A team of neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin claim to have found a way to control how high mice can get on a given amount of cocaine.

And don't worry — while that may sound like a particularly frivolous plot concocted by a team of evil scientists, the goal of the research is well-meaning.

The team, led by University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Santiago Cuesta, was investigating how the gut microbiome can influence how mice and humans react to ingesting the drug.

The research, detailed in a new paper published this week in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, sheds light on a vicious feedback loop that could explain cases of substance abuse disorders — and possibly lay the groundwork for future therapeutic treatments.

In a number of experiments on mice, the researchers found that cocaine was linked to the growth of common gut bacteria, which feed on glycine, a chemical that facilitates basic brain functions.

The lower the levels of glycine in the brain, the more the mice reacted to the cocaine, exhibiting abnormal behaviors.

To test the theory, the scientists injected the mice with a genetically modified amino acid which cannot break down glycine. As a result, the behavior of mice returned to normal levels.

In other words, the amino acid could curb cocaine addiction-like behaviors — at least in animal models.

"The gut bacteria are consuming all of the glycine and the levels are decreasing systemically and in the brain," said Vanessa Sperandio, senior author, and microbiologist from the University of Wisconsin, in a statement. "It seems changing glycine overall is impacting the glutamatergic synapses that make the animals more prone to develop addiction."

It's an unorthodox approach to treating addiction, but could be intriguing — if it works in people, that is.

"Usually, for neuroscience behaviors, people are not thinking about controlling the microbiota, and microbiota studies usually don't measure behaviors, but here we show they’re connected," Cuesta added. "Our microbiome can actually modulate psychiatric or brain-related behaviors."

In short, their research could lead to new ways of treating various psychiatric disorders such as substance use by adjusting the gut microbiome and not making changes to the brain chemistry.

"I think the bridging of these communities is what's going to move the field forward, advancing beyond correlations towards causations for the different types of psychiatric disorders," Sperandio argued.

READ MORE: How gut bacteria influence the effects of cocaine in mice [Cell Press]

More on addiction: Study: Magic Mushrooms Helped 83% of People Cut Excessive Drinking

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Scientists Found a Way to Control How High Mice Got on Cocaine

Spying @ Home

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic drove a wave of working from home, companies have been relentless in their efforts to digitally police and spy on remote employees by using what's known as "bossware." That's the pejorative name for software that tracks the websites an employee visits, screenshots their computer screens, and even records their faces and voices.

And now, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), an agency of the federal government, is looking to intervene.

"Close, constant surveillance and management through electronic means threaten employees' basic ability to exercise their rights," said NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, in a Monday memo. "I plan to urge the Board to apply the Act to protect employees, to the greatest extent possible, from intrusive or abusive electronic monitoring and automated management practices."

Undoing Unions

In particular, Abruzzo is worried about how bossware could infringe on workers' rights to unionize. It's not hard to imagine how such invasive surveillance could be used to bust unionization. Even if the technology isn't explicitly deployed to impede organization efforts, the ominous presence of the surveillance on its own can be a looming deterrent, which Abruzzo argues is illegal.

And now is the perfect moment for the NLRB to step in. The use and abuse of worker surveillance tech in general — not just bossware — has been "growing by the minute," Mark Gaston Pearce, executive director of the Workers' Rights Institute at Georgetown Law School, told CBS.

"Employers are embracing technology because technology helps them run a more efficient business," Gaston explained. "… What comes with that is monitoring a lot of things that employers have no business doing."

Overbearing Overlord

In some ways, surveillance tech like bossware can be worse than having a nosy, actual human boss. Generally speaking, in a physical workplace employees have an understanding of how much privacy they have (unless they work at a place like Amazon or Walmart, that is).

But when bossware spies on you, who knows how much information an employer could be gathering — or even when they're looking in. And if it surveils an employee's personal computer, which more often than not contains plenty of personal information that a boss has no business seeing, that's especially invasive.

Which is why Abruzzo is pushing to require employers to disclose exactly how much they're tracking.

It's a stern message from the NLRB, but at the end of the day, it's just a memo. We'll have to wait and see how enforcing it pans out.

More on surveillance: Casinos to Use Facial Recognition to Keep "Problem Gamblers" Away

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US Gov to Crack Down on "Bossware" That Spies On Employees' Computers

Chinese scientists are reportedly planning to send monkeys to its new Tiangong space station for experiments that will involve the animals mating and potentially reproducing, the South China Morning Post reports.

It's a fascinating and potentially controversial experiment that could have major implications for our efforts to colonize space: can mammals, let alone humans, successfully reproduce beyond the Earth?

According to the report, the experiment would take place in the station's largest capsule, called Wentian, inside two biological test cabinets that can be expanded.

After examining the behavior of smaller creatures, "some studies involving mice and macaques will be carried out to see how they grow or even reproduce in space," Zhang Lu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, said during a speech posted to social media earlier this week, as quoted by the SCMP.

"These experiments will help improve our understanding of an organism’s adaptation to microgravity and other space environments," he added.

Some simpler organisms, including nematodes and Japanese rice fish, have been observed reproducing in space.

But more complex life forms have struggled. In 2014, a Russian experiment to see whether geckos could produce offspring in space failed when all the critters died.

And the failure rate for mammals, so far, has been total. Soviet Union scientists got mice to mate during a space flight in 1979, but none of them gave birth after being returned to Earth.

In other words, getting monkeys to reproduce on board a space station will be anything but easy. For one, just dealing with living creatures in space can pose immense challenges. The astronauts will "need to feed them and deal with the waste," Kehkooi Kee, a professor with the school of medicine at Tsinghua University, told the SCMP.

Then there's the fact that astronauts will have to keep the macaques happy and comfortable, something that experts say will be challenging since long term confinement in the spartan environments of space habitats could cause immense stress for the simians.

And even if astronauts successfully set the mood for the monkeys, the physics of sex in space are predicted to be challenging.

"Firstly, just staying in close contact with each other under zero gravity is hard," Adam Watkins, an associate professor of reproductive physiology at University of Nottingham, wrote in a 2020 open letter highlighted by the SCMP. "Secondly, as astronauts experience lower blood pressure while in space, maintaining erections and arousal are more problematic than here on Earth."

With its new space station in nearly full operation, China isn't shying away from asking some big questions — but whether these experiments will play out as expected is anything but certain.

READ MORE: Chinese scientists plan monkey reproduction experiment in space station [South China Morning Post]

More on sex in space: Scientists Say We Really Have to Talk About Boning in Space

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China Plans to Send Monkeys to Space Station to Have Sex With Each Other

Droning On

Someone thinks it's a great idea to fly 500 drones over New York City to create a huge ad in the sky on Thursday evening. Because New Yorkers certainly don't have any historical reason to mistrust unknown aircraft over their skyline, right?

