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patriotsnet · 3 years

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Who Are The Republicans On The Ballot

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Who Are The Republicans On The Ballot

New 2020 Voter Data: How Biden Won How Trump Kept The Race Close And What It Tells Us About The Future

As we saw in 2016 and again in 2020, traditional survey research is finding it harder than it once was to assess presidential elections accurately. Pre-election polls systemically misjudge who is likely to vote, and exit polls conducted as voters leave the voting booths get it wrong as well.

Now, using a massive sample of ��validated” voters whose participation has been independently verified, the Pew Research Center has . It helps us understand how Joe Biden was able to accomplish what Hillary Clinton did not—and why President Trump came closer to getting reelected than the pre-election surveys had predicted.

How Joe Biden won

Five main factors account for Biden’s success.

The Biden campaign reunited the Democratic Party. Compared to 2016, he raised the share of moderate and conservative Democrats who voted for the Democratic nominee by 6 points, from 85 to 91%, while increasing the Democratic share of liberal Democrats from 94 to 98%. And he received the support of 85% of Democrats who had defected to 3rd party and independent candidates in 2016.

How Trump kept it close

Despite non-stop controversy about his policies and personal conduct, President Trump managed to raise his share of the popular vote from 46% in 2016 to 47% in 2020. His core coalition held together, and he made a few new friends.

Longer-term prospects

BillGalston

Here Are The 17 Republican Senators Who Voted To Advance The $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill

Washington When the Senate voted Wednesday to open debate on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package, more than a dozen Republicans sided with Democrats to advance the legislation.

proposal,

Roy Blunt of Missouri

Richard Burr of North Carolina

Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

Bill Cassidy of Louisiana

Kevin Cramer of North Dakota

Mike Crapo of Idaho

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina

Chuck Grassley of Iowa

John Hoeven of North Dakota

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky

Thom Tillis of North Carolina

Todd Young of Indiana

Voters Supported Progressive Policies On Ballot Initiatives Republicans Are Pushing Back

After Idaho’s Medicaid expansion received resounding support at the ballot box in 2018 along with funding for education, the Republican-controlled legislature began pushing to make future ballot initiatives more difficult.

Instead of requiring organizers to gather a percentage of signatures from 18 of the state’s legislative districts, the GOP lawmakers passed a law that required organizers to gather signatures from all of the state’s 35 districts.

That means that future organizers will have to travel to far-flung sections of the rural state, potentially increasing costs of any ballot initiative by millions of dollars for a process that most idealize as a grassroots one. Local organizing groups have complained it makes a ballot initiative nearly impossible.

Jim Jones is currently challenging that law in court with his group, the Committee to Protect and Preserve the Idaho Constitution. A former Republican state attorney general and the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, Jones said he no longer identifies with his party, and he notes that it’s not just Idaho’s Republican-led legislature that is limiting direct democracy efforts.

After facing defeats at the ballot box in recent years, a handful of Republican state legislatures have pushed to constrain voter ballot initiatives in recent months to limit the ability of progressive policies to leap past them in the lawmaking process.

Marijuana Legalization Could Be On The Ohio Ballot In 2022 Should That Worry Republicans

In this Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018, photo, an employee of Buckeye Relief LLC, works on topping a marijuana plant, in Eastlake, Ohio. Recreational marijuana could be on the ballot in Ohio in November 2022, depending on how a petition gathering effort goes. AP

Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Republicans have a lot at stake next year.

Gov. Mike DeWine is running for re-election. Retiring U.S. Sen. Rob Portman’s seat is open, and control of the Ohio Supreme Court is up for grabs.

Will they want to deal with a ballot issue legalizing marijuana, too?

The ball could be in state lawmakers’ court.

A group called the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol is pursuing what’s called an initiated statute to legalize recreational adult-use marijuana. If it can collect enough signatures, the Republican-controlled legislature would be forced to consider the law. If the legislature doesn’t act, the coalition then could try to collect more signatures to place the issue on the statewide ballot for next year’s election.

“We’re focusing on the policy of adult-use marijuana,” said Tom Haren, a spokesman for the legalization effort. “The politics will be what they’ll be, and that’s something the legislature will have to think of for themselves. But we really do think this is good policy, and we think our proposal should pass on its own merits.”

Still, he said “it’s hard to argue” that the dynamic would benefit the DeWine campaign.

Republicans Increasingly Look To Ballot Initiatives As Way To Enact Voting Measures

Allan Smith

Republicans seeking to change state voting laws in the face of opposition from Democratic governors or unwilling legislatures are zeroing in on another path — enacting fresh restrictions via ballot initiatives.

In Michigan and Pennsylvania, key battlegrounds that President Joe Biden flipped back blue in 2020, as well as in Massachusetts, Republicans are at the beginning stages of a lengthy process to put proposed limits directly to the voters.

Voting rights advocates who connect the moves to the proliferation of restrictive voting laws advanced in states where the GOP enjoys total control say they fear those efforts will prove successful and spread to other states where such initiatives are legally possible.

Politicsmissouri Governor Won’t Fund Medicaid Expansion Flouting State Constitution

Missouri and North Dakota have also considered supermajority requirements, but their efforts died in their legislatures. The Arizona state Senate, meanwhile, has passed three related bills: a supermajority requirement bill, a bill that would allow them to repeal ballot initiatives with the permission of the state Supreme Court, and a bill that would require a statewide vote on passed ballot initiatives every five years. Arizona state Sen. Warren Petersen did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, Mississippi’s Supreme Court has totally dismantled the ballot initiative process through which organizers successfully passed medical marijuana legalization and planned to push Medicaid expansion and early voting requirements — all policies that the state’s Republican legislature had long refused to act on.

