Minneapolis Commission Blocks City Council’s Attempt to Downsize Police Department

Contributing Author
-
0
Minneapolis Commission Blocks City Council’s Attempt to Downsize Police Department

Facing the political reality, Minneapolis officials appear to have changed their minds about their commitment to defund the city’s police department.

The Minneapolis Charter Commission voted earlier this week to keep a police reform proposal off of November’s ballot, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

The ballot proposal would have allowed voters to decide whether the city should keep or get rid of a law that requires the city to keep its police force at a certain size due to its population.

Scrapping this requirement would have allowed Minnesota officials to create a “community safety department” to replace the downsized police department—which is exactly what city council members vowed to do in June.

But a number of commissioners raised concerns about the city council’s plan to remake policing.

Commissioner Dan Cohen, a former city council member, said that if the police department was successfully dismantled, “crime would soar, property values on our homes would fall,” and residents “would flee the city.”

“I believe that if one of these measures were to pass the voters of Minneapolis, the result would be a giant self-inflicted wound,” he said.

Others pointed out that the city council’s original goal to reallocate resources to other parts of the community would have been understandable, but it’s turned into a movement to completely abolish the police department.

“We wouldn’t put it in a charter if we were drafting the charter anew,” Commission Chairman Barry Clegg said of the minimum staffing requirement.

“But it’s there now, and the fact is that it’s become code for ‘defund the police,’” he continued. “So I think it takes on bigger meaning than just some quirky add-on that was done 60 years ago.”

The commission is set to take another vote next week on whether the city should introduce a proposal on the ballot to eliminate the police department altogether.

At least five city council members wrote the amendment abolishing the police department, but the commission already seems hesitant to take it up.

“At some point, we need to have a discussion about what our job is,” said Commissioner Jan Sandberg, who argued that it isn’t the commission’s job to determine which proposals do and do not get placed on the ballot.

The community members should decide for themselves, Sandberg said.

“Some of the things I’ve heard in the last hour or so about what our job is with respect to this or any ballot initiative, I do not agree with,” Sandberg added. “And I think we need … to come up with some kind of consensus on that.”

Navigating Cynical Politics and Rigged Markets to Investment Profits

Stefan Gleason (MoneyMetals.com News Service)
-
0
Navigating Cynical Politics and Rigged Markets to Investment Profits

It’s a cliché that gets repeated every four years: This is the most important election of our lifetime!

Perhaps this one, a national referendum on the presidency of Donald J. Trump, will prove to be so. What we can say with more certainty is that this will be the most cynical election of our lifetime.

American politics and the mainstream media’s coverage of it have descended into non-stop tribal spitefulness and vindictiveness. No longer is there any pretense that elections are about what’s best for the country as a whole.

What’s bad for the country is often good for politicians, and they can be counted on to do whatever is politically expedient for them.

This election will be about which sets of Americans get rewarded and which get punished. In the aftermath, reckless spending commitments will continue to drive record budget deficits and threaten to destroy the credibility of the U.S. dollar.

Since no political party has shown itself willing to practice spending restraint, it is difficult to imagine any electoral scenario that would fundamentally alter the country’s current fiscal path.

With a national debt of over $26.5 trillion and skyrocketing coupled with a GDP that has contracted sharply due to coronavirus lockdowns, both Republicans and Democrats know there is only one end-game. They will enlist the Federal Reserve to print currency in unlimited quantities.

The supposedly “independent” monetary policymaking body has embarked on a campaign to buy up everything from U.S. Treasuries to junk bonds at the demand of politicians and bankers. Meanwhile, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell cynically tells the public the central bank is merely fulfilling its dual mandate of “full employment and stable prices.”

We all know his real “mandate” is to lift asset prices and bail out his financial and political masters.

The Fed’s trillions now determine the fate of markets and the economy. But former Vice President Joe Biden apparently thinks central bankers aren’t doing enough to centrally plan outcomes.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the largest “racial gap” in median household income in 2018 was between Asian-Americans ($87,243) and African-Americans ($41,511). Biden would apparently task the Fed with somehow suppressing Asian incomes and/or directing race-based monetary stimulus to blacks.

“Biden will work with Congress to amend the Federal Reserve Act to require the Fed to regularly report on current data and trends in racial economic gaps – and what actions the Fed is taking through its monetary and regulatory policies to close these gaps,” according to a handler for the presumptive Democrat nominee.

