A federal judge has struck down a Virginia law that allows only state residents to circulate petitions to get presidential candidates on the general election ballot. U.S. District Judge John Gibney ruled Monday in favor of the Libertarian Party of Virginia. He said the restriction severely burdens the party’s freedom of speech and is not narrowly tailored to promote a compelling state interest.
Virginia Democrats are criticizing Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s decision to hold a special election for the House of Delegates in September rather than November. For more than three weeks, Democrats and Republicans in Northern Virginia had been waiting for McDonnell to determine when to hold a special election to fill the seat vacated by Del. David Englin. He resigned in June after acknowledging being unfaithful in his marriage. Last week, the governor has called a special election in September, dashing the hopes of many Democrats who were expecting to merge that contest with the November general election. “What we now have is an election on the day after Labor Day on the first day of school that is going to cost the combined jurisdictions of Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria around $50,000 to run a separate election,” says Dak Hardwick, chairman of the Alexandria Democratic Committee. “That just boggles the mind. ”
Former City Councilman turned civil rights activist Sa’ad El-Amin is a convicted felon, who served several years for tax evasion. He is one of the 350,000 convicted felons who live in Virginia. “I did what I did. I served my time. I’m back,” said Sa’ad El-Amin, former Richmond City Councilman. Now, El-Amin is fighting to get felons and convicted felons to the polls.
It’s all spelled out in a 17 page federal lawsuit, in which, El-Amin names Governor McDonnell, the Secretary of the Commonwealth and Richmond’s Registrar. El-Amin is asking a judge to rule on his arguments that the felon disenfranchisement is unconstitutional in Virginia. “So, what that means is that every person even in prison will have their rights restored because it talks about the felon, not the incarcerated or the incarcerated offender,” said El-Amin.
Sa’ad El-Amin, a former Richmond city councilman convicted of a federal tax charge, filed an unusual suit Tuesday challenging felony disenfranchisement in Virginia. Among other things, the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond recounts the history of felony disenfranchisement in Virginia and contends the state unfairly took the right away from felons but not from those who rebelled in the Civil War. A recent report by The Sentencing Project estimates more than 350,000 Virginians — including 20 percent of voting age blacks — cannot vote in Virginia because of felony convictions. In Virginia, only the governor can restore voting rights. The state is one of 11 that does not automatically restore rights to felons after their prison and/or parole or probation terms have been completed. The suit names the state, Gov. Bob McDonnell, the secretary of the commonwealth and the registrar for Richmond as defendants. A spokesman for the Virginia Attorney General’s Office said he could not comment on pending litigation. Felony disenfranchisement arrangements have withstood various legal challenges over the decades. The Virginia State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is scheduled to hold a news conference on the suit this morning.
Information circulating via mass emails stating that voters who have not voted since the 2008 General Election must re-register to vote 25 days prior to Election Day Nov. 6, 2012 in order to be eligible to vote is false. The State Board of Elections addressed the rumors in a news release Monday. According to the SBE, there is “absolutely no requirement to re-register in Virginia.” Voters are not removed from the rolls solely for the reason of not voting. Because of the questions raised in the mass emails, it is recommended that voters check their registration status to ensure it is current.
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, rejecting an Alabama county’s challenge to the landmark civil rights law. The provision requires state, county and local governments with a history of discrimination to obtain advance approval from the Justice Department, or from a federal court in Washington, for any changes to election procedures. It now applies to all or parts of 16 states. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that Congress developed extensive evidence of continuing racial discrimination just six years ago and reached a reasonable conclusion when it reauthorized section 5 of the law at that time. The appellate ruling could clear the way for the case to be appealed to the Supreme Court where Chief Justice John Roberts suggested in a 2009 opinion that the court’s conservative majority might be receptive to a challenge to section 5. Judge David Tatel wrote for the Court of Appeals majority that the court owes deference to Congress’ judgment on the matter.
