“Kobach defends suspended voter list; study shows 59 percent on list are eligible to vote”
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports. … Continue reading
Category Archives: The Voting Wars
Thumbprint As an Alternative to Voter ID for Voting?
I suggest it in The Voting Wars as a way to get around people losing their ids—as part of a bigger package including universal voter registration conducted by the federal government. Here’s a more limited proposal in that direction, and … Continue reading
“How to Protect the Vote: Democrats face significant obstacles in the fight to strengthen voting rights”
Ari Berman writes for The Nation. … Continue reading
“The Truth About Voter ID Laws”
Interesting Chicago Tribune editorial. … Continue reading
“Dave Helling: The ballot has become another partisan battleground”
Kansas City Star: Last fall, the courts repeatedly shot down Kobach’s attempt to keep Democrat Chad Taylor on the U.S. Senate ballot. (“The law is very clear,” Kobach said at the time. Apparently, not clear enough.) He pushed through a … Continue reading
“Conservatives’ wish list for GOP retreat includes citizenship, voting bills”
Politico: The list also includes a bill King introduced in the last Congress that would change the rules determining who is considered a U.S. citizen, plus legislation from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas that would require a “proof of citizenship” … Continue reading
“Husted to seek review of 2014 election”
AP reports from Ohio. … Continue reading
“Supreme Court could rule on Wisconsin voter ID law”
Zack Roth reports for MSNBC. … Continue reading
“Challenge to Wisconsin Voter ID Law Heads to Supreme Court”
Tony Mauro reports for BLT. … Continue reading
Breaking: Challengers to Wisconsin Voter ID Law Seek Supreme Court Review
You can find the just-filed cert. petition at this link. The petition raises both a constitutional equal protection challenge and a challenge under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. I think there is a pretty good chance the Supreme … Continue reading
Chapin on Hasen on The Purcell Principle
Here: Hasen’s second point – that the Court should explain itself eventually in election law cases, even if opinions are not possible right away – is the most important part of the article, in my opinion. I’m already on record … Continue reading
“Year-End Round Up on Elections and Voting Rights”
Goldfeder and Perez. … Continue reading
“Reining in the Purcell Principle”
I have posted this draft on SSRN (for a March symposium on voting rights for the Florida State University Law Review). Here is the abstract: About a month before the 2014 election, the United States Supreme Court issued a series of … Continue reading
“Republicans eye rewrite of campaign finance laws, other election changes”
The Wisconsin State Journal reports. … Continue reading
“Evidence That the Jim Crow Era Endures for Older Black Voters in the South”
NYT’s the Upshot reports. … Continue reading
North Carolina Seeks Supreme Court Review in Voting Case
Regular ELB readers will recall that there is a major voting rights lawsuit against the State of North Carolina for controversial changes in voting rules passed by the Republican-dominated state legislature last year. Plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction to block … Continue reading
Petition for Rehearing Denied in Kobach v. EAC: Next Stop SCOTUS?
Yesterday [corrected] the 10th Circuit panel which decided the Kobach v. EAC case issued this one line order denying rehearing. Kansas and Arizona did not seek rehearing en banc, so the only place to go now is SCOTUS for further … Continue reading
“The Voter Suppression Myth Takes Another Hit; Memo to critics of North Carolina’s election-law reforms: Black midterm turnout has increased”
Robert Popper WSJ oped. … Continue reading
“Voter registration group sees hurdle”
San Antonio Express News: By Patrick Svitek, Austin BureauDecember 24, 2014 A decades-old part of Texas’ election code is receiving new attention as Democrats look to chart a path forward and maintain their ranks of volunteers qualified to register voters. … Continue reading
‘Vote still out on impact of NC’s new election law on turnout”
Important report in the Charlotte Observer. … Continue reading
“Obama Nominee to Elections Panel Helped Dem Group Skirt Massive IRS Fine”
The Washington Free Beacon reports. … Continue reading
“Kansas and Arizona Request Rehearing in Tenth Circuit in Lawsuit Over Federal Voter Registration Forms” [corrected]
BAN reports. [An earlier version, relying on the BAN report, said that rehearing was being sought en banc. It is a request for a panel rehearing.] … Continue reading
True the Vote Calls EAC Nominee Matthew Butler a “Book Burner”
“Wisconsin’s partisans want to kill their own watchdog — the Government Accountability Board”
Andrea Kaminski oped in Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. (h/t James Rowen) … Continue reading
“Obama Gives Voter ID Laws a Boost”
Francis Barry for Bloomberg View: “President Barack Obama’s decision to grant temporary legal status to five million immigrants could end up haunting Democrats’ voter registration efforts, by fueling the Republican push for voter registration laws requiring proof of citizenship.” … Continue reading
Breaking: Senate Confirms 3 Commissioners to the Election Assistance Commission
After years of the United States Election Assistance Commission having NO commissioners, tonight in a flurry of activity the Senate confirmed the following three members of the EAC: Thomas Hicks, Matthew Masterson, and Christy McCormick. These are two Republican-chosen commissioners … Continue reading
“Assembly Speaker Says He’s ‘Open’ To Replacing GAB With Partisan Elections Board”