As Gothamist reports, the drone swarm is part of a "surreal takeover of New York City’s skyline" on behalf of — we shit you not — the mobile game Candy Crush.

Fernanda Romano, Candy Crush's chief marketing officer, told Gothamist that the stunt will "turn the sky into the largest screen on the planet" using the small, light-up drones.

Though this is not the first time the Manhattan skyline has been used as ad space — that distinction goes to the National Basketball Association and State Farm, which did a similar stunt this summer during the NBA draft — local lawmakers are ticked off about it nonetheless.

"I think it’s outrageous to be spoiling our city’s skyline for private profit," Brad Hoylman, a state senator that represents Manhattan's West Side in the NY Legislature, told the local news site. "It’s offensive to New Yorkers, to our local laws, to public safety, and to wildlife."

Freak Out

Indeed, as the NYC Audubon Society noted in a tweet, the Candy Crush crapshoot "could disrupt the flight patterns of thousands of birds flying through NYC, leading to collisions with buildings" as they migrate.

Beyond the harm this will do to birds and the annoyance it will undoubtedly cause the famously-grumpy people of New York, this stunt is also going down with very little warning, considering that Gothamist is one of the only news outlets even reporting on it ahead of time.

While most viewers will hopefully be able to figure out what's going on pretty quickly, the concept of seeing unknown aircraft above the skyline is a little too reminiscent of 9/11 for comfort — and if Candy Crush took that into consideration, they haven't let on.

So here's hoping this event shocks and awes Thursday night city-goers in a good way, and not in the way that makes them panic.

More drone warfare: Russia Accused of Pelting Ukraine Capital With "Kamikaze" Drones

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Huge Drone Swarm to Form Giant Advertisement Over NYC Skyline

Advertisers are fleeing Twitter in droves now that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has taken over control.

Ever since officially closing the $44 billion deal, Musk has been busy gutting the company's executive suite and dissolving its board. Senior executives, as well as Twitter's advertising chief Sarah Personette, have departed as well.

After all, Musk has been very clear about his disdain for advertising for years now.

The resulting uncertainty has advertisers spooked — major advertising holding company IPG has already advised clients to pull out temporarily — and the billionaire CEO is in serious damage mode.

Now, Reuters reports, Musk is spending most of this week meeting with advertisers in New York, trying to reassure them that Twitter won't turn into a "free-for-all hellscape."

According to one of Reuters' sources, the meetings have been "very productive" — but plenty of other marketers are far from satisfied.

Advertisers are reportedly grilling Musk over his plans to address the rampant misinformation being spread on the platform, a trend that Musk himself has been actively contributing to since the acquisition.

And if he's succeeding in ameliorating advertisers in private, he's antagonizing them publicly. On Wednesday, Musk posted a poll asking users whether advertisers should support either "freedom of speech," or "political 'correctness'" — a type of false dichotomy that echoes the rhetoric of far-right conspiracy theorists and conservative pundits.

"Those type of provocations are not helping to calm the waters," an unnamed media buyer told Reuters.

Some are going public with the same sentiment.

"Unless Elon hires new leaders committed to keeping this 'free' platform safe from hate speech, it's not a platform brands can/should advertise on," Allie Wassum, global media director for the Nike-owned shoe brand Jordan, wrote in a LinkedIn post.

So far, Musk's plans for the social media platform remain strikingly muddy. In addition to the behind-the-scenes advertising plays, he's also announced that users will have to pay to retain their verification badge, though he's engaged in a comically public negotiation as to what the cost might be.

He's also hinted that previously banned users — former US president Donald Trump chief among them — might eventually get a chance to return, but only once "we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks."

The move was seen by many as a way to wait out the impending midterm elections. After all, Twitter has played a huge role in disseminating misinformation and swaying elections in the past.

While advertisers are running for the hills, to Musk advertising is clearly only a small part of the picture — even though historically, social giants like Twitter have struggled to diversify their revenue sources much beyond display ads.

Musk nodded to that reality in a vague open letter posted last week.

"Low relevancy ads are spam, but highly relevant ads are actually content!" he wrote in the note, addressed to "Twitter advertisers."

Big picture, Twitter's operations are in free fall right now and Musk has yet to provide advertisers with a cohesive plan to pick up the pieces.

While he's hinted at the creation of a new content moderation council made up of both "people from all viewpoints" and "wildly divergent views," advertisers are clearly going to be thinking twice about continuing their business with Twitter.

With or without advertising, Twitter's finances are reportedly in a very deep hole. The billions of dollars Musk had to borrow to finance his mega acquisition will cost Twitter around $1 billion a year in interest alone.

The company also wasn't anywhere near profitable before Musk took over, losing hundreds of millions of dollars in a single quarter.

Whether that picture will change any time soon is as unclear as ever, especially in the face of a wintry economy.

But, of course, Musk has proved his critics wrong before. So anything's possible.

READ MORE: Advertisers begin to grill Elon Musk over Twitter 'free-for-all' [Reuters]

More on the saga: Elon Musk Pulling Engineers From Tesla Autopilot to Work on Twitter

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Elon Musk Meeting With Advertisers, Begging Them Not to Leave Twitter

Jeff Bezos' former housekeeper is suing the Amazon founder for workplace discrimination that she says forced her to literally climb out out the window of his house to use the bathroom.

In the suit, filed this week in a Washington state court, the former housekeeper claimed that she and Bezos' other household staff were not provided with legally-mandated eating or restroom breaks, and that because there was no "readily accessible bathroom" for them to use, they had to clamber out a laundry room window to get to one.

In the complaint, lawyers for the ex-housekeeper, who is described as having worked for wealthy families for nearly 20 years, wrote that household staff were initially allowed to use a small bathroom in the security room of Bezos' main house, but "this soon stopped... because it was decided that housekeepers using the bathroom was a breach of security protocol."

The suit also alleges that housekeepers in the billionaire's employ "frequently developed Urinary Tract Infections" that they believed was related to not being able to use the bathroom when they needed to at work.

"There was no breakroom for the housekeepers," the complaint adds. "Even though Plaintiff worked 10, 12, and sometimes 14 hours a day, there was no designated area for her to sit down and rest."

The housekeeper — who, like almost all of her coworkers, is Latino — was allegedly not aware that she was entitled to breaks for lunch or rest, and was only able to have a lunch break when Bezos or his family were not on the premises, the lawsuit alleges.

The Washington Post owner has denied his former housekeeper's claims of discrimination through an attorney.

"We have investigated the claims, and they lack merit," Harry Korrell, a Bezos attorney, told Insider of the suit. "[The former employee] made over six figures annually and was the lead housekeeper."

He added that the former housekeeper "was responsible for her own break and meal times, and there were several bathrooms and breakrooms available to her and other staff."

"The evidence will show that [the former housekeeper] was terminated for performance reasons," he continued. "She initially demanded over $9M, and when the company refused, she decided to file this suit."