Craig Burnett, a political science professor at Hofstra University who studies forms of direct democracy, said that while there is currently a trend of Republican limits on ballot initiatives, Democrats have also tried to impede conservative efforts to expand voter ID laws and limit same-sex marriage.

But, he said, there has recently been a heightened level of limitations to a process that breaks through partisan politics.

Nevertheless, many said they found it a worrying trend and also highlighted recent examples of Republican-led legislatures tinkering with ballot initiatives to neuter them or block them altogether.

Over 150 Companies Sign Letter Supporting John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act

One reason Republicans in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts may have focused their initiatives solely on voter ID laws, rather than including other election changes, is because public polling has shown those requirements have broad backing by members of both parties. A recent Monmouth University poll found that 80 percent of Americans back requiring voters to show photo ID in order to vote.

“The struggle with ballot initiatives are always getting the actual initiative on the ballot to start with,” said Garrett Bess, vice president of Heritage Action for America, a conservative advocacy group. “But if the question is put to the voters, then I think it’s an almost certainty to pass.”

Still, the effort marks a new chapter in the broader national Republican effort to advance new limits on elections following former President Donald Trump’s campaign of lies about last fall’s vote. A number of leading backers of the ballot initiatives have boosted Trump’s false claims of fraud.

Voter fraud in U.S. elections is exceedingly rare. Although there is no evidence of widespread malfeasance in last fall’s election, more than a dozen states have so far enacted changes this year.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 36 states already ask voters to provide some form of ID, with most of them allowing voters without ID to cast ballots if they sign a form under oath.

Voting Rights Bill Fails In Senate As Biden Pushes Other Key Legislation

“It certainly seems that these tactics by politicians in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are part of a larger national strategy to limit the freedom to vote,” Joanna Lydgate, CEO of the States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan voting rights group, told NBC News. “This is about making it harder for Americans to vote.”

In Michigan — where Republicans control the Legislature but not the governor’s mansion — the state GOP chair and the Republican leader of the Michigan Senate have both indicated a ballot initiative is their ultimate path forward on voting restrictions in order to avoid Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s veto.

While Michigan Republicans have publicly been tossing around the idea since March, their counterparts in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have only more recently followed suit.

In Massachusetts — a state with a GOP governor but where Democrats control the Legislature — state Republican leaders have announced a push to get a voter ID initiative added to the 2022 general election ballot, with local media reporting that the state party has already begun raising money and enlisting volunteers for a signature drive.

Pennsylvania Republicans seized on the idea of an amendment to the state Constitution — put before voters — after Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, rejected a package of voting restrictions sent to his desk by the GOP-controlled Legislature.

Takeaways From Georgia’s ‘use It Or Lose It’ Voter Purge Investigation

It was reported by the Associated Press that Brian Kemp‘s office in Georgia was blocking 53,000 voter registrations in that state — 70 percent from African-Americans, 80 percent from people of color.

What was happening, as people were submitting voter registration applications, if their names on the voter registration forms didn’t exactly match other state databases, these voters were sent a letter telling them that their applications were pending and they needed to provide more information to election officials.

Senate Democrats Seek Creative Ways To Pass Voting Rights Legislation

Before an initiative reaches the ballot, the state Legislature can pass the proposed law with a simple majority vote in each chamber, and such a measure cannot be vetoed. This process is rarely used, but earlier this year, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed one such initiative that was mounted amid the pandemic by conservatives who opposed the governor’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

In Massachusetts, backers of the initiative must submit their proposed ballot question to the state attorney general’s office by early next month. Should it meet the state’s constitutional requirements, backers will then need to collect more than 80,000 signatures by mid-November.

If enough signatures are collected, the proposal will go to the Legislature in January. Then, if lawmakers opt against passing it before early May, petitioners must collect another 13,000-plus signatures and complete a series of other filings with state and local officials before it can be placed on the general election ballot.

In recent years, Democrats and progressive activists have used ballot initiatives and citizen petitions to secure key victories related to expanding ballot access and redistricting, as well as advancing other progressive priorities.

Democrats argue what Republicans now seek is a perversion of the initiative system.

She said advocates will consider a rival initiative, even as it remains unclear what restrictions Michigan Republicans would seek to get on the ballot.

Trump Pick Wins Us House Special Republican Primary Election In Ohio

Susan Cornwell

Vehicles are parked outside the U.S. Capitol building the morning the Senate returned to session in Washington, DC, U.S., July 31, 2021. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 – Mike Carey, a coal lobbyist endorsed by former President Donald Trump, won a crowded primary contest on Tuesday for the Republican nomination to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 15th district.

With 96.5% of precincts reporting, Carey was ahead of his closest contender, state representative Jeff LaRe, by 37% to 13.3%, results from the Ohio secretary of state’s office showed.

The outcome in Ohio’s traditionally Republican 15th District south of Columbus was being closely watched as a measure of Trump’s clout in the Republican Party, coming just a week after a Trump-backed candidate for the U.S. Congress suffered a surprise loss to a fellow Republican in north Texas.

“Tonight, Republicans across Ohio’s 15th Congressional District sent a clear message to the nation that President Donald J. Trump is, without a doubt, the leader of our party,” Carey declared in a statement after his victory.

Trump also issued a statement thanking Ohio voters and praising the “Great Republican win for Mike Carey. Big numbers!”

“We have looked across the promised land, but … we will not cross the river,” Turner told supporters at an election night watch party outside Cleveland.

