Wisconsin: The Next Step in Wisconsin’s Disenfranchisement Agenda | Campus Progress

If there has been any doubt regarding the intent behind this year’s upsurge in voter ID legislation, Governor Scott Walker’s latest move leaves little room to question the conservative disenfranchisement agenda, at least in the state of Wisconsin. In what seems like a blatant attempt to lessen the accessibility of photo identification, Governor Walker’s administration has announced the closure of sixteen DMV centers throughout the state – for “economic” purposes.

“What the heck is going on here? Is politics at play here?” asked Rep. Andy Jorgenson (D-Fort Atkinson). The Department of Transportation plans to close the DMV center in Jorgenson’s county of Fort Atkinson, with the next nearest station more than thirty minutes away by car.

An official from the Department of Transportation, however, insists that there is no correlation between the state’s recent passage of legislation requiring photo ID to vote and the planned closing of sixteen centers that provide the required identification.

South Carolina: Voter ID at the DMV in Wisconsin (and what it could mean in South Carolina) | Examiner.com

A brave Wisconsin woman videotaped the ordeal of getting her son a Voter ID, which is now a minimum requirement for non-drivers in the state to participate in elections.

She and her son succeeded, but only after a long process that included need to show banking statements (which at first were rejected because they didn’t show enough activity). And after finally completing the endeavor, they were told to pay $28 (a poll tax?) even though the Voter ID’s are supposed to be completely free.

Ohio: Rep. Marcia Fudge seeks Justice Department oversight over voter ID laws | cleveland.com

Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge is asking Attorney General Eric Holder to examine whether voter photo identification laws that have been proposed in Ohio and adopted in several other states would violate the Voting Rights Act.

“Many of these bills only have one true purpose, the disenfranchisement of eligible voters – especially the elderly, young voters, students, minorities and low-income voters,” said a letter that Fudge sent Holder today with more than 100 House Democrats.

North Carolina: House to test Perdue on vetoes, repeatedly | The Daily Reflector

As North Carolina House leaders try this week to override Gov. Beverly Perdue’s veto of voter ID legislation, they’re ready to risk defeat on one of the most politically divisive issues raised by the General Assembly’s new GOP majority.

House Speaker Thom Tillis has committed the House to attempt that override and several others during this week’s brief legislative session focused on redistricting. An override vote that fails to get a three-fifths majority means the legislation dies until after the 2012 elections. Still, Republicans appear ready to lose some votes to stake out a position for next year’s campaigns.

“You’d rather never lose on a veto override. There are some that you are more willing to take that risk than others, because you know it’s the right thing to do and the public will know that you did the right thing,” said Rep. Ruth Samuelson, who counts votes for House Republicans. “There are some vetoes that are more political than others.”

Ohio: IDs exceed voter-age residents | The Columbus Dispatch

One Democratic state politician says there are 887,000 Ohioans without a state-issued driver’s license or photo ID. The Service Employees International Union also puts the number of Ohioans without IDs at hundreds of thousands.

The number has become important because of a bill that passed the Ohio House and is now before the Senate that would require a state-issued photo ID to vote.

But records from the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles show about 8.83 million voting-age residents have an Ohio driver’s license or photo ID – about 28,000 more than there are voting-age residents in the state, according to the 2010 census. A Dispatch analysis of state driver’s license data found that the percentages of voting-age Ohioans with state-issued IDs also vary from county to county.

National: Youth Vote Faces Challenges With Voter ID Legislation | The Nation

Voter fraud is an “epidemic.” It abounds, stealing elections from rightful candidates and places losers into unearned elected office. Republican dominated statehouses across the country are “combating” this problem through strict voter ID legislation, where a government-issued photo identification is required in order to vote. Seven states have already enacted legislation requiring state-issued photo ID at the polls and many more are pending.

One of the states, Wisconsin, enacted what Milwaukee Common Council Alderwoman Milele Coggs accurately called “the most restrictive voter ID legislation in the country.” It requires photo IDs issued by the state or federal government and only allows a forgetful voter’s provisional ballot to count if they return within three days with a proper ID.