As the suit was just filed and may well end in a settlement, it'll likely be a long time, if ever, before we find out what really happened at Bezos' house — but if we do, it'll be a fascinating peek behind the curtain at the home life of one of the world's most powerful and wealthy men.

More on billionaires: Tesla Morale Low As Workers Still Don't Have Desks, Face Increased Attendance Surveillance

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Jeff Bezos' Housekeeper Says She Had to Climb Out the Window to Use the Bathroom

Spaceplane Buddy

After launching into orbit roughly three months ago, China's top-secret spaceplane has released a mysterious object, which is now circling the Earth behind it, SpaceNews reports.

There's very little we know about China's "reusable experimental spacecraft," except that it launched atop a Long March 2F rocket back in August. We don't know its purpose, what it looks like, or what cargo it was carrying during launch — but it's an intriguing development, nonetheless, for China's reusable launch platform.

Mysterious Object

The object was released between October 24 and October 31, according to tracking data being analyzed by the US Space Force's 18th pace Defense Squadron.

We can only hazard a guess as to what the mysterious object's purpose is. According to Harvard astronomer and space tracker Jonathan McDowell, it "may be a service module, possibly indicating an upcoming deorbit burn."

Based on the size and weight of payloads Long March rockets usually carry, China's mysterious spaceplane is likely similar to the Air Force's X-37B spaceplane, which is similarly shrouded in mystery and currently on its sixth mission.

We also don't know when the Chinese model will make its return back to Earth, but given recent activity at the Lop Nur base in Xinjiang suggests, it may land there in the near future, according to the report.

It's a puzzling new development for China's secretive spacecraft — but it does raise the possibility of a renewed interest in spaceplanes, a potentially affordable and reusable way to launch payloads into orbit.

More on the spaceplane: China Launches Mysterious "Reusable Test" Spacecraft

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Chinese Spaceplane Releases Mystery Object Into Orbit

Observatory Offline

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) Observatory in Chile has been hit with a cyberattack that has taken its website offline and forced it to suspend all observations, authorities there said.

Even email services were limited in the aftermath, illustrating the broad impact of the hack.

Nested high up on a plateau in the Chilean Andes at over 16,000 feet above sea level, ALMA is one of the most powerful and advanced radio telescopes in the world. Notably, ALMA helped take the first image of a black hole in 2019, in a collaborative effort that linked radio observatories worldwide into forming the Event Horizon Telescope.

Thankfully, ALMA's impressive arsenal of 66 high-precision antennas, each nearly 40 feet in diameter, was not compromised, the observatory said, nor was any of the scientific data those instruments collected.

In High Places

What makes ALMA so invaluable is its specialty in observing the light of the cooler substances of the cosmos, namely gas and dust. That makes ALMA a prime candidate for documenting the fascinating formations of planets and stars when they first emerge amidst clouds of gas.

Since going fully operational in 2013, it's become the largest ground-based astronomical project in the world, according to the European Southern Observatory, ALMA's primary operators.

So ALMA going offline is a distressing development, especially to the thousands of astronomers worldwide that rely on its observations and the some 300 experts working onsite. Getting it up and running is obviously a top priority, but the observatory said in a followup tweet that "it is not yet possible to estimate a date for a return to regular activities."

As of now, there's no information available on who the hackers were, or exactly how they conducted the attack. Their motivations, too, remain a mystery.

More on ALMA: Astronomers Think They Found the Youngest Planet in the Galaxy

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Hackers Just Took Down One of the World's Most Advanced Telescopes

Latest Feud

Another day, another Elon Musk feud on Twitter — except now, he's the owner of the social network, and he's beefing with a sitting member of Congress.

The whole thing started innocently enough earlier this week, when firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY, and better known by her initials, "AOC") subtweeted the website's new owner.

"Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that 'free speech' is actually a $8/mo subscription plan," the New York Democratic Socialist tweeted in a post that, upon Futurism's perusal, appeared to load only half the time.

Sweat Equity

Not one to be shown up, Musk later posted a screenshot of an AOC-branded sweatshirt from the congressperson's website, with its $58 price tag circled and an emoji belying the billionaire's alleged affront at the price.

In response, Ocasio-Cortez said she was proud her sweatshirts were made by union labor, and that the proceeds from their sales were going to fund educational support for needy kids. She later dug in further, noting that her account was "conveniently" not working and joking that Musk couldn't buy his way "out of insecurity."

Yo @elonmusk while I have your attention, why should people pay $8 just for their app to get bricked when they say something you don’t like?

This is what my app has looked like ever since my tweet upset you yesterday. What’s good? Doesn’t seem very free speechy to me pic.twitter.com/e3hcZ7T9up

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 3, 2022

Bricked

To be clear, any suggestion that Musk personally had anything to do with any Twitter glitches on AOC's part would seem ludicrously petty. But then again, this is a guy who once hired a private detective to investigate a random critic.

Occam's razor, though, suggests that it was probably AOC's mega-viral tweet that broke the site's notoriously dodgy infrastructure. Of course, that's not a ringing endorsement of the site that Musk just acquired for the colossal sum of $44 billion.

More on Twitter: Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos

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AOC Says Her Twitter Account Broke After She Made Fun of Elon Musk

You know that "research" going around saying humans are going to evolve to have hunchbacks and claws because of the way we use our smartphones? Though our posture could certainly use some work, you'll be glad to know that it's just lazy spam intended to juice search engine results.

Let's back up. Today the Daily Mail published a viral story about "how humans may look in the year 3000." Among its predictions: hunched backs, clawed hands, a second eyelid, a thicker skull and a smaller brain.

Sure, that's fascinating! The only problem? The Mail's only source is a post published a year ago by the renowned scientists at... uh... TollFreeForwarding.com, a site that sells, as its name suggests, virtual phone numbers.

If the idea that phone salespeople are purporting to be making predictions about human evolution didn't tip you off, this "research" doesn't seem very scientific at all. Instead, it more closely resembles what it actually is — a blog post written by some poor grunt, intended to get backlinks from sites like the Mail that'll juice TollFreeForwarding's position in search engine results.

To get those delicious backlinks, the top minds at TollFreeForwarding leveraged renders of a "future human" by a 3D model artist. The result of these efforts is "Mindy," a creepy-looking hunchback in black skinny jeans (which is how you can tell she's from a different era).

Grotesque model reveals what humans could look like in the year 3000 due to our reliance on technology

Full story: https://t.co/vQzyMZPNBv pic.twitter.com/vqBuYOBrcg

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) November 3, 2022

"To fully realize the impact everyday tech has on us, we sourced scientific research and expert opinion on the subject," the TollFreeForwarding post reads, "before working with a 3D designer to create a future human whose body has physically changed due to consistent use of smartphones, laptops, and other tech."