Democrats currently have a narrow 220-212 majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Former Felons Struggle To Pay Fines Fees To Vote Again In Florida

In Florida, Desmond Meade, the founder of Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and a former felon, is very familiar with how legislatures can get in the way of this form of direct democracy. He helped organize the effort to return voting rights to ex-convicts through Florida’s Amendment 4 ballot initiative.

Months after Floridians gave it their resounding stamp of approval — 65 percent to 35 percent — Republicans in the state required felons to ensure they had paid all their fines and court fees before they would be allowed to vote again.

That tactic disenfranchised thousands of potential voters who had to figure out whether or not they owed money. The state, meanwhile, still has not created a system to inform felons what they might owe.

“We’re now seeing a direct assault on democracy,” Meade said. “They’ve limited the ability of citizens to weigh in on how their communities or states are governed, and then they’ve limited access to the ballot box and made it more difficult for people to vote. At the end of the day, how is that OK?”

Freed By Court Ruling Republicans Step Up Effort To Patrol Voting

Officials seek to recruit 50,000 poll watchers and spend millions to fight voter fraud. Democrats say the real goal is to stop them from voting.

WASHINGTON — Six months before a presidential election in which turnout could matter more than persuasion, the Republican Party, the Trump campaign and conservative activists are mounting an aggressive national effort to shape who gets to vote in November — and whose ballots are counted.

Its premise is that a Republican victory in November is imperiled by widespread voter fraud, a baseless charge embraced by President Trump but repeatedly debunked by research. Democrats and voting rights advocates say the driving factor is politics, not fraud — especially since Mr. Trump’s narrow win in 2016 underscored the potentially crucial value of depressing turnout by Democrats, particularly minorities.

The Republican program, which has gained steam in recent weeks, envisions recruiting up to 50,000 volunteers in 15 key states to monitor polling places and challenge ballots and voters deemed suspicious. That is part of a $20 million plan that also allots millions to challenge lawsuits by Democrats and voting-rights advocates seeking to loosen state restrictions on balloting. The party and its allies also intend to use advertising, the internet and Mr. Trump’s command of the airwaves to cast Democrats as agents of election theft.

Others say the Republican focus on vanishingly rare cases of fraud targets a politically useful phantom.

Many Native Ids Won’t Be Accepted At North Dakota Polling Places

The problem in North Dakota is that a lot of Native Americans live on rural tribal reservations, and they get their mail at the Post Office using P.O. boxes because their areas are too remote for the Post Office to deliver mail, under this law, tribal IDs that list P.O. boxes won’t be able to be used as a valid voter IDs. So now we’re in a situation where 5,000 Native American voters might not be able to vote in the 2018 elections with their tribal ID cards.

This is sending off a tremendous amount of alarm in the state, because normally we wouldn’t be talking about North Dakota. But there is a competitive Senate race between the Democrat, Heidi Heitkamp, and the Republican, Kevin Cramer. Heidi Heitkamp only won her first race for the U.S. Senate in 2012 by 2,900 votes, and she got 80 percent of the vote on the two counties in the state with the largest Native American reservations. So there is a tremendous amount of fear in North Dakota that many Native Americans are not going to be able to vote in this state, and that’s going to particularly hurt Heidi Heitkamp, the Democratic incumbent.

On a ballot initiative in Florida to restore voting rights to former felons

Florida is one of only four states that prevents ex-felons from voting, meaning even after you’ve served your time, you’ve paid your debt to society, you have to wait five to seven years in Florida to appeal to have your voting rights restored by the governor and his executive clemency board.

Ari Berman

California Recall: How Democrats Republicans Say You Should Vote

Californians have until Sept. 14 to decide: Should Gov. Gavin Newsom be recalled? And if so, who should replace him?

All registered voters in California will receive a mail-in ballot. It has two questions:

Shall GAVIN NEWSOM be recalled from the office of Governor?

Candidates to succeed GAVIN NEWSOM as Governor if he is recalled .

How you vote is up to you, but here’s what your vote will mean and what various political parties, newspapers and others are saying.

Prospective Candidates Speak At Republican Day At Il State Fair

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Despite Illinois being a blue state, the Prairie State’s Republicans arrived at the Illinois State Fair with optimism for GOP Day on Thursday, speaking of high hopes and goals for the upcoming 2022 elections.

Republicans are aiming to take back Congress, the State House and the Governors’ Mansion in 2022, with state GOP leaders taking swipes at President Biden and Democratic leaders on the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Illinois Republicans also aired their grievances with the southern border crisis and inflation while celebrating the recent retirement of longtime State House Speaker Mike Madigan and the defeat of Governor Pritzker’s graduated income tax bill>

Republicans made no secret that they see Pritzker’s mandates and shutdowns as a liability for the Governor, who is seeking re-election to a second term next year.

“That’s not democracy in this country, and that’s not democracy in Illinois,” Illinois Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie said.

The field of those wanting to challenge Pritzker is sure to grow from the currently three declared candidates in the Republican primary. The upcoming legislative maps that are to be drawn according to recent U.S. Census results is likely to affect the decision of many Illinois Republicans.

“I know what I will do based upon what that battlefield looks like, and we will make that decision when those maps come out,” 13th District Congressman Rodney Davis said.

Republicans Aim To Seize More Power Over How Elections Are Run

G.O.P. lawmakers in at least eight states controlled by the party are trying to gain broad influence over the mechanics of voting, in an effort that could further undermine the country’s democratic norms.

