The Voting News Weekly: The Voting Rights Weekly for May 23-29 2016
The Washington Post examined the challenges many Americans face in obtaining the specific forms of identification required for voting in some states. The Economist notes that while “today’s voting-rights disputes are less clear-cut than those of the civil-rights era, but they are inflammatory all the same.” While giving him two more weeks to comply, a federal judge let Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach know that she would brook no further delays in carrying out her order to restore 18,000 Kansas residents to the voter rolls. Hillary Clinton remains the winner of Kentucky’s Democratic presidential primary after a recanvass of votes requested by her opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders. Baltimore’s elections board recertified the results of the April primary election Wednesday after an unusual intervention by state officials. A federal judge struck down an Ohio state law that eliminated “Golden Week,” several days at the beginning of the state’s early voting period when Ohio voters could both register to vote and cast a ballot. The Supreme Court left in place a court-imposed congressional redistricting map in Virginia, dismissing a challenge from three Republican congressmen. Witnesses in the federal court challenge to Wisconsin’s voter id requirement provided insight into real motives for enactment of the law. The failed far-right contender in Austria’s presidential election has dismissed claims by some of his supporters alleging fraud while the UK high court upheld an earlier ruling that Britons who have lived abroad for more than 15 years will not be allowed to vote in the EU referendum.