College students are some of the unintended—or intended—citizens affected by the law. They broke for Barack Obama in 2008 by an astonishing 38 points and remained loyal to Democrats in 2010 by wide margins.

Voting Blogs: Wisconsin Clerk: Anger and Lines Greet ID Soft Launch | Rock the Vote Blog

Wisconsin’s recall elections are serving as a “soft implementation” of the new voter ID law, and poll workers and clerks are already expressing concerns about the new process. Even with modest turnout, voters experienced long waits and confusion, alarming clerks for future elections.

The concerns of elections officials and poll workers – including voice fears about long lines stretching from two to three hours, frustrated voters leaving before casting a ballot, anger revolving around poll book signatures and IDs, and drastically understaffed polls – were captured in a letter from the Madison City Clerk, Maribeth Witzel-Behl.

Editorials: States Dispute Criticism of New Voter Laws, Move to Offer Photo ID Free of Charge | FoxNews.com

Election officers in states with newly approved voter ID laws are trying to make sure voters can meet the new requirements without much hassle, pushing back on complaints that the laws are tantamount to a “poll tax.”

Seven states this year have approved new laws requiring or urging voters to show photo ID before casting their ballots. Critics have assailed these measures as a partisan Republican scheme to skew elections by disenfranchising voters who might be inclined to vote for Democrats but lack the proper identification.

But officials in those states say the criticism is unfair. All seven states are moving to offer residents at least one version of a photo ID card free of charge. Local agencies are planning various outreach efforts to get the word out about the new requirements, and the new laws generally allow voters without photo ID to fill out a provisional ballot under certain circumstances.

National: House Dems say state voter-ID laws a GOP plan to suppress minority votes | The Hill

Several House Democrats argued on the floor Tuesday morning that the rise of voter-identification laws across many states is a coordinated attempt by Republicans to suppress minority and elderly votes.

“These new policies are a clear attempt to prevent certain pre-determined segments of the population from exercising their right to vote,” said Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio). “To be frank, Mr. Speaker, these efforts have an all-too familiar stench of the Jim Crow era.”

Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) said the voter-ID laws are a Republican response to President Obama’s election.

South Carolina: Many face fight to prove ID | TheState.com

Ruth Johnson remembers being sent to the pay phone in the middle of the night to call the midwife when her mother’s labor pains started. “I called the midwife. She said she was coming. She never did show up,” Johnson said, thinking back to life as a 12-year-old in Barnwell County in the late 1950s.

Before long, Ruth’s mother sent her back to the pay phone at the Hilda grocery store. The second time, the midwife admitted she had no intention of coming to help with the birth. “She said, ‘Your mama, she owes me $25 for the last baby.’” And so the baby was born in the family home, without a birth certificate — a common practice in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s in rural South Carolina, but one that is causing problems now for an older generation required to have proof of identification.

Before the government began discouraging midwifery in the 1970s, a lot of women in rural South Carolina didn’t go to hospitals to have their babies, either because of the cost, discrimination or culture. Often, the births were unrecorded, whether a midwife was in attendance or not. In some cases, names were misspelled by illiterate midwives or recorded incompletely when parents couldn’t settle on a first name right away.

South Carolina: Voter ID law prompts concern | TheSunNews.com

West Ashley resident Everett Garlington is among the estimated 180,000 people who could be disenfranchised if S.C.’s photo ID law holds up.
His trouble: he misplaced his driver’s license.

True, he could get a replacement, but it will cost him more than $160 – money he said the Department of Motor Vehicles wants because years ago he was late turning in a license plate.

The other half of Garlington’s troubles: Because his missing driver’s license is still valid, the DMV won’t issue an alternative photo ID to use at the polls.
“If they had an election today, I couldn’t vote,” said Garlington, 59.

National: The Politics Behind New Voter ID Laws | NPR

Voters going to the polls next year — and even some this year — will encounter lots of new rules. Photo ID requirements and fewer options for early voting are among the biggest changes. A voter casts a ballot in a Democratic primary on July 12, 2011 in Wisconsin, one of seven states to enact voter ID laws this year.

