that diluted the voting power of minority communities. Previously, some states and local governments were required to get approval from the Justice Department before making significant voting-related changes.
The gerrymandering for local government bodies receives far less attention than congressional or state legislative gerrymandering, in part because few local groups have the money and expertise to bring lawsuits against what they perceive as unfair maps.
Jacksonville is an exception. Local branches of the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union teamed up with community civil rights groups to challenge the maps the City Council approved in March 2022.
Some community activists trace the city’s redistricting problems to a 1968 consolidation with Duval County, which allowed the city to grow but also changed its racial dynamics. At the time, it was hoped that a mix of predominantly Black council districts and at-large council positions would help boost Black representation.
Yet in the more than half-century since the merger, just six Black residents have served in the at-large positions, which are elected on a citywide basis, and just two of those were Democrats, according to research by Marcella Washington, a retired Florida State College at Jacksonville political science professor who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Black residents made up at least 40% of Jacksonville’s total population at the time of the consolidation, and today they account for a little over 30%.
While seven members of today's Jacksonville council are Black, Washington said they don’t always vote in the interest of the Black community. As one example, she cited contentious votes over whether to remove Confederate monuments across the city. Other residents noted additional concerns in predominantly Black areas of Jacksonville they feel the council does not prioritize — city properties that are overgrown, problems with water and sewer service, inadequate services for homeless people.
Councilman Rory Diamond was the lone vote against the council’s original map, saying it was designed to protect incumbents. But he also is critical of the redrawn map to be used in the upcoming elections because he believes it could have the unintended consequence of “destroying African-American representation on the City Council.” Other council members declined to comment, citing the litigation.
Local activists say forcing Black residents into a handful of council districts has led to a sense in those communities that their voice doesn’t matter. That has made it difficult to get them engaged politically, said Rosemary McCoy, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and CEO of the Harriet Tubman Freedom Fighters, a nonprofit that registers new voters.
“We understand that when you pack a group of people together, then these people don’t have a say. Their vote happens to be wasted,” McCoy said. “I ask people to sign petitions to put things on the ballot ... and many times they’re telling us, ‘My vote don’t matter. My vote don’t count. Why should I vote? Nothing’s going to change’”
Ben Frazier, another plaintiff in the case and CEO of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, which focuses on injustice, said he would like the court fight in Jacksonville to inspire other groups around the country to challenge local redistricting maps when they appear to be drawn unfairly.
“I’m hopeful that there will be other cities and other states who look at Jacksonville and say Jacksonville moved against them, and maybe we should, too,” he said.
___
Associated Press coverage of race and voting receives support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
A spokesman for Mr. Walker’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the Texas comptroller, Mr. Walker’s use of the tax exemption while running in Georgia is legal. The comptroller’s website states that you may still receive the tax break after moving away from home temporarily, if “you do not establish a principal residence elsewhere, you intend to return to the home, and you are away less than two years.”
continues.....
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DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Secretary of State has ordered a recount in the congressional race where Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert led Democrat Adam Frisch by just 550 votes in an unexpectedly tight race.
The Associated Press has declared the race too close to call and will await the results of the recount. The recount, which was expected, was formally announced Wednesday.
The race garnered national attention because Boebert was largely considered a lock for reelection after redistricting made the sprawling 3rd Congressional District that covers much of western Colorado more Republican.
Over a week after the polls closed, Boebert claimed victory and Frisch conceded the race. Frisch, a former city councilman from the posh ski town of Aspen, acknowledged a recount is unlikely to change the results.
In Colorado, an automatic recount is triggered when the margin of votes between the top two candidates is at or below 0.5% of the leading candidate’s vote total. That margin was around 0.34% after all the ballots were tabulated.
After testing their tabulation machines, 26 counties in the district will rescan ballots while San Juan County — which hand counts ballots for all elections and recounts — will run a manual recount. The process must be completed by Dec. 13.