Its sources, though, are dubious. Its authority on spinal development, for instance, is a "health and wellness expert" at a site that sells massage lotion. His highest academic achievement? A business degree.

We could go on and on about TollFreeForwarding's dismal sourcing — some of which looks suspiciously like even more SEO spam for entirely different clients — but you get the idea.

It's probably not surprising that the this gambit for clicks took off among dingbats on Twitter. What is somewhat disappointing is that it ended up on StudyFinds, a generally reliable blog about academic research. This time, though, for inscrutable reasons it treated this egregious SEO spam as a legitimate scientific study.

The site's readers, though, were quick to call it out, leading to a comically enormous editor's note appended to the story.

"Our content is intended to stir debate and conversation, and we always encourage our readers to discuss why or why not they agree with the findings," it reads in part. "If you heavily disagree with a report — please debunk to your delight in the comments below."

You heard them! Get debunking, people.

More conspiracy theories: If You Think Joe Rogan Is Credible, This Bizarre Clip of Him Yelling at a Scientist Will Probably Change Your Mind

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That "Research" About How Smartphones Are Causing Deformed Human Bodies Is SEO Spam, You Idiots

You can see in the polling that everybody kind of hates the two major parties and increasingly dont like where the country is going, said Ryan Graham, the Libertarian candidate for lieutenant governor and a former party chairman. We are giving voice to an underrepresented voting bloc in America.

Brett Larson, from left, Nathan Wilson, executive director of the Libertarian Party of Georgia, and Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Allen Buckley watch election results on a computer during a Libertarian watch party in November 2016 at the Mellow Mushroom in Atlanta. (BRANDEN CAMP/SPECIAL)

Credit: Branden Camp

Brett Larson, from left, Nathan Wilson, executive director of the Libertarian Party of Georgia, and Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Allen Buckley watch election results on a computer during a Libertarian watch party in November 2016 at the Mellow Mushroom in Atlanta. (BRANDEN CAMP/SPECIAL)

Credit: Branden Camp

Credit: Branden Camp

There are 10 Libertarians on the ballot this November in statewide races, including for the U.S. Senate, governor and secretary of state.

But voters wont have a Libertarian choice in any congressional and legislative races because of Georgias ballot access laws, which are among the strictest in the nation. No third-party candidates have ever been able to run for the U.S. House under a 1943 state law that requires them to gather signatures from 5% of registered voters.

One of those Libertarian candidates, Angela Pence, tried to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in a solidly conservative northwest Georgia district. Pence fell far short of the 25,000 signatures she needed, gathering about 6,000.

I could have shook things up, but instead were going to have Marjorie again for another two years, Pence said. A Democrat isnt going to win in this district, but a Libertarian could have given her a run for her money. Its going to take enough people or the system getting so bad that theyre finally willing to change it.

The two big political parties have stymied Libertarians chances to field more candidates, leaving state law unchanged.

Libertarian challenges have also fallen short in court. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January reversed a ruling that would have lowered the number of signatures needed for a third-party candidate to get on the ballot. The Libertarian Party of Georgia appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court this week.

Both major-party candidates for governor, Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams, plan to try to get Libertarians to vote for them.

The stakes in this election could not be higher, Kemp campaign spokesman Tate Mitchell said. Gov. Kemp will continue reaching out to voters in every community and on every side of the aisle.

Abrams campaign spokesman Alex Floyd said, She understands how voters are frustrated with the current political status quo in Georgia and has spent her career advocating for Georgians right to participate in our democratic process so they can make their voices heard regardless of the candidate they support.

Stacey Abrams is focused on reaching out to voters all across our state to talk about how her plans work for them.

Neither candidate has announced plans to expand ballot access to third parties if elected.

Under Georgia law, third parties can nominate candidates for statewide offices as long as at least one of their candidates received votes from more than 1% of registered voters in the previous general election. But candidates for district races must meet the states 5% signature requirement.

Republicans and Democrats often shy away from proposals that could weaken their duopoly control of Georgia politics.

You dont want my opinion on it because Id probably get thrown out of the Republican Party, said state Rep. Steve Tarvin, a Republican from Chickamauga and chairman of the House Interstate Cooperation Committee. I would say we need easier ballot access, but I dont think just anybody can get on the ballot. I dont know what the answer is, but I dont think its 25,000 signatures.

House Minority Leader James Beverly said hed consider bills expanding ballot access if Democrats took over a majority of seats in the House, which is unlikely to happen this year.

Everyone who wishes to vote should be able to vote, and you should choose a candidate who best represents your interests. Having a third party isnt bad, said Beverly, a Democrat from Macon. I suspect Libertarians will be more inclined to vote for Democrats now because their basic philosophy upholds liberty as a core value.

Libertarian candidates know they dont stand much of a chance of winning this year, but they hope to make their case to voters and grow their base for the future.

The AJC poll showed 3% of likely voters support Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Chase Oliver and less than 1% backed gubernatorial candidate Shane Hazel. The highest-polling Libertarian candidates were Graham for lieutenant governor and Ted Metz for secretary of state, both at about 7%.

The poll of 902 likely voters was conducted July 14-22 and has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points. It was conducted by the University of Georgias School of Public and International Affairs.

Support for Libertarians tends to decline by the time elections arrive. In 2020, Libertarian candidates received between 1% and 3% of the vote.

But that can be enough in a tight race between Republicans and Democrats to throw the election into a runoff, as has happened several times in the past 30 years.

When you have third parties, those two major parties know that if you dont keep your promises, you do have options, said Elizabeth Melton Gallimore, executive director for the Libertarian Party of Georgia.

Libertarian candidates 2022

U.S. Senate: Chase Oliver

Governor: Shane Hazel

Lieutenant governor: Ryan Graham

Secretary of state: Ted Metz

Attorney General: Martin Cowen

Agriculture Commissioner: David Raudabaugh

Labor Commissioner: Emily Anderson

Public Service Commission District 2: Colin McKinney

The rest is here:

Libertarians see opening to gain ground in Georgia 2022 elections - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

(The Center Square) Michigans state primaries are in the rearview, but voters wont know the full slate of candidates for Nov. 8 for another few weeks.

Candidates for three of the states highest-ranking offices attorney general, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state are not determined by state primaries. Instead, candidates for these offices are determined by party conventions.

Additionally, candidates for Supreme Court, and the boards of Michigan State University, Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, and the state Board of Education are nominated at conventions.

The two major party conventions will be held later this month, with the Democrats meeting Aug. 20-21, and Republicans convening Aug. 27. The Libertarian Partys convention was held July 10.

According to Ballotpedia, Michigan is one of 43 states to elect an attorney general whereas seven states either allow appointment by the governor or legislature.

Incumbent AG Dana Nessel is running unopposed by other Democrat candidates. Joe McHugh was selected as the Libertarian Partys candidate at the partys convention last month. Three Republican candidates are vying to unseat Nessel: State Rep. Ryan Berman; attorney Matthew DePerno; and former state Rep. Tom Leonard, who squared off against Nessel in 2018.

