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REUTERS/Michael Patacsil/WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has rejected a request for a temporary restraining order against a group accused of alleged voter intimidation, according to a ruling released on Friday. Judge Michael Liburdi, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump to the federal court in Arizona, rejected the request against Clean Elections USA and its founder, Melody Jennings. A lawyer who represented Clean Elections USA and Jennings in a hearing earlier this week did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He also dismissed Voto Latino from the case, stating he did not think the organization proved it would be harmed financially by Clean Election USA's actions. "We continue to believe that Clean Elections USA's intimidation and harassment is unlawful."

☆ 'We're going to hang you': DOJ cracks down on threats to election workers ahead of high-stakes midterms
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

That is just one example of the rising number of violent threats election workers in the days leading up to the Nov. 8 midterms. "These threats against election officials continue," Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at the University of Florida, told CNBC. Additional funding from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan can also be used to protect election workers, Polite said. DOJ launched an election threats task force in July 2021 to ensure voters are safe at the polls and to look into the rise in threatening behavior against election workers like Moss. Jared Polis signed an act protecting election workers from threats, coercion or intimidation into law.

☆ Top Arizona election official refers more cases of potential voter intimidation to law enforcement
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Zoë Richards | Zoë Richards Is The Evening Politics Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has referred six reports of possible voter intimidation to law enforcement in the past week, as well as an allegation of harassment of an election worker, her office said Monday. The cases were referred to the state attorney general’s office and the U.S. Justice Department for further investigation. Early voting got underway Oct. 12 in the battleground state, where Hobbs is the Democratic nominee for governor. Hobbs’ office said it also referred a report of election worker harassment to law enforcement Saturday. The case is being pursued by the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which was launched in June 2021.

☆ The Arizona GOP raised funds in 2021 by asking for donations to support the election audit — but that's not where the money went: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Arizona GOP asked for donations to help with the 2021 Maricopa County election analysis. Texts show the GOP was clear that the money would not go toward the audit, per the Washington Post. "We were expressly told that we could/should not raise money for the audit," Arizona state GOP chairman wrote. In response to questions about the fundraising emails, Arizona GOP spokeswoman Kristy Dohnel told the Post the money went to "covering costs for security" during the audit. Following the Post story about the Arizona GOP audit emails published Monday, journalist Josh Dawsey reported that Trump had a "tense" phone call with Ward.

☆ Arizona GOP governor candidate Kari Lake, who has spread election conspiracies, raises cash from business leaders
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Arizona republican candidate for governor Kari Lake greets the audience during a stop on the Truth and Courage PAC's Take Back America Bus Tour with U.S. Lake is endorsed by Trump, who spread false conspiracies that he lost that 2020 election because of widespread voter fraud. He helped to fuel the wave of GOP candidates who have run for office while casting doubts on the 2020 results. Ducey certified Arizona's 2020 election results. Hobbs, as the state's top election official, has denied any irregularities in the 2020 election.

☆ America's 'Zoomtowns' are running out of water
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Kelli María Korducki | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Remote workers aren't just driving up housing prices but also adding more of a burden to already water-strapped regions. Running out of waterAmerica's water crisis, which has been bubbling for years, has become dire. The lack of fresh snow means that less water makes its way into the river and its massive reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — upon which the region depends for water. They found that statewide COVID-19 stay-at-home orders triggered "significant increases" in residential water consumption — a trend the researchers attributed, in large part, to remote workers. While population growth does increase water usage, it's (pardon the pun) a drop in the bucket of the bigger-picture crisis.

☆ Armed and masked 'ballot watchers' sat by ballot drop boxes in Arizona late at night, prompting police investigation
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Police investigated armed and masked individuals parked near ballot drop boxes in Mesa, Arizona. Local reporters said there were two individuals "dressed in tactical gear, fully disguised" by a drop box. The DOJ is reviewing a report of voter intimidation from Mesa after a voter said he was accused of being a "mule." Late Friday night, deputies were "looking into several individuals watching a voter drop box in Mesa," ABC 15 Arizona reporter Nicole Grigg tweeted, adding that the individuals were "dressed in tactical gear, fully disguised" and armed. "The men in tactical gear had already left but deputies measured to make sure ballot watchers weren't too close," Bontke tweeted.

A spokesperson for the Arizona secretary of state's office, Sophia Solis, on Thursday said her office had also asked the state's attorney general to look into the incident. "The voter was approached and followed by a group of individuals when the voter was trying to drop off their ballot at an early voting drop box on Monday," Solis said. Officials in at least three additional states - North Carolina, Colorado and Nevada - have reported incidents of voter intimidation this election cycle, though it is unclear if any have led to a criminal referral. Officials in Arizona have previously said they were aware of reports of voters being monitoring when dropping off votes. In dozens of cases throughout the country, an onslaught of intimidation and threats has pushed elections officials to resign.

