Raw Story

Arkansas recorded more voter registration submissions during the days immediately after the top of the Democratic ticket shifted from President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris than any other comparable time period this year, state data shows.

More than 4,800 Arkansans submitted voter registration forms to the secretary of state’s office following Biden’s announcement to not seek reelection and Harris’ campaign launch on July 21, according to an analysis of data as of Aug. 1.

Energy spikes in wake of Harris’ presidential endorsement, Arkansas Democrats say

“It’s always great to see people get excited about an election and people take more interest in democracy for whatever reason,” said Kristin Foster, deputy director of the voter advocacy group Get Loud Arkansas. “…When something big like this happens, it’s good to see people get energized rather than feel apathetic or see a negative response in it.”

The period from July 21 to Aug. 1 saw a 42% increase in voter registration submissions compared to the average number of forms submitted during similar time periods this year.

The secretary of state also logged more voter registration forms in July than any other month this year. With 12,474 total, July submissions were 17% higher than the next closest month of February. More than one third of the submissions in July were completed in the days after Biden’s announcement.

“Being an election year, there are, no doubt, voter registration drives happening all over the state at any given time,” said Chris Powell, spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office. “We would not be able to speculate as to the reason for a particular uptick during the time frame [of July 21 to Aug. 1]. However, we always encourage eligible Arkansans to register and participate in the voting process.”

Powell was unable to say if voter registration submissions historically increase after a candidate announcement.

The secretary of state’s office tracks Arkansas’ voter data by county and date of registration. While residents have the option to select a political party, most choose not to specify. The data does not include demographic details of the registrants except for their date of birth, which was used in the Advocate’s analysis.

Of the 4,857 voter registration forms submitted from July 21 to Aug. 1, approximately 2,000 were young voters, or people who will not yet be 30 years old when they cast their ballot on Election Day.

About 400 more young voters, an increase of about 29%, registered during the days immediately following Biden’s announcement compared to the average number of young people who filed during similar periods this year, data showed.

“We want to make sure that that excitement and hope and motivation to be involved in the process is a positive experience for them,” Foster said of young voters. “Unfortunately, if you look at participation rates … they’re pretty likely to turn out the first time, but if they have a negative experience, or if they feel like their vote isn’t reflective, isn’t making a difference, it’s very likely to see them not continue to vote in the next election.”

Paper process

Arkansas’ data aligns with a national trend of increased voter registrations following the presidential shake up, but it’s likely the full effect of Harris’ campaign in the state won’t be evident until later, Foster said.

Vote.org, a national nonprofit with the mission to increase voter turnout, reported at least 38,500 people across the country registered to vote in the 48-hours after Harris launched her presidential campaign. Approximately 83% of the registrations were young voters, according to a Vote.org press release on July 24.

That data does not include paper submissions, which is the only permitted filing method in Arkansas with the exception of electronic forms completed at specific state agencies, such as the DMV.

While residents in other states can use their computers or cellphones to register, Arkansans must travel to fill out forms or print out and mail their registration to county clerk offices.

“I think that if we had access to online voter registration like most other states do, we probably would have seen an even bigger increase because people could have taken immediate action,” Foster said.

Arkansas is also one of eight states that does not allow online voter registration. The state also ranks last in the nation for voter participation, according to a study from the National Conference on Citizenship.

Electronic signatures on voter registration forms are prohibited unless completed at specific state agencies. A lawsuit challenging this rule, filed by Get Loud Arkansas, has a hearing set for later this month.

The State Board of Election Commissioners approved a permanent rule requiring “wet signatures” on voter forms in July. Arkansas lawmakers will consider the rule for final implementation Thursday.

Arkansas election board approves voter registration rule

When asked if an online registration platform could lead to more registered voters, Chris Madison, director of the election commission, said his answer would be speculative because people would choose different avenues to complete the form.

“You have people that are willing to do it online, that are willing to do it by paper,” Madison said. “If you want to register to vote, it’s easy. If there’s ways to do it, people will get it done.”

Arkansas currently has more than 1.7 million registered voters, though the secretary of state’s office did not discern how many registrants are active and inactive. The highest count of registered voters is recorded in Pulaski County, the state’s most populous county.

Registered voters account for about 58% of Pulaski County’s population.

The state’s least populated county, Calhoun County in southeast Arkansas, has the lowest number of registered voters at 2,896, which makes up about 62% of its residents.

An additional benefit to the recent spike in registered voters is the likelihood that more people will get involved in local elections at the polls and afterward, Foster said.

“Civic engagement isn’t just the one day you go vote,” she said. “It’s being involved after that to make sure that your elected officials are accountable to their voters.”

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com. Follow Arkansas Advocate on Facebook and X.