The attorney general serves a term of four years with no term limits. For example, Frank Kelly was nicknamed the Eternal General because he served from 1961 to 1999, making him both the youngest elected at 36 and the oldest at 74.

The lieutenant governor field includes Democratic incumbent Garlin Gilchrist, Libertarian Brian Ellison and Green Party candidate Destiny Clayton. A Republican contender for the office has yet to be determined.

Incumbent Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, will be challenged by one of the four Republican candidates: Cindy Berry; Kristina Karamo; state Rep. Beau LaFave; or Cathleen Postmus. Additional challengers are Libertarian Gregory Stempfle and Green Party candidate Larry Hutchinson Jr.

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Election 2022: Primaries clear Michigan fields; more will come at conventions - The Center Square

There are several federal, state and local elections on the ballot for the upcoming general election see who is on the docket. File photo.

Unofficial results from Tuesday night show that Johnson County voter turnout hit more than 53% for the 2022 primary election.

Next up is the Nov. 8 general election, during which voters will decide who becomes the new chair of the Board of County Commissioners, as well as races for U.S. Senate, the Third District U.S. House of Representatives seat, a slew of local statehouse contests and some other statewide and local offices.

The Post put together the following list using Johnson County Election Offices unofficial final results and the Kansas Secretary of State unofficial Kansas election results of candidates who have either already filed for November or who won their primary Tuesday and are set to advance.

Continue reading here:

The primary is over Here's who you can expect to see on JoCo ballots in November - Shawnee Mission Post

The governments corner on the education market is a common enemy among liberty lovers. Throughout the country, government-funded public school systems are outdated and broken. They push values and ideologies that make parents uncomfortable, they systematically waste taxpayer dollars, and, worst of all, they fail to equip future generations with the tools they need to succeed in the wider world. Even basic literacy has been declining for decades, and children who are behind in reading by third grade may never catch up.

For these reasons, its easy to see why free marketeers such as Clemson professor C. Bradley Thompson, libertarian activist Jacob Hornberger, and Fox Newss Kennedy Montgomery have publicly embraced the idea that public schools should simply be abolished all at once.

But the chances of that happening are slim to none. Every state has a compulsory schooling statute, and eliminating these statutes would be arduous, especially when most parents are satisfied with their childrens education. Believe it or not, parental satisfaction in public schools has remained above 67% over the past two decades, and public school is still the first choice for 41% of parents today.

In short, it isnt politically viable to pursue an agenda of abolishing public education in our current moment (and it may never be so). If free marketeers wish to make a real impact on education in America, theyd do better to embrace educational freedom of all kinds.

Advocating incremental change to improve our K-12 education system by empowering parents with educational choices is a much more popular and effective strategy for freeing students from the failing government schooling apparatus. For example, education savings accounts, which let families use their childs education funds on private education expenses, including tutoring, special needs therapies, and private school tuition, poll at about 75% favorability among parents of various backgrounds.

Yet some libertarians make perfect the enemy of the good by opposing school choice since it does not meet their standards of market competition. Students dont have time for libertarian pipe dreams no matter how just and right they may be. Children and their families dont care that education savings accounts arent the perfect market solution. Theyll settle for the boosts to test scores, civic values, and educational attainment that all stem from the opportunity to choose an academic environment that suits them best.

Furthermore, free marketeers who oppose school choice havent looked deeply enough into their own philosophy. Adam Smith himself observed in The Wealth of Nations that for a very small [expense] the [public] can facilitate, can encourage, and can even impose upon almost the whole body of the people, the necessity of acquiring those most essential parts of education [to read, write, and account].

In essence, Smith believed that universal education was of the utmost importance, as it would offset the harmful effects of the division of labor. It was the responsibility of any prosperous society to ensure that workers and elites alike had access to at least some form of learning.

However, Smith was careful to note that education should be a partnership between public authorities and the market because if [the teacher] was wholly, or even principally paid by [the government], he would soon learn to neglect his business. Smith wasnt alone either. Other classical liberal or free market theorists such as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, Milton Friedman, David Friedman, and James Buchanan recognized the positive role government financing can play in promoting parental choice in education.

Liberty is rarely expanded in one fell swoop. It is a long march that takes time, effort, and persistence. Libertarians should continue to follow these theorists lead and unite with a public thats open to reforming a broken system. Libertarians could help students and their families by embracing incremental educational choice reform. The future of American education requires innovation, and educational freedom can improve the educational system immediately while also upholding free market ideals.

Garion Frankel (@FrankelGarion) is a graduate student at Texas A&M Universitys Bush School of Government and Public Service and a Young Voices contributor. Cooper Conway (@CooperConway1) is a national voices fellow at 50CAN and a Young Voices contributor.

Read more here:

School choice is the free market solution to failing public schools - Washington Examiner

Donnie Brown

NEW MADRID, Mo. Donnie Brown of New Madrid will be the next representative from the 149th District.

According to unofficial vote totals from the office of New Madrid County Clerk Amy Brown, Republican Brown received 1,255 votes in New Madrid County. His opponent on the Republican ticket Eric Garris had 396 votes. There were no Democrats seeking the office.

The 149th District also includes Mississippi County and a portion of Pemiscot County. Brown had 727 votes in Mississippi County and 310 votes in Pemiscot County for a total of 2,292. Garris had 331 votes in Mississippi County and 285 votes in Pemiscot County giving him 1,012 votes overall.

Brown offered his thanks following his win.

I had so many generous people that donated to the campaign, that walked with me, put signs up. I couldnt have done it without them, Brown said.

According to Brown, he will make jobs a priority when serving as the 149th District representative along with technical skills education to provide the work force to fill those jobs. Also he said he hopes to serve on the states budget committee.

Nearly 87 percent of the 1,972 voters casting ballots Tuesday opted for a Republican ballot. There were a total of 1,701 voters picking up the GOP primary ballot and 270 who selected a Democratic ballot. Only one person voted the Libertarian ticket and there were no Constitution Party voters in the county.

Overseeing her second election since appointed New Madrid County Clerk, Amy Brown said overall the election on Tuesday went smoothly.

With no locally contested primary races, turnout in New Madrid County was just under 18 percent, or 1,972 of the countys 11,030 registered voters.

There will be one contested county election in November.

Mary Hunter Starnes had 239 votes cast for her by Democrats for the office of New Madrid County treasurer. Republicans cast 1,226 votes for Renee Westmoreland Smith as their partys nominee for New Madrid County treasurer. They will face one another in the November election.

The remaining candidates for county office were without opposition in the August primary.

Listed on the Democratic ballot for county office was incumbent Recorder of Deeds Kim St. Mary Hall, who had 250 votes.