In the turbulent aftermath of the 2020 presidential contest, election officials in Georgia, from the secretary of state’s office down to county boards, found themselves in a wholly unexpected position: They had to act as one of the last lines of defense against an onslaught of efforts by a sitting president and his influential allies to overturn the will of the voters.

Now state Republicans are trying to strip these officials of their power.

Buried in an avalanche of voting restrictions currently moving through the Georgia Statehouse are measures that would give G.O.P. lawmakers wide-ranging influence over the mechanics of voting and fundamentally alter the state’s governance of elections. The bill, which could clear the House as soon as Thursday and is likely to be passed by the Senate next week, would allow state lawmakers to seize control of county election boards and erode the power of the secretary of state’s office.

“It’s looking at total control of the election process by elected officials, which is not what it should be,” said Helen Butler, a Democratic county board of elections member. “It’s all about turnout and trying to retain power.”

For Older Voters Getting The Right Id Can Be Especially Tough

He was sued in 2016 by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, a voting rights group, because 35,000 registrations were flagged as “pending” under the exact-match system and there was a huge racial disparity in terms of who was flagged, and Kemp’s office actually said he was going to stop doing this system. But what happened is the Georgia legislature basically reauthorized the law, gave voters more time to do this, and so a lot of people didn’t even realize this law was back into effect.

On why people of color are disproportionately impacted by Georgia’s “exact match” law

told me … that basically the names of people who are African-American or Latino or Asian-American tend to be more unfamiliar to election workers. So they might have names that don’t match on the databases from one form to another, or election officials might actually enter the correct name incorrectly because they’re confused by the spelling or they don’t recognize the name. And so I think that basically people of different kinds of backgrounds are sometimes unfamiliar to the largely white officials that are running Georgia’s elections, and I think that’s one of the reasons why a lot of people of color are ending up on these pending registration lists.

On how Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state, is an advocate for a question citizenship on the census — and how that affects voting rights

On why the census matters

The Dangerous New Frontier: Interfering With Election Results

The Georgia law has received ample attention for its restrictive voting rules, but it also captured headlines because of provisions that could make administering elections more susceptible to partisan interference. The law removed the secretary of state from Georgia’s State Election Board and gave the GOP-controlled state legislature control over appointing the board’s chair. It also empowered the Republican-controlled2 state board to suspend county election officials and appoint temporary replacements.

It’s hard to view the first change as anything other than a clear rebuke of Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who rejected Trump’s request to interfere in the 2020 election. To be sure, there are some guardrails to prevent abuse, like eligibility requirements that prevent the appointment of a recent candidate or party official as chair of the state election board, but these changes crack open the door to potential interference in the local administration of elections. And who is to say future malevolent actors won’t break it off its hinges, given Trump’s repeated refusal to accept defeat and widespread disbelief among Republicans that Biden did win?

Fact Check: Has Citizenship Been A Standard Census Question

So if this question about citizenship is added to the census, places like California and New York and Texas — which actually, funnily enough, is a red state — they could receive fewer members of Congress, they could have less influence in the Electoral College, they could have less money going to their states. And then places like Kansas, where there are fewer immigrants, where it’s a lot whiter and more Republican, they’re going to have more political power if this question about citizenship is added to the census like Kris Kobach wants.

On voter suppression in North Dakota on Native American reservations

The big voting issue in North Dakota is that that state has recently passed a new voter ID law that was upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this month, and what’s alarming about that law is that the Republicans in North Dakota wrote it in such a way that for your ID to count, you have to have a current residential street address on your ID.

The 147 Republicans Who Voted To Overturn Election Results

When a mob of President Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday, they forced an emergency recess in the Congressional proceedings to officially certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. The disruption came shortly after some Republican lawmakers made the first of a planned series of highly unusual objections, based on spurious allegations of widespread voter fraud, to states’ election results. The chambers were separately debating an objection to Arizona’s results when proceedings were halted and the Capitol was locked down.

When the Senate reconvened at 8 p.m., and the House of Representatives an hour later, the proceedings — including the objection debates — continued, although some lawmakers who had previously planned to vote with the objectors stood down following the occupation of the Capitol. Plans to challenge a number of states after Arizona were scrapped, as well — but one other objection, to Pennsylvania’s results, also advanced to a vote. Here are the eight senators and 139 representatives who voted to sustain one or both objections.

Vindman: Tucker Carlson Is ‘hating The Us’ With Rhetoric

Washington Democratic state legislators in Texas staged a dramatic walk-out Sunday night to prevent the immediate passage of a Republican elections bill that would make it harder for some residents to vote. But the bill is not dead: it could get put on the agenda at a special legislative session at some point this year.

claimed

Voting rights bills remain imperiled in Congress. Here are the differences among them

racially diverseDemocratic-leaningclaims67-page legislation

If Rep Liz Cheney Doesnt Have A Home In The Gop Who Does

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To be sure, though, Fraga’s own research has found that white voters, regardless of how easy or hard it is for them to vote, consistently turn out at higher rates than voters of color, so we do want to be careful of not reading too much into this. Jennifer McCoy, a political scientist at Georgia State University who studies the effects of polarization on democracy, told me that she thought the current emphasis on voter restrictions boiled down to Republicans thinking they could appeal to Trump’s base by codifying his baseless claims of voter fraud. “ know they have to attract Donald Trump supporters who now believe there is fraud,” said McCoy. “So a large part of the current efforts to change voter laws was a direct response to this last election.” Large majorities of Republicans continue to believe Biden’s win is not legitimate, and a that only 28 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning people agreed that “everything possible should be done” to make voting easy, a steep drop from 48 percent in October 2018.

