Headlines for October 18, 2024

In election news, a federal judge has blocked Alabama’s voter roll purge that targeted over 3,000 people Alabama claimed were noncitizens and therefore ineligible to vote. The Justice Department successfully argued the voter purge came too close to the November 5 election and included naturalized citizens who are in fact able to vote.

Meanwhile, Nebraska’s Supreme Court has ordered state election officials to comply with a new state law restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions who have completed their sentences. The law had been challenged by Nebraska Republicans, including the attorney general and secretary of state. The delay in implementing the law means thousands of newly eligible voters will have just days to register to vote ahead of an October 25 deadline.

In Arizona, a pro-Trump super PAC has been mailing older voters a false and misleading mailer proclaiming “Medicare Cancellation Notice” — with a return address reading “Department of Medicare Cancellation, Kamala Harris Administration.” The MAGA, Inc. super PAC did not respond to a request by Mother Jones magazine asking if it intended for the mailer to look like an official notice — as a scare tactic for seniors.

In Wisconsin, voting rights groups have asked the Department of Justice to investigate text messages sent to college-age voters warning them about fines and hefty prison terms, with the admonition, “Don’t vote in a state where you’re not eligible.” The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, “many students and other young voters are fearful that they will face criminal prosecution if they register and exercise their right to vote — because of a malicious, inaccurate text sent by an anonymous party.”