An election integrity group has filed motions to assist three states that have been hit with anti-voter ID lawsuits.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation, an election group headed by attorney J. Christian Adams, is seeking to appear alongside the states in court to defend their laws. The group seeks to “provide an understanding of this national strategy and the national implications” of the lawsuits in a way “any singular defendant is unlikely to provide.”

The foundation says the voter ID lawsuits are a coordinated national attack on integrity that can change the outcome of elections.

Lawsuits targeting the three states are being led by Hillary Clinton’s top campaign lawyer and are fueled with money from liberal billionaire George Soros. Many anticipate that the effort will expand to other states as the 2016 elections approach.

“These three coordinated national attacks on election integrity were filed because partisan interests realize process rules can change election outcomes,” Adams said. “Some political candidates prefer elections with dirty rolls and unverified individuals casting ballots at the same time they register to vote. But most Americans do not.”

The motions filed by the group seek to “prevent treasured civil rights statutes such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 from being turned into partisan weapons to leverage federal power over state elections merely to advantage one political party and disadvantage another.”

Adams hopes to assist the states against the lawsuits that were launched in Ohio this past May and in Wisconsin and Virginia in June

Marc Elias, a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm Perkins Coie and a top campaign lawyer for Hillary Clinton, filed the lawsuits against the three states. The anti-voter ID challenges are backed with millions of dollars from George Soros.

Elias first contemplated taking action against multiple states with voter identification laws in January 2014. When Soros learned of what Elias had planned, the liberal billionaire put $5 million behind the efforts.

“We hope to see these unfair laws, which often disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society, repealed,” Soros told the New York Times at the time.

Elias is working independently on the lawsuits although they are supported by the Clinton campaign. The Washington Free Beacon previously sought comment from both Elias and Soros’s press office on their multi-state effort challenging the laws. Neither returned the inquiries.

“This is a national strategy to affect the outcome of a national election,” Adams told the Free Beacon.

In June, as the lawsuit submissions were underway, Clinton began publicly stepping up her attack on voter identification laws.

During a June 4 speech at historically black Texas Southern University, Clinton called on Republicans to stop “fear-mongering” over a “phantom epidemic” of election fraud.

“I call on Republicans at all levels of government with all manner of ambition to stop fear-mongering about a phantom epidemic of election fraud and start explaining why they’re so scared of letting citizens have their say,” Clinton said during her speech to a half-empty arena at the university.

Clinton also called for a universal, automatic voter registration system for 18-year-olds and expressed her support for extending early voting up to 20 days before an election.

As of March 25, 2015, a total of 34 states have passed voter identification laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Of the 34 states, 32 currently have laws that are enforced.

Elias and Soros are expected to bring additional lawsuits in other states as part of their national campaign.

Soros and Hillary and Money

Soros helps pro-Clinton Super PACs to $24 million haul

Politico in July: A trio of pro-Hillary Clinton groups raised more than $24 million in the first half of the year, including $2 million each from billionaires George Soros and Haim Saban, POLITICO has learned.

Priorities USA Action, a super PAC dedicated to airing ads supporting Clinton and attacking her opponents, revealed Thursday that it raised $15.6 million during the first half of the year, including $2 million from Hollywood mogul Saban and $1 million from financier Soros.

American Bridge 21st Century, an opposition research super PAC founded by Clinton enforcer David Brock, raised $7.7 million — including $1 million from Soros — an official with the group said Wednesday. A linked non-profit group called American Bridge 21st Century Foundation – which is not required to disclose its donors – raised an additional $1 million, the official said.

The super PAC numbers are an encouraging development for Clinton, whose campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination announced Wednesday that it had raised $45 million during her first three months in the race.

Clinton is a fundraiser par excellence, and her ability to raise money for her own campaign was never in doubt.

The fundraising ability of the pro-Clinton super PACs, however, was less clear.

Clinton’s allies early this year had privately fretted that supportive super PACs were struggling to raise money amidst internecine squabbling and reluctance among some of the Democratic Party’s wealthiest backers.

But the early fundraising details from Priorities and American Bridge — which will be fleshed out more completely in mandatory reports due at the Federal Election Commission before a July 15 deadline — suggest some of the party’s core mega-donors are stepping up to the plate.

According to sources in Democratic finance ciricles, Priorities collected big checks from Democratic Hollywood stalwarts including DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and producer J.J. Abrams and his wife Katie McGrath, and cause donors like California investor Herb Sandler and Boston philanthropist Barbara Lee. It got some organized labor cash as well, with a check coming from the union representing plumbers and pipefitters.

Soros’s checks in particular send an important signal. The Hungarian-born investor is one of the few Democratic donors who has shown a willingness to drop eight-figures in an election cycle, having donated more than $20 million in 2004 to groups that tried to oust then-President George W. Bush. After the failure of that effort, Soros dialed back his big-money political spending, but he is still closely watched by other rich Democrats as a bellwether donor.

An adviser to Soros said his boss also gave $1 million this year to America Votes, a liberal non-profit group that mobilizes voters around issue and election campaigns. But Soros has not decided how much to donate overall in 2016, or how to divvy up his big political checks among groups, the adviser said.

 David Brock

 Rodell Millineau

The $7.7-million super PAC haul for American Bridge — which has played a key role in defending Clinton against GOP attacks — marks its largest six-month fundraising haul since the group was formed in 2011. The cash came from 55 donors, for an average contribution of $140,000, and it came at an important time in the preliminary stages of the big-money cash race.

Guy Cecil, Priorities’ chief strategist, wrote supporters Thursday morning stressing the importance of raising big money more than six months before the first nominating contests.

“It may seem early to many of us, but with the amount of money pouring in from the far right wing, the time has come for our side to kick things into high gear,” Cecil wrote in an email first reported by The New York Times. “We have a lot of work to do in the months ahead, but we are starting to see some real momentum.”

The super PACs supporting Clinton’s prospective GOP rivals like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas are raking in huge checks or commitments from their side’s billionaires. New York hedge fund manager Bob Mercer is the leading backer behind a network of pro-Cruz super PACs that boasted of raising $31 million while Miami businessman Norman Braman is considering donating as much as $25 million to a super PAC backing Rubio. Mega-donor cultivation is shaping up an essential aspect of the 2016 presidential campaign because super PACs have begun assuming some of the roles traditionally played by campaigns.

Unlike campaigns – which are limited to maximum donations of $5,400 this election cycle – super PACs can accept checks of unlimited amounts, thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling and a subsequent lower court decision that struck down key political spending restrictions.

While super PACs are still barred from coordinating their spending strategies with the campaigns they’re trying to help, operatives in recent years have pioneered techniques for ensuring complementary efforts.

American Bridge 21st Century, for instance, in 2013 launched a project called Correct the Record, that has been filling many of the functions of a traditional campaign rapid-response operation, providing real-time push-back against GOP attacks on its website and via email for use by Clinton’s defenders. The group became a stand-alone super PAC in May, splitting off from American Bridge, and hinting at plans to work even more closely with Clinton’s campaign.
Note: American Bridge is one of the most left-wing political action committees on record as noted by Open Secrets.org. The treasurer of American Bridge is Rodell Mollineau, who previously worked for the Obama re-election campaign. The largest mission of American Bridge is to hire trackers, these are boots on the ground armies that follow all republican politicians, whether they be governors, congress-people, senators or even state house legislators. They report back their surveillance reports often twisting actual words, events and objectives. This nefarious political action committee is well known by the republicans where they often put out red-alerts and you can read more here.