The GOP’s restrictionist bent sends the message that Republicans don’t want Black and brown Americans to vote. In September 2020, 54 percent of Black respondents and 35 percent of Hispanic respondents told FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos they believed Republicans didn’t want “people like me” to vote.

What Ballot Initiatives States Approved On Election Day

Republicans are arguing they want to limit outside influence on legislation, especially from groups that come from outside of the state. The organizers challenging them say that the legislatures are only limiting the ability to organize and making it more expensive, increasing dependence on outside groups and wealthy benefactors.

Josh Altic, who leads a team that studies direct democracy efforts at Ballotpedia, said that while Republican efforts may aim to decrease outside influence and money on the ballot initiative process, the increased barriers will likely only increase its prevalence. He cited a new Florida law that limits contributions to ballot initiative campaigns, which is currently being challenged by the ACLU.

“There are these romanticized ideas of the initiative as a grassroots, volunteer-driven idea, and that’s just not practical,” Altic said. “I don’t know if it’s ever been practical, but certainly not for the last multiple decades, except for a handful of initiatives that get on the ballot in the very smallest states.”

The average cost of efforts that result in a signature supporting a ballot initiative in the U.S. was $8.09 per signature in 2020, according to Ballotpedia’s data. That’s 24 percent higher than the average in 2018 and almost double the average between 2010 and 2018 .

But that has not stopped states from raising the barrier to entry, some in multiple ways.

Former Us Ambassador To The United Nations Nikki Haley

Haley, 49, stands out in the potential pool of 2024 Republican candidates by her resume. She has experience as an executive as the former governor of South Carolina and foreign policy experience from her time as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley was a member of the Republican Party’s 2010 tea party class. A former South Carolina state representative, her long shot gubernatorial campaign saw its fortunes improve after she was endorsed by Sarah Palin. Haley rocketed from fourth to first just days after the endorsement, and she went on to clinch the nomination and become her state’s first female and first Indian-American governor.

As governor, she signed a bill removing the Confederate flag from the state Capitol following the white supremacist attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston. She left office in 2017 to join the Trump administration as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Quinnipiac poll found she was at one point the most popular member of Trump’s foreign policy team.

“I think that she’s done a pretty masterful job in filling out her resume,” said Robert Oldendick, a professor and director of graduate studies at the University of South Carolina’s department of political science.

Haley criticized Trump following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters, saying she was “disgusted” by his conduct. Oldendick said he thought her “pretty pointed criticism of the president will potentially cause some problems.”

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cannabisbusinessexecutive · 7 months

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Ohio votes to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use, becoming 24th state to do so

Ohio voters approved a measure legalizing recreational marijuana on Tuesday, defying Republican legislative leaders who had failed to pass the proposed law. Passage of Issue 2 makes Ohio the 24th state to allow adult cannabis use for non-medical purposes. “Marijuana is no longer a controversial issue,” said Tom Haren, spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. “Ohioans…

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#Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol #issue 2 #Legal Marijuana #marijuana ballot #ohio marijuana #recreational marijuana

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cavenewstimes · 10 months

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Ohio Marijuana Legalization Measure Falls 679 Signatures Short Of November Ballot, But Activists Now Have 10 Days To Fix That

Marijuana Moment Read More An Ohio marijuana legalization campaign is just 679 valid signatures short of putting its initiative on the November ballot, sate officials say, but organizers now have 10 additional days to make up the difference to qualify. The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CTRMLA) turned in more than 220,000 signatures earlier this month. But the secretary of state’s…

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janepwilliams87 · 4 years

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Congress puts new cannabis provisions in spending bills (Newsletter: July 8, 2020)

NYC finalizes marijuana testing ban; Study: CBD mouthwash works better than regular products; IL cannabis sales spike in June

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By starting a $10 per month pledge on Patreon—or about 45 cents per issue of this newsletter—you can help us rely less on ads to cover our expenses, hire more journalists and bring you even more marijuana news. https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment / TOP THINGS TO KNOW House Appropriations Committee leaders included provisions in new 2021 spending legislation to protect marijuana business banking, shield medical cannabis laws from federal interference, let Washington, D.C. legalize recreational sales, expand research and fund hemp and CBD regulations. The New York City Commission on Human Rights finalized a local ban on pre-employment marijuana testing for most workers, but added new last-minute exceptions that will still allow some companies to screen applicants for cannabis. The policy takes effect on July 24. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced that the state’s marijuana businesses had their biggest month of legal sales yet in June. Retailers sold $47.6 million worth of recreational cannabis products last month, with $12.4 million of that being bought by out-of-state residents. A study found that mouthwash products infused with CBD, CBG and other marijuana compounds “offer a much safer, efficient and natural alternative to alcohol and/or fluoride containing mouthwashes.”

“Cannabinoids (CBD / CBG) infused mouthwashes together with other natural key ingredients shows promising bactericidal activity in vitro against total-culturable aerobic bacterial content in dental plaque with efficiency equivalent to or better than that of the gold standard (0.2% chlorhexidine),” the research, which was funded by a company that makes cannabinoid-based dental products, found.

