SPLC to Secretary of State: Reinstate Inactive Voters by Next Month
The Southern Poverty Law Center on Friday asked Secretary of State John Merrill to reinstate the 340,000 Alabama voters that have been placed on inactive voter lists before the September Senate runoff. Many residents voting in Tuesday’s primary learned for the first time their status had been changed to “inactive.” Poll workers asked them to fill out verification forms in order to cast a ballot in the race for the Senate seat previously held by Jeff Sessions.
Richard Cohen, head of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said voters should not have been faced with such obstacles on an election day. He said some who might have had to rush off to work likely left their polling places on being presented with forms to fill out; some might have been intimidated. “In any event, people shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to cast a ballot in Alabama elections.”
Cohen stopped short of calling it voter suppression, but said the hassles voters faced on Tuesday had the same effect.
Merrill in a letter Friday defended Alabama’s process for updating the voter rolls. The state from January to March sent postcards to registered voters. If voters had no changes to their records, they were instructed to keep the cards but take no further action. If the postcards were mailed a second time and returned to sender, voters were placed on the inactive voter rolls.
Those who verified their information at the polls were permitted to cast provisional ballots.
U.S. military says strikes on 3 boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean kill 8 people
The U.S. military said Monday that it attacked three boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing a total of eight people as scrutiny is intensifying in Congress.
Retailers didn’t pull ByHeart baby formula fast enough after botulism recall, FDA says
The FDA says four major retailers including Walmart, Target, Kroger and Albertsons continued to sell ByHeart baby formula products for days or weeks after the Nov. 11 recall.
‘General Hospital’ star Anthony Geary of Luke and Laura fame dies at 78
Anthony Geary, who rose to fame in the 1970s and '80s as half the daytime TV super couple Luke and Laura on "General Hospital," has died. He was 78.
Trump sues BBC for $10 billion, accusing it of defamation over Jan. 6 speech edit
The British broadcaster apologized to Trump last month, calling the edit an "error of judgment," but denies its reporting was defamatory.
Australian police say Bondi Beach mass shooting was inspired by Islamic State group
A mass shooting in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach was "a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State," Australia's police said Tuesday.
Trump designates street fentanyl as WMD, escalating militarization of drug war
Trump has already declared the drug cartels terrorist organizations and ordered military strikes against suspected drug boats. Now he's declaring fentanyl a WMD. Experts on street drugs and fentanyl are skeptical these moves will reduce the supply of fentanyl on America's streets or reduce overdose deaths.