Biden has also been pushed by the AOC wing of the Democratic party to embrace the Green New Deal. Under his “clean energy” and “environmental justice” plans, the government would spend $2 trillion over four years.

For his part, President Trump is backing the GOP Senate’s new $1 trillion COVID-19 relief bill and is vowing to boost military and infrastructure spending if re-elected.

So determined are some in the media to help defeat Trump that they are demanding more economic lockdowns while at the same time cheering on often violent (and never socially distanced) anti-police protests. It doesn’t get more cynical than that.

Regardless of what you may have thought of Barack Obama and his policies, there’s no denying that he had built up some genuine enthusiasm for his “hope and change” campaign of 2008. At that time, millions of Americans believed in the possibility of electing a charismatic unifier.

Nobody in 2020 is inspired by Joe Biden. Even his supporters admit he is just an instrument to get rid of Trump.

The young radicals who are burning down buildings and tearing down statues don’t care about Joe Biden’s decades in politics.

The fact that Biden would be 82 years-old by the end of his first term and appears to no longer be at the top of his game mentally is fine with them, though. That means his more “woke” aids and his “diverse” Vice President will be mostly running the show.

Yes, they really are that cynical.

In these tumultuous and politically fraught times, investors need to avoid becoming jaded themselves.

Up until this summer, the precious metals markets left many longtime investors feeling frustrated, even defeated. But those who threw in the towel because they believed gold and silver prices would continue to be suppressed at every turn missed out on gold’s recent rally to a new record highs – and silver’s biggest price surge since 2011.

Cynics can justifiably point to rigged markets and a corrupt monetary system that makes investing based on fundamentals alone impossible.

But opportunists know that artificially suppressed markets represent hidden value – and that under our inflationary monetary system, prices of precious metals will inevitably rise over time in terms of depreciating Federal Reserve Note dollars…Original Source…

Stefan Gleason is President of Money Metals Exchange, a precious metals dealer recently named “Best in the USA” by an independent global ratings group. A graduate of the University of Florida, Gleason is a seasoned business leader, investor, political strategist, and grassroots activist. Gleason has frequently appeared on national television networks such as CNN, FoxNews, and CNBC and in hundreds of publications such as the Wall Street Journal, The Street, and Seeking Alpha.

REPORT: Missouri AG Intervenes to Drop Felony Charges Against McCloskeys

Contributing Author
-
0
REPORT: Missouri AG Intervenes to Drop Felony Charges Against McCloskeys

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has stepped in to drop felony charges brought against a St. Louis couple charged by a George Soros-funded city attorney after they brandished firearms at a mob of protesters trespassing on their property, according to Townhall.

Schmitt formally stepped in after Mark and Patricia McCloskeys’ attorney filed a motion to dismiss St. Louis city attorney Kim Gardner’s charges, citing habitual “impropriety” in the way she has handled the case.

First, she tampered with material evidence to make it seem like Patricia McCloskey’s gun was fireable when it was not. Then, she used her case against the McCloskeys in campaign literature.

This was very clearly a “political prosecution,” Schmitt said earlier this month, when he first suggested that he’d intervene if Gardner continued to pursue the case.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey have insisted that they were acting in self-defense, and that the protesters who gathered outside their home in their private, gated community were armed and dangerous.

The St. Louis Police Department has a video “of people in the crowd in front of my house with armed guns,” Mark McCloskey told Fox News on Thursday.

“The interesting thing is that the media is reporting this as a peaceful protest,” McCloskey told Sean Hannity.

“And everybody keeps playing the same 32-second clip, or a little tiny bits of a 32-second clip, of an event that went on for 12 or 15 minutes,” he continued.

“Later that same night, that same crowd out in front of Mayor [Lyda Krewson’s] house, one of them produced an AK-47 and actually challenged a Channel 5 reporter. And she and her armed guard had to flee. That’s how peaceful that protest was.”

Mark McCloskey said that he and his wife saw the guns in the crowd, which is one of the reasons they confronted the crowd directly.

“One fellow in particular pulled out two loaded magazines and showed me them so I could see the shells in the magazines, clicked them together and said, ‘You’re next,’” Mark McCloskey recalled.

Ilhan Omar Has Paid Her Husband’s Firm $600K This Month

Contributing Author
-
0
Ilhan Omar Has Paid Her Husband’s Firm $600K This Month

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., paid her husband Tim Mynett’s consulting firm more than $600,000 in the first three weeks of July, according to Federal Election Commission filings released Thursday.

