HELENA, Mont. -- After hearing Montana would be regaining a congressional seat, Republican lawmakers added language to a voting bill outlining redistricting criteria, which has raised concerns the Legislature is trying to insert itself in the process.

Nearly 50 years ago, an amendment to Montana's Constitution created an independent redistricting commission, with two members appointed by Democrats, two by Republicans and a presiding officer appointed by the Montana Supreme Court.

Joe Lamson, a districting and apportionment commissioner appointed by a Democrat, said the role of the legislature is limited.

"The Legislature's role is just like any other citizen," Lamson explained. "They can make advice and recommendations to the commission, but they have no constitutional power to tell the commission how they are going to do their business."

Lamson believes legislators will challenge the district maps in court with the language attached to House Bill 506, which is on Gov. Greg Gianforte's desk.

Rep. Paul Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, the bill's sponsor, said the measure is designed to prevent partisan gerrymandering.

Jeff Essman, a districting commissioner appointed by a Republican, said gerrymandering is a concern. He acknowledged a court will decide on the relevance of the recently passed legislation.

He added what's more important for the drawing of fair districts is keeping communities together and inviting the public into the process.

"It's tough to comment on a map when it's a done deal," Essman contended. "It's a much better option for the public to participate if they can show where they would draw the lines for 100 equally populated state House districts."

Lamson noted previous attorney general opinions and state Supreme Court decisions have backed up the fact legislators have no role in redistricting.

He added the importance of an independent commission was understood at the constitutional convention when the commission was established.

"As one of the delegates said, thinking that the Legislature was going to be able to do the redistricting in the state was a little bit like thinking they're going to take out their own appendix," Lamson recounted. "They're incapable of doing it."

The U.S. Census Bureau has said it will deliver redistricting data to states by Sep. 30.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

By Jabari Gibbs for The Current.
Broadcast version by Shanteya Hudson for Georgia News Connection reporting for the Rural News Network-Public News Service Collaboration

Republicans and Democrats used the final weekend of early voting to urge Glynn County residents to cast ballots in what is expected to be a razor-tight race for Georgia’s sixteen electoral votes for president.

In 2016, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by almost 29% of the vote in Glynn and four years later beat Joe Biden by 23% of the nearly 42,000 votes cast in the county. The former president is expected to prevail again this year in this heavily Republican county. 

But statewide, the race between the former president and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris could be decided by the narrowest of margins. That’s why in even as red a county as Glynn, both campaigns are scrambling for votes. 

On Saturday morning, the First African Baptist Church, just off Amherst Street in Brunswick, hosted a “Souls to the Polls” rally, offering hot dogs, hamburgers and encouragement to prospective voters before they boarded a bus for the short ride to the nearby county board of elections office. 

“I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, but you know what has to be done,” Regina H. Johnson, a retired Glynn County school teacher, told the mostly pro-Kamala Harris crowd.

Johnson, who helped organize the event, explained the amendments on the ballot, including a proposed Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) of 1%. “That’s one cent on every dollar spent here in Glynn County…and that goes for anybody who visits,” she said.

For Charlie Middlebrooks, in particular, Saturday was a landmark day.

The 19-year-old recent graduate of Brunswick High was aboard the first shuttle leaving the church and cast his first vote. He was driven, he said, to ensure Trump would not return to the White House.

“The whole thing about how he’s a millionaire — he was born with the money and Kamala Harris had to work her way up. And that relates to a lot of us here, including myself, because we didn’t start out with all that money. Growing up, you got to work, work your way up. That’s the way I was taught. The way a real man does it,” Middlebrooks said. 

‘Slept her way to the top’

Keen to win over the undecided and uncommitted, especially in the county’s Black community, Republicans were busy over the weekend, too. 

A former reality court television judge, Joe Brown, was the featured speaker at a Sunday rally at Brunswick’s Selden Park. He appeared as part of a five-city tour of Georgia organized by MAGA Black Georgia that includes stops in Rome, Marietta, Savannah and Thomasville. 

Brown excoriated Harris, repeating baseless allegations and smears that Trump has often voiced during campaign rallies.

“Now I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have a successful billionaire who’s manipulated all of that running the U.S. government as the chief administrative officer than somebody that has never done that in their lives, that has slept her way to the top,” he told the audience of about 45 people, eight of whom were Black. 

Brown suggested that Harris was physically unfit to serve as president, though her campaign released a doctor’s report earlier this month that she is in “excellent health” and “possesses the physical and mental resilience required to serve as president.” 

“Some doctor friends of mine tell me that her word salad thing is the result of something they call early onset dementia. It starts in the mid-50s, and maybe it might hit by the early 60s, but she’s 60 years old this month,” Brown said. “It is very alarming.”

Trump has released very little health information, including after his ear was grazed by a bullet during an assassination attempt in July in Pennsylvania.

