Last week, the trial over the Pennsylvania voter photo identification law started in state court. The proceedings are wrapping up today, and boy has the trial had some interesting moments!
The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania (LWVPA) and other coalition organizations have sued the state of Pennsylvania in an effort to stop implementation of their voter photo ID law.
Washington D.C. - This week a three-judge panel in Washington, D.C. is hearing arguments in a case brought by the State of Texas seeking to overturn a U.S. Department of Justice (US DOJ) decision to deny pre-clearance of Texas’s photo voter ID law. The League of Women Voters of Texas (LWVTX) has joined the lawsuit in support of the US DOJ position.
Now that most state legislatures are out of session for the year the battle against voter ID moves from the statehouse to the courts. The League and its allies were successful in keeping voter ID bills from passing in a number of states including Colorado, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia.
The Court's decision today in a pivotal campaign finance case has repeated its naïve, uninformed errors from its Citizens United decision. The First Amendment is meant to protect essential freedoms, not as a weapon to destroy American democracy. We look forward to the day when the Supreme Court majority deals with facts rather than imposing their own ideological views.
If you missed it late on Friday, watch national League President Elisabeth MacNamara discuss the recent victory for voters' rights in Florida and the fight to protect all eligible voters on MSNBC's Politics Nation. On Thursday, a judge struck down part of Florida's new election law, which had threatened to institute, "a harsh and impractical" requirement for independent groups such as the League of Women of Florida that register voters in the Sunshine state.
The right to vote is under attack in too many states across the country. We believe every eligible citizen should be able to register to vote and every voter should be able to cast a ballot. The Voter Empowerment Act (VEA), introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday, takes important steps to protect voters. The League’s full statement outlines our support for the goals of the VEA.
Washington, DC (May 17, 2012) – The League of Women Voters supports the goals of the new Voter Empowerment Act introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“The right to vote is under attack in too many states across the country,” said Elisabeth MacNamara, national President of the League of Women Voters. “For example, in Florida there have been cutbacks in early voting and rigid new restrictions on community-based voter registration drives have been imposed,” she said.