On the Republican ticket for county office were incumbents Josh Underwood, associate circuit judge, 1,304 votes; Mark Baker, presiding commissioner, 1,262 votes; Amy Brown, county clerk, 1,276 votes; Shannon Harris-Landers, circuit clerk, 1,259 votes; Andrew C. Lawson, prosecuting attorney, 1,259 votes; and Dewayne Nowlin, collector, 1,331 votes.

In Portageville, voters approved a proposal to issue combined waterworks and sewerage system revenue bonds for $7 million. The money will be used to acquire, construct, improve, extend and equip the citys water and sewage system. The principal and interest of the bonds will be paid through the operation of the system.

There were 195 votes in favor of the issue compared to 105 opposed.

For U.S. representative from the Eighth District, Republican incumbent Jason Smith received the nod from New Madrid County voters over challenger Jacob Turner. Smith had 1,405 votes to 186 votes for Turner.

In November, Smith will face Democrat Randi McCallian, who had 237 votes cast in his favor in New Madrid County and Libertarian Jim Higgins, who received 1 vote in Tuesdays county primary.

The top vote-getter from a long list of Republicans vying to be the partys nominee for U.S. senator in New Madrid County was Eric Greitens. The candidates and their vote totals in New Madrid County were: Patrick A. Lewis, 21; Eric Schmitt, 650; Billy Long, 7; Eric Greitens, 680; Bernie Mowinski, 3; C.W. Gardner, 2; Deshon Porter, 4; Vicky Hartzler, 240; Dave Sims, 2: Mark McCloskey, 14: Eric McElroy, 2; Dennis Lee Chilton, 0: Robert Allen, 2; Dave Schatz, 1; Hartford Tunnell, 1; Kevin C. Schepers, 1; Rickey Joiner, 1: Robert Olson, 2; Russel Pealer Breyfogle Jr., 2; Darrell Leon McClanahan III, 1: and Curtis D. Vaughn, 3.

New Madrid County residents who picked up a Democratic ballot picked Trudy Bush Valentine as their candidate for U.S. senator. The vote tally was as follows: Lewis Rolen, 26: Gena Ross, 18; Carla Coffee Wright, 20; Josh Shipp, 9; Spencer Toder, 11; Lucas Kunce, 60; Jewel Kelly, 12; Clarence (Clay) Taylor, 16: Pat Kelly, 16: Valentine, 62: and Ronald (Ron) William Harris, 7.

Jonathan Dine, the Libertarian Party candidate, garnered 1 vote and no votes were cast for Paul Venable, the Constitution Party candidate for U.S. senator.

For state auditor on the Republican ticket, New Madrid County residents opted for Scott Fitzpatrick, who received 868 votes over David Gregory, who had 569 votes. Alan Green, who was the sole Democrat on the ballot for state auditor, polled 224 votes and John A. Hartwig Jr., the Libertarian Party candidate, had 1 vote.

Read more:

Local News: Donnie Brown elected as 149th representative (8/2/22) | Standard Democrat - Standard-Democrat

Hey,

I set out to write this new effort to launch a third party and then, a few hundred words in, I started putting out a cigar on my face just to remind myself Im alive. So, Im starting over.

Dont get me wrong, Id be delighted to see a third party emerge that could send either the GOP or the Democrats the way of the Whigs. Its just that the topic has been so exhaustingly chewed-over you could drink it with a straw. So let me at least try to come at it from a different angle.

First, I do think that conditions have not been better in my lifetime for a third party to emerge.

Think of it like a man with three buttocks. No, wait, dont do that.

Think of it like our national forests, where bears continue to defecate with libertarian impunity. Weve spent a century suppressing natural fires to the point that theres an enormous amount of fuel lying around, making a much bigger fire inevitable.

More here:

Discontent Is Never Enough - by Jonah Goldberg - The G-File - The Dispatch

What is the libertarian position on abortion? The answer is not so simple. Abortion is a divisive issue in pro-liberty circles: some are staunchly pro-choice while others are staunchly pro-life. Yet, the various libertarian positions on abortion follow a similar moral logic.

So why are some people pro-choice? The answer is actually very simple: they believe that the fetus in the womb is not yet an independent human life and thus the mother has the right to abort the fetus because it is an issue of her bodily autonomy.

And why are some people pro-life? Again the answer is simple; they believe that the fetus is a living human being with its own rights, thus aborting the fetus is a violation of the babys bodily autonomy as it results in the death of a living being against its will.

But many people reject the fact that this is the dichotomy and instead make it a personal issue by demonizing the other side. Those on the pro-choice side are often demonized as baby killers, satanists, murderers, etc., while those on the pro-life side are often labeled misogynists, sexists, authoritarians, etc.

But what we must understand is that the vast majority of people on both sides have good intentions. They do not want to murder or control someones body. Most people on both sides actually want basic human rights such as the right to life and the right to control their own bodies and make their own decisions.

This is also the reason why libertarianism is torn on the subject of abortion. Both pro-choice and pro-life libertarians believe their position is in support of liberty. While it may seem like both sides have nothing in common, they do have one very important thing in common, they are both pro-liberty.

And in reality we need more people that are pro-liberty. While many on the right and left often use religion or other personal views to support or oppose the right to abortion, libertarians dont, they have a simple goal, libertarians want everyone to have the freedom to make their own decisions, libertarians believe that every individual is entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

If science is able to prove that the fetus is not a living being, the libertarian position would be pro-choice. But if science is able to prove that the fetus is a living being, the libertarian position would be pro-life because libertarians want to protect life, liberty, and bodily autonomy.

And that is the moral and logical position.

Libertarians do not wish to use religious belief or personal views to control other people, Instead, libertarians want to know the truth and act according to facts and maximize liberty for all.

If the libertarian approach to abortion is applied on other issues, we would be able to solve our problems much better.

We can create a freer, more advanced and more just society by maximizing liberty and pursuing the truth.

If life does not begin in the womb, then abortion is justified, if life does begin in the womb, then abortion is wrong. This is the pro-liberty view. You have a right to life and bodily autonomy; libertarians want to defend your rights. They do not want to spread their religion, nor demonize anyone and cause division. Libertarians are pro-choice, pro-life but most importantly pro-truth and pro-liberty.

For more content on the various schools of thought within classical liberalism, be sure to check out our video playlist by clicking on the button below.

This piece solely expresses the opinion of the author and not necessarily the organization as a whole. Students For Liberty is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions.

Guest Author,

Swapnarka Arnan is a student who is interested in Economics, Political Economics, History, International Relations and Human rights. He loves to read, his favourites include Anthem by Ayn Rand, Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman and Two Treatises of Government by John Locke.

