This is my second blog posting about my election activities in Nevada, and I am writing after my third shift observing the counting of mailed ballots. Mostly, it's like watching grass grow.  

Unlike many states, Nevada allows processing of ballots while voting is ongoing.  Pennsylvania, on the other hand, is an example of a state where mailed ballots cannot be touched until the polls close on Election Day. In addition to slowing the process, this was a source of some (unjustified) suspicion in 2020. "What are they doing with all those ballots during all that time?”  “Tampering?  “Trashing" Duplicating?"  Many possibilities suggested; none accurate.

As shocking lies continue to spread about the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, federal and state law enforcement authorities have moved quickly to file charges against the assailant that could keep him in prison for life.

I am writing during my fourth day as a "poll observer" for the 2022 mid-term elections. I have been working on elections, in one capacity or another, every two years since 2004, and frequently for many years before that. Sometimes that work has been nonpartisan, sometimes party-affiliated. This cycle, I am poll watching for the Democratic Party in Reno, NV. 

The recent threatening letter written by the Texas legislature’s Freedom Caucus to the global law firm of Sidley Austin has coupled the state’s war on women with an equally dangerous attack on the state’s legal profession.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Sidley reportedly told its employees that the firm would provide assistance for abortions and related travel expenses.  Several other large law firms with offices in Texas have promised similar protections.

In a rural county in New Mexico, the nation has been given a terrifying glimpse into the bleak future of democracy, absent aggressive intervention by those who care about its protection.

In a shocking refusal to perform their legal obligation, three Otero County Commissioners refused to certify the results of the June 7 primary election, instead citing vague – and false – concerns about Dominion voting machines and voter fraud. 

If you think the loss of democracy can't happen here, read this important article in Justia by Amherst College Professor Austin Sarat and our Lawyers Defending American Democracy colleague, Dennis Aftergut.

For the past several days, we have been reading and thinking about the jury’s verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse case. Our work at LDAD is based on a fundamental belief in our democratic institutions and the rule of law, so we are not inclined to second-guess jury verdicts.

Last summer, LDAD warned about efforts by the states to overrule federal election results by empowering State legislatures to overrule the actual vote count whenever it disliked the result. Measures to do this, we noted, were afoot in some forty States and, if successful, would fundamentally change the American electoral system. At the time, we thought the threat to American democracy would be obvious and that a warning against the folly would be enough to divert the efforts.

We were wrong.

Kudos to Drexel University for revoking the honorary degree it had granted Rudy Giuliani.

"The totality of Giuliani’s recent actions, which have led to the suspension of his license to practice law, include repeated unfounded claims of widespread election fraud, have significantly contributed to undermining the public’s faith in our democratic institutions and the integrity of our judicial system, and stand in clear opposition to Drexel’s values."

More of this please!

Kudos to Judge Neureiter. Holding lawyers accountable for this kind of behavior is critical to the defense of not just the legal profession but American democracy. Read the Boston Globe's coverage 'The stuff of which violent insurrections are made' on BostonGlobe.com.