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ALEC News

Voter ID Suppressed the Vote Exactly as Wisconsin Republicans Predicted Image: Michael Fleshman - CC BY SA 2.0 A new study of registered voters in Dane and Milwaukee Counties who did not vote in the 2016 presidential election found that approximately 17,000-23,000 eligible voters in those counties were prevented or deterred from voting by Wisconsin's voter ID law. Due to financial constraints, the social scientists were only able to do a study of two of Wisconsin's 72 counties, but the authors say that extrapolating statewide as many as 45,000 people stayed home because of the law. Donald Trump won the state of Wisconsin by only 22,000 votes, the first GOP presidential victory in the state since Ronald Regan in 1984. The shocking upset garnered national attention and helped deliver the electoral college to Trump as the popular vote went to Clinton. The study provides definitive evidence that the controversial voter ID bill, made it more difficult for targeted voters to cast their ballots. Read the rest of this item here. ALEC’s Corporate Board Leads…in Federal Violations The federal government has slapped eight of the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) known corporate board leaders with more than $6.2 billion in federal fines and penalties for misconduct or corporate crimes since 2000. The leading ALEC scofflaws include pharmaceutical giant Pfizer ($4.350 billion), Exxon Mobil ($715 million), Koch Industries ($657 million), AT&T ($421 million), United Parcel Service ($35 million), alcohol multinational Diageo ($17 million), Peabody Energy ($16 million), and Altria (owner of Phillip Morris, the largest U.S. cigarette manufacturer) ($7 million). The extensive violations data is accessible for the first time thanks to "Violation Tracker," an expanded database of federal regulatory actions created by Good Jobs First. Read the rest of this item here. Infighting, Legal Questions Slow ALEC Push for Second Constitutional Convention With Republicans in control of 32 state legislatures, ALEC has been actively pushing the idea of a second Constitutional Convention to rewrite the U.S. Constitution. ALEC has cheered on the idea of a "Con Con" for years, passing multiple resolutions calling for changes to the constitution, hosting workshops and handbooks and even draft resolutions laying out proposed rules of procedure. Everything has been quite cordial and controlled. However, documents obtained by CMD reveal for the first time the backbiting between several competing factions vying for state approval of their convention proposals. Read the rest of this item here.