Omar’s reelection campaign spent nearly 77% of its available cash on Mynett’s services, which include consulting and advertising, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

She has already paid her husband’s firm more than $1 million in total since she began working with him.

She married Mynett—her third husband—in March after denying allegations, first confirmed by Mynett’s ex-wife, that the couple was having an affair.

She has continued to deny any wrongdoing, including in regards to her continued payments to Mynett, instead blaming any criticism on “rightwing Twitter trolls.”

Omar has spent a massive amount of money on her reelection campaign, but she was still out-fundraised by her Democratic primary opponent, Antone Melton–Meaux.

Melton–Meaux raised $3.2 million last quarter—six times the amount Omar’s campaign brought in.

He said he’s receiving support from “across the economic spectrum.”

Not only are left-wing Democrats sending donations, but conservative donors and pro-Israel groups are flooding his campaign coffers in an attempt to oust the anti-police, anti-immigration enforcement incumbent.

Melton–Meaux has been using Omar’s extremism against her, arguing that she has “lost the trust of the Jewish community by her insensitive and harmful tropes.”

He promised to lead with a more unifying approach.

“Voters want to move past toxic politics of hate and division, which is rampant in Washington today,” he said in a statement.

Omar’s allies, however, have tried to undermine Melton–Meaux’s campaign by questioning where his campaign donations are coming from. 

“Minnesotans need to ask where is this mountain of money coming from and why are they doing it and what do they expect for it,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, an Omar ally who represented the district until 2018 and has been himself linked to the radical, anti-Semitic Nation of Islam.

Ore. U.S. Atty. Rips Media for Refusing to Call Anarchists ‘Criminals’

Contributing Author
-
0
Ore. U.S. Atty. Rips Media for Refusing to Call Anarchists ‘Criminals’

Oregon U.S. Attorney Billy Williams slammed the media for refusing to condemn the “criminal,” violent riots that have plagued the city over the past few months.

The “protests” taking place at night aren’t peaceful, Williams said. 

“These aren’t late-night demonstrations. This is criminal activity. There’s a difference,” he told reporters on the steps of the federal courthouse in Portland.

“What you have failed and the media have failed to distinguish between—you seem unwilling to call people engaged in criminal conduct as criminals, as opposed to lawful protesting.”

Williams also said the current rioters were taking advantage of the corrupt partisan politics in Oregon and other blue states to muddy the waters of traditional First Amendment protections with what might otherwise be considered domestic terrorism.

“I’m just saying there needs to be a distinction made between lawful, constitutionally protected protest, and this,” he said.

“This is unlawful,” he added. “And people, whether you’re an opportunist, an antagonist, an agitator, or an anarchist, call it out for what it is.”

Williams then directed reporters to take a look around at the vandalism and destruction that now marks the courthouse, which is where the majority of protesters’ violent demonstrations have taken place. 

“Is there any justification for this? I hope not,” he said.

“I mean, Portland is losing its soul right now, and what’s coming out of City Hall, calling cops liars, that they’re the ones starting the fires and then blaming protesters,” he continued. “I mean, how ridiculous is that? That’s not leadership.”

Protesters who want to demonstrate “safely” and “work together for the changes they’re asking for in a democratic” way should have the right to do so, “but this isn’t accomplishing anything,” Williams said.

“So, what I will tell you is, this needs to stop,” he said. 

Kellyanne Conway’s 15-Yr-Old Daughter Asks AOC to ‘Adopt’ Her

Contributing Author
-
0
Kellyanne Conway’s 15-Yr-Old Daughter Asks AOC to ‘Adopt’ Her

Claudia Conway, the 15-year-old daughter of George and Kellyanne Conway, returned to Twitter after publicly feuding with her parents on the platform and jokingly asked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., to adopt her.

Earlier this month, Claudia made headlines by publicly insulting her mother, Kellyanne, who is one of President Trump’s key advisers.

She also rebuked her father, who is a vocal NeverTrump critic, for letting their “marriage fail.”

George Conway said in a statement that he and Kellyanne did not consent to any attempts by the media to reach out to Claudia.

But the 15-year-old minor then accused him of trying to “silence” her and “turn her phone off.”

Now, Claudia is back on Twitter, and she’s been urging her nearly 149,000 followers to vote Trump out of office.