Brown’s audience was made up almost entirely of White — and very vocal — Trump supporters. For some, however, their backing of the former president wasn’t unqualified.

“Do I find him disgusting at times? Yes, I do. I find his rhetoric to be disgusting at times. I find the name-calling to be disgusting at times,” Carolyn Fisher admitted. “‘[But] I like what he says he is going to do, and I’ve seen him do it between 2016 and 2021. I saw what he did, and I want that back again.”

But Brown’s talking points about uncontrolled immigration and voting by illegal migrants resonated deeply with the 74-year-old Fisher, a resident of St. Simons. 

“I’m afraid. I am terrified about the illegal migrants that are coming across our borders, about people who are not even citizens that are voting. I am terrified about it,” she said.

Gordon Rolle, the head of MAGA Black Georgia, vouched for Brown. 

“You know, there’s no difference between him and a college professor as far as the information he has to present, but he gets a lot of information from historical documents, but a lot of information that he gives, if you notice that comes from first-hand knowledge of this.”

A former Democrat, Rolle was approached by the Virgina-based MAGABlack to develop an outreach program for Georgia that would target Black males between the ages of 18 and 34.

But feeling that Trump was “the right choice” and frustrated that nonprofits like MAGABlack are barred by law from endorsing presidential candidates, Rolle divorced himself from MAGABlack and moved to MAGA Black Georgia.

“After the election, what we want to do is have an establishment in each community that we’ve been in contact with, and we invite other communities to reach out to us because we consider ourselves an umbrella organization,” he said.


This story was originally produced by Jabari Gibbs of The Current as part of the Rural News Network, an initiative of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), supporting more than 475 independent, nonprofit news organizations.


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It is Election Day and Maine voters are weighing the future of the state's extensive trail system.

If passed, the Maine Trails Bond would inject some $30 million over four years into repairs and maintenance of all public-use trails statewide.

Francesca Gundrum, director of advocacy for Maine Audubon, said the funds are greatly needed as trails are experiencing record levels of use.

"The time to invest in our trails absolutely is right now," Gundrum contended. "That's why we're really excited about this bond measure to help us."

Gundrum pointed out many older trails were designed with little consideration for the long-term effects on wildlife or the growing reality of climate change-related weather events. More than 500 towns, businesses and clubs are backing the Trails Bond with little opposition, which Gundrum noted is a testament to Mainer's appreciation for the outdoors.

Back-to-back storms last winter caused extensive damage to trails statewide, including more than a dozen in the Portland Trails network. An army of volunteers worked to remove debris and shore up river banks and bridges but some areas are still in need of repair.

Gundrum hopes the bond will help encourage younger Mainers to get active in maintaining the trails to better withstand the effects of climate change.

"We all are still dealing with it," Gundrum acknowledged. "I think whether or not it's climate being a driving factor for you, you know there are changes and they're impacting trails and beyond."

Gundrum added the trail system also serves as an economic driver for Maine. The state has long been a destination for hikers and cyclists.

The state has more than 14,000 miles of snowmobile trails alone. Supporters say passage of the Trails Bond could even further boost the state's $3 billion outdoor recreation economy.


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Election Day is finally here, and this year more than 17 million Latinos are expected to cast a ballot.

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund finds swing states - like Arizona - which have a significant Latino population, will be influential and decisive.

The group's National Director of Civic Engagement Juan Rosa said it is important these voters understand the power they hold.

"The two messages are, one, a message of pride in the growth of the Latino electorate in this country," said Rosa, "and second is the message of empowerment, understanding that we as voters have rights in this country and that our listeners have resources."

Nearly one of every four Arizona voters is expected to be Latino, an almost 20% increase from 2016.

Rosa said while tomorrow will be about participating in the democratic process, issues are likely to come up.

He said his organization is ready to provide voters with accurate, nonpartisan information about electoral participation.

You can reach the toll-free bilingual hotline at 1-888-839-8682 from 4 a.m. until 10 p.m.

Looking past Election Day, Rosa said it is important to understand that final election results could take some time to be called.

He said individual states can take days and sometimes even weeks to count every ballot and ensure they're responding to certain appeals and administrative issues.

Nonetheless Rosa said he wants to reassure voters that the system does work, even if it does take some extra time.

"If you see that you go to bed on election night not knowing, it is not a bug in the system," said Rosa. "That is actually really the way the system works, it is supposed to take a few days for each state, each of our 50 states, to go back and count every vote."

Rosa said every audit and examination of past elections shows there is minimal fraud. Rosa stresses mis-, dis- and malinformation will be a threat this election cycle.

Nearly 70 false election narratives have been made as of early September, according to Newsguard.

Rosa said harmful misinformation will be on the rise after Election Day and recommends to not share suspicious content and consult various reliable sources if you are in doubt.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.





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