/ FEDERAL The National Institute on Drug Abuse funded a Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America publication that suggests communities enact policies banning or restricting legal marijuana businesses. Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA) tweeted, “Cannabis legalization is a matter of justice for veterans & POC. We know cannabis helps vets with PTSD & chronic injuries. We know black men are 4x more likely to be jailed over cannabis. Sean Worsley is in prison for treating the injuries the VA couldn’t. Where’s his justice?” Washington Democratic congressional candidate Jason Call tweeted, “I support the federal decriminalization of marijuana/cannabis.” / STATES Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor wrote in an op-ed that policing reform should include marijuana legalization. Oklahoma regulators are ready to begin enforcing a requirement that medical cannabis products sold by processors and growers be tested by a licensed laboratory. Florida’s Hemp Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday. Oregon regulators will meet on Thursday. — Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,500 cannabis bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. —

/ LOCAL The Napa County, California district attorney announced her office has identified additional prior marijuana cases that can be reduced or dismissed. / INTERNATIONAL New Zealand’s chief science advisor published an overview of evidence about marijuana ahead of a legalization referendum vote. Mexican regulators said they plan to finalize medical cannabis regulations by September. Jamaican regulators proposed a new medical cannabis permit with reduced fees for small and subsistence farmers. Ontario, Canada marijuana stores must stop delivery and curbside pickup services this month. / SCIENCE & HEALTH A study analyzing county-by-county support for marijuana legalization ballot measures found that “stronger Republican political leanings and/or higher percentages of Black or Hispanic residents were associated with reduced support, whereas higher education, male sex composition, and greater past criminalization were associated with increased support for cannabis legalization.” A review concluded that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy produces a “clinically significant reduction in PTSD symptoms and enduring improvements in functioning and overall life satisfaction” and that “results have been promising for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for those afflicted with Major Depressive Disorder and end of life illnesses such as terminal cancer, indicating not only improved mood and functioning, but additional peripheral benefits such as acceptance of death, participation in social relationships, and positive personality changes.” / ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS The National Industrial Hemp Council and Hemp Industries Association are working to explore the creation of a marketing checkoff program to promote hemp. / BUSINESS Steep Hill is accusing its former CEO of improperly revealing a previously confidential transaction with EVIO, Inc. MedMen Enterprises Inc. is reportedly at risk of losing a chance to get a Pasadena, California marijuana business permit due to substantial changes to its corporate ownership structure. / CULTURE Johnny Depp acknowledged that he gave his 13-year-old daughter marijuana. Taiwanese singer Hsieh Ho-hsien was found guilty of disseminating false information and fined after sharing a post on Instagram claiming that marijuana could “kill” coronavirus.

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from Updates By Jane https://www.marijuanamoment.net/congress-puts-new-cannabis-provisions-in-spending-bills-newsletter-july-8-2020/

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ledenews · 4 years

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Schmidt to Support Ohio Cannabis Initiative

Bill Schmitt's recent cryptic post on his personal Facebook page generated quite a bit of buzz and anticipation. Schmitt notated to stay tuned as he was about to “drop a bomb on the world.” Those who knows Schmitt are aware where his passions lie and what said bombshell might be about—marijuana and, in particular, marijuana legalization. Unbeknownst to his friends and social media followers, Schmitt was prepping for a conference call with the group behind the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Amendment recently submitted to the Ohio Attorney General's Office. Following that call, Schmitt's personal feelings of the proposal were more lightning of a firecracker than dropping a bomb. “It was exciting at first because it is legalization and it is progress,” Schmitt said. “But the more I learned, the more I fear that this group may be in with the state already due to the fact that there are already license holders in the state and this proposal is leaving so much power in the state's hands.”

There's a new push in Ohio to legalized recreational use of cannabis.

But First, What's in the Amendment?

The amendment calls for adults aged 21 and over to be legally permitted to purchase, possess and consume marijuana, as well as participate in-home cultivation without a medicinal cannabis prescription. Naturally, there are limits. Individuals would be limited to purchasing or possessing one ounce of flower at a time, or eight grams of concentrate. An ounce is equal to roughly 28.3 grams. Eleven other states nationally have legalized recreational use. Of those, nearby Michigan, along with Maine, allows for up to 2.5 ounces of flower. Ohio's proposed amount is on the low end of the spectrum and only Washington's seven allowable grams of concentrate is less than Ohio's proposal. In terms of plants, individuals can have up to six plants, but only three in the flowering stage. Michigan, Maine and Massachusetts allow for 12 total plants, half of which can be flowering in Massachusetts. Washington doesn't allow individual cultivation for non-medicinal users. Those who are eligible for medicinal marijuana may have up to 15. Schmitt knows it's a start, but he has serious reservations if it's enough. He'd know. In addition to being the driving force behind the movement to get marijuana possession decriminalized in Bellaire, Schmitt has led or assisted campaigns in a number of towns across Ohio, including Cleveland. “I have collected more signatures than anyone in this state and I think I have a good read on what people want and what they will vote for,” Schmitt said. “I know we could get a full six plants and get 2.5 ounces of flower for possession. This plan is progress. I don't want to stand in front of it or try to stop it from happening. “I just want people to be aware, as an activist who's been on the inside, what so far I've seen of how this has come out, it feels sketchy."

Schmidt led the charge to get marijuana decriminalized in Bellaire.

Reservations, Help and Advice Offered Yet Ill Received.