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Boebert, a Republican lightning rod and one of Congress's staunchest supporters of former President Donald Trump, claimed victory in a tweeted video from the U.S. Capitol.
In a virtual press conference announcing his concession, Frisch argued that the thin margin is its own small victory after his campaign was largely considered futile by the political establishment. He added that he hasn’t ruled out another bid for the seat in 2024.
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PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona's top officials certified the midterm election results Monday, formalizing victories for Democrats over Republicans who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged.
The certification opens a five-day window for formal election challenges. Republican Kari Lake, who lost the race for governor, is expected to file a lawsuit after weeks of criticizing the administration of the election.
Election results have largely been certified without issue around the country, but Arizona was an exception. Several Republican-controlled counties delayed their certification despite no evidence of problems with the vote count. Cochise County in southeastern Arizona blew past the deadline last week, forcing a judge to intervene on Friday and order the county supervisors to certify the election by the end of the day.
“Arizona had a successful election,” Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said before signing the certification. “But too often throughout the process, powerful voices proliferated misinformation that threatened to disenfranchise voters.”
The statewide certification, known as a canvass, was signed by Hobbs, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, a Ducey appointee.
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When the same group certified the 2020 election, Ducey silenced a call from then-President Donald Trump, who was at the time in a frenetic push to persuade Republican allies to go along with his attempts to overturn the election he lost.
“This is a responsibility I do not take lightly,” Ducey said. “It’s one that recognizes the votes cast by the citizens of our great state.”
Republicans have complained for weeks about Hobbs' role in certifying her own victory over Lake in the race for governor, though it is typical for election officials to maintain their position while running for higher office. Lake and her allies have focused on problems with ballot printers that produced about 17,000 ballots that could not be tabulated on site and had to be counted at the elections department headquarters.
Lines backed up in some polling places, fueling Republican suspicions that some supporters were unable to cast a ballot, though there's no evidence it affected the outcome. County officials say everyone was able to vote and all legal ballots were counted.
Hobbs planned to immediately petition the Maricopa County Superior Court to begin an automatic statewide recount required by law in three races decided by less than half a percentage point. The race for attorney general was one of the closest contests in state history, with Democrat Kris Mayes leading Republican Abe Hamadeh by just 510 votes out of 2.5 million cast.
The races for superintendent of public instruction and a state legislative seat in the Phoenix suburbs will also be recounted, but the margins are much larger.
Once a Democratic stronghold, Arizona's top races went resoundingly for Democrats after Republicans nominated a slate of candidates backed by Trump who focused on supporting his false claims about the 2020 election. In addition to Hobbs and Mayes, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was re-elected and Democrat Adrian Fontes won the race for secretary of state.
___
This story has been corrected to show that Fontes ran for secretary of state, not attorney general.
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-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Detroit 2000, Detroit 2003 1-2, Grand Rapids VFC 2004, Philly 2005, Grand Rapids 2006, Detroit 2006, Cleveland 2006, Lollapalooza 2007, Detroit Eddie Solo 2011, Detroit 2014, Chicago 2016 1-2, Chicago 2018 1-2, Ohana Encore 2021 1-2, Chicago Eddie/Earthlings 2022 1-2, Nashville 2022, St. Louis 2022
Yes!
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
it is. figure most folks were in bed when the race was called.
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Why haven't we seen our MAGA friends song here in... well a month?
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There are no kings inside the gates of eden
Epic failure if so
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
611
-111
____
And do you know what 500 signifies? What has 500 in it? Think! Begins with a D. Goes round and round? Occurs in a key electoral state? With a certain gubner? Give up? The Daytona 500 everyone! So, you know what that means! Deathsantis will endorse POOTWH, refusing to run so that POOTWH can retake the mantel that was so unjustly stolen from him and by extension, you! More signs to come. You heard it here first.
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Was the Trump org verdict expected this week? Getting this story out in front of that crossed my mind as well, although your suggestion is probably more realistic.
I do think it was expected.
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
lol
what an awakening!