She also tagged Ocasio–Cortez in a tweet and asked the Democratic socialist congresswoman to “adopt” her.

She also announced that Ocasio–Cortez had followed her back on Twitter, calling it “the peak” of her existence:

In various replies to different Twitter users, Claudia continued to blast her mother, Kellyanne:

She later admitted, though, that her Twitter meltdown would be short-lived: 

Conservatives Demand Answers Over Shooting Death of Black Trump Supporter

Editor 1
-
0
Conservatives Demand Answers Over Shooting Death of Black Trump Supporter

(Associated Press) The shooting death in broad daylight of a black man affectionately known in his Milwaukee neighborhood as “The Ras” appears to have mystified police while spurring prominent conservatives in Wisconsin to speculate that he was killed because of his support for President Donald Trump.

Bernell Trammell, 60, whose sometimes contradictory political views included supporting Black Lives Matter and many liberals, was killed outside his office in the eclectic and diverse Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee on July 23. With a graying beard and dreadlocks, he was an outspoken character known for his peaceful demeanor and religious proselytizing.

A Rastafarian, which inspired his nickname, Trammell for decades ran eXpressions Journal, a small publication that focused on political and spiritual news.

Police have released few details about the killing, including any motive. They have asked for the public’s help in identifying a possible suspect caught on surveillance video, a man who was spotted nearby on a bicycle with his face covered. A police spokeswoman did not immediately reply to messages Friday seeking an update on the case.

While police are saying little about the killing, prominent Republicans are calling for a federal investigation of the killing, which they say was politically motivated. The case has gained attention in conservative media outlets and allegations that the case is being downplayed by Democrats because Trammell supported Trump.

“Can you imagine what Democrats and media (often hard to distinguish between the two) would be saying if he was holding signs for Biden?!?” former Republican Gov. Scott Walker tweeted on Thursday, linking to a Fox News story about Trammell’s killing.

The picture showed Trammell standing in front of several homemade signs, including a couple calling for Trump’s reelection.

Walker isn’t the only Wisconsin Republican drawing attention to the case.

“Bernell Trammell was known to many in Milwaukee,” Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson tweeted. “My condolences to his family and friends. I hope they get answers and justice soon.”

The day after the killing, Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Andrew Hitt called for a federal investigation because of his “well known political activism and the possibility that his murder could be politically motivated.” Milwaukee religious leaders representing black and Hispanic congregations this week also called on U.S. Attorney Matthew Krueger to launch an investigation.

A spokesman for Krueger declined to comment.

Hitt this week has pivoted to attacking Democrats over the killing, calling on Wisconsin’s governor, attorney general, Milwaukee-based congresswoman and the city’s mayor — all Democrats — to get involved.

“With the general election 99 days away and a primary in two weeks, it is imperative that the community knows if Mr. Trammell’s murder was politically motivated,” Hitt said Monday.

Gerard Randall, chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party’s African American Council, said he didn’t know Trammell, but he would frequently see him holding a sign calling for the election of Trump on one side and for the election of state Sen. Lena Taylor, a Democratic black woman running for mayor, on the other.

“I have no doubt that were Mr. Trammell advocating support for Planned Parenthood, Joe Biden or the American Civil Liberties Union, there would be a thunderous clamor for justice from the political left,” Randall said in a statement, echoing accusations leveled by other Republicans who say the case isn’t getting the attention it deserves.

Taylor, a vocal critic of Trump, said she is concerned with Republicans suggesting Trammell was killed because of his political beliefs. She said Trammell was “loved and adored” in the neighborhood, even though he may have been the only Trump supporter.

“I appreciate that (Republicans) are concerned about any life being lost, but I think it’s beyond disrespectful to his life to make this about Democrat and Republican,” Taylor said. “There’s nothing to substantiate that’s what happened. We don’t know that. I find that sad.”

Unsealed Epstein Docs EXPOSE FBI Cover-Up of Powerful (Alleged) Pedos

Ben Sellers
-
0
Unsealed Epstein Docs EXPOSE FBI Cover-Up of Powerful (Alleged) Pedos

The accusations brought forth by documents unsealed last night in the Ghislaine Maxwell case not only finger former President Bill Clinton, but also suggest yet another instance in which the Obama-era FBI laid cover for powerful Democrats.