During an appearance on MSNBC on Wednesday morning, NBC national political analyst John Heilemann singled out former First Lady Michelle Obama's star return at the Democratic National Convention and explained to the hosts of "Morning Joe" why her reappearance on the national scene is yet another blow to Donald Trump.

With the former president's re-election bid reeling from the ascension of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party's 2024 presidential nominee, Heilemann stated that Michelle Obama's nationally televised DNC speech was yet another set-back for Team Trump.

"I think Michelle Obama — as a piece of political communication, I can't think that I've seen anyone do it better than I saw her do it last night," he began. "And she's in the upper echelon of any convention speech ever been given. I think it's important that this the notion of the reluctant warrior, her credibility, people say she is one of the most popular political figures in the Democratic Party or political figures in the country."

ALSO READ: ‘Stop the Steal’ organizer hired by Trump campaign for Election 2024 endgame

"Her power comes from she is not a political figure; she is beyond politics," he elaborated. "Her credibility comes from the fact that people rightly, correctly believe that she takes the stage reluctantly because she doesn't see politics as a game, as something she wants to take partake in. She only comes out that she thinks the stakes are so high."

"And the fact that she speaks, Michelle Robinson from working-class Chicago speaks in a vernacular that is different than her husband's and different from anybody else," he continued. "The directness of her message to a lot of people in the Democratic coalition which was there is no time for fooling around here, none of this Goldilocks stuff where we have to have the perfect candidate. Don't get precious about whether anybody has asked you enough times to go out and do what you have to do here. I'm telling you that the stakes are really high. I need, you need, to work now. stop screwing around."

"Her directness, very powerful, I thought," he concluded.

Watch below or click here.

- YouTube youtu.be

“I love my country more than my party,” said Stephanie Grisham, a former Tucson resident who was one of Donald Trump’s “closest advisors” in the White House, as she endorsed Kamala Harris for president at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night.

Grisham, speaking on stage at the DNC in Chicago, said “Kamala Harris tells the truth, respects the American people, and she has my vote.”

Earlier this month, Grisham — who served as a spokeswoman for Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign and through nearly all of his White House tenure — joined a group of “Republicans for Harris,” supporting the Democratic candidate for president.

Tuesday, she described herself as having been a “true believer” and “one of his closest advisors,” spending time with the Trump family on holidays.

“Behind closed doors, Trump mocks his supporters,” she said. “He calls them basement-dwellers.”

“He has no empathy, no morals, no fidelity to the truth,” said the former advisors to the Republican president. “Say it enough and they’ll believe you,” Grisham said Trump said.

Grisham noted that she was criticized during her time as a White House spokeswoman for never holding a press briefing.

“Unlike my boss, I never wanted to stand at that podium and lie,” she said.

“I might not agree with Vice President Kamala Harris on everything, but I know that she will fight for our freedom, protect our democracy and represent America with honor and dignity on the world stage,” Grisham said in a statement released by the group earlier this month.

Grisham, who got her political start in Arizona, worked on Trump’s first presidential campaign, beginning in May 2016, and began working in his administration after he won the 2016 election, serving both the president and first lady, and eventually rising to the position of press secretary and communications director.

Grisham resigned from her post, at the time chief of staff for Melania Trump, effective immediately in the aftermath of the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, in which Trump supporters broke windows and smashed doors in an attempt to halt the tally of electoral votes for Joe Biden.

Now, the person who once served as Trump’s top White House spokeswoman is endorsing Harris, his Democratic opponent.

The group of Republicans, announced earlier in August by the Harris for President campaign, includes Grisham, former Cabinet secretaries Chuck Hagel and Ray LaHood, ex-governors Christine Todd Whitman, Bill Weld and Jim Edgar, numerous former members of Congress such as Adam Kinzinger, Susan Molinari and Denver Riggleman, and Mesa Mayor John Giles.

Giles also spoke at the DNC on Tuesday night. Kinzinger is also scheduled to speak at the convention.

“There is nothing ‘conservative’ about Donald Trump. Conservatives believe in the Constitution, not a ‘man’s’ ego,” Kinzinger tweeted. “Endorsing American democracy and the future today, and leaving the past in the dust. I’m endorsing @KamalaHarris.”

Grisham served in numerous roles for Trump. She worked in the White House from the beginning of Trump’s term, and was named his press secretary and communications director in May 2019, replacing Sarah Huckabee Sanders. During her year-long tenure in that post, she never held a single on-camera briefing for reporters.

Grisham, a former flack for Republicans in Arizona who worked on Trump’s presidential campaign and then controversially was paid by taxpayers here while working on Trump’s transition team, had been appointed as the first lady’s top spokeswoman in March 2017.

Disagreements with Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, caused her to leave the West Wing in spring 2020 and return to the East Wing to work for the first lady’s office again.

