Voter Photo ID
“On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments about the state’s strict new photo ID law, which is allegedly intended to prevent voter fraud. ... The law will result in disproportionate harm to minorities, people with low incomes and senior citizens. The court should enter an injunction against it before the November elections.”
“The November elections are less than two months away, and Pennsylvania has a new voter identification law... That worries the League of Women Voters of the Lewisburg Area. ... “I have a concern that a lot of people aren’t aware of what they need to vote,” said Sue Travis, who’s in charge of the group’s voter ID project. “That’s part of the reason we’re doing this.” ... What the league is doing is its “Got Your Photo ID?” campaign...”
“The Justice Department has cleared New Hampshire's voter ID law under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Unlike voter ID laws DOJ has challenged, voters who lack an acceptable form of photo identification will be allowed to cast a ballot if they sign an affidavit confirming their identity.”
"Eugene Sim is living a Catch 22. More than one month ago Sim, 62, applied to renew his Indiana identification card."
“Fortunately, federal courts are seeing these efforts for what they are: a variation on the racist laws that disenfranchised millions before those tactics were outlawed by the Voting Rights Act. … These federal courts were careful to respect state sovereignty. But they were also mindful that state laws that suppress minority votes cannot be allowed to stand.”
"Two dissenting justices, Alan Page and Paul Anderson, said the full text of amendments -- not summary descriptions written by lawmakers -- should be on the ballot. ... In his lengthy dissent, Anderson rightly called the [MN] Legislature's voter ID ballot question 'inaccurate, misleading and deceptive.' Even the majority of the court acknowledged that '... it may indeed have been wiser for the Legislature to include the entire amendment on the ballot.'''
“The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Legislature’s voter ID ballot question will stay on the ballot as originally written after voter ID opponents [including the League] filed a lawsuit in May claiming the question was misleading and should be struck from the ballot.”
“If Wisconsin had a problem with voter fraud, the action taken by state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen last week would be more understandable. ...But the state doesn't have a problem... Van Hollen asked the state Supreme Court to review rulings by two judges that struck down the state's voter ID law, and he asked the justices to do so before the presidential election on Nov. 6. ... The Supreme Court already has declined once to intervene.”
“A federal trial opening Monday will examine the legality of South Carolina’s new voter ID law and also put on display the state’s history of racial discrimination.”
“The state Supreme Court agreed Thursday to expedite its handling of a challenge to Pennsylvania's new voter identification law, scheduling arguments for Sept. 13...”