I have written this Jurisprudence essay for Slate. It begins: Usually it takes years to judge when the Supreme Court gets something very wrong. Think of Justice Kennedy’s opinion for the court in the 2010 campaign-finance case, Citizens United, freeing … Continue reading
Category Archives: voter id
NPR’s All Things Considered reports. … Continue reading
See this press release. I don’t know anything about the accuracy of True the Vote’s charges here. But I do know that double voting across states is a real, though relatively small, problem. Efforts to get states to cross check … Continue reading
AAA Foundation: “The majority of American teens today delay getting a driver’s license, according to new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Less than half (44 percent) of teens obtain a driver’s license within 12 months of the … Continue reading
You can find the judge’s order here. AP story here. While this is not a ruling on the ultimate merits of the case, the judge’s tone seems to suggest impatience with the state of Pennsylvania’s ability to actually get id’s … Continue reading
Here: 1. Will Section 2 be enough? (My answer is likely no, at least for most of the law). 2. Will North Carolina get bailed in under Section 3? (My answer is likely no, absent some smoking gun of intentional … Continue reading
Here. This one challenges a number of provisions of the law, including voter id, the end of same-day voter registration, the cutback in early voting days, and other provisions under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and under the … Continue reading
Here, via Ari Berman. This particular suit challenges only the voter id provision and only under various parts of the state constitution. … Continue reading
ABC News reports. … Continue reading
He calls the voter id requirement “non-burdensome.” For most people that’s true, but not for all. And put the other parts of the law together, and there is a large burden on some voters and at least a small burden … Continue reading
Today North Carolina’s governor signed one of the most restrictive voting laws in the Nation. I have been trying to think of another state law passed since the 1965 Voting Rights Act to rival this law but I cannot. It … Continue reading
AP reports. … Continue reading
Lyle Denniston (the only one apparently not on hiatus this week at SCOTUSBlog): “Repeating its argument that its controversial new photo ID requirement for Texas voters is now in operation, the state on Thursday asked a federal court in Washington to put … Continue reading
Atlantic Wire reports on John Oliver’s take on post-Shelby voting bills, including one in North Carolina, summarized here by Democracy North Carolina. … Continue reading
U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley has issued this order extending the consent decree in Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless v. Husted through 2016. The Columbus Dispatch reports here. This lawsuit was originally filed to challenge disparities in the implementation of Ohio’s then-new … Continue reading
The Charlotte Observer has this report on lawsuits anticipated after North Carolina’s Republican Governor Pat McCrory signs a sweeping election bill, as he’s expected to do later this month. Meanwhile, the Triangle Business Journal reports here on Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper’s opposition to the … Continue reading
NBC News reports. … Continue reading
Ross Douthat blogs. … Continue reading
WRAL: After close to two hours of debate and discussion, during which lawmakers were roundly criticized by members of the public, a Senate committee passed a raft of elections reforms Tuesday. House Bill 589 sat idle for three months since … Continue reading
WESA audio report: Pennsylvania’s controversial voter ID law has come back to trial in the Commonwealth court, and both sides are making serious plays. WITF’s capital reporter Mary Wilson says the first few days of testimony were brimming with testimony from those … Continue reading
See this report. As with the Mike Turzai comments, Democrats are citing these comments as evidence that Republicans intend the law to suppress Democratic votes; Republicans sharply disagree. Bonus: Story at top of same page: VIDEO: Man wrestles shark on … Continue reading
Ari Berman writes. … Continue reading
AP reports. That analysis showed that, as of this spring, about 511,000 registered voters either lacked one of the PennDOT-issued IDs or have IDs that have expired or will expire before the Nov. 5 election. Siskin’s testimony bolsters the plaintiffs’ … Continue reading
Interesting video report. In the intro, Shepard Smith says: “Supporters say it could help prevent voter fraud, though frankly there’s no evidence of widespread voter fraud.” … Continue reading
HuffPo: A statistician testified on the second day of Pennsylvania’s latest trial over the constitutionality of the state’s voter identification law that hundreds of thousands of voters could be disenfranchised if the law is allowed to stand. Bernard Siskin, a … Continue reading
Bloomberg reports. The case is before a different judge than the judge who initially refused to block the voter id law before the November election, and then reversed his decision after the Pa. Supreme Court remanded the case for him … Continue reading
NPR’s All Things Considered offers this report. … Continue reading
Michael Pitts has posted this draft on SSRN (University of Richmond Law Review). Here is the abstract: This article represents the continuation of a series of studies that measure the impact of photo identification on the electorate by examining provisional … Continue reading
AP: “Voter advocates asked a federal judge Friday to extend a court order that they say ensures that broad definitions of voter identification requirements would remain in place in the perennial presidential battleground of Ohio.” … Continue reading
HuffPo reports. … Continue reading
Zach Roth writes for MSNBC. … Continue reading
HuffPo reports. … Continue reading
Here, at Texas Redistricting. … Continue reading
SCOTUSBlog reports. … Continue reading
A report on the availability of one of the six forms of photo ID now required to vote in person in Texas. … Continue reading
Frontline covers the Texas remands. … Continue reading
An interesting take on the aftermath of Shelby County in Louisiana. Again, not all voter ID laws are the same. … Continue reading
New Hampshire’s legislature approves (and the Governor is expected to sign) a modification to last year’s voter ID law. Per this article: The voter ID law enacted in 2012 included several changes that were to effect this September, including a … Continue reading
The appeals on both photo ID and redistricting were vacated in the wake of Shelby County. The photo ID law is now legally operative (though challenged in new litigation filed yesterday). The redistricting maps were superseded yesterday when Governor Perry signed a … Continue reading
It’s an anecdote involving a renegade DMV clerk, yes. But it happened. And now you can add “Pap smear” to the list of prerequisites. … Continue reading
Trying to keep Texas company, I suppose. From this report: Hamner and Spry, who didn’t have a government-issued identity card with a photograph proving they were Kansans in good standing, voted with provisional ballots in November 2012. Their ballots weren’t … Continue reading
Michael Li brings word of a new lawsuit filed this morning against Texas’s strict photo ID law, under the Constitution and section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Fret not, BigLaw, there’s still business for your pro bono. … Continue reading
Politico on Shelby County and photo ID. More on topic from Mississippi. The New Republic also has a piece on individuals seeking ID in South Carolina. Note: I don’t see a legal reason why yesterday’s decision should change South Carolina’s … Continue reading
As usual, Michael Li breaks down the ramifications of today’s decision for all of the continuing controversy in Texas. One of the curiosities: Texas redrew state and federal district lines in 2011. A DC federal court denied preclearance for those … Continue reading
From the Texas Secretary of State: Texas Secretary of State John Steen today announced that photo identification will now be required when voting in Texas elections. His announcement follows a decision Tuesday by the U.S. Supreme Court that cleared the … Continue reading
SCOTUSblog is reporting that Shelby County, the case about section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, is not one of today’s opinions. So stay tuned for Thursday (or before, if the Court announces another opinion day. There are six cases left, … Continue reading
Bob Bauer: So this is the question being debated about the Court opinion in the Arizona voting law pre-emption case: is it a major victory for the federal government, or just a win in this case, with the longer term … Continue reading
Read Emily Bazelon on today’s Arizona voting decision. … Continue reading
Brentin Mock reports. … Continue reading
The latest from NH. … Continue reading