In the Press

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Bridge Michigan Logo

Michigan elections FAQ: More registered voters than eligible voters? (opens a new window)

  • June 27, 2024
  • Bridge Michigan

Voter registration challenges have also increasingly been used by conservative activists attempting to root out fraud. In the eight months between September 2023 and May 2024, the state saw a 55% increase in challenges, according to a report from advocacy group Protect Democracy.

The state faced at least 22,000 inappropriate challenges in the 2022 election cycle, the report said, and Benson reportedly reversed 1,000 cancellations in Waterford Township.

A Democratic Super PAC’s New Trump Ad Might Be Borderline Criminal (opens a new window)

  • June 26, 2024
  • Slate

Mackey was convicted under Section 241 and his case is currently on appeal to the 2nd Circuit, where he is arguing, among other things, that his conviction violates the First Amendment because it squelches too much free speech. I filed an amicus brief along with the Protect Democracy Project and the Yale Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic arguing that so long as Section 241 is read to apply in speech and voting cases only to lies about when, where, or how people vote, the law does not violate the First Amendment.

New York Times Logo

New poll: Voters oppose Jan. 6 pardons (opens a new window)

  • June 25, 2024
  • The New York Times

The poll, conducted by YouGov America on behalf of the group United to Protect Democracy and shared exclusively with me, found that 59 percent of voters oppose pardons for Jan. 6-related crimes generally, while 77 percent of voters, including a majority of Republican voters, oppose pardons of those convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers that day. (My colleague Alan Feuer reported in April that nearly 500 people had been charged with assaulting police officers.)

Trump’s trial showed the legal system works, but his rhetoric has left scars (opens a new window)

  • June 24, 2024
  • ABC News

But experts pointed out that bringing the case was actually a sign that the rule of law was working. “If you are going to say that, well, you can’t prosecute Donald Trump, because he is a popular political figure with a big platform … then you are actually conceding … that the fundamental democratic principle that no one is above the law actually isn’t true and can’t be enacted,” said Kristy Parker, special counsel at Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan anti-authoritarian group.

Racist Graffiti on Angela Alsobrooks’ Campaign Sign Is a Reminder of the Threats Black Women in Politics Face (opens a new window)

  • June 21, 2024
  • Ms. Magazine

A comprehensive 2023 report on political violence in the United States by Protect Democracy and Johns Hopkins’ The Agora Institute found that “women and people of color are disproportionately targeted—and there is some evidence that this leads them to ‘opt-out’ of visible public service roles in the first place.”

Union of Concerned Scientists logo.

Strengthening Our Democracy: Science-Based Recommendations to Improve Election Data Transparency (opens a new window)

  • June 20, 2024
  • Union of Concerned Scientists

Disinformation also plays a significant role in election subversion. As defined by Protect Democracy, election subversion is an authoritarian tactic aimed at corrupting elections by preventing the true election winner from taking office, and it has become a key tool for bad actors to attempt to subvert election results.

Judge tosses initial GOP lawsuit alleging Nevada voter rolls insufficiently maintained (opens a new window)

  • June 18, 2024
  • The Nevada Independent

A report released Monday by Protect Democracy — a nonprofit focused on combating a rise in authoritarianism — identified 11 states, including Nevada, that could be targeted this year in campaigns brought by individuals to challenge states’ voter rolls.

Laws related to voter registration challenges differ across states. In Nevada, an individual can challenge another person’s right to vote, but is limited to challenging one person’s vote status at a time and must have personal knowledge of why that person is ineligible to vote.

TED logo

How to spot authoritarianism — and choose democracy (opens a new window)

  • June 17, 2024
  • TED

In this TED Talk, Protect Democracy’s Ian Bassin argues that democracy is about having choices — and authoritarianism is about not having them. Detailing the seven steps of the authoritarian playbook, he invites us all to put aside our differences and rethink our role in the fight for freedom, revealing the hope and power behind every choice we make.

New York Times Logo

The Resistance to a New Trump Administration Has Already Started (opens a new window)

  • June 16, 2024
  • The New York Times

Ian Bassin, the executive director of Protect Democracy, said the planning for how to resist such an agenda should not be seen as an ordinary policy dispute, but as an effort to defend fundamental aspects of American self-government “from an aspiring autocrat.”

“He is no normal candidate, this is no normal election, and these are no normal preparations for merely coming out on the wrong side of a national referendum on policy choices,” Mr. Bassin said

Washington Post Logo

Trump pledged to pardon Jan. 6 rioters. He faces pressure to name names. (opens a new window)

  • June 14, 2024
  • The Washington Post

The message of such statements, which would be formalized by the act of pardoning them, is to condone criminal violence in service of his power, according to Grant Tudor, a policy advocate at the nonpartisan anti-authoritarianism group Protect Democracy who has recommended judicial and congressional curbs on abuses of the sweeping presidential pardon power.

Historically, he said, presidents have granted amnesty after insurrections such as the Whiskey Rebellion and the Civil War to encourage aggrieved factions to put down their arms and reintegrate into civil society. But pardoning Jan. 6 rioters, he said, would flip that logic on its head by rewarding insurrectionists.