☆ A GOP-backed Arizona college board candidate, who once said he wanted to protect children from 'the progressive left,' was charged for masturbating near a preschool, according to a police report
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

When confronted by the officer, Kaufman said "I'm sorry. On Tuesday, Kaufman told a KTVK local news outlet in a statement that he would be suspending his campaign. In a now-deleted post, according to HuffPost, Kaufman wrote about his desire to keep "our children protected [from] the progressive left." Kaufman's campaign Facebook page also previously showed that he was supported by local Republican groups, including the Republican Liberty Caucus of Arizona. Another organization, The Republican Party of Arizona, told local news station KNXV in a statement: "Every American citizen has the right to fair treatment throughout the judicial system.

☆ Facing new anti-drag GOP legislation, Drag Story Hour leader says group will still teach children to be 'their most fabulous self'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The bill targets drag queen story hours for children as "sexually-oriented events." "We refuse to give in," said the executive director of Drag Story Hours program. Johnson's news release links to a story about federal funds being used to pay for a drag story hour event in Alaska. He said he can't speak for every drag artist, but his program uses drag as a tool for children's literacy. "Drag Story Hour cannot be more disappointed in disingenuous politicians that are trying to score points by attacking programs like ours," he said.

☆ Why a small midterm race in Arizona could have big consequences for U.S. democracy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Tim Reid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoOct 19 (Reuters) - The fight to become Arizona’s next attorney general in November’s midterm elections smashed fundraising records this week. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed the Republican attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh and appeared on stage with him. “I think that American democracy runs through the state of Arizona in 2022,” Mayes said in an interview with Reuters. AG EMPOWERED TO STEP INHamadeh downplayed the role an attorney general has in election certification in a statement to Reuters. “What look like these relatively inconsequential races will have enormous consequences in terms of the 2024 presidential election,” Douglas said.

LAS VEGAS — Jim Marchant, the election-denying Republican nominee for secretary of state in Nevada, has so far been outspent and out campaigned by his Democratic opponent. Davis, a Republican, said he “hadn’t thought much” about whether the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and remained undecided in the secretary of state race. The dynamics in Arizona’s secretary of state race are similar. He and Marchant, as well as Kristina Karamo, the Republican secretary of state nominee in Michigan, are all members of the pro-Trump America First Secretary of State Coalition, though polling shows Karamo’s race is far less competitive. “This could be the last free and fair election in Nevada,” West said.

☆ Kari Lake Is the New Stacey Abrams
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-03 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

What Kari Lake wants the public to forget is that she lost the Arizona gubernatorial race by 17,116 ballots, or 0.7 percentage point, which is outside of recount range. She’s now calling the election a “sham.” Congrats, Ms. Lake, you’ve earned the 2022 Stacey Abrams Sore Loser Award. Election Day in Arizona included real problems in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and more than half the state’s population. But it simply isn’t believable that these snafus cost Ms. Lake the election. How did she perform in Maricopa specifically, compared with other Republicans?

☆ One millionaire landlord was behind half of Milwaukee's evictions during Covid lockdowns last June. Here's the story of how corporate landlords helped drive the evictions crisis
▼ + stars: | 2021-03-26 | by ( Abigail Higgins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +23 min

Corporate landlords in cities like Milwaukee helped drive an evictions crisis during the pandemic. Corporate landlords, which own almost 50% of rental properties, are more likely to evict, advocates say. Before the 2008 recession, corporate landlords owned 20% of rental properties; today, it's nearing a whopping 50%. Since the Center for Disease Control's evictions moratorium took effect last September, evictions by corporate landlords have actually been steadily increasing. There is no national database of evictions, and evictions are only tracked at the level of the country's more than 3,000 counties.

☆ Leaked documents show White House blocked government website used to recruit election workers during the pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-14 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Government emails and documents exclusively obtained by Insider reveal an internal fight within the Trump administration over whether to create the poll-worker recruitment website HelpAmericaVote.gov. The White House's Office of Management and Budget initially rejected the Election Assistance Commission's request to create the website. EAC officials immediately resubmitted their HelpAmericaVote.gov request. In a separate statement to Insider, the General Services Administration, which had overseen distribution of ".gov" website domains since 1997, confirmed it was no longer involved in approving or denying federal agencies' website requests. Hovland added his agency's request for the HelpAmericaVote.gov website contained all the information OMB required and that he was "surprised" approval was so difficult to obtain.

We have also added Arab and West Indian ancestry groups to this list, since they represent significant ethnic groups when counted together even if they don't make the list when tracked for specific countries. Notable Americans with Mexican ancestry include Tony Romo, Eva Longoria, Salma Hayek, Mario Lopez, Jessica Alba, Joan Baez, Carlos Santana, and Louis C.K. 19,911,467 AmericansA large number of people claim American ancestry, either as a political statement or because their pre-American ancestry is mixed or uncertain. Notable Americans with Native American ancestry include Wilma Mankiller, John Herrington, Sitting Bull, and Armie Hammer. Notable Americans with Indian ancestry include Mindy Kaling, Kal Penn, Padma Lakshmi, M. Night Shyamalan, Indra Nooyi, and Aziz Ansari.

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