This November, U.S. citizens will cast a vote for president without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act for the first time in 50 years. In July of 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 390 to 33 to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for another 25 years. However, in June of 2013 a Supreme Court decision struck down a key part of the law, allowing nine – mostly southern – states to change their election laws without advance federal approval. Today, 17 states have new voting restriction laws in place for the upcoming election, many of which are in place for the first time, according to writer Ari Berman. “Whether that’s making it harder to register to vote, or cutting back on the amount of time people have to vote, or requiring stricter forms of ID to be able to vote that they didn’t need previously,” Berman said. “We’re seeing the impact already.”
Primary elections have seen problems related to voter ID laws across the country this year. In Arizona, 70 percent of polling places were eliminated, New York City saw a huge voter purge in Brooklyn, and in North Carolina, people were turned away from the polls, Berman said.
Wisconsin has also seen problems from its own voting restriction laws. Berman, author of the book “Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America,” wrote about this issue in an article for The Nation Magazine.
Full Article: How State Voter ID Laws Could Be Problematic For Presidential Election | Wisconsin Public Radio.