Political News

AAN Political Intel Report: Mississippi,

 Illinois, Virginia

• Mar 31, 2015
 
• Source: American Action News
 
• by: Jim Ellis

MS-1

Candidate filing closed last Friday for the MS-1 

 special election, which Rep. Alan Nunnelee’s (R) 

death made necessary.  Twelve Republicans and 

one Democrat will be on the May 12th jungle primary

 ballot.  With so many candidates qualifying, a June 

2nd run-off between the top two finishers is a virtual 

certainty, since it would be very difficult for any 

one contender to attract a majority of the vote.

One prominent name missing from the list is former Rep. Travis Childers (D), who won the last 

special election held here, and then claimed a full term later in 2008.  He was unseated in 2010,

 and then lost to Sen. Thad Cochran (R) last November in a statewide general election contest.  

Though it is always possible lightning could have again struck for him in a special election, the

 chance of Mr. Childers holding this strongly Republican northern Mississippi district for a long 

duration is an unlikely one, at best.  Hence, his decision not to run.

The lone Democrat running is former Jackson mayoral aide Walter Zinn.  His prospects of

 qualifying for the run-off are somewhat realistic because the Republican vote will be split literally

 a dozen ways.  His prospects are thin, however, to capture the seat in the run-off.  Aside from 

being a prohibitive underdog against a Republican in a one-on-one battle, Zinn’s Jackson

 political base is not even in the 1st District.

The state transportation commissioner, two local prosecutors, a state legislator, an ex-Mayor, 

and a former Jackson City Councilman – having the same geographical problem as Zinn – 

comprise the major part of the Republican field.

Illinois Senate

As predicted last week, Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL-8) did officially announce her 

Senatorial candidacy yesterday, but she may not have a clean primary.  Three other 

US House delegation members earlier expressed interest in running statewide, and

 two of them are still not ruling out entering the Democratic primary.  The winner faces 

first-term Sen. Mark Kirk (R), who may well be the most vulnerable Republican standing

 for re-election in 2016.

Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17) has virtually taken herself out of consideration, saying she 

entering the Senatorial contest is “highly unlikely.”  Rep. Bustos came one step short of

 endorsing Ms. Duckworth.

Reps. Robin Kelly (D-IL-2) and Bill Foster (D-IL-11), however, did not commit to stepping

 aside, with both leaving the door very much open for their potential candidacies.

In the end, it will probably be Rep. Duckworth standing alone in her quest for the nomination,

 but it will be several interesting weeks before these two federal officeholders, and maybe

 others, finally agree to step aside.

Virginia Redistricting

The Commonwealth of Virginia is one of three states that were waiting for the Supreme 

Court to rule on the Alabama state legislative case, a decision made public last week.  

It became clear even before making the final ruling that the high court was using the 

Alabama case as a benchmark for issuing a directive about minority congressional districts.  

The three states, Florida and Texas in addition to Virginia, had previously declared certain 

congressional districts as unconstitutional.  The Supreme Court took action in relation to 

the Virginia case yesterday and we may see redrawing action coming much sooner, 

rather than later.

Instead of hearing the Virginia case, since they returned the Alabama case back to that

 state last week, the high court sent back the Virginia map to the jurisdictional three-judge

 panel and told them to reconsider their previous ruling based upon the new Alabama

 decision.  SCOTUS’ latest action appears to further weaken the Voting Rights Act, 

which means minority retrogression could practically become less important if minority 

voters have a stronger say in a greater number of districts.

If the special judicial panel responds, and sends the map to the legislature for a redraw

 or manipulates the lines themselves, several districts in addition to Rep. Bobby Scott’s 

(D-VA-3) CD will be affected.  Mr. Scott’s district, declared unconstitutional last year, 

stretches from Richmond into the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area.  It is this latter region

 where we will see the most significant boundary changes.  The members most likely

 affected, in addition to Rep. Scott, are Reps. Scott Rigell (R-VA-2) and Randy Forbes

 (R-VA-4). Source: American Action News

- See more at: http://americanactionnews.com/articles/aan-political-intel-report-
mississippi-illinois-virginia#sthash.ywexfbGg.dpuf

This Is The Way The Democrats Will Win This Election. If They Can't Win It Legally, They Will Do It Illegally Knowing The Republicans Don't Have The Guts To Challenge Them!

Video: Votes for Republicans Switched to Democrats in Illinois

10:01 AM, OCT 29, 2014 • BY MICHAEL WARREN

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Two Illinois voters say their attempts to vote early for Republicans on an electronic voting machine were registered as votes for Democrats—and they say have the video evidence to prove it. 

The voters are 18- and 19-year-old Moline residents who asked to remain anonymous. They say they went to their polling station on Monday, October 28, at the Moline Public Library. Both say they were aware of recent news stories that other early voters in their area had experienced difficulties voting onelectronic machines. The complaints have been widespread.

The Republican House candidate for the area, Bobby Schilling, claims 20 supporters have called his campaign to say that their attempts to vote for him were switched to his opponent, Democraticcongresswoman Cheri Bustos. 

"Two nights ago, I took a call from a supporter of mine who said that his mother-in-law had gone to the library to vote and that every time that she went to push my name that it automatically bounced up to my opponents name," Schilling told KWQC, the local NBC affiliate, on October 24. "I thought, well, maybe she mixed up, she's an older gal, but come to find out in the last two days I've taken 17 calls of people saying the exact same thing."

The two Moline voters say they didn’t expect to experience problems. They figured the problem was older people were having difficult with the machines' touchscreens. But both said their attempts to vote for Republicans on several races were switched to select the Democrat. One of the voters said he tried to vote for the Republican candidate in the races for U.S. House and the state senate, and that both his votes were registered as those for the Democratic candidate. The second voter said he had the same problem for those races as well as those for the state house and the Rock Island County clerk race.

“I pressed the top of the box for [Republican state senate candidate] Neil Anderson, and it clicked for [Democratic state senator] Mike Jacobs,” he said. The machines, both voters said, require the use of fingers, and no stylus or other device is provided. 

The voters say they decided to use their cell phones to film their votes after having trouble. They said they wanted to show how easily the machines registered the wrong vote. Watch that video below:

Eventually, both voters were able to vote for the Republican candidates, as they say they preferred. They said the screen appeared to be poorly calibrated, so that while pressing anywhere in the box for a Democrat registered a vote for the Democrat, only pressing the bottom half of the Republican box did so for the Republican. The only way to make the correct vote, they said, was to press the incorrectly checked box to “uncheck” it, then press low in the Republican’s box. The voters say they were able to figure this out without calling over an election judge for help.

In an article in the Quad City Times published Monday morning, the Democratic clerk for Rock Island County pushed back against the criticisms of her office’s handling of early voting.

Kinney's office has been the target of a Republican Party attack that not only is she opening ballots early and counting them but that her voting machines are calibrated in such a way that switches votes from Republican to Democrat.

Rock Island County Circuit Judge Lori Lefstein denied the GOP's emergency injunction on the counting of absentee ballots. 

"There is nothing wrong in this office," Kinney, a Democrat, said afterward.

One of the voters who spoke with me says his attempt to vote for Kinney's Republican opponent was registered as a vote for Kinney. He eventually voted for the Republican.

Jon Schweppe, a spokesman for the Schilling campaign, says he called an official on the Illinois state board of elections on Friday afternoon about the voters’ complaints.