The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for November 30 – December 6 2015
Aging voting machines have forced many states to begin seeking funding for new equipment for the 2020 elections, even as they prepare for the presidential vote next year. The Supreme Court will hear arguments this week in Evenwel v. Abbott, a case is the questions the meaning of the “one person, one vote” rule. A federal lawsuit challenging Alabama’s voter ID law was filed by Greater Birmingham Ministries and the Alabama NAACP. With just over four years left before another redistricting cycle begins, the Florida Supreme Court gave final approval to Florida’s congressional map, rejecting the Legislature’s arguments for the fourth time and selecting boundaries drawn by the challengers in time for the 2016 election. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked votes from being counted in a unique election that’s considered a major step toward self-governance for Native Hawaiians. Ohio House Democrats and some liberal advocacy groups have challenged the state’s purging of voters from voter-registration rolls just because they move within the state or have not voted for a few years. Newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated that he would review a law disenfranchising long-term expats and as voters in Venezuela go to the polls to elect a new parliament, the incumbent President has signalled his unwillingness to relinquish power should his party lose.