The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for May 5-11 2014
Replacing voting equipment purchased as a result of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 is challenging due to a lack of advanced machines, small budgets and a burdensome regulatory process. An appeals court temporarily stayed a ruling ordering the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to modify its federal voter registration form to add special instructions for Arizona and Kansas residents about those states’ proof-of-citizenship requirements. NPR’s Pam Fessler survey the impact of voter ID laws in this week’s primaries and the New York Times looked at renewed efforts by advocates to protect voting rights. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett announced that he would not appeal a judge’s decision that the State’s voter ID law violated the fundamental right to vote. A federal trial judge has ordered Texas to turn over certain legislative records to the U.S. Department of Justice in a closely watched redistricting case. South Africa held its first election involving citizens born after the end of of apartheid, while a court in Thailand removed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from power further destabilizing the country ahead of planned elections in June.