(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post)

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of government' gets done, and where too much of nothing makes a man ill at ease.

We begin in the newly insane state of North Carolina, where people are still searching for the right combination of silver bullets, garlic, and wooden stakes to do away with the Undead forces of voter-suppression. When last we left the newly insane state of North Carolina, a federal court had thrown out the latest attempt by the state to draw up a gerrymandered election map. Apparently, the N.C. legislature can't color between the lines well at all.

Anyway, this week, alas, the federal court ruled that there isn't enough time for a new map to be drawn before the midterm elections, so the most recently gerrymandered map is going to have to do. From CNN:

"Having carefully reviewed the parties' briefing and supporting materials, we conclude that there is insufficient time for this Court to approve a new districting plan and for the State to conduct an election using that plan prior to the seating of the new Congress in January 2019," the court ruling read. "And we further find that imposing a new schedule for North Carolina's congressional elections would, at this late juncture, unduly interfere with the State's electoral machinery and likely confuse voters and depress turnout."

Which is, of course, why the state legislature kept drawing up phony maps and forcing the court to rule on them so as to run out the clock before the midterms, giving the court a choice between following the old, crooked map or sending the whole election into chaos. This is because voter suppression is now a stated policy of the national Republican Party.

LOGAN CYRUS Getty Images

And why do I say that? Because at almost the same time that the court was ruling that the crooked map had to be used, this happened. From CNN:

There is little context provided for the request, which is only listed by the board as "Consideration of subpoenas issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina." The subpoena asks the state records office to provide "any and all voter registration applications and/or other documents, as identified below, that were submitted to, filed by, received by, or maintained by the North Carolina State Board of Elections from January 1, 2010, through August 30, 2018, within any of the counties in North Carolina." The list of documents include voter registration forms, absentee ballots, early voting application forms, provisional voting forms, "Admission or Denial of Non-Citizen Return" forms and voter cancellation or revocation forms.

Eight million records. Certainly nothing suspicious here.

According to the official, the request was designed as a preservation request. North Carolina law would dictate that records are destroyed after two years, the official said, so as the ongoing investigation develops, law enforcement wants to be sure they can access relevant records. The request is confined to the Eastern District of North Carolina and two state agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles but only in regards to the Eastern District. That scope is not spelled out in the actual subpoena, which informs records officials they can present the full records in hard copy or in person at a federal grand jury on September 25.

I'm sure that this has nothing to do with scaring black and Hispanic voters away from the polls.

Speaking of voter suppression, we skip on out to Kansas, where Republican Secretary of State and current GOP gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach, the big daddy of voter suppression, finds himself with his ass caught in a big old crack. First, he will now have to campaign while everyone knows he's under a grand-jury investigation, as The Wichita Eagle informs us. Guess what it's about.

A grand jury must be convened to investigate whether Republican gubernatorial candidate and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach intentionally failed to register voters in 2016, the Kansas Supreme Court has ruled. The court’s one-page opinion was released Friday and offered no explanation behind the ruling, which addressed Kobach’s appeal of a lower court’s order to summon the grand jury, the Lawrence Journal-World reported . The high court’s ruling stemmed from a petition first filed in 2016 by Steven Davis, a Lawrence resident who accused Kobach of intentionally choosing not to process online voter registrations and preventing qualified residents from voting in the 2016 election. The Douglas County District Court twice rejected Davis’ petition, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to support the allegations against Kobach.

In addition, the Republican establishment in Kansas seems to be getting as tired of Kobach's endless trumped-up charades as the Washington Republican establishment is with the current president*. From The Kansas City Star:

In a statement, former Kansas governor Bill Graves said he planned to support state Sen. Laura Kelly in the November election. Kelly is running against Kobach and independent Greg Orman. “Laura Kelly is the only Democrat I have ever endorsed for public office,” Graves said in the statement. “And the reason I’m doing that now is because I believe so much is at stake in the state of Kansas. I have known Laura for over thirty years. She has all the qualities and all the capabilities that we are looking for to lead the state during this difficult time and to reestablish the state to what it once was.” Graves, who served as governor from 1995 to 2003, is the most prominent Republican to support Kelly this election cycle.

