Talking Points Memo

Every four years there is an immense amount of proverbial ink spilled about the presidential race. To be honest, even that understates the matter because now much of the national media is incentivized to act as if campaigning for the presidency never stops, beginning speculation about the candidates in the next race by the December after a November election. What can be jarring about this wall-to-wall, year-in and year-out coverage is how routinely it ignores what's happening at the state and local level, where the elections are actually conducted.

Here at TPM we've always been careful not to overlook what's happening locally and at the state level. In fact, it's part of what makes TPM TPM. Our reporters and editors are adept at identifying important political issues bubbling up and making our national readership aware of hijinks and misdeeds that are maybe not getting the attention they deserve.

We pay particular attention to stories that deal with democracy — specifically, stories thats deal with voting. For example, we have a story up today from Emine Yücel detailing how Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is ramping up efforts to, as he tells it, prevent non-citizen voting. Of course, non-citizens already can't vote but by now you should know that truth, empathy, and logic are not tools to be deployed on the front lines of the Culture Wars. Suffice to say, Landry is the type of fella who a nice southern grandma might hit with a "bless his heart." As Yücel writes:

Louisiana is just the most recent state to implement measures to ensure that individuals who are not American citizens are not voting in U.S. elections, even though there is simply no evidence to suggest that non-citizen voting is a real problem.

Not to be outdone, the Georgia State Election Board is pulling out all the stops to prevent a repeat of 2020. And by 2020, I mean a fair election where the person who got the most votes won. If you are a Rachel Maddow fan, you may have seen her citing Khaya Himmelman's reporting on the issue — but, if not, here's a sample:

At the heart of the legal challenge are two new rules that were both passed by the Georgia Election Board — which has three Trump-backed, election-denying members — earlier this month.

The first rule, which passed on August 6, gives the election board the authority to not certify election results until a "reasonable inquiry" into any discrepancies in the voting process at the county level has been conducted. And, as previously reported by TPM, the full text of the new rule does not ever clearly define what is meant by a "reasonable inquiry."

The second rule, which passed on August 19, gives election board members the authority "to examine all election-related documentation before certifying the results." The rule also states that if there is a discrepancy between the ballot count and the number of voters, the board must investigate the discrepancy before the election can be certified. Critics of the rule say it gives election deniers an opportunity to disrupt the certification process with baseless claims of irregularities or voter fraud, as TPM has previously reported. 

We at TPM are happy to do this work. It's important work. We wish the work did not need to be done, but such is life. As long as there are election shenanigans, we will find them and we will report on them. We'd love to have your support along the way.