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
I can't express how much joy I will get watching tRump be miserable the rest of his life
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
Supreme Court considers massive change in election authority
The Supreme Court on Wednesday began debating whether state legislators have the power to set federal voting rules without oversight from state courts, in what would be a fundamental change in the way elections are conducted.
If the justices side with North Carolina’s Republican legislative leaders, state lawmakers throughout the country could have exclusive authority to structure federal elections, subject only to intervention by Congress, even if their actions result in extreme partisan voting maps for congressional seats – and violate voter protections enshrined in state constitutions. The case could have a major impact on the 2024 election.
Republican leaders in North Carolina want the Supreme Court to restore a redistricting map that was drawn by the GOP-led legislature but rejected as a violation of the state constitution by the state’s supreme court. The state Republican leaders are asking the justices to embrace the “independent state legislature theory,” which could end oversight by state courts enforcing the state constitution and put at risk citizen-backed initiatives aimed at taking partisan politics out of map-drawing and election rules.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/07/election-oversight-supreme-court-north-carolina/
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
By Stephanie McCrummen
December 22, 2022 at 6:00 ET
BEULAH, Ga. — As he pulled into the parking lot of Beulahland Baptist Church on Election Day last month, nearly everything about Cody Johnson suggested he would vote a certain way.
He was White. He was 33. He was an electrician with no college degree. He had a beard and a used pickup with 151,000 miles, and he was angry at what the country was becoming. Most of all, he was from northwest Georgia, a swath of rural America where people who looked like him had voted in large majorities to send Donald Trump to the White House and Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress, many of them swept up in the emotional appeal at the heart of the Trump movement, which Greene now deployed in her own rallies.
“They hate you,” she would say, casting politicians as elitists, conspirators, communists, pedophiles and enemies of America — by which she always meant a certain kind of America, one that created the kind of person Johnson was expected to be.
Now he took a last inhale on his vape, walked into the polling place and voted against all of that. He voted against Greene, whom he called “an embarrassment.” He voted against the Trump-backed U.S. Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, because he didn’t want “some stupid s--- to happen.” He voted against every single Republican on the ballot for the same reason he supported Joe Biden in 2020, which had been the first time he voted in his life.
“I don’t want extremists in office,” he said, walking back to his truck. “And I have some small glimmer of hope that maybe things aren’t as screwed up as I think they are.”
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PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has thrown out Republican Kari Lake’s challenge of her defeat in the Arizona governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs, rejecting her claim that problems with ballot printers at some polling places on Election Day were the result of intentional misconduct.
In a decision Saturday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, who was appointed by former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, found that the court did not find clear and convincing evidence of the widespread misconduct that Lake had alleged had affected the result of the 2022 general election. Lake will appeal the ruling, she said in a statement.
The judge said Lake’s witnesses didn’t have any personal knowledge of intentional misconduct.
“The Court cannot accept speculation or conjecture in place of clear and convincing evidence,” Thompson said.
Lake, who lost to Hobbs by just over 17,000 votes, was among the most vocal 2022 Republicans promoting former President Donald Trump’s election lies, which she made the centerpiece of her campaign. While most of the other election deniers around the country conceded after losing their races in November, Lake has not. Instead, she asked the judge to either declare her the winner or order a revote in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of Arizona’s voters.
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In the ruling, the judge acknowledged the “anger and frustration” of voters who were inconvenienced in the election and noted that setting aside the results of an election “has never been done in the history of the United States.”
“But this Court’s duty is not solely to incline an ear to public outcry,” the judge continued. “It is to subject Plaintiff’s claims and Defendants’ actions to the light of the courtroom and scrutiny of the law."
Lawyers for Lake focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County. The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines backed up in some areas amid the confusion.
County officials say everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were counted, since ballots affected by the printers were taken to more sophisticated counters at the elections department headquarters. They are in the process of investigating the root cause of the printer problems.