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The libertarian position on abortion - Learn Liberty

The Team Libertarian Report from the National Constitution Center's "Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy" is now available for free download on SSRN. I coauthored the report with Clark Neily and Walter Olson (both of the Cato Institute). Here is the abstract:

American democracy faces multiple serious challenges. In the immediate future, we must establish institutional safeguards to prevent the kind of negation of election results attempted by Donald Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. In the medium-to-long run, more must be done to empower people to be able to make meaningful choices about the policies they live under. Ballot-box voting has great value. But it is not enough to ensure genuine political freedom. The latter requires enhancements to both "voice" and "exit" rights. We need to simultaneously increase citizens' ability to exercise voice within political institutions, and give them more and better exit options.

This report takes on all three challenges. We propose a variety of reforms that can address immediate short-term threats to democracy, while also increasing citizen empowerment in the long run.

Part I outlines reforms that can safeguard the electoral process against attempts at reversal, while also curbing presidential powers that could be abused in ways that undermine democracy. Among the most urgently needed reforms are new constraints on presidential powers under vaguely worded emergency statutes. These can too easily be manipulated by an unscrupulous administration in ways that could hobble democracy. It is also essential to reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887 in order to definitively preclude the sort of effort to overturn an election that then-President Trump engaged in after his defeat in 2020. In addition, we propose ways to incentivize electoral losers to concede defeat, rather than engage in bogus accusations of fraud and voter suppression, and to gradually restore public trust in the electoral system.

Part II describes how a number of serious flaws in the democratic process can be alleviated by expanding people's opportunities to "vote with their feet." Under conventional ballot-box voting, individual citizens usually have almost no chance of influencing the outcome. They also have strong perverse incentives to be "rationally ignorant" about the issues they vote on, and to process political information in a highly biased way.

Expanded foot voting rights can help alleviate these problems. People can vote with their feet, choosing what jurisdiction to live in within a federal system, and also through making decisions in the private sector. Relative to ballot box voters, foot voters have a much higher chance of making a decisive choice, and therefore much stronger incentives to become well-informed. Expanded foot voting can also help alleviate the dangerous polarization that has gradually poisoned our political system. Much can be done to expand foot voting opportunities in both the public and private sector by breaking down barriers to migration, such as exclusionary zoning. Foot voting can also be facilitated through greater decentralization of political power, which would reduce the incidence of one-size-fits-all federal policies from which there is no exit, short of leaving the country entirely.

Finally, Part III outlines ways in which ordinary citizens can be empowered to exercise greater "voice" in their dealings with the criminal justice system, particularly through reviving the institution of the citizen jury. Since the Founding and before, jury trials have been understood as an important tool of popular participation in government. Sadly, in the modern criminal justice system, the constitutionally prescribed role of juries in resolving criminal charges has been almost entirely displaced by so-called plea bargaining. As a result, citizen-jurors no longer exercise influence over those powers of government that directly impact the lives and liberty of the people more than most others. We propose multiple reforms that can help restore juries to their proper role in the criminal justice system.

Even if adopted in combination, our proposed reforms would not cure all the ills that afflict American democracy. But they can do much to shore it up against threats, and empower Americans to exercise greater control over the government policies they live under.

The NCC project also includes a Team Conservative report (coauthored by team leader Sarah Isgur, David French, and Jonah Goldberg, all affiliated with The Dispatch), and a Team Progressive report (coauthored by prominent election law scholars Edward Foley and Franita Tolson). I offered some thoughts in the similarities and differences between the three reports here.

Read more from the original source:

Team Libertarian Report from National Constitution Center "Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy" Project Now Available on SSRN - Reason

This is an opinion editorial by Joe Moffett, a contributor at Bitcoin Magazine.

The Democrat and Republican parties have been wielding social movements as weapons in a culture war. Is it time the Libertarian Party wields the Bitcoin hammer in the battle against the Federal Reserve?

In the cypherpunk mailing list, Satoshi Nakamoto had a back-and-forth exchange with an unknown cryptographer:

You will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography. Unknown cryptographer

Yes, but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years.

Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own. Satoshi Nakamoto

Between Nakamotos emails, the Bitcoin white paper and the source code, there was probably nothing they said with a more aloof tone than this quote. I have to imagine they understood the economic ramifications that would come with developing such a system and this was likely why they remained anonymous. Then again, maybe they were blissfully unaware that there is no more dangerous enemy to the power of the state than economically free people.

Many early adopters of bitcoin were more likely software and tech gurus than they were economists or libertarians, but this comment by Nakamoto was profoundly libertarian. After all, if the government can wage war on poverty, drugs, crime and terror, why cant libertarians and Bitcoiners alike wage war on money printing? Its hard to overstate the phrasing here: [W]e can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom.

The Libertarian Party, under new management, recognizes just how important Bitcoin is in this battle. Angela McArdle, chair of the Libertarian National Committee, embraces the importance of bitcoins scarcity, self-sovereignty, and censorship resistance. On a phone interview, McArdle shared:

Inflation is being reported at 8.6%, but if you fill up the gas in your car, you know that it must be higher than that. No one knows the real rate of inflation, but what I do know is you cannot print more bitcoin. You can print dollars perpetually until its worthless like Venezuela, but you cant print more bitcoin.

Sure, the Libertarian Party is using the language, Declare your independence from the Fed, in a metaphorical way, but we can never forget that our country was founded on a very real Declaration of Independence that led to something very tangible.

We, the members of the Libertarian Party, challenge the cult of the omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual. The Libertarian Partys Statement of Principles

Today more than ever, the enforcement tool of the so-called omnipotent state and those in power is their monetary policy. The monopolization of fiat currency and the burden of taxes have become weapons of the state to empower Washington and disenfranchise the people. Libertarians and Austrian economists have been sounding the alarms for decades, but as Ron Paul has attributed to George Orwell, Truth is treason in the empire of lies.

At a certain point however, the truth comes out.

This inflation was either due to incompetence or deliberate debasing of the U.S. dollar, but Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve Board, admitted that he doesnt understand basic economics. I would have preferred him to come out and admit he lied.

Our favorite Bitcoiner, Peter Gold Schiff, along with every Austrian economist, pointed out how inflation works when the money printer started in March 2020 (when Schiff comes to the same realization as Bitcoiners, we will welcome him with open arms),

So here we are, July Fourth is coming up and we, the people, are in a quandary. Our leaders lie, our media covers for them, our financial institutions are corrupt and consent of the governed sounds more like a brand slogan than the foundation of our government.

So what options do we have?

Fix the money, fix the world.

Bitcoin is the greatest peaceful revolution the world may ever know. Back to that seemingly innocuous Nakamoto quote, [W]e can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years. The arms race they must be referring to is power political and economic of governments versus economic power in the hands of individuals. Maybe its time to turn Rosie the Riveter into Dolores the Diamond Hands.

Libertarians and Bitcoiners are allies in the fight for sound monetary policy. Speaking of a Bitcoiner and Libertarian alliance, McArdle said, Its important for us to build a parallel economy, so in the event the dollar collapses completely, or some kind of financial crash, we have something to shift over to laterally. The more people that have Bitcoin and understand it, the better.

