California Election Watchdog Celebrates Lawsuit Win, Plans ‘Deep Audit’

As many as 1.5 million inactive registered names on the voter rolls in Los Angeles County alone are being contacted for potential removal, after the recently-announced settlement of a lawsuit against the state of California and Los Angeles County initiated by Election Integrity Project California (EIPCa) and Judicial Watch. Inactive voters who have not voted in two general federal elections will receive a postcard in the mail, and if the postcard is not returned, those names will be removed from the voter registration list. The entire process of cleaning the voter rolls of deceased and other ineligible voters will take up to eight years, according to Linda Paine, president of EIPCa. EIPCa held a special meeting with local supporters in Pasadena, California on Jan. 12 to celebrate the settlement, which they consider a “colossal win.”

“This is powerful. This is historic. This has never happened in the state before, where a citizen group documented, researched, and sued the state of California and the LA County Registrar to ensure that they become compliant with federal law, so this is huge,” said Paine at the meeting. In August 2017, EIPCa filed the lawsuit as a primary plaintiff, alleging “that the defendants were not following the requirements of Section 8 of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The NVRA requires states to reasonably maintain state and county voter registration rolls. The mandates of this settlement, when performed, will bring California into federal compliance as is required of every other state,” according to a press release.

The lawsuit found that California has not cleaned up its voter rolls for more than 20 years. A 2018 Supreme Court ruling also confirmed the voter registration cleanups were mandatory under the NVRA.

Dean Logan, Los Angeles County’s registrar-recorder and county clerk, responded to the settlement in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times on Jan. 14. “Los Angeles County prioritizes the maintenance of voter records and works hard to maintain protections that ensure eligible voters stay on the rolls in compliance with state and federal voter registration laws. In settling this lawsuit, all parties agree that they each had a good faith interpretation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) requirements, state law, and federal law regarding voter file maintenance,” read the statement. Logan also said the settlement included no admission of wrongdoing, and he claimed that Judicial Watch was “inaccurate” in alleging Los Angeles County has a registration rate of 112 percent of its adult citizen population. Judicial Watch has stated this information was provided to and published by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

The 2016 National Voter Registration Act report issued by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), reported that California was one of nine states that had more people registered to vote than were eligible, with a 100.1 percent registration rate.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/california-election-watchdog-celebrates-lawsuit-win-plans-deep-audit_2766436.html

Over 200,000 Call to Impeach Representative Who Insulted Trump

More than 200,000 individuals have signed an internet petition calling for the impeachment of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in response to her saying recently that “we’re going to impeach the [expletive],” referring to President Donald Trump. Tlaib made headlines Jan. 4 with her remark to a rally of supporters. Tlaib, one of two recently elected Muslim woman members of the House of Representatives—Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is the other—has since refused to apologize for her remark. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi declined Republican demands that Tlaib be disciplined, saying: “I don’t like that language. I wouldn’t use that language, but I don’t think it’s anything worse than what the president has said.”

Karen Baron of Jupiter, Florida, was so upset by Tlaib’s remark that she turned to Change.org, a social media site where people seeking all kinds of political, social, and other kinds of change post petitions. Using the name “Mrs. American Citizen,” Baron posted a petition demanding Tlaib’s impeachment and multiple other actions aimed at the Dearborn-based congresswoman. “Her words and actions are unprofessional, to say the least, using profanity and hate-filled rhetoric against our country, our citizens, and our president,” the petition stated. “The goal of this petition is to gather enough signatures to bring her traitorous actions against the United States into public view, so that we may initiate an investigation into her background, and end her political career.”

The petition has been up a week and, at last count, had more than 205,000 signatures. A spokesman for Tlaib did not respond to multiple telephone messages seeking comment on the petition. Besides Tlaib’s impeachment, the petition also demands:

Recounts of “every vote that she supposedly received” in both the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 13th congressional seat and the Nov. 6 general election. A “full list of all campaign contributions” Tlaib received in her successful campaign. Investigation of her alleged ties to radical Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. Tlaib is of Palestinian origin.

Baron, who is listed on the petition as its sponsor, could not be reached for comment, but her petition won’t prompt the House of Representatives to impeach Tlaib. The House could have refused to seat the Michigan Democrat before she was sworn into office by Pelosi, but no such moves were made.

Now that Tlaib has been sworn-in, the only possible disciplinary consequence is a censure motion passed by the House, something that is not likely to happen with a Democratic majority.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/over-200000-call-to-impeach-rep-who-insulted-trump_2766636.html