Once a convicted felon, many civil rights are taken away, including the right to vote. Those rights are not automatically restored in Virginia. Beverly Thompson, a volunteer with the Augusta County Corrections Center says she and others want to help change that. Virginia is one of only four states that strips a person’s civil rights, after being convicted of a felony. “They can’t get it back unless they do a lot of paperwork,” said Thompson who tries to help inmates regain their voting rights. Thompson says that paperwork is inside a 30 page booklet called, ‘Virginia Civil Rights Restoration Guide.’
When Alexandria voters turn up at the polls Tuesday, many are going to confront old-school technology — paper ballots. Thanks to activists who objected to electronic voting machines because they did not provide a paper trail and because they feared hacking, the Virginia General Assembly in 2007 banned local governments from buying touch-screen machines when it came time to replace existing electronic systems. Now that time has come. Voters will be using a new eScan system, which requires voters to mark their paper ballots with blue or black ink in the polling booth and then line up to scan the ballots themselves into a machine. The votes will be recorded electronically.
The state — not localities — will pick up the $1.4 million tab to send new cards to every register voter in the state. Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) ordered new cards sent Friday when he signed a controversial voter identification bill that critics say could disenfranchise the poor, minorities and young people.
Virginia voters will see changes at the polls come November. They will now be required to provide identification within three days after the election for their vote to count. Although the new law is designed to combat voter fraud, it comes with a hefty price tag. The State Board of Elections said the cost of mailing voter cards will be about $1.36 million.
Gov. Bob McDonnell has decided to let controversial legislation to tighten voter-identification policies become law, but he’s also ordering state election officials to send every registered Virginia voter a new voter-ID card. The move by the governor enables him to satisfy Republican demands for election safeguards while blunting criticism that the state is imposing barriers to voter participation. McDonnell on Friday said he signed two bills – SB 1 and HB 9 – to increase the forms of acceptable ID “while helping to further prevent voter fraud and ensuring Virginians that they can have faith that votes have not been fraudulently cast.” Friday was the deadline for him to act on the legislation.
The clock is ticking for Governor Bob McDonnell to make a decision on a controversial voter ID bill. He has until Friday to sign House Bill 9, which would change how voters without proper ID cast their ballots. Proponents of the bill say it would reduce fraud, but critics call it a way to keep elderly and young voters home on Election Day. “I’m looking now at whether or not I should sign it,” Governor McDonnell said. “I want to make sure we have fair and honest elections. I don’t want to have anybody unduly burdened with the bill.” However, Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta says it’s electoral boards like hers that will see a burden.
Taking advantage of recent announcements from the governor that he will expedite restoration applications to enable former felons to vote in the November elections, the ACLU of Virginia has launched a program to encourage and assist individuals with the restoration of their voting rights. The program begins with advertisements in today’s Voice newspaper in the Richmond area, and tomorrow’s Voice newspaper in Hampton Roads. Tomorrow’s Richmond Free Press will run a large format version of the ad. The ads say the governor has indicated he will be able to process all fully completed applications from non-violent felons submitted by June 29 in time for the registration deadline of October 15. Also, because the governor’s office has a general goal of processing such applications within 60 days, the ACLU is encouraging those who miss the June 29 deadline to try to submit applications by mid-August.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit in U.S. District Court, challenging Virginia’s statewide ballot access rules for minor-party presidential candidates. The ACLU Voting Rights Project and the ACLU of Virginia filed suit on behalf of the Libertarian Party of Virginia, challenging the Virginia law that imposes a state residency requirement on people who circulate ballot petitions. The party needs to collect 10,000 valid signatures — at least 400 from each of the state’s 11 congressional districts — by Aug. 24 to qualify for the general election ballot in November. The Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee is Gary Johnson, who, as a Republican, was governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003. The ACLU is seeking an injunction, saying the Libertarians will suffer “irreparable harm” if they cannot use people from out of state to circulate ballot petitions in Virginia.
When asked whether he would put his name next to the controversial voter ID legislation passed by the General Assembly that would require voters without identification to cast provisional ballots, Gov. McDonnell made no signs of committing one way or the other on Sunday. Legislators reasonably rejected the governor’s proposed amendment earlier in April that would have required members of the electoral board to compare the signature in a voter’s registration file with the signature on a provisional ballot to confirm the identity of the voter. This scheme would have undoubtedly led to a host of other problems in the voter confirmation process. Some have suggested that the entire point of the McDonnell amendment was to eliminate the bill.
As Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) continued to mull what to do with a pair of voter ID bills passed by Virginia’s General Assembly, Sen. Thomas A. Garrett Jr. (R-Louisa) appeared on national television to make his case for the legislation. “We thought this would be a bipartisan, common-sense issue,” said Garrett, who tried two people for voter fraud as a Louisa county prosecutor. “It passed [the Senate with a] 20-20 tie, with the lieutenant governor breaking the tie. The only conclusion I can reach is that there are some entities that are interested in allowing the loopholes to continue and not ensuring the sanctity of one person, one vote. And that’s very disconcerting in the United States of America.”
The arguments are far from over for a voter ID law now on the governor’s desk in Virginia. Democrats are continuing to express concern about voter suppression and are urging Gov. Bob McDonnell to veto the bill passed this past session by the Virginia General Assembly. “We’re making it harder for folks to vote, especially those who are perhaps frail or elderly or minorities,” says Senator Mark Herring, D-Loudoun. “It tends to have a disproportionate impact on them.” The bill would require voters to show identification at the polls in order for their vote to count. Otherwise, they would have to go back to the registrar at a later date to prove who they are.
Gov. Bob McDonnell faces a tough choice on legislation to tighten requirements for voter identification: veto the bill after his attempt to soften it failed, or let it reshape election law without his preferred modifications. McDonnell has said he’s concerned that the bill, in its present form, could “disenfranchise people whose votes would have otherwise counted.” As written, the legislation would require voters without valid identification to cast a provisional ballot. They would then have to confirm their identity with election officials for the ballot to count. The General Assembly last week rejected McDonnell’s key amendments, which would have given election officials the authority to verify identities by comparing provisional ballot signatures to voter registration signatures.
Results of an ongoing Virginia State Police investigation of voter registration irregularities from the 2008 general election may signal a more significant voter fraud issue than some state lawmakers realized. As Virginia legislators hotly debated a voter ID bill that narrowly passed the General Assembly, many were unaware of a state police investigation that, so far, has resulted in charges against 38 people statewide for voter fraud. Warrants have been obtained for a 39th person who can’t be located. A majority of those cases already have resulted in convictions, and 26 additional cases are still being actively investigated nearly 3½ years after the state Board of Elections forwarded more than 400 voter and election fraud allegations from 62 cities and counties to Virginia State Police for individual investigation.
Virginia Democrats are urging Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) to veto a pair of voter ID bills after the General Assembly this week stripped out a provision the governor had added to make the measures less stringent. Among the most hotly contested legislation of the session, the bills were touted by Republicans as a way to ensure the integrity of elections but bitterly opposed by Democrats as attempts to suppress the minority vote.
The future of a controversial voter ID bill is in serious doubt after a bipartisan group of Virginia lawmakers rejected Gov. Bob McDonnell‘s proposed changes, daring McDonnell to accept their version of the legislation or veto it. In its current form, the bill requires anyone who forgets to bring proper identification to the polls to fill out a provisional ballot, which would not be counted unless the voter returns with proper ID or sends an electronic copy. McDonnell sought to weaken the bill by allowing election officials to compare the signature on the provisional ballot with a voter registration card on file. But both the House and Senate shot down McDonnell’s amendment during Wednesday’s veto session, leaving the Republican governor with a bill that creates an “unduly burden and barriers to your vote,” he said. McDonnell must now weigh whether to veto or sign a bill he considers “unreasonable.”
State legislators upheld all of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s vetoes Wednesday, but rejected his changes to a voter ID law. … Both the Senate and the House voted down amendments to a voter ID bill that would let registrars compare the signatures of voters with their original registration signatures to determine if they’re eligible to vote. The bills—one of which was sponsored by Del. Mark Cole, R–Spotsylvania—say that if a voter doesn’t have identification, he or she must vote a provisional ballot, which will be counted later only if the voter provides identification to election officials. McDonnell made several amendments to the two bills, including allowing a registrar to approve a voter by comparing his signature with the signature on file in the registration records. That was done, in part, to help the legislation win approval from the U.S. Justice Department. Both houses rejected the signature provisions.
