Latest news with #votersuppression
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Consultant on trial for AI-generated robocalls mimicking Biden says he has no regrets
LACONIA, N.H. (AP) — A political consultant told a New Hampshire jury Wednesday that he doesn't regret sending voters robocalls that used artificial intelligence to mimic former President Joe Biden and that he's confident he didn't break the law. Steven Kramer, 56, of New Orleans, has long admitted to orchestrating a message sent to thousands of voters two days before New Hampshire's Jan. 23, 2024, presidential primary. Recipients heard an AI-generated voice similar to the Democratic president's that used his catchphrase 'What a bunch of malarkey' and, as prosecutors allege, suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting ballots in November. 'It's important that you save your vote for the November election,' voters were told. 'Your votes make a difference in November, not this Tuesday.' Kramer, who faces decades in prison if convicted of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate, said his goal was to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of AI when he paid a New Orleans magician $150 to create the recording. He was getting frequent calls from people using AI in campaigns, and, worried about the lack of regulations, made it his New Year's resolution to take action. 'This is going to be my one good deed this year,' he recalled while testifying in Belknap County Superior Court. He said his goal wasn't to influence an election, because he didn't consider the primary a real election. At Biden's request, the Democratic National Committee dislodged New Hampshire from its traditional early spot in the 2024 nominating calendar but later dropped its threat not to seat the state's national convention delegates. Biden did not put his name on the ballot or campaign there but won as a write-in. Kramer, who owns a firm specializing in get-out-the-vote projects, argued that the primary was a meaningless straw poll unsanctioned by the DNC. At the time the calls went out, voters were disenfranchised, he said. Asked by his attorney, Tom Reid, whether he did anything illegal, Kramer said, 'I'm positive I did not.' Later, he said he had no regrets and that his actions likely spurred AI regulations in multiple states. Kramer, who will be questioned by prosecutors Thursday, also faces a $6 million fine by the Federal Communications Commission but told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he won't pay it. Lingo Telecom, the company that transmitted the calls, agreed to pay $1 million in a settlement in August. The robocalls appeared to come from a former New Hampshire Democratic Party chair, Kathy Sullivan, and told voters to call her number to be removed from the call list. On the witness stand earlier Wednesday, Sullivan said she was confused and then outraged after speaking to one of the recipients and later hearing the message. 'I hung up the phone and said, 'There is something really crazy going on,'' she said. 'Someone is trying to suppress the vote for Biden. I can't believe this is happening.' Months later, she got a call from Kramer in which he said he used her number because he knew she would contact law enforcement and the media. He also described his motive — highlighting AI's potential dangers — but she didn't believe him, she testified. 'My sense was he was trying to convince me that he'd done this defensible, good thing,' she said. 'I'm listening to this thinking to myself, 'What does he thing I am, stupid?' He tried to suppress the vote.'
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
SAVE Act protesters in Willmar, Minnesota, say law would restrict voting access
May 22---- Demonstrators gathered under rainy skies to rally in favor of voting rights Wednesday in Willmar. In lieu of a planned march on First Street, about 50 demonstrators who came to Rice Park in their coats and rain ponchos instead occupied the picnic shelter at the park for approximately one hour Wednesday evening. Karen Kraemer, president of the Willmar Area League of Women Voters, said in her opening statement: "We work very hard to be non-partisan, but we are not neutral," characterizing the as a dangerous step toward voter suppression. The SAVE Act is sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican. The bill would require people to provide documentary proof of their U.S. citizenship, such as a birth certificate or U.S. passport, in order to vote in federal elections. The bill passed in the U.S. House in March on a mostly party-line vote and has since been sent to the U.S. Senate. Republicans, including Trump, have campaigned on and continue to press the idea that there is widespread voting by non-citizens, falsely claiming that it could unfairly swing elections despite the fact that multiple studies, including one at Minnesota's University of St. Thomas, have shown Voting rights advocates say the legislation seeks to fix a "non-issue," as it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote and doing so could result in criminal charges and possible deportation. Critics of the SAVE Act also say the bill as written would disenfranchise millions of legitimate American voters, ultimately leading to fewer people being able to vote in the same elections. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told a Senate Rules Committee spotlight hearing on May 14 that the legislation "poses one of the greatest threats to the freedom to vote in our lifetime," according to his prepared remarks. He said it would keep millions of eligible Americans from the polls. Kraemer referenced information shared by Secretary Simon and Deirdre Schiefling, a national political advocacy director with the American Civil Liberties Union, who spoke in a May 20 co-hosted by the Minnesota League of Women Voters, ACLU of Minnesota and others. For example, Kraemer stated that had the SAVE Act been in place last year, she would have had trouble helping her 96-year-old mother register to vote. Kraemer said she had to help her mother move from a house to an apartment in 2024. Though all states in the U.S. had their own method of keeping birth records since about 1919, there was no standardized version of these records until the 1930s, according to a 2012 published in the "Journal of Perinatology." Kraemer's mother was born in 1928. Even if Kraemer could have obtained a birth certificate for her mother, it may not have met the standard set by the SAVE Act. Kraemer also stated that, due to her mother's age, both her driver's license and passport are expired and would not have been sufficient to allow her to register if the provisions of the SAVE Act were in force. "The real issue is that 90 million people did not vote in the last election," Kraemer said. "And 72 million people are eligible to vote but are not registered. Our goal should be to get people registered to vote, that's always been the goal of the League of Women Voters." One protester, Dr. Kathy Nelson-Hund, felt compelled to speak among the demonstrators, urging them to reach out to young people and get them involved stating, "They are our future. They need to know what is happening before it is too late," she said. A family medicine physician who practiced in Willmar until her recent retirement, Nelson-Hund told the West Central Tribune that while she was at Wednesday's rally she thought about the discrimination she faced early in her career being one of few women practicing medicine at the time. "My medical opinions were questioned a lot by my colleagues just because I was a woman," she said. Nelson-Hund said she remembers when married women would still need permission from their husbands to open credit card accounts. She thinks the SAVE Act could very well be another hoop that young women will have to jump through in order to secure their right to vote. "They just don't know how frightening that can be," she said.