Following their release, Techno Fog, a well-established conservative watchdog site on Twitter, immediately began to unpackage the damning depositions from Maxwell’s primary accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

The documents revealed that the FBI was pursuing the case as early as 2008 and likely aware of Clinton’s direct ties to Epstein and Maxwell, as well as those of other powerful men, but allowed them to remain in the public eye.

More shockingly, the documents reveal that the FBI had failed to complete its interviews with witnesses when Epstein was offered a 2007 plea deal that gave him a minimal jail sentence.

Former Trump Administration Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who was the federal prosecutor overseeing Epstein’s Florida plea deal, resigned from his Cabinet position last year after Epstein’s arrest by New York authorities.

According to the left-wing Daily Beast, Acosta previously signaled that Epstein was involved in intelligence operations and pressured to “leave it alone.”

Following his arrest last year, the accused, Epstein, later died in prison of presumed suicide by hanging.

However, the case involving Maxwell, his longtime female accomplice, offers one last hope for the underage victims to receive justice.

Meanwhile, many of the alleged perpetrators not only have ducked consequences, but have been actively protected by those entrusted to enforce the laws.

Even after interviewing and maintaining regular contact by 2014 with Giuffre, whose testimony confirmed Clinton’s visits to Epstein’s so-called Pedophile Island, FBI agents suppressed the information as Clinton’s wife, Hillary, sought the highest office in the land.

Giuffre (who went by Virginia Roberts at the time) first reached out to the FBI about pursuing its own case to no avail.

She later sought evidence that the FBI had taken in the hopes of using it to pursue a civil case, but the agency completely stonewalled her, thus barring any hope (at the time) of receiving justice.

Agent Christina Pryor did not respond to the request made in April 2014, despite the fact that the FBI had its own copies of the damaging material in question, among which was a photo of Giuffre with Great Britain’s Prince Andrew.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, was embroiled in an equally notorious FBI cover-up of her own, “Operation Mid-Year Review,” which was led by corrupt agent Peter Strzok.

Appropriately, another convicted pedophile, Anthony Weiner, would prove to be her undoing after classified emails showed up on the former congressman’s personal laptop while he was married to Clinton personal assistant Huma Abedin.

That led the FBI to reopen its prematurely dismissed probe of Clinton’s emails only weeks before the election.

Weiner was convicted of contacting a 15-year-old girl using the pseudonym “Carlos Danger” and sending her sexually explicit images that were later leaked.

While Abedin left him in 2016, her former boss, Hillary Clinton, has famously stood by her man, despite rampant allegations of sexual abuse, which led to his 1998 impeachment while president.

Democrats have long deflected from the accusations in the Epstein case that predominately involve left-wing officials, by pointing to President Donald Trump’s association with Epstein.

Giuffre’s unsealed testimony, however, appeared to clear him of criminal conduct while not absolving him entirely.

She alleged that Trump knew of Epstein’s operation and would flirt with the girls but never had sex with them.

Fauci Confirms Trump’s COVID Measures Saved Lives

Editor 1
-
0
Fauci Confirms Trump’s COVID Measures Saved Lives

(Headline USA) Once a coronavirus vaccine is approved as safe and effective, Americans should have widespread access within a reasonable time, Dr. Anthony Fauci assured lawmakers Friday.

Appearing before a House panel investigating the nation’s response to the pandemic, Fauci said he endorsed President Donald Trump’s decisions that helped save lives during the initial phases of the coronavirus outbreak. Under questioning from special committee Ranking Member Steve Scalise, the Louisiana Congressman who also serves as Republican Whip, Fauci said Trump’s early decision to ban flights from China and later Europe were measures he supported and agreed with — and even helped in making the decisions.

“By and large, would you say that you and President Trump have been in agreement on most of those decisions?” Scalise asked.

“We’re in agreement on virtually all of those,” the doctor replied.

Fauci also expressed “cautious” optimism that a vaccine would be available, particularly by next year.

“I believe, ultimately, over a period of time in 2021, that Americans will be able to get it,” Fauci said, referring to the vaccine.

There will be a priority list for who gets early vaccinations.

“I don’t think we will have everybody getting it immediately,” Fauci explained.

But “ultimately, within a reasonable time, the plans allow for any American who needs the vaccine to get it,” he added.

Under direction from the White House, federal health authorities are carrying out a plan dubbed Operation Warp Speed to manufacture 300 million doses of a vaccine on a compressed timeline.

Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, said a quarter-million people have expressed interest in taking part in studies of experimental vaccines for the coronavirus.