Nakamoto had this revelation when they said, Its very attractive to the libertarian viewpoint if we can explain it properly. Im better with code than with words though. Clearly, they werent wrong. Nakamotos creation spawned a movement without a speech or catchy slogan, just code and believers. Some of us libertarians may have been a bit late to bitcoin, myself included, but the troops are coming.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more King Henry in Henry V by William Shakespeare

The Libertarian Party is hosting a livestream event at 2:00PM EST on July 3, 2022. Join the call and declare your independence from the Fed.

Declare your independence from the Fed

Join the Libertarian Chair Angela McArdle and Vice Chair Joshua Smith July 3 at 2:00 PM EST with the Bitcoin experts Saifedean Ammous, Marty Bent, Stephan Livera, Jameson Lopp and Guy Swann.

Think about doing three things in preparation for Independence Day:

I want you to buy bitcoin.

This is a guest post by Joe Moffett. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

See the rest here:

We Need To Declare Our Independence From The Federal Reserve - Bitcoin Magazine

LAWRENCE Kansas advocacy groups and Democrats are working to broaden outreach to unaffiliated and young voters this summer to get Kansans to vote against the anti-abortion constitutional amendment on the Aug. 2 ballot.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the League of Women Voters of Kansas and the Kansas Democratic party have seen an increased interest in voting on the amendment. Rep. Christina Haswood, a Lawrence Democrat and member of the Navajo Nation, said anti-abortion policies disproportionately affect American Indians and is canvassing to encourage voter turnout.

Martha Pint, co-president of League of Women Voters of Kansas, and Rebecca Perkins, Dickinson County Democratic chairwoman, say they are confronting the challenges created by legislators who placed the constitutional amendment on the primary ballot in an attempt to favor passage of the amendment. The primary is otherwise closed to independent voters, and few Democrats typically participate in comparison to Republicans.

There is this huge hurdle that we have to overcome, to get it out there, to let people know you can vote, you just have to be registered, you dont have to affiliate with any party to vote on this issue, Pint said. Now, if you want to vote on the candidates, different story. But on this issue, be registered and vote.

Pint said the League of Women Voters Kansas found that some counties, including Sedgwick and Wyandotte, offer applications for advanced mail-in ballots that only list Republican and Democrat as options for party affiliation. Pint said this may mislead some unaffiliated voters to believe they cant vote on Aug. 2.

Pint said the league brought this issue to the attention of officials. Sedgwick County adjusted its application for advance mail-in ballots to include unaffiliated and Libertarian as options. Wyandotte Countys advance mail-in ballot has not changed.

According to the Kansas Secretary of States Office, as of April, 44.3% of registered voters in Kansas identify as Republican, 28.8% identify as unaffiliated, 25.7% identify as Democrat, and 1.1% identify as Libertarian.

Perkins said her favorite story while handing out Vote No yard signs was when she went to deliver a sign to a rural home in Dickinson County. She said she approached a man in a pickup truck who told her he had been waiting for the signs to arrive.

And they said, I am probably the only Republican-slash-Libertarian youll find voting no on this question. And I said, You will find you are far from the only Republican voting no, Perkins said.

The amendment vote will be the first referendum in the U.S. pertaining to abortion rights following the U.S. Supreme Courts overturn of Roe v. Wade. Those who vote yes support amending the Kansas Constitution to make it clear that women have no right to terminate a pregnancy. Those who vote no support a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in 2019 that determined the state constitutions right to bodily autonomy applies to a womans decision to terminate a pregnancy.

Perkins said she has seen a growing interest in voting no on the amendment from people in both political parties, men and women, and an uptick in the number of younger people participating in the Democratic Party in Dickinson county.

According to a survey conducted by The Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University, 60% of Kansans believe abortion should not be completely illegal in Kansas. The survey found 50.5% of respondents agree the Kansas government should not regulate the circumstances under which women can receive an abortion, while 25.4% believe the opposite.

You know, there was a lot of naivete on the part of the Kansas legislative Republican leaders thinking that they could just get their way by putting this on a primary and thinking politics as usual would prevail, Perkins said. I think the overturning of Roe upends politics as we know it.

Pint and Perkins said the demand for Vote No yard signs has increased in both the Wichita and Dickinson county areas. Both also said theyve seen an increase in the number of young people who are participating.

Pint said she was among 600 others at the U.S. League of Women Voters biennial convention in Denver when the decision ending Roe was issued.

You want to talk about some upset women, Pint said. Oh my goodness, you couldnt have asked for a better place to be, and you couldnt have asked for a worse place to be, because we just all felt so upset and angry and defeated.

Pint said convention goers joined a march for abortion rights in Denver.

Haswood said on the Kansas Reflector podcast she is p***ed about the possibility of Kansans losing reproductive rights. Because Haswood is running unopposed she said she is able to partially shift her campaign focus to voter turnout for the amendment.

She also expressed concern for American Indians who will be affected if Kansans lose their right to choose an abortion.

You know, its not going to stop abortions, only safe abortions, Haswood said. And thinking about my Indigenous folks, we have one of the highest rates of maternal mortality, morbidity, preeclampsia, you know, we can go down the list on all that.

American Indian and non-Hispanic Black women are approximately three times more likely than white women to die of pregnancy-related issues, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Haswood said the Hyde Amendment has affected American Indians rights and access to abortions.

The Hyde Amendment was passed by Congress in 1976 and forbids federal Medicaid funding to be used for abortion services, while some exceptions were added in 1993. Indian Health Services regulations follow the Hyde Amendment.

According to the National Library of Medicine, many American Indian women living in the U.S. rely on IHS facilities for reproductive health services. Data suggests the majority of these facilities lack resources to provide abortions under any circumstances.

According to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, in 2018 Medicaid covered 1.8 million American Indian and Alaskan Native people. Of American Indian and Alaskan Native adults under the age of 65, 36% were covered by Medicaid in 2018. Of all adults in the United States, 22% are covered by Medicaid.

Data shows that 46% of American Indian women give birth to their first child before the age of 20.

Haswood said reproduction and sex education was interwoven in American Indian creation stories, until the colonization of American Indian land when American Indian women began to be sexualized.

She said American Indians historically practiced family planning and used herbal medicines for abortions.

For me, Im just so lucky to have my summer interns who are all as angry as I am, Haswood said. We are training folks who want to volunteer and make this voter engagement because that is what the other side is doing, and theyve been doing it since Roe v. Wade was (put) in place. So, now we have to help folks have voting plans.

The deadline to register for the primary election is July 12. Starting July 13, advance ballots will be mailed and in-person voting opens.

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Kansas abortion rights advocates and Democrats work to boost voter turnout - Kansas Reflector