Kira Lerner Profile picture
Democracy editor @GuardianUS. Formerly @statesnewsroom @VoteBeatUS. Reporting on voting, criminal justice, civil rights.
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Jul 14, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
NEW: Since the 2020 election, GOP-led states have enacted or expanded 102 election-related criminal penalties.

The new felonies and misdemeanors target all people involved in the election process and carry potential prison time.
(thread) newsfromthestates.com/article/crimin… I spent countless hours examining all of the voting laws passed by state legislatures since the 2020 election. In 26 states, there are 120 new penalties targeting voters, people who assist voters, and election officials. newsfromthestates.com/article/crimin…
Jan 31, 2022 5 tweets 2 min read
NEW: The 84 people who signed bogus documents claiming that Trump won the 2020 election include 7 current candidates for public office, 8 current office holders, and at least 5 previous state and federal office holders newsfromthestates.com/article/trumps… The group of 84 fake electors from 7 states includes 8 current officeholders newsfromthestates.com/article/trumps…
Nov 4, 2020 6 tweets 3 min read
The arena with vote counting in Detroit cannot hold all the poll challengers there to watch, and the Trump campaign is suing to halt the counting until it is given “meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe” clickondetroit.com/decision-2020/… Poll challengers appear to be chanting “stop the count” in Detroit
Mar 3, 2020 10 tweets 4 min read
.@OrganizeTexas tells me that wait times are so long in Harris County’s Black and Latino neighborhoods that people are going from location to location, and some voters are giving up on voting @OrganizeTexas Harris County lets voters cast a ballot at any polling place in the county. @OrganizeTexas says that while voting machines designated for Republicans sit idly, wait times for Democrats are getting longer and longer
Jan 16, 2020 6 tweets 3 min read
BREAKING: The Florida Supreme Court just ruled that people with felony convictions must pay off all fines and fees before they can vote floridasupremecourt.org/content/downlo… But, important to note that the court is only requiring the payment of fines and fees "contained in the four corners of the sentencing document.” As @Taniel and I reported last year, many fines and fees aren’t included on those docs theappeal.org/miami-official…
Apr 8, 2019 6 tweets 4 min read
Chicago is tracking kids pre-trial with GPS ankle monitors that can call and record them without consent. My latest at @theappeal: theappeal.org/chicago-electr… @theappeal I talked to a 15-year-old wearing one of the devices.

"Why can’t I just call y’all?” he asked. "Why can’t it be simple? It’s kind of like being treated like a slave or something like that. They don’t give us no room to think.” theappeal.org/chicago-electr…
Nov 8, 2018 19 tweets 3 min read
.@staceyabrams campaign holding a press call now. “We know our opponent has had the secretary of state’s office declare he is the winner. We are here to say we don’t accept that.” Only 23,800 votes would push the race into recount territory. There are 22,000 outstanding provisional ballots and 3,000 outstanding mail ballots, campaign says
Nov 6, 2018 4 tweets 2 min read
The line to vote at the Liberty Baptist Church in Atlanta is roughly 1.5 hours right now. I’m hearing reports that voters with student ID are being denied ballots, even though student IDs are valid forms of voter ID here in Georgia First time voter Noelle Higgins, a freshman at Georgia State, was able to vote thanks to help from Election Protection volunteers. Poll workers initially told her she couldn’t vote with student ID
Nov 6, 2018 11 tweets 4 min read
I’m at Annistown Elementary School in Snellville, GA, where hundreds of voters have waited 4.5 hours to vote today because electronic voting machines weren’t working .@RepHankJohnson told me this issue is happening in at least 4 precincts in Snellville. He blamed Brian Kemp and called it a “last gasp” effort by Republicans to suppress voters of color
Oct 14, 2018 34 tweets 16 min read
I’ll be traveling across Georgia for the next few days with the Black Voters Matter bus tour. They’re doing voter registration and outreach, trying to influence elections across the South. Follow here for updates! After black voters mobilized to help @DougJones win a special election in Alabama last year, @BlackVotersMtr decided to use the same organizing tactics to turn out voters across the South thinkprogress.org/black-voters-a…
Aug 22, 2018 9 tweets 3 min read
1. Lots of new this week, but voting might be the only thing that can save our democracy! And there’s a new attack on the right to vote thinkprogress.org/ada-voter-supp… 2. A rural, majority-black county in Georgia said last week that it will be closing 7 of its 9 polling places before the November election. This is obviously highly problematic. But let’s take a look at how they are justifying the closures… thinkprogress.org/ada-voter-supp…
Jun 20, 2018 8 tweets 5 min read
1. I’ve spent a long time reporting this story on how Native Americans are being denied the right to vote. It’s an important and complicated topic, so let me walk you through what’s happening and how it can be fixed
goo.gl/LojXhY 2. In 2013, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, which has had detrimental affects on voters of color across the south. But most people don’t know that it has also meant many new barriers for Native American voters
goo.gl/LojXhY
Feb 22, 2018 8 tweets 3 min read
Facebook is setting up a booth in the CPAC exhibit hall.

Two attendees just told me they saw proof on Facebook this morning that the Parkland students are crisis actors. Facebook reps here told me they’re not going to talk about that. .@facebook just emailed me a statement on their CPAC presence.

"Facebook routinely participates in events hosted by organizations across the political spectrum."
Dec 12, 2017 4 tweets 2 min read
I’m hearing that people are being turned away from this precinct in Dothan, AL because they are inactive on the rolls. Trying to find out more. #alsen Dechauna Jiles says she and roughly six other people (who she saw) were told they were “inactive” voters and had to cast provisional ballots #alsen