The latest from Wisconsin. … Continue reading
Brad Blog v. Bloomberg View on Voter ID Laws’ Effects on Turnout
Here. … Continue reading
“Voting case mirrors national struggle”
Must-read AJC deep dive into a local Georgia voting controversy. … Continue reading
“Assessing the Impact of Voter Suppression Laws in the 2014 Midterms”
Ben Jealous and Ryan Haygood have this op-ed in the Root regarding this report from the Center for American Progress, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund Inc., and the Southern Elections Foundation. See also this story discussing the report’s findings on … Continue reading
Another OpEd Suggesting Voter ID Affected Election Outcomes in 2014
Benjamin Jealous and Ryan Haygood: While the Court’s failure to block the law may have left over a million people unable to vote, the Texas Governor’s race was decided by 954,306 votes. Similarly, this recent surge in voter suppression could … Continue reading
“Quit Blaming Low Turnout on Voter ID”
Francis Barry writes for Bloomberg View. As with those who too easily claim voter id laws affect turnout, this analysis too easily claims it doesn’t. There are many factors which go into turnout. A competitive Senate race in one state … Continue reading
Brennan Center’s Wendy Weiser Responds to Nate Cohn/NYT on Voter ID Laws
See this letter to the editor. … Continue reading
Lesson for Democrats: Don’t Joke About Voter Fraud
Fox Nation on a video allegedly of the father of a Landrieu staff member. … Continue reading
“Schultz looks ahead to serving as county attorney”
AP: “After four tumultuous years adamantly pursuing voter fraud and lobbying for voter identification, Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz is preparing to leave office with no regrets and a determination to prosecute criminals of another kind.” … Continue reading
“North Carolina widow fulfills husband’s dying wish, is charged with voter fraud”
NYDN: “When she was confronted about the [absentee] vote, she said it was her husband’s last dying wish to vote on the Republican ticket, but he died a few months before he was able.” … Continue reading
“Studies Back Up That Few Elections Are Swung by Voter ID Laws”
Nate Cohn for NYT’s The UpShot: Last week, I wrote an article arguing that voter ID laws don’t swing many elections. This week, the Brennan Center for Justice says I have it “wrong” on voter ID. Yet, oddly, it’s hard … Continue reading
“Plaintiffs Seek Expedited Appeal in Texas Voter ID Case to Restore Right to Vote for Hundreds of Thousands in 2015 Elections”
Press release: Today, attorneys at the Campaign Legal Center, who serve as co-counsel for plaintiffs Congressman Marc Veasey and LULAC, filed a motion to expedite a pending appeal in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Veasey v. Perry—the challenge … Continue reading
“Ballot Bedlam”
Sam Issacharoff has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In both law and public scrutiny, renewed attention is being given to the simple act of casting a ballot. At a time when the formal act of voting … Continue reading
“Almost 800 cast provisional ballots because of voter ID law”
News from Va. … Continue reading
‘Alabama’s photo voter ID law declared a success; not everyone agrees”
AL.com reports. … Continue reading
Democracy North Carolina Responds to My Post on Its New Report
Following up on my post from this morning, linking to Democracy NC’s new report, I received the following response via email: The 30K to 50K estimate is not based on assuming an equal number of voters who used same-day registration … Continue reading
“Making Ohio’s Electoral System a National Model”
Dec. 10 Bipartisan Policy Institute event at Ohio State: Ohio is at the epicenter of electoral policy discussions in the United States. Over the next two years, Ohio will again engage in debates about redistricting reform, early voting, voter registration and … Continue reading
Democracy NC Claims Up to 50,000 Voters “Silenced” by New Voting Restrictions
See this release from Democracy North Carolina. I’m quite skeptical of the 50,000 figure, based upon how the group explains part of its calculations: How many voters were blocked by the new law? The number easily exceeds 30,000 and likely reaches 50,000, … Continue reading
“Separating Fact from Fiction on Voter ID Statistics”
Brennan Center responds to @Nate_Cohn: In “Why Voter ID Laws Don’t Swing Many Elections,” Nate Cohn understates the impact of restrictive voting laws. Yes, it is likely rare for an election to be close enough for voter ID laws to … Continue reading
True the Vote Fundraising Appeal Predicts Noncitizen Voting, Citizens Turned into “Subjects”
Sigh (and the reference to “ammunition” is particularly disturbing): URGENT TRUE THE VOTE NEEDS YOUR HELP TO KEEP ELECTIONS AMNESTY-FREE Congress can talk of repeal, the states can talk of lawsuits; but while all the political sabers rattle in stereo, … Continue reading
“Kobach to revive proposal to give Kansas secretary of state power to prosecute election fraud”
AP reports. … Continue reading
“NC Lawmakers Don’t Have To Give Up Emails In Election Lawsuit”
WFMY reports. … Continue reading
More on Butler/EAC
In an earlier post, I wrote of my concern that given Mr. Butler’s background at Media Matters, etc. there is a risk he would be quite partisan in his position at the EAC. Justin pushed me a bit on this point … Continue reading
Myrna Perez Withdraws from EAC Consideration; President Nominates Matthew Butler
The rumors turned out to be true. The Brennan Center’s Myrna Perez has withdrawn her nomination and one of the Democratic-appointed EAC commissiners. In her place, Matthew Butler. Butler’s current twitter bio makes it sounds like he could be quite … Continue reading