He said that 250,000 people have registered on a government website to take part in vaccine trials, which are pivotal for establishing safety and effectiveness. Not all patients who volunteer to take part in clinical trials are eligible to participate.

Fauci was joined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention head Dr. Robert Redfield and Health and Human Services testing czar Adm. Brett Giroir.

At a time when early progress seems to have been lost and uncertainty clouds the nation’s path forward, Fauci is calling on lawmakers — and all other Americans — to go back to public health basics such as social distancing and wearing masks.

The panel, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, is divided about how to reopen schools and businesses, mirroring divisions among Americans. Committee Chairman Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said the White House must come up with a comprehensive national plan to contain the virus. Scalise said the Trump administration has plans already on vaccines, testing, nursing homes and other coronavirus-related issues.

A rebound of cases across the South and the West has dashed hopes for a quick return to normal life. Problems with the availability and timeliness of testing continue to be reported. And the race for a vaccine, though progressing rapidly, has yet to deliver a breakthrough.

Nearly 4.5 million Americans have been been infected since the start of the pandemic, and more than 150,000 have died, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Fauci said there’s evidence the surge across the South may be peaking, but upticks in the Midwest are now a concern.

“They’ve really got to jump all over that because if they don’t then you might see the surge we saw in some of the Southern states,” he told the AP.

BLACK VOTERS TOO: Trump Not the Only One Suspicious of Mass Mail-In Voting

Editor 1
-
0
BLACK VOTERS TOO: Trump Not the Only One Suspicious of Mass Mail-In Voting

(Headline USA) Despite fears that the coronavirus pandemic will worsen, Victor Gibson said he’s not planning to take advantage of Michigan’s expanded vote-by-mail system when he casts his ballot in November.

The retired teacher from Detroit just isn’t sure he can trust it. Many black Americans share similar concerns and are planning to vote in person on Election Day, even as mail-in voting expands to more states as a safety precaution during the pandemic.

For many, worries that a mailed ballot won’t get counted outweigh the prospect of long lines and health dangers from the virus. Ironically, suspicion of mail-in voting aligns with the views of President Donald Trump, whom some black voters want out of office.

Trump took it a step further Tuesday, suggesting a “delay” to the Nov. 3 presidential election, which would take an act of Congress.

“I would never change my mind” about voting in person in November, said Gibson, who is black and hopes Trump loses. “I always feel better sliding my ballot in. We’ve heard so many controversies about missing absentee ballots.”

Widespread problems with mail-in ballots during this year’s primary elections have added to the skepticism.

Patricia Harris of McDonough, Georgia, south of Atlanta, voted in person in the primary and said she will do the same in November.

“I simply do not trust mail-in or absentee ballots,” said Harris, 73, a retired event coordinator at Albany State University. “After the primary and the results were in, there were thousands of absentee ballots not counted.”

In Georgia, roughly 12,500 mail-in ballots were rejected in the state’s June primary, while California tossed more than 100,000 absentee ballots during its March primary.

Reasons vary, from ballots being received after the deadline to voters’ signatures not matching the one on file with the county clerk.

In Wisconsin’s April primary, thousands of voters in Milwaukee said they didn’t receive absentee ballots in time and had to vote in person. Lines stretched several blocks, and people waited two hours or more.

In Kentucky’s June primary, more than 8,000 absentee ballots were rejected in Jefferson County, which includes Louisville.

Many people in Louisville’s historically black West End neighborhood voted in person because they didn’t receive an absentee ballot or simply wanted to vote in a way that was familiar to them, said Arii Lynton-Smith, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Louisville.

“That’s particularly why we knew we had to have the poll rides as an option,” she said, referring to groups offering voters free transportation to polling places. “It’s not as easy to do an absentee ballot and the things that come along with it than it is to just go in person.”

The Rev. Earle Fisher, senior pastor at Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis and a prominent Black civil rights activist, is one of the plaintiffs in a state lawsuit calling for mail-voting access for everyone. He said he’s not pushing his community to vote by mail but wants to ensure it’s an option given the health dangers.

To ease doubts, he wants voters to be able to drop off their ballot at a polling place so they won’t have to worry about the post office delivering it on time.

“I would like to see every righteous and creative method and measure taken, but we are up against a voter suppression apparatus that oftentimes is orchestrated by, or at least sustained by, people who are elected or appointed to office,” Fisher said.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

1...3,6203,6213,622...3,819Page 3,621 of 3,819