Working with the Sensible Movement Coalition both in a leadership role and assisting decriminalization campaigns, Schmitt knows his way around this issue. He's a leading voice in the state in the legalization community. The group has helped decriminalize marijuana for more than 2 million Ohioans. So, when he was underwhelmed by the plan, naturally, he had questions. For starters, why only one ounce when other states showed that two or was a real possibility. And why only three flowering plants. “We've decriminalized marijuana for more than 2 million people in Ohio, so it was kind of disrespectful and a smack in the face,” Schmitt said. “They aren't using activists like us or even giving the medicinal patients an opportunity to really help. “They told us the language, six plants, only three flowering, one ounce, etc., but they didn't give us the opportunity to revise the language. They need to be transparent about things.” Schmitt also feels like too much is being left up to the state. Given the less than stellar roll out and usage rates of Ohio's medicinal program, he doesn't believe this is an avenue that needs revisited. Ohio's House Bill 523 set the medicinal marijuana program into existence, establishing advisory boards from the state's commerce and pharmacy boards. Cultivator licenses and dispensaries were approved but limited. Participation is noticeably lacking. “Only two percent of Ohio's patients are even signed up and of that total, only 25-35 percent are even using it,” Schmitt said. “I'm a medical marijuana patient in Ohio and I've been to the dispensary, maybe once or twice. I need medicine every day, but it costs way too much to drive 45 minutes to and from (Wintersville).” For Ohio Valley residents, there are two dispensaries locally. Both are in Wintersville. The next closest is in Coshocton. Schmitt also noted that a medicinal patient can sometimes go through upwards of a gram per day in 60-day cycles for their pain prevention. If there is a limit of 8 grams total possessed for concentrate, does that mean a patient will have to travel to the dispensary every eight days for treatment? There are patients now that are having trouble having enough supply to last the 90-day prescription periods.

Schmidt with other supporters, including Cleveland Ward 6 Councilman Blaine A. Griffin after the municipality decriminalized marijuana.

Missing a Prime Opportunity?

While the petition with the initial 1,000 signature was filed on March 2 at the AG office, there's still a long way to go to getting this proposal on the ballot. There's not a lot of time to do what needs doing either. The state has 10 days to sign off on the measure. If it does, the state ballot board will have another 10 days to review so it's properly formatted as a single-issue amendment. If that step is a go, then the group will have until July 1 to collect 443,000 signatures to bring the measure before voters. Schmitt knows it's a time consuming and expensive task. The late start doesn't help either. “It costs so much money in Ohio; millions of dollars to even have the opportunity,” Schmitt said. “We spent $20-30 million on the 2016 ballot measure and only got 30 percent of the vote.” Schmitt noted that in 2016, only 305,000 signatures were need. When Responsible Ohio first turned in their signatures, they were 37,000 short. The state gave them a 10-day supplemental window to collect the rest and the group scrambled to meet the deadline. Now, more than 100,00 additional signatures are required. Schmitt noted he'd sign the petition and support the measure because it is progress. But he's also disappointed because of how it's being done, who is appearing to benefit the most, and what potential benefits are being left on the table setting such a low bar with what the amendment is asking. This was the prime time to get a real, meaningful measure on the November ballot. Nothing brings out voters like a presidential election and this year's race figures to be more polarizing than most, drawing large numbers of voters. “This was supposed to be the year to do it with the presidential election,” Schmitt said. “The younger generation comes out to vote who normally wouldn't in just a local or statewide race. If we don't do it this year, it will probably not be until 2024 until we can seriously try again.” Schmitt is supporting the measure but he's doing it with a heavy heart, wondering what could have been if it passes, and lamenting the opportunity wasted if it doesn't. “We’ll just have to see what happens,” he added. “I’ll support it and I’ll work for it.” Read the full article

#Bellaire #belmontcounty #Cannabis #Marijuana #Ohio

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2whatcom-blog · 5 years

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FDA Cracks Down on E-Liquids, Vape Juice That Resemble Cough Syrup

Is taking cough syrup somebody's thought of enjoyable? Makers and sellers of the Double Cup model of e-liquid merchandise -- which include nicotine and are utilized in e-cigarettes -- appear to suppose so. The packaging for "Double Cup Liquids Spritech Lemon Lime E-Juice Syrup" and "Double Cup Liquids Pineapple Phantom Flavor E-Juice Syrup" mimics that of cough syrup bottles. Officers on the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA), nonetheless, do not just like the affiliation between the 2, so that they've issued a warning in opposition to gross sales of Double Cup merchandise. "By deliberately making or selling e-liquid products that look like prescription cough syrups, these companies are putting adults and children at risk of nicotine poisoning," mentioned Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the FDA's commissioner, in a press release. The warning criticized Undisputed Worldwide, the maker of Double Cup, for designing packages that might mislead shoppers into pondering the liquids are ingestible. "The products not only use labeling with statements, representations and graphical elements that imitate legitimate cough medications, but they also have a list of ingredients that mimics a Drug Facts label," Gottlieb mentioned. Specialists informed Healthline the state of affairs is a severe matter. "Ingesting rather than vaping these liquids is extremely dangerous and potentially fatal, especially for children," mentioned Linda Richter, PhD, director of coverage analysis and evaluation on the Middle on Habit. The middle's analysis has discovered that 75 % of stories to poison management facilities for ingestion of addictive substances amongst kids ages 5 and youthful concerned e-cigarette merchandise. "The colorful packaging and sweet smell of the liquids suggest that the product is a type of candy, syrup, or juice that can be ingested," Richter informed Healthline. "When the product packaging literally shows a picture of a cup and mimics the appearance of a cough medicine -- which is meant to be drunk -- the risk of confusion and therefore ingestion is magnified, especially among young children," she mentioned.

Over-the-counter drug misuse

Narcotic cough syrup is among the many many authorized medicine misused by adolescents and adults. "Purple drank" is a avenue identify for mixing cough syrup, carbonated drinks, and sweet to get excessive. Specialists say that will clarify the weird cross-branding technique of Double Cup. "It could be a marketing ploy directed at kids, as adults are not and never have been 'robotripping,' but interestingly the percentage of kids misusing cough syrup with dextromethorphan has dropped precipitously over the past five years or so," Sue Thau, a public coverage advisor with Group Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), informed Healthline. "So, if that's the demographic they are going for with this tactic, I am not sure they will have a big market," she mentioned. General, about four % of individuals ages 12 and older in the USA have misused cough or chilly medication, in accordance with the newest information from Nationwide Survey on Drug Use and Well being. "In addition to potentially appealing to those interested in the illicit use of cough syrup, the packaging can make it easy to mistake the product for medicine more generally, which might also be a subtle way of conveying that they are somehow good for the user," Richter added.