Lake’s attorneys also claimed the chain of custody for ballots was broken at an off-site facility, where a contractor scans mail ballots to prepare them for processing. They claimed workers at the facility put their own mail ballots into the pile, rather than sending their ballots through normal channels, and also that paperwork documenting the transfer of ballots was missing. The county disputes the claim.
Lake faced extremely long odds in her challenge, needing to prove not only that misconduct occurred, but also that it was intended to deny her victory and did in fact result in the wrong woman being declared the winner.
Her attorneys pointed to a witness who examined ballots on behalf of her campaign and discovered 14 ballots that had 19-inch (48-centimeter) images of the ballot printed on 20-inch paper, meaning the ballots wouldn’t be read by a tabulator. The witness insisted someone changed those printer configurations, a claim disputed by elections officials.
County officials say the ballot images were slightly smaller as a result of a shrink-to-fit feature being selected on a printer by a tech employee who was looking for solutions to Election Day issues. They say about 1,200 ballots were affected by turning on the feature and that those ballots were duplicated so that they could be read by a tabulator. Ultimately, these ballots were counted, officials said.
A person who takes public opinion polls testified on behalf of Lake, claiming technical problems at polling places had disenfranchised enough voters that it would have changed the outcome of the race in Lake’s favor. But an expert who was called to testify by election officials said there was no evidence to back up the pollster’s claim that 25,000 to 40,000 people who would normally have voted actually didn’t cast ballots as a result of Election Day problems.
A witness called on behalf of Lake acknowledged that that people who had their vote rejected by tabulators or ballot-on-demand printers — an occurrence for many voters — could still cast a ballot and have it counted.
“The BOD printer failures did not actually affect the results of the election,” the judge said.
Thompson had previously dismissed eight of the 10 claims Lake raised in her lawsuit. Among those was Lake’s allegation that Hobbs, in her capacity as secretary of state, and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer engaged in censorship by flagging social media posts with election misinformation for possible removal by Twitter. He also dismissed her claims of discrimination against Republicans and that mail-in voting procedures are illegal.
Hobbs takes office as governor on Jan. 2.
Earlier on Friday, another judge dismissed Republican Abraham Hamadeh’s challenge of results in his race against Democrat Kris Mayes for Arizona attorney general. The court concluded that Hamadeh, who finished 511 votes behind Mayes and hasn’t conceded the race, didn’t prove the errors in vote counting that he had alleged.
A court hearing is scheduled Thursday to present results of recounts in the races for attorney general, state superintendent and for a state legislative seat.
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PHOENIX (AP) — A recount of votes has confirmed Democrat Kris Mayes narrowly defeated Republican Abraham Hamadeh in the Arizona attorney general’s race, one of the closest elections in state history.
The highly anticipated results announced Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court are among the last in the country to come out of November’s election and solidified another victory for Democrats who shunned election fraud conspiracies in what used to be a solidly Republican state.
With Hamadeh's defeat, Republicans running statewide in battleground states who spread former President Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen have all lost their races.
Mayes finished 280 votes ahead of Hamadeh, down from a lead of 511 in the original count. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
“I'm excited and ready to get to work as your next attorney general and vow to be your lawyer for the people," Mayes said in a statement.
Judge Timothy Thomason, who also announced the results of recounts in two other races, said Republican Tom Horne prevailed in the race for state superintendent of public instruction and Republican Liz Harris won a state legislative seat in the Phoenix suburbs.
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The automatic recounts were required because the races were so close.
Outside court, Mayes attorney Dan Barr said the results should give the public confidence in elections, despite the adjustments in vote totals as a result of the recount.
“They didn’t just do a rubber stamp of what it was,” Barr said. “They did a careful evaluation of the votes and they came up with a different result. And so I think people should have a lot of confidence in the process.”
In a tweet, Hamadeh said the discrepancies in the latest results from his race were shockingly high. “My legal team will be assessing our options to make sure every vote is counted,” wrote Hamadeh, who hasn't conceded to Mayes.
