Category Archives: Voting Rights Act

8th Circuit Denies ACLU Request to Use Cumulative Voting in Ferguson MO. School Board Voting Case

January 7, 2017, 1:57 pmalternative voting systems, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

A few months ago a federal district court ruled that the use of at-large voting in Missouri’s Ferguson-Florrisant school district diluted African-American voting rights in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the Court ordered cumulative voting as a remedy.… Continue reading

Court Holds Pasadena, Texas Discriminated in Move to At-Large Districts, Places City under Preclearance

January 6, 2017, 6:14 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

In a major decision in a closely-watched case heard by the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, a federal district court has issued this 100+ page ruling in Patino v. Pasadena. The… Continue reading

DOJ Report Highlights Obama Administration Voting Rights Achievements

January 6, 2017, 11:06 amDepartment of Justice, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

See here, beginning at page 39. Introduction: The integrity of our democracy depends on ensuring that every eligible voter can meaningfully participate in the electoral process. Voting forms the bedrock of our democracy. The division works to ensure that every… Continue reading

“Jeff Sessions Becomes One of Few Presidential Nominees Ever Opposed by Common Cause in 46 Years”

January 5, 2017, 8:57 amDepartment of Justice, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Release: Today, Common Cause announced it opposition to the nomination of Sen. Jefferson Beauregard “Jeff” Sessions III (R-AL) to serve as U.S. Attorney General, deeming him unfit to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Senator Sessions has… Continue reading

CORRECTED: 4th Circuit Unanimously Rejects Challenge to VA Voter ID Law

December 14, 2016, 6:57 amelection administration, The Voting Wars, voter id, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can find the 37-page opinion at this link. It concludes: At bottom, just as Congress in HAVA found it beneficial to the voting process and the public perception of the voting process to require photo IDs, and just… Continue reading

“Civil Rights Déjà Vu, Only Worse”

December 12, 2016, 8:35 amDepartment of Justice, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Sam Bagenstos for TAP: Voting Rights. After the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County decision cutting the heart from the Voting Rights Act, states formerly covered by the statute’s preclearance requirement initiated a wave of new vote-suppression measures. Other states also… Continue reading

“Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Secures Important Voting Rights Victory in Rural Georgia”

December 9, 2016, 10:03 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Release: The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), the law firm of Carlton Fields, Georgia NAACP and attorney Jerry Wilson announced a settlement agreement in the case, Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, et al. v. Emanuel … Continue reading

“Civil Rights Organizations Applaud Timely Release by Census Director Identifying Jurisdictions that Must Provide Language Assistance under Section 203 of Voting Rights Act”

December 6, 2016, 4:40 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Release: On December 5, 2016, the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau issued a notice of determination identifying the jurisdictions subject to the language assistance provisions of Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which are available at 81 Federal… Continue reading

“It’s Much Harder To Protect Southern Black Voters’ Influence Than It Was 10 Years Ago”

December 6, 2016, 7:21 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Fascinating Harry Enten for 538: Now, however, it’s much more difficult for black voters in the South to find enough allied white voters to elect the representatives they want (almost always Democrats). There are just so few white Democrats left… Continue reading

“John Roberts Gutted the Voting Rights Act. Jeff Sessions is Poised to Finish It Off”

December 5, 2016, 8:01 amThe Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

AJ Vicens for Mother Jones.

Toobin on Vote Suppression

December 4, 2016, 7:36 amVoting Rights ActDan Tokaji

In the New Yorker, arguing that the recount is a distraction from “the real voting-rights scandal of 2016.”

“In latest voter ID filing, feds argue Texas discriminated on purpose”

November 20, 2016, 3:24 pmelection administration, The Voting Wars, voter id, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Texas Tribune: Months after a federal appeals court ruled that Texas lawmakers discriminated against African-American and Latino voters in passing a strict voter identification law, the Obama administration and civil rights groups are asking a judge to go a step… Continue reading

“Voting Rights in the Age of Trump”

November 19, 2016, 9:51 amelection administration, The Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Ari Berman NYT oped: Mr. Trump’s Justice Department will also present a severe threat to voting rights. It could choose not to vigorously enforce the Voting Rights Act, instead pressing states to take more aggressive action to combat alleged… Continue reading

“North Carolina Republicans Battle to Save Governor, Trailing by Whisker”

November 18, 2016, 5:52 pmelection administration, The Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

NYT: Democrats and Republicans in this fiercely contested political battleground have regularly resorted to creative legal maneuvers and election-law changes in their efforts to wring every last vote from the state’s nearly seven million voters. But even by that standard,… Continue reading