Skip to main content

Expanding Voter Access

 

"Eugene Sim is living a Catch 22. More than one month ago Sim, 62, applied to renew his Indiana identification card."

“Wisconsin students and young voters got a big boost on Tuesday when the state board overseeing elections adopted a policy allowing people registering to vote on Election Day in November to present identifying documents from a laptop or portable digital device.”

“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.”

“A federal judge has overturned a recent Ohio state law and restored in-person, early voting for the final three days leading up to Election Day.”

 

“A federal judge said on Wednesday that he planned to block provisions of a Florida measure that made it harder for organizations to register voters in the state. ... Deirdre Macnab, the president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, which suspended its operations for a year, said she was delighted with the ruling.”

"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.'''

“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.”

“Consider the League of Women Voters valuable study “Shining a Light: Redistricting Lessons Learned in 2011” by reading an introductory article, “New League report details redistricting lessons learned.” I think the League provides WE THE PEOPLE with VERY VALUABLE information and perspective to advocate for REFORM of our redistricting processes in our state. This is, remember, a STATE POWER!”

“In a lengthy, sweeping decision, a federal court in Washington on Tuesday unanimously struck down Texas' new congressional map, ruling that the plan was enacted with "discriminatory purpose" against Hispanics protected under the Voting Rights Act. The ruling will not affect this year's elections, but barring successful appeal, Texas would have to redraw its maps before 2014.”

“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.”