Tag: Secretary of State

Trump Pulls Out of Military Transparency Treaty with Russia, Europe

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The Trump administration officially withdrew from the Open Skies Treaty, a 2002 agreement to promote military transparency signed by more than 30 countries including Russia.

The Department of State said Sunday that the U.S. had officially withdrawn from the Open Skies Treaty, which went into effect nearly two decades ago. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both announced on May 21 that the U.S. intended to exit the agreement, according to The Associated Press.

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State Board Meets Today to Decide if Ohio Secretary of State May Spend Up to $3M to Prepay Absentee Ballot Postage

Jason M. Reynolds

A state board is meeting today to decide if Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose can spend up to $3 million to pay for absentee ballot postage for the November elections.

The Ohio Controlling Board will consider LaRose’s request today. Their agenda is here, and more information about LaRose’s request is here.

This appropriation of state funds will be used by the Ohio Secretary of State to pay the cost of returning absentee ballots on behalf of any Ohio voter who opts to use that manner of voting in the November 3, 2020 General Election. This will not expand Ohio’s existing absentee voting opportunities and will not permit universal vote by mail. There will still be in-person voting at polling locations on Election Day, November 3, 2020. 

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Tennessee General Assembly Primary Results

Laura Baigert

While there were 115 Tennessee General Assembly seats open for Thursday’s primary, most went uncontested.  In fact, there was just a fractional 36 primaries yielding some surprising results.

In the Senate, all of the incumbents won their primary bid.

In the House, Representatives Micah Van Huss and Matthew Hill both lost their primaries.  Coupled with Representative Timothy Hill leaving the House to run in the U.S. House District 1 Republican primary, which he also lost, the representation of the northeast corner of the state will undergo dramatic changes.

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LaRose Draws Heat for Moving Primary Election Date, a Move Called ‘Anarchy’ and ‘Executive Fiat’

Jason M. Reynolds

Skeptics are calling Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s June 2 primary election date theoretical, saying the Legislature, not he, has the power to move the date.

Adjectives that are being thrown around include “anarchy” and “executive fiat.”

LaRose is already dictating the rules 88 county boards of elections should follow, the Ohio Capital Journal said. These LaRose rules include the dictate that county boards of election should not accept any new voter registrations ahead of the not-yet-official June 2 election.

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U.S. Guarantees Hormuz Shipping Passage

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  The United States says it will “guarantee freedom of navigation” for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz through diplomatic talks or military intervention, contending again that it was “unmistakable” that Iran launched last week’s attacks on two tankers sailing through the narrow passage. “These were attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran on commercial shipping on the freedom of navigation with the clear intent to deny transit through the Strait,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News Sunday. The top U.S. diplomat said the United States does not want war with Tehran, but it will ensure passage through the chokepoint that links the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, a hook-shaped body of water through which as much as a third of the world’s oil supply is shipped. “The United States is going to make sure that we take all the actions necessary, diplomatic and otherwise, that achieve that outcome,” he told Fox. Pompeo told another Sunday news talk show, CBS News’ Face the Nation, that military intervention would be employed if necessary. Iran has rejected the U.S. accusation it is responsible for the attacks on the Norwegian and Japanese ships, one transporting oil and the other chemicals.…

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Ohio Lawmakers Look into Strengthening State’s Election, Cybersecurity Efforts

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by Steven Bittenbender   With election security frequently in the news, the Ohio House Transportation and Public Safety Committee took the opportunity recently to discuss a cybersecurity bill. The panel convened a hearing on Senate Bill 52, which deals with bolstering the state’s cybersecurity. A major part of the initiative is to protect the state’s elections from outside interference or tampering. Secretary of State Frank LaRose said it’s an important issue, especially given that Ohio’s likely to be a swing state in next year’s presidential election. “The eyes of the world will be on Ohio in 2020, and we will rise to that occasion,” he said. The Secretary of State told the committee that, if passed, the measure gives Ohio a chance to become a national leader in cybersecurity. It received unanimous support in the Senate. Beyond the election provisions, the bill also creates a permanent Chief Information Security Officer for the state that would be based within the Secretary of State’s office. LaRose said that position’s role would be different from the Chief Information Officer, which also reports to him. The CISO would work with the state’s 88 county boards of elections. In addition, the state also would create…

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Ohio Secretary of State: Redistricting Ohio Before 2020 Election Could ‘Hurt’ Voter Turnout

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose stated on Thursday that he was against Ohio redrawing its district lines before the 2020 presidential election. It was a statement that surprised many, considering he made it at a voting rights forum, hosted by the Ohio League of Women Voters who are currently suing Ohio in the hope of having the state lines redrawn. As reported earlier, in May of 2018, several groups, led by the Ohio League of Women Voters formally filed suit against the Buckeye State, specifically noting; an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander that violates the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, and Article I of the United States Constitution….the most egregious gerrymanders in recent history. In his last days as Attorney General, Mike DeWine, who is currently serving as Ohio’s Governor, attempted to have the suit thrown out. The current Attorney General, Dave Yost, is now arguing to have the case delayed. The most effective argument made for the delay has been the United States Supreme Court’s January 4th announcement that it will hear two gerrymandering cases jointly, one from North Carolina and the other from Maryland. Any ruling made in this case would take precedence over the Ohio court’s decision. Last week, a similar gerrymandering case in…

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275,000 Inactive Voters in Ohio Sent ‘Last Chance’ Notice to Confirm Eligibility Before Being Purged

