Today’s notice: Election conspiracies might be inevitable, no matter how hard election officials try to stop it. Plus, we found a new reason to fear your phone, and Tim Walz is ditching his Mr. Nice Guy routine. Stay safe out there.
The Fight to Stomp Out Election Denialism Before It Starts
Donald Trump was NOT happy as he waited for Wisconsin’s election results in the wee hours of Nov. 4, 2020.
“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election,” he tweeted at 1 a.m., fanning what would become a roaring flame of election denialism.
Four hours after Trump’s rant, Wisconsin broke for Joe Biden, spurring a spate of baseless conspiracy theories, lawsuits and personal attacks that alleged a last-minute attempt to tip the scales for Democrats. Four years later, Wisconsin election officials told NOTUS they are desperate to avoid a repeat but haven’t reformed the state’s election laws to prevent that from happening.
Of the swing states, only Wisconsin and Pennsylvania can’t start counting absentee ballots until Election Day, just like in 2020. While Wisconsin officials told NOTUS they’re beefing up security cameras and observer access at polling stations, voting rights advocates and political leaders said they are bracing for the worst after other efforts to mitigate misinformation fizzled.
It’s a similar story in Pennsylvania. To complicate matters this time, some House Republicans in the state have filed a lawsuit challenging overseas voting. And Secretary of State Al Schmidt is going after one county that told college students they can’t register to vote unless they show proof they’re not already registered in their home states.
In Arizona, Stephen Richer — the Maricopa County recorder known for his blitz against election misinformation — has devoted his tenure to voter transparency. He amped up ballot-tracking features and around-the-clock video cameras. He did extensive tele-town halls and media interviews while pouring millions into a public information campaign. His office completed 300 in-person tours of election facilities.
Still, his spokesperson, Taylor Kinnerup, told NOTUS on Tuesday, “We’re kind of seeing the results of what happens when people have been told over the last four years that things are questionable.”
“We are noticing voters just being a little more skittish, a little more nervous, if they’re not getting their ballot exactly when they think they’re supposed to, they think there’s a problem.”
Some advocates worry that no matter how officials try to stomp out denialism, it will be back with a vengeance.
“You’re constantly triaging how to limit conspiracy theories,” Claire Woodall, former executive director of Milwaukee’s election commission, told NOTUS. “But it’s like the conspiracy theories are going to come no matter what.”
—Riley Rogerson, Katherine Swartz
NOTUS Investigation: A Personal Phone Tracked to an Abortion Clinic
Companies that sell mobile phone location data commercially advertise it as anonymous. But in reality, it’s actually pretty easy to track down an individual person from the data — down to their movements from a residential address to an abortion clinic across state lines. That’s according to a new investigation by NOTUS’ Byron Tau, who reported with a consortium of journalists from 404 Media, Haaretz, The New York Times and Brian Krebs, an independent infosec reporter. NOTUS was given access to nearly two hours of footage of a privacy company using a mobile phone-tracking tool sold by Babel Street.
The implications of this investigation are extremely ominous for the millions of Americans walking around with their phone in their pocket at all times. “Whether location data is being used to identify and expose closeted gay Americans or to track people as they cross state lines to seek reproductive health care, data brokers are selling Americans’ deepest secrets and exposing them to serious harm, all for a few bucks,” Sen. Ron Wyden said.
Law enforcement could also use mobile phone-tracking tools to skirt privacy protections for mobile users. “Police need a court order to access movement data from cell phone carriers like Verizon and AT&T,” Byron reports. “But because companies like Babel Street buy the data from brokers and aggregators, there are fewer legal restrictions on tracking phones through its tool.”
After printing out a hard copy of this story to read, this might inspire you to start learning how to follow a road map again.
Front Page
- Congress Tried to Address Forced Labor. They Have No Idea How Well It’s Working: “The epitome of failure of government,” said one member.
- Wisconsin Democrats Brace for Another Onslaught of ‘Stolen Election’ Accusations: State lawmakers failed to pass key changes election officials say could have helped.
- Barack Obama Warns a President Trump Would Be ‘Older, Loonier’ Than Last Time: “You’d be worried if grandpa was acting like this,” the former president said of the other former president while campaigning in Wisconsin.
Progressive Takes Aim at Wall Street on Housing
Rep. Ro Khanna believes housing is the issue “front and center on voters’ minds.” His new bill would target large-scale investors to keep them from scooping up single-family homes.
Khanna told NOTUS the bill would bring relief to hot real estate markets like Phoenix and Las Vegas, two places that also happen to be central to Harris’ pathway to victory. Khanna’s bill dovetails right into Harris’ housing agenda that directly calls out the “Wall Street investors and corporate landlords who have bought thousands of single-family homes.”
Walz and Co.’s Tough Talk
“I would’ve voted for Obama a third time.”
That’s Bradley Whitford, opening the Walz-Obama rally in Wisconsin, and definitely in on the joke. The former “West Wing” star was looking for laughs as the campaign event’s first act, taking particular aim at Trump’s commentary on “Arnold Palmer’s junk.”
Tim Walz also didn’t mince words. After playing up his Midwest nice-guy schtick at the debate, he’s recently been shifting back to this summer’s tougher tone. For example, he took aim at union leadership on the “Smartless” podcast Sunday, saying their endorsements are “more political than what I’m doing right now. They have to cover their butt on their things.”
At the Tuesday rally he railed into perhaps Trump’s biggest BFF saying, “I’m gonna talk about his running mate — his running mate Elon Musk. … Elon’s on that stage jumping around, skipping like a dipshit.” Ouch.
Number You Should Know
50%
A Gallup poll released Tuesday revealed that both Trump and Harris’ favorability ratings are among the lowest since 1956. Trump clocks in at 50%. While poor compared to most presidential candidates since Eisenhower, that’s a better showing for the former president than both his 2016 and 2020 bids. That’s not a great sign for Harris, nor is her 48% rating.
Another recent survey from Gallup showed 52% of Americans say they feel worse off today than they did four years ago. Meanwhile, just 39% say they are better off now.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by … not us.
- How Elderly Dementia Patients Are Unwittingly Fueling Political Campaigns by CNN’s Blake Ellis, Melanie Hicken, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Audrey Ash, Kyung Lah, Anna-Maja Rappard, Casey Tolan, Lou Robinson and Byron Manley
- The Nevada Independent’s running Early Voting Blog from Jon Ralston
- One Issue Will Decide Arizona’s Future. Nobody’s Campaigning On It, by Jake Bittle at Grist
Be Social
It’s 80° in D.C. and Brat summer isn’t over, apparently.
Yes, those are Brat themed “we’re not going back” bracelets—made by the NC Dem Party pic.twitter.com/0Toh1uUITj
— Sam Brodey (@sambrodey) October 22, 2024
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