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Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs a slew of bills passed during the special legislative session held from Sept. 11-14, 2023, in Little Rock. (John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate)

Worries over secrecy grow as state officials shield records from the public

BY: - November 20, 2023

Just weeks after lawmakers in Little Rock passed legislation shielding certain state records from public disclosure, opponents launched an effort to amend the Arkansas Constitution to protect access to government documents. “The coalition that’s coming together on this is about as broadly bipartisan as you could get — from the extreme, extreme right to the […]

Arizona county recorder sues Kari Lake, former GOP gubernatorial candidate, for defamation

BY: - June 23, 2023

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer is suing Kari Lake and her campaign for defamation, after enduring a continuous onslaught of vitriol and false claims from her and her followers. Richer, a Republican, has been one of Lake’s favorite targets as she continues to claim that the 2022 governor’s race was stolen from her, in the […]

Calls made to prosecute Arizona officials who refused to certify election

BY: - December 5, 2022

The Republican Cochise County supervisors who refused to certify the election results should be investigated and criminally prosecuted, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said in a letter to state and county attorneys. Without repercussions, Hobbs wrote to Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre, the decision of supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy […]

The Arkansas State Capitol dome. (John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate)

Gretchen Conger to be Sanders’ chief of staff

BY: - November 22, 2022

Gretchen Conger will be Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ chief of staff in the governor’s office, Sanders announced Tuesday. Sanders also announced that she will transfer more than $2.5 million from her 2022 gubernatorial campaign treasury to her 2026 reelection campaign and named campaign manager Chris Caldwell as senior advisor to the reelection campaign. Conger, who […]

U.S. Supreme Court denies attempt by Arizona GOP chair to block Jan. 6 panel subpoena

BY: - November 14, 2022

The U.S. Supreme Court sided Monday with the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, denying a request from Arizona Republican Chairwoman Kelli Ward and her husband to block the panel from obtaining their cellphone records. The court’s two-paragraph order ends Kelli and Michael Ward’s federal suit to block the […]

COMMENTARY

Their election denier is your election denier

BY: - October 17, 2022

Some states are comparatively isolated from the most damaging influence of democracy haters. California, Washington, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado — they are likely to avoid the misfortune of election deniers in high office in the near future, or they operate with voting laws meant to expand, rather than restrict, voter access. But while such states act […]

Trump allies have interviewed nearly 200 election officials to probe for weaknesses

BY: - October 3, 2022

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.   Two of Donald Trump’s most prominent allies in his fight to overturn the 2020 election are leading a coordinated, multi-state effort to probe local election officials in battlegrounds such as Michigan, Arizona, and Texas ahead of the […]

Manchin seeks bipartisan ‘sweet spot’ for a new try at his energy permitting bill

BY: - September 28, 2022

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators from both parties said Wednesday they hope to negotiate an energy permitting reform bill yet this year, reviving efforts to streamline the process after West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III had to pull back his plan amid broad opposition.  The Manchin proposal was attached to a must-pass government funding bill […]

Louisiana attorney general gets other GOP AGs to oppose energy permit reforms

BY: - September 27, 2022

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is leading a group of 18 Republican attorneys general in opposition to U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s proposed Energy Independence and Security Act — a bill that would reform the federal permitting process for major energy infrastructure projects. Manchin (D-West Virginia) released the text of his legislation last week following weeks […]

A conspiracy-fueled push to count ballots by hand gains traction

BY: - September 26, 2022

Nye County, a rural enclave in Nevada, has positioned itself as the epicenter of a Donald Trump-fueled conspiracy about the security of electronic vote tabulators.  The Nye County Commission voted in March to make the county one of the first to act on the false narratives that machines that count votes are rigged. County Clerk […]

How election-denying GOP governors could tilt the 2024 presidential election

BY: - August 29, 2022

Republican candidates who claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump have been nominated for governor in four critical swing states, raising concerns that if elected they could try to sway election results in 2024 and beyond.  In Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Republican primary voters elected a candidate who has denied the […]