Mayes and Hamadeh were not in court during the hearing.
Hamadeh had filed a separate challenge of the results in his race, but a judge dismissed that case last week.
Hamadeh alleged problems with ballot printers in Maricopa County had led to a series of issues that disenfranchised voters and that his race was affected by improper handling of ballots that were duplicated or adjudicated by people because they could not be read by tabulators. In throwing out the lawsuit, a judge concluded Hamadeh didn’t prove the errors in vote counting that he had alleged. Records show there were 623 more votes recorded in the recount than results that were certified across the state about a month ago. About 500 were identified in Pinal County, which attributed the discrepancy between the certified returns and the recount results to human errors. One of the issues, which affected 63 ballots, was tied to voting machine settings and ballots with unclear markings.
In the race for superintendent of public instruction, Horne ended the recount with a 9,188-vote lead. Hoffman had previously conceded to Horne, a former schools chief who served one term as attorney general before losing the 2014 primary. Horne posted a net gain of 221 votes in the recount.
Horne had criticized Hoffman for embracing progressive teaching and promised to shut down any hint of “critical race theory,” which is not taught in state schools but is a hot-button issue for social conservatives. He also had said schools were shut down for far too long during the pandemic at Hoffman’s urging.
Harris won with a 275-vote advantage over Republican Julie Willoughby in the race for a seat in state House District 13, which includes parts of the Phoenix-area suburbs of Chandler, Sun Lakes and Gilbert. Harris had a net gain of five votes in the recount.
Although Republican Kari Lake filed an unsuccessful lawsuit challenging her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs in the Arizona governor’s race by just over 17,000 votes, the governor’s race wasn’t close enough to trigger an automatic recount.
Recounts are required in Arizona in races where the margin between the leading candidates is 0.5% or less. Hobbs defeated Lake by 0.67%.
The judge who dismissed Lake’s case rejected her claim that problems with ballot printers at some polling places on Election Day were the result of intentional misconduct.
Lake, who has not conceded to Lake, is appealing the dismissal of her lawsuit with the Arizona Supreme Court. Hobbs takes office as governor on Monday.
Once a Republican stronghold, Arizona's top races were won by Democrats in November. Republicans had nominated a slate of candidates backed by Trump who focused on supporting his false claims about the 2020 election. In addition to Hobbs and Mayes, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was reelected and Democrat Adrian Fontes won the race for secretary of state.
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Not far from the postcard images of Jacksonville -- the white sand beaches, the riverfront fountain, the upscale shopping district — is another side of the city.
Here, neighborhood roads are pitted with potholes and sometimes unpaved. Weeds swallow abandoned cars in empty lots. Grocery stores are sparse.
The people who live in this other Jacksonville are mostly Black, and many of them lay blame for their neighborhoods’ lack of services on the city’s politics. They point to a lack of representation resulting in part from the way the districts have been drawn for the city council, the decision-making body for Jacksonville’s 950,000 residents.
“It’s about diluting Black representation, Black power and change that needs to happen in the Black community,” said Moné Holder, a city resident who holds a leadership role at Florida Rising, a local voting rights group that focuses on communities of color. “Others may tell a different story as to why it is, but we see it in the lack of resources that go into those communities.”
A group of Jacksonville residents and local civil rights organizations sued the city last year, alleging that the council’s redistricting maps packed Black communities into four of the 19 council districts, five of which are at-large.
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A U.S. district court judge last fall ruled in their favor and ordered the maps redrawn. Advocates said the city returned with more of the same, and in December the same court ordered that a map proposed by the advocates be used for Jacksonville’s elections this spring.
“There’s just naturally an incentive to keep things the same, and that’s what you saw in the Jacksonville process,” said Nick Warren, staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida.
The council argued in its court filings that the advocates’ latest plan would be the third council map in less than a year and would “cause voter confusion and undermine voter confidence.” The court rejected the appeal in early January, so voters will be casting ballots in new council districts for the city’s March elections.