Andrew Shirley

This week, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has triggered one of the most consequential and controversial “voter integrity” measures in the country. 275,000 inactive voters, registered in Ohio, have been sent “last chance” letters, informing them that if they do not confirm their current address and voting status, they will be purged from the voter rolls. Voters are considered inactive if they have not participated in two consecutive elections. They are then sent a series of letters, requesting that they up update their addresses. Should they fail to respond, they are then ruled inactive. In effect, an individual would have to not vote and ignore every letter sent over the course of almost half a decade to be ruled inactive. Eighteen other states use a similar practice. However, the process was challenged in the United States Supreme Court by the A. Philip Randolph Institute (Husted v. Randolph Institute). They alleged that the real purpose of these measures is to deny voting rights to racial minorities and the poor who are disproportionately affected by the measure. In a 5-4 decision on June 11, 2018, the court upheld the practice. In spite of this, progressives still alleged the mechanism is a violation of civil rights…

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Minnesota Secretary of State Unveils Plan to Restore Voting Rights to 60,000 Felons

Anthony Gockowski

Secretary of State Steve Simon (D-MN) unveiled his “Investing in Democracy” 2019 agenda during a Thursday press conference where he announced plans to restore voting rights to felons after they are released from prison. Currently, Minnesota is one of 22 states that revokes voting rights for felons during incarceration and for any periods of parole or probation thereafter. Simon’s office estimates that this means there are roughly 60,000 Minnesotans who have been released from prison, but are still ineligible to vote because they are on probation or parole. There are only two states, Maine and Vermont, in which felons never lose the right to vote, while at least 14 states restore voting rights immediately upon release, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. “Investing in democracy also means investing in people,” Simon said Thursday. “These are people who have served their time already and are working to establish or reestablish themselves in their communities. Minnesotans, I think, believe in second chances, and believe in forgiveness, and restoring the right to vote at the end of a prison term will give real opportunities to those who have left prison behind to become full members of their communities.” Simon also argued…

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Trump Administration Slashes Refugees US Will Take By A Third

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Mike Pompeo

by Joshua Gill   Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday that the U.S. will take only 30,000 refugees over the next fiscal year — the fewest since the 1980 Refugee Act. The cap on refugees decreased from the 45,000 cap set for the current fiscal year and is the third such cutback on the yearly refugee cap President Donald Trump has implemented in a row. Pompeo said the lowered cap was necessary to allow the U.S. to deal with the backlog of 800,000 currently pending asylum seekers. “In consideration of both U.S. national security interest and the urgent need to restore integrity to our overwhelmed asylum system, the United States will focus on addressing the humanitarian protection cases of those already in the country,” Pompeo said, according to The Washington Post. International law requires countries to admit asylum seekers, but allows for judges to reject the cases of asylum seekers once they have been admitted into the country and deport them. Refugees, on the other hand, remain outside of the country while their cases are processed. While the new cap on refugees represents a significant decrease from the previous year’s cap, fewer than 20,000 refugees have been admitted to the…

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Republicans in State Senate Did Not Support Bill To Secure Tennessee Voting Machines With Paper Ballot Audit Trail

Laura Baigert
Yarbro

When Democrat Senator Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) sponsored a bill earlier this year that would provide greater vote security by requiring that before January 1, 2020, electronic voting machines have the capability to create a voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) for each ballot cast and that the VVPATs be preserved as paper ballots, the bill failed to advance because no Republican on the committee seconded the sponsor’s motion on the proposed legislation. Background The issue of election integrity continues to receive attention since the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2017 notified 21 states that were targeted by hackers during the 2016 election, and the 2018 mid-term elections are viewed as targets for Russian interference. In February, it was reported that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats testified before the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, “There should be no doubt that Russia perceives that its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations.” A “Report on Cyber Vulnerabilities in U.S. Election Equipment, Databases and Infrastructure” was an outcome of the 25th annual DEF CON hacker conference held in July 2017 in Las Vegas and, for the first time, featured a…

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Democrats Clear Path For Pompeo’s Nomination as Secretary of State

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Mike Pompeo

by Robert Donachie   Three Senate Democrats have announced their support for President Donald Trump’s pick to replace former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, making it almost a virtual guarantee the Senate will confirm the nomination of Mike Pompeo. “When I met with [CIA] Director Pompeo, we had a productive conversation about the complex security challenges we face, including the dangerous threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear missile program. I strongly believe that a successful, peaceful outcome will require a comprehensive strategy and a full team on the field, including an effective State Department, to leverage all available tools,” Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana announced on Twitter Monday. Joe announced his support for the nomination of Mike Pompeo to be Secretary of State. READ Joe’s statement: pic.twitter.com/ASsYpX869k — Senator Joe Donnelly (@SenDonnelly) April 23, 2018 “I believe Director Pompeo is capable of advancing U.S. interests and leading the State Department, and I will support his nomination,” Donnelly said. Senate Democrats and one of their hawkish Republican colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) are looking to shoot Pompeo down Monday evening. The SFRC is currently composed of 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats. Every Democrat on the panel has committed to voting against Pompeo’s nomination, which…

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FBI Originally Deemed Hillary Clinton ‘Grossly Negligent’ in Handling of Emails

Tennessee Star Staff

The FBI originally planned to say that Hillary Clinton was “grossly negligent” in her handling of her secret emails, a top senator said Monday, revealing early drafts of the statement former FBI Director James Comey drew up. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, demanded the FBI detail why Mr. Comey nixed that phrase…

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Tony Podesta Lobbied For Russia’s ‘Uranium One’ And Did Not File As A Foreign Agent

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Tony Podesta’s lobbying firm, the Podesta Group, represented the Russian-owned company Uranium One during former President Barack Obama’s administration and did not register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, The Daily Caller News Foundation has determined. Podesta collected lobbying fees of $180,000 from Uranium One, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, that discloses lobbying…

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