A stern warning

On April four the FDA despatched letters to Undisputed Worldwide and EZ Fumes, an organization that sells Double Cup, warning each in opposition to manufacturing, promoting, and/or distributing the product. The company mentioned the enforcement motion was to guard kids from tobacco-related merchandise in addition to stopping unintended overdoses. The FDA has beforehand issued warnings to makers and sellers of nicotine-containing e-liquids that appeared like meals merchandise, corresponding to juice packing containers, sweet, and cereal. "While the FDA continues to mull greater action with regards to tobacco product flavoring, they've been playing whack-a-mole with lots of questionably marketed products," Andrew Romero, director of the Geographic Well being Fairness Alliance at CADCA, informed Healthline. The Double Cup Liquids Spritech Lemon Lime E-Juice Syrup packaging is outwardly modeled after Actavis' promethazine with codeine cough syrup. Double Cup Liquids Pineapple Phantom E-Juice Syrup mimics Hello-Tech promethazine hydrochloride and codeine. Even publicity to comparatively small quantities of the nicotine contained in these merchandise "could result in acute toxicity," in accordance with the FDA. "Severe harms can occur in small children from ingestion of liquid nicotine, including death from cardiac arrest, as well as seizure, coma and respiratory arrest," the FDA warning states. Mike Makhani, CEO of EZFumes, informed Healthline that his firm had Double Cup merchandise "listed on our website for sale, along with several other e-liquid brands, and it has since been removed in order to maintain compliance." "We are internally auditing all of our products for sale online to ensure they are in line with regulations," he added. Officers at Undisputed Worldwide mentioned they agree with the FDA warning and stopped manufacturing of those merchandise two years in the past. "We understand that it is our duty to contact all vendors that still have our product listed online to take down these products," mentioned a press release from the corporate despatched to Healthline. "We totally understand the issue regarding the FDA warning letter and we are with the FDA on this specific issue, which is why in 2017 we chose to discontinue the product. We are no longer EJuice manufacturers and hope that we can continue to keep bringing awareness to the Vape community."

A part of a much bigger drawback

Richter says that Double Cup is reflective of the irresponsible and largely unregulated advertising and marketing of vaping and e-cigarette merchandise as a complete. "There is little to no regulation by the government of the advertising and marketing tactics of companies that sell these products, which increasingly are run by the big traditional tobacco companies who have decades of experience in cleverly marketing their products to maximize their appeal to young people," Richter mentioned. "The merchandise are available hundreds of flavors, are usually mislabeled in order that the patron has no thought which poisonous chemical compounds or how a lot nicotine are in them, and they're packaged to seem like precisely like well-known sweet merchandise that immediately attraction to kids. "The FDA lately has supplied robust phrases and warnings to crack down on these firms however basically has let the business police itself," she added. In consequence, as a substitute of an "complete technology of younger individuals who had been on the cusp of being the primary technology to reject tobacco product use," the United States now has "an acknowledged epidemic of vaping amongst teenagers and younger adults; a technology that's now hooked on nicotine, at elevated threat of smoking, and extra open than ever to utilizing vaping units and liquids to ingest not solely nicotine however marijuana, alcohol, and different medicine as effectively," Richter mentioned. Read the full article

#2what.com #cough #cup #double #fda #products #syrup

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patriotsnet · 3 years

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Who Are The Republicans On The Ballot

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-are-the-republicans-on-the-ballot/

Who Are The Republicans On The Ballot

New 2020 Voter Data: How Biden Won How Trump Kept The Race Close And What It Tells Us About The Future

Now, using a massive sample of “validated” voters whose participation has been independently verified, the Pew Research Center has . It helps us understand how Joe Biden was able to accomplish what Hillary Clinton did not—and why President Trump came closer to getting reelected than the pre-election surveys had predicted.

How Joe Biden won

Five main factors account for Biden’s success.

How Trump kept it close

Longer-term prospects

BillGalston

Here Are The 17 Republican Senators Who Voted To Advance The $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill

Washington When the Senate voted Wednesday to open debate on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package, more than a dozen Republicans sided with Democrats to advance the legislation.

proposal,

Roy Blunt of Missouri

Richard Burr of North Carolina

Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

Bill Cassidy of Louisiana

Kevin Cramer of North Dakota

Mike Crapo of Idaho

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina

Chuck Grassley of Iowa

John Hoeven of North Dakota

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky

Thom Tillis of North Carolina

Todd Young of Indiana

Voters Supported Progressive Policies On Ballot Initiatives Republicans Are Pushing Back

Marijuana Legalization Could Be On The Ohio Ballot In 2022 Should That Worry Republicans

Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Republicans have a lot at stake next year.

Gov. Mike DeWine is running for re-election. Retiring U.S. Sen. Rob Portman’s seat is open, and control of the Ohio Supreme Court is up for grabs.

Will they want to deal with a ballot issue legalizing marijuana, too?

The ball could be in state lawmakers’ court.

Still, he said “it’s hard to argue” that the dynamic would benefit the DeWine campaign.

Republicans Increasingly Look To Ballot Initiatives As Way To Enact Voting Measures