The fight over how Jacksonville’s districts are drawn reflects an aspect of redistricting that often remains in the shadows. Redistricting for congressional and state legislative boundaries captures wide attention after new census numbers are released every 10 years, as the two major political parties seek mapmaking advantages that will help them retain or regain power at the federal or state level — a process known as gerrymandering.
No less fierce are the battles over the way voting lines are drawn in local governments, for city councils, county commissions and even school boards.
Conflicts over local redistricting erupted into public view late last year when a leaked audiotape revealed how Latino members of the Los Angeles City Council were plotting to gerrymander council districts in a way that would boost political power for their community at the expense of traditionally Black ones.
The exchange was punctuated with racist and graphic language and has widened racial fissures within the city, led the state Department of Justice to announce an investigation and prompted a legislative effort to remove the council’s redistricting power.
“Self-interest should not be the deciding factor,” said the bill’s sponsor, Democratic state Sen. María Elena Durazo. “It should be the Voting Rights Act, the California Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.”
When the city was going through the redistricting process, Los Angeles City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson recalled bringing up topics important to his constituents related to what he termed the “One Black district” but said he was ignored.
“Now I understand that that was on purpose,” he said.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling a decade ago gutting a section of the federal Voting Rights Act gave state and local governments tremendous freedom to change voting procedures and to redraw political boundaries, even if redistricting was done in a way that diluted the voting power of minority communities. Previously, some states and local governments were required to get approval from the Justice Department before making significant voting-related changes.
The gerrymandering for local government bodies receives far less attention than congressional or state legislative gerrymandering, in part because few local groups have the money and expertise to bring lawsuits against what they perceive as unfair maps.
Jacksonville is an exception. Local branches of the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union teamed up with community civil rights groups to challenge the maps the City Council approved in March 2022.
Some community activists trace the city’s redistricting problems to a 1968 consolidation with Duval County, which allowed the city to grow but also changed its racial dynamics. At the time, it was hoped that a mix of predominantly Black council districts and at-large council positions would help boost Black representation.
Yet in the more than half-century since the merger, just six Black residents have served in the at-large positions, which are elected on a citywide basis, and just two of those were Democrats, according to research by Marcella Washington, a retired Florida State College at Jacksonville political science professor who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Black residents made up at least 40% of Jacksonville’s total population at the time of the consolidation, and today they account for a little over 30%.
While seven members of today's Jacksonville council are Black, Washington said they don’t always vote in the interest of the Black community. As one example, she cited contentious votes over whether to remove Confederate monuments across the city. Other residents noted additional concerns in predominantly Black areas of Jacksonville they feel the council does not prioritize — city properties that are overgrown, problems with water and sewer service, inadequate services for homeless people.
Councilman Rory Diamond was the lone vote against the council’s original map, saying it was designed to protect incumbents. But he also is critical of the redrawn map to be used in the upcoming elections because he believes it could have the unintended consequence of “destroying African-American representation on the City Council.” Other council members declined to comment, citing the litigation.
Local activists say forcing Black residents into a handful of council districts has led to a sense in those communities that their voice doesn’t matter. That has made it difficult to get them engaged politically, said Rosemary McCoy, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and CEO of the Harriet Tubman Freedom Fighters, a nonprofit that registers new voters.
“We understand that when you pack a group of people together, then these people don’t have a say. Their vote happens to be wasted,” McCoy said. “I ask people to sign petitions to put things on the ballot ... and many times they’re telling us, ‘My vote don’t matter. My vote don’t count. Why should I vote? Nothing’s going to change’”
Ben Frazier, another plaintiff in the case and CEO of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, which focuses on injustice, said he would like the court fight in Jacksonville to inspire other groups around the country to challenge local redistricting maps when they appear to be drawn unfairly.
“I’m hopeful that there will be other cities and other states who look at Jacksonville and say Jacksonville moved against them, and maybe we should, too,” he said.
___
Associated Press coverage of race and voting receives support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14