A state legislator wants to make it easier for Virginians who can’t go to the polls on Election Day to obtain an absentee ballot. Sen. John C. Miller, D-Newport News, whose district includes a portion of Suffolk, has proposed that voters be able to request and receive an absentee ballot by email. They still would have to return the completed ballot by regular mail or by hand. Currently, only voters who are in the military or are overseas can use email to request and receive an absentee ballot from Virginia election officials. During the General Assembly’s 2012 regular session, Miller sponsored a bill to allow any registered voter to use email to apply for an absentee ballot.
Governor Bob McDonnell has made a some changes to that controversial voter ID legislation passed by the General Assembly. Some had feared the changes might keep the elderly and minorities from casting their ballots. In fact, voter Rhonda Acholes said she has was worried the changes could affect elderly folks in her community. For example, the measure states that a voter who shows up with no ID at the polls would have to cast a provisional ballot — and then show up later with an ID to prove their identity. Acholes feared some people would view the changes as a hassle and, in turn, be deterred from going to the polls.
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) says Virginia’s voter identification bills, passed last week by the General Assembly, have a “50-50” chance of surviving a review by the U.S. Justice Department. The federal government has already moved to block voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina, saying they would disproportionately harm minority voters. “Given what they’re doing with the others states, I don’t know,’’ Cuccinelli told C-SPAN. “I’d give about a 50 50 shot.’’ Republican legislatures nationwide have been adopting stricter identification standards since the 2000 presidential election, saying they are needed to combat voter fraud.
Just days before the Obama administration blocked a Texas voter ID law, Virginia’s General Assembly approved a pair of voter ID bills of its own. GOP legislatures nationwide have been adopting stricter identification standards since the 2000 presidential election, saying they are needed to combat voter fraud. Virginia jumped on the bandwagon just as the Justice Department has decided to crack down on the trend. The department contends that the Texas law, and a South Carolina measure it blocked in December, would disproportionately harm minority voters. But some observers say Virginia’s legislation is less likely to draw Justice objections than the Texas and South Carolina legislation, which required voters to present government-issued photo identification at the polls.
The Virginia House on Thursday gave final approval to a voter ID bill that Republicans said would bolster the integrity of elections but Democrats have compared to Jim Crow-era attempts to suppress the Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment, Jr. ( R-James City) rear, and Sen. Stephen H. Martin (R-Chesterfield) watch during debate in the Senate on Martin’s voter ID bill. (Bob Brown – AP) minority vote. The bill, which now heads to Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, requires voters to show identification before their ballots will be counted. But it also greatly expands the types of ID accepted at the polls. McDonnell has not taken a position on the measure, one of the most hotly contested of the General Assembly session. “He will review the legislation when we receive the bill,” McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said.
There are no reports of anyone ever signing an affidavit claiming they were another person in order to vote in Virginia. But that isn’t stopping Republican Virginia Del. Mark Cole from pushing legislation that would prevent such a scheme from taking place. His bill — which would make voters who lack an accepted form of identification cast provisional ballots — has passed the House. It’s raised the ire of Virginia Democrats who say it’s just one in a line of legislative measures proposed by Republicans in states across the country who are trying to suppress Democratic turnout.
One of two lawsuits filed by Virginia residents over the General Assembly’s inability to complete Congressional redistricting last year was dismissed in federal court Friday. According to the office of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed the case brought by six residents in part “based on its finding that the recent actions of the General Assembly in passing a new redistricting rendered the case moot.”
As a security- and risk-assessment professional who is also a Virginia poll worker, I am disappointed by pending state legislation to tighten voter eligibility [“Voter ID fight heats up in Va.,” Metro, Feb. 4]. The proposed changes won’t have the claimed effect. Poll workers receive minimal training; in Virginia, they typically get two hours. Given the complexity of running a polling place, there isn’t time to teach how to check properly for fake IDs. Unlike police officers or supermarket clerks, who use such a skill every day, poll workers would use the skill at most a few days a year, so they won’t have enough practice for proficiency. Because of this, requiring an ID will not prevent voter fraud.