If Kansas flips, the bloodbath will be total.

Steve Pope Getty Images

Meanwhile, back here in the Commonwealth (God save it!), Ayanna Pressley's thrashing of 20-year incumbent Michael Capuano had repercussions up and down the ballot. In the Massachusetts House, two influential longtime progressive representatives, Jeffrey Sanchez, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Byron Rushing, the assistant majority leader and the highest ranking African-American in the legislature, both lost to first-time challengers.

Sanchez, who only took over the powerful budget-writing committee a year ago and was the highest ranking Latino lawmaker on Beacon Hill, lost to Nika Elugardo, another Jamaica Plain Democrat. Elugardo had repeatedly and harshly criticized Sanchez for failing to push through a state immigrant protection law, painting him as a politician beholden to House leadership rather than his constituents. Sanchez co-sponsored the so-called Safe Communities Act this session, which would have limited local police's authority to cooperate with federal immigration agents but said he was unable to build a consensus around the bill in the more centrist House. In recent days, many of Sanchez's House colleagues and some high-profile party figures, including U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III and Attorney General Maura Healey, tried to rally the base around Sanchez.

I first interviewed Rushing back in 1979, when he was first running for the House. The most prominent memory I have of that interview is that Rushing had a huge poster of the legendary James Michael Curley on his wall, which I took as a sign of a changing Boston. Apparently, the change has come around again.

We roll on down I-95 to Florida, where the state supreme court is trying to judge whether or not folks are pulling a fast one with some amendments to the state constitution that ostensibly will appear on the November ballot. From The Miami Herald:

The seven justices on the state’s highest court heard back-to-back arguments Wednesday on whether Amendments 6 and 8, which deal with victims’ rights and charter schools, should remain on the Nov. 6 general election ballot. The two amendments were among those crafted by the state Constitution Revision Commission that meets once every 20 years, and critics have argued the ballot items were drafted with language that misleads voters. Attorneys for plaintiffs in both cases contended Wednesday that voters should not be allowed to consider the amendments at all, citing what they said were omissions in the ballot titles and summaries that fail to sufficiently describe the effects of the changes. But lawyers on behalf of the state asserted that the language fairly describes the chief purposes of the amendments, and suggested at times that plaintiffs’ objections were based on the content rather than the description of the proposed changes.

Amendment 8 would create a way for the state to bypass local school bards and expand its authority to oversee charter schools. Supporters of the amendment say the language would ensure charter schools are not unfairly denied by local boards, though opponents allege it would shrink school boards’ autonomy and oversight. The amendment would also add new eight-year school board term limits and expanded civics education in public schools, though the charter schools portion of the amendment has drawn the most fire.

Which is, of course, not to say that the charter-school industry is not to be trusted but, you know, the charter-school industry is really not to be trusted.

"The City of Bartlesville was recently made aware that the Bartlesville Municipal Code regulations prohibiting the possession of firearms in city parks are pre-empted by the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act. As such, the Bartlesville City Council will consider an agenda item during its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, September 4, 2018, that would update these regulations to bring them into compliance with State Statutes. Specifically, the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act states that any city, county or state governmental authority shall not prevent the lawful carry of any concealed or unconcealed handgun into a designated park, recreational are, or fairgrounds, except for a building or office area used for conducting business with the public. Staff is recommending the Council approve the proposed amendments after having reviews the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act provisions as they related to an such City-designated properties. While City staff recognizes there are differing public views on this issue, the City has no choice but to meet its legal obligation to uphold State law and to update its ordinances accordingly."

Yeah, keep us apprised of how you're keeping those maddened lefties in Oklahoma City government under control.

This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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