In 2018, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel — an investigative agency unrelated to the work of Special Counsel Robert Mueller — determined that Grisham violated the federal Hatch Act prohibition on government employees campaigning while using taxpayer resources. Grisham tweeted the Trump political slogan “#MAGA” (“Make America Great Again”) using her official account, and a warning letter was issued.

Grisham worked as the spokeswoman for the Republicans in the Arizona Legislature after a stint of several years as the public information officer for state Attorney General Tom Horne.

Grishman was named “Best PR Person” at the state Capitol by the Arizona Capitol Times in 2015, when she demonstrated a sense of humor about her work with a video spoof.

The next year, she didn’t endear herself to reporters when she enforced then-House Speaker David Gowan’s attempt to block journalists from the floor of the Legislature if they didn’t submit to background checks. Gowan was targeting Hank Stephenson of the Cap Times, who investigated Gowan’s improper use of state vehicles as he campaigned for Congress. Gowan had to repay taxpayers $12,000 after Stephenson’s report.

Gowan’s move, billed as a “security measure,” was met with condemnation and mockery by the press, and he backed down several days later.

Grisham was involved in political scandals while working for Horne, who was accused of improperly coordinating with the head of the group Business Leaders of Arizona during his 2010 campaign. Those allegations were mooted when the Arizona Supreme Court found that his due process rights were violated by Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk during the investigation.

During Horne’s 2014 re-election campaign, Grisham worked in his government office and as a campaign staffer — including doing political work while on the clock for taxpayers. Horne was fined $10,000 by the Clean Elections Commission over the violations in his losing bid, but another state probe into the issue was dropped after three years of investigation.

Prior to her series of government jobs, she was a spokeswoman for AAA Arizona, beginning in 2007, and also worked for the Arizona Charter Schools Association.

Grisham was divorced from former husband Dan Marries, the KOLD Channel 13 anchor, in 2004. She then married Todd Grisham, a KOLD sportscaster who later became an announcer for Fox Sports and ESPN. They divorced in 2006.

She began working for the Trump campaign in May 2016, after the Legislature adjourned.

After Trump’s election, Grisham first worked with the incoming president’s transition team, and then as a deputy press secretary. She was named a “special assistant to the president” and communications director for the first lady on March 27, 2017.

After the 2020 election, Grisham reportedly texted a lobbyist that the rumors of election fraud were false.

Grisham handed in her resignation on the evening of the Jan. 6 insurrection, CNN reported, following a day of clashes in which a woman was fatally shot inside the Capitol building and Trumpist rioters invaded the chambers of the House and Senate, forcing members of both bodies, along with Vice President Mike Pence, to take shelter in safe rooms.

The hours-long riot, which Pence called “unprecedented violence and vandalism” and and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called a “failed insurrection,” interrupted the counting of electoral votes to formally complete the election of Biden, who will be sworn in as president on January 20. Lawmakers convened later in the night to again take up the process of acknowledging Biden’s election victory.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

Former President Donald Trump has aroused the ire of some Swifties in a key swing state.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that some local fans of Taylor Swift are not happy about Trump posting a fake AI-generated endorsement suggesting that the pop music icon has endorsed his 2024 campaign.

Swift has not yet made an endorsement in the 2024 race, although she backed President Joe Biden in the 2020 election and it's widely expected that she will encourage her followers to back Vice President Kamala Harris at some point in the next few weeks.

Given this, 23-year-old Swift fan Marissa Slattery told the Inquirer that she was dismayed by Trump's audacity.

“It’s kind of just more like infuriating than anything else, because people that are fans of her know that it’s not true, but people that don’t know much about her and see him posting that would just take it at face value,” she said.

ALSO READ: 'I told the truth': Ex-Trump aide Grisham defends from MAGA attacks after revealing text

22-year-old Swift fan Caroline Macaluso, meanwhile, believed that Trump was playing with fire by falsely claiming Swift's endorsement.

"Does he think that nothing’s gonna happen?” she asked. “I mean, Taylor has very, very publicly endorsed registering to vote and always making sure that you’re ready to vote, and during the 2020 election was publicly endorsing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris."

She also added that “Swifties are a force to be reckoned with" and could tip the election against Trump this fall.

Swift in 2020 strongly denounced Trump's reaction to the protests against the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and accused him of being a racial arsonist.

"After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence?" she wrote on Twitter. "‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November."

The second night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago featured not only well-known Democrats like former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama and Doug Emhoff (presidential nominee Kamala Harris' husband), but also, some conservative Republicans who are backing Harris — including Stephanie Grisham (who served as press secretary for the Trump White House as well as former First Lady Melania Trump), Ana Navarro (a GOP strategist known for her scathing Never Trump commentary on CNN and "The View") and Mesa, Arizona Mayor John C. Giles.

