Fighting Voter Suppression

“...the League of Women Voters of Florida and Rock the Vote will get back to work registering voters, the groups announced Wednesday. ... ‘Failure was never an option in this battle against voter suppression,’ said LWVF President Deirdre Macnab. ‘Now it’s time for our volunteers to work overtime to make up for lost ground.’”

More than 160 Wisconsin League volunteers are out in force as election observers while voters decide the outcome of the recall election for Governor Scott Walker and other officials.

“OUR OPINION: Scott administration should focus on access to voters, not impose obstacles,” Miami Herald

“I count members of the League of Women Voters among my political heroes. Year after year, the League does some of the most important work of our democracy.”

“Four groups petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday to remove from the November ballot a proposed constitutional amendment requiring voters to present photo IDs at the polls, saying the language that voters will see doesn't accurately describe the amendment.”

“... Turns out the Division of Elections, working with outdated information from the DHSMV, has been demanding that county elections supervisors purge a number of legal citizens, both natural-born and naturalized, from the voter lists. On Thursday, the Division of Elections announced it was giving up on the use of outdated driver license records.”

Jo Sapp, Columbia-Boone County [MO] League of Women Voters member, on proposed Missouri mandate: “According to a Brennan Center study, millions of U.S. citizens do not have readily available documentary proof of citizenship or government-issued photo identification. Many more — primarily women — do not have proof of citizenship in their current names.”

“Ohio’s march toward what’s expected to be a nationally watched 2012 election took an apparently unprecedented step Tuesday, one that could put election officials into court before a ballot is cast. ... ‘If the legislature had truly wanted to return the clock to where it was...it would have eliminated that last-three-day restriction,’ said Carrie Davis, executive director of the League of Woman Voters of Ohio.”

“A coalition of new, professional Latino civic leaders from established non-profits organizations [including the Houston League of Women Voters Education Fund] have united to celebrate the right to vote by organizing Tacos & Votes, a free community gathering and march to the ballot on Saturday, May 19...”

Earlier this week, 3 federal judges issued an older scolding the Texas government on how it has handled a suit against its voter ID law.