During her speech, Grisham laid out some reasons why, despite being a long-time Republican, she turned against GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and is now supporting Harris.

Journalist Bess Levin, in a Vanity Fair column, takes a look at Republicans who supported former President Trump in the past but are "all in" for Harris this year.

READ MORE: Meet the prominent Republicans who are backing Harris at DNC

The "programming" that "probably got the most under" Donald Trump's "extremely thin skin" at the 2024 DNC, Levin argues, was a "video featuring a collection of former supporters who called him out on his lies, untrustworthiness, and lack of morals — and told the world they would not be voting for him in November."

The ex-Trump supporters in that video said things like "We've seen what Donald Trump really is, and it disgusts me to my core" and "I hate the way he disrespects women."

Levin notes that in another video aired at the 2024 DNC, Florida voter Rich Logis explained why he went from being a "full-fledged member of MAGA" and a "MAGA pundit" in the past to being "all in for Kamala Harris" this year.

The Vanity Fair columnist also highlights Grisham's anti-Trump comments.

READ MORE: 'Mind blowing': Experts stunned by Harris' half a billion cash haul in 'just under a month'

Grisham told NBC News, "I never thought I’d be speaking at a Democratic convention. But after seeing firsthand who Donald Trump really is, and the threat he poses to our country, I feel very strongly about speaking out.

READ MORE: 'I’m not going to quit': Swing state GOP official who endorsed Harris now faces expulsion

Bess Levin's full Vanity Fair column is available at this link.

A Baton Rouge judge who’s been removed from conducting trials while under investigation for alleged misconduct has accepted a hefty pay stipend just before her suspension.

The same bonus was made available to all Louisiana judges, thanks to the largesse of legislators who’ve routinely boosted the judiciary’s pay. This one’s been under scrutiny because judges can receive it before doing barely a month’s worth of work in the fiscal year that started July 1.

The Louisiana Supreme Court disqualified 19th Judicial District Court Judge Eboni Johnson Rose on an interim basis. In a 5-2 vote on Aug. 6, justices took action based upon the recommendation of the Louisiana Judiciary Commission, which is made up of Supreme Court justices and has received multiple complaints about Rose.

An official with the state Supreme Court confirmed that Rose received a stipend of $14,691 on July 31. The Louisiana Legislature approved a one-time payment for all city, parish, district court and appellate judges as well as Supreme Court justices.

Rose has not responded to messages left at her court office and with her campaign. An extended investigation could cast a pall over her run for a seat of the state’s First Circuit Court of Appeal. Rose, a Democrat, is facing Kelly Balfour, a Republican, in the Nov. 5 election.

A potential permanent ouster of Rose could break up a family triad on the 19th Judicial District Court. Her father is Judge Don Johnson, and her uncle is Chief Judge Ron Johnson. .

According to WAFB-TV, higher courts have overturned Rose’s rulings because of mistakes made during trial and sentencing. They include allowing a jury to continue deliberating and change its mind after its members found a defendant not guilty. After Rose issued a conviction , another judge declared a mistrial.

In another trial, Rose convicted a Baton Rouge police officer of “misdemeanor” malfeasance, although the crime is designated a felony in state law.

Rose has also been engaged in a war of words with East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore.

WAFB obtained documents in which Rose, who is Black, implied that Moore’s office targeted Black people and wanted to “stick every n—er in jail.”

Associate Justices William Crain and Jay McCallum wrote concurring opinions in which they said Rose should be removed from trials without pay. But because state law doesn’t allow that option, she will continue to receive her salary while the investigation takes place.

Rose will have to pay the court for the cost of her investigation, which the order said “shall be resolved by the Commission within six months, unless good cause is shown.”

The stipend Rose accepted came out of a protracted fight among state lawmakers who had first been asked to consider a permanent pay raise for judges. That proposal fell flat politically because a salary increase for public school teachers had already been snubbed.

Instead, legislators settled on a stipend for judges on the condition they all complete a workload study to determine if too few or too many judges are assigned to each district and appellate court. Gov. Jeff Landry vetoed that study requirement but kept the stipend intact.

An argument among Louisiana Judiciary Compensation Commission members followed over whether judges should be able to receive their stipends up front, in installments or at the end of the fiscal year. Those in favor of an immediate lump sum payment won the day, allowing the stipends to go out in July — the first month of the state’s fiscal year.

Among those who accepted the stipend was James Genovese, right as he was leaving his associate justice seat on the Louisiana Supreme Court to become the new president of Northwestern State University.

Genovese brushed off suggestions that he hadn’t earned the stipend after resigned from the court within the first month of the fiscal year.

“I have served 29 years as a judge,” Genovese said.”I’ve earned it.”

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.