They’re part of a wave of new laws enacted by Republican-controlled legislatures this year. Supporters say the rules are needed to ensure honest elections. But Democrats say it’s part of a concerted GOP campaign to suppress the vote. They say minorities, students, the poor and disabled — those most likely to vote Democratic — will be hurt the most.

Seven states so far this year have enacted news laws requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls. Ohio and Pennsylvania are considering similar requirements, and several other states already have them on the books.

Tennessee: Debate rages over new Tennessee voter-ID law | The Commercial Appeal

With the recent passage of a state bill that changes what qualifies as valid voter identification, Memphis — and Tennessee — has entered a national conversation on whether such laws are justified or acts of voter intimidation. The bill, which requires voters to present a government-issued photo ID at the polls, becomes law on Jan. 1.

Though proponents of the bill have said it will help curb voter fraud, some contend that it’s a measure by Republicans to suppress Democratic votes in 2012 elections. State and local elected officials gathered at the Mt. Olive CME Cathedral Church near Downtown on Sunday afternoon for a forum on the bill, where about 50 attendees from across Memphis posed questions to the representatives.

Editorials: Wisconsin voter ID law: Hurdles for voters, little to curb voter fraud & $7 million tab | Madison Independent

Governor Walker recently signed a bill that requires voters to show IDs at the polls. The new bill will cost Wisconsin taxpayers nearly $7 million in new spending and lost revenue, according to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Many claim that the measure will do little to prevent voter fraud and will disenfranchise thousands of minority, elderly and rural voters.

According to PolitiFact, Wisconsin’s law is one of the most restrictive, based on research on acceptable IDs and voting procedures for those without IDs from state election offices, and the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Under the new law, citizens would be allowed to vote only after showing a photo ID such as a Wisconsin driver’s license, state-issued ID card, certain very limited student IDs, military IDs, passports, naturalization certificates or IDs issued by a tribe based in Wisconsin. The new law will be partially implemented in the upcoming recall elections this year, with full implementation beginning with the presidential election in 2012.

National: GOP To Push Stronger Voter I.D. Laws, Says ‘Voter Fraud Is Real’ | CNSnews.com

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus repeated his party’s commitment to stronger voter identification laws, saying that the GOP would not give up the fight against voter fraud.

“I think that we need to make it easy to vote, hard to cheat, and I think that that’s a mantra that we ought to shout from the rooftops all over the country as a Party,” Priebus told conservative bloggers on a conference call on Thursday.

Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) Chairman David Norcross said that voter fraud issues were very real, despite complaints from liberals that it is largely a phantom problem. Cross cited several cases where states had found thousands of ineligible votes after elections were already over.

Rhode Island: Voter ID critics express distaste in letter to Chafee | The Providence Journal

Fifteen minority, civil-rights, open government and social-service organizations have sent Governor Chafee a letter criticizing his decision to sign voter-ID legislation into law. The new law requires voters to present photo ID to vote, a law that the letter’s senders called “a significant and shameful step backward in the fight for equality at the voting booth.”

The letter also challenges Chafee’s claim that he spoke “with representatives of our state’s minority communities,” and “found their concerns about voter fraud and their support for this bill particularly compelling.”

“With respect, we would appreciate learning exactly who these representatives of minority communities you talked to are. None of our groups, representing a wide array of minority community constituencies in Rhode Island, has ever expressed support for this bill,” the letter states. “Further, to our knowledge, not one organization representing minority communities testified in support of this bill at either the House or Senate committee hearings.”

South Carolina: Nearly 180,000 South Carolina voters affected by new voter ID law | WIS News 10

About 93 percent of South Carolina residents are not affected by South Carolina’s new voter ID law. The other seven percent — those who are registered to vote, but do not have a photo id — may have to take an additional step in order to vote. But right now, things are in limbo until the Department of Justice weighs in.

On May 18, new legislation was signed requiring voters to show a photo ID to cast a ballot. Any change to election laws must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, so some provisions in the law are not yet in effect.

Elections Commission officials say if the law is approved, most South Carolinians will not be affected. However, about 178,000 registered voters do not have a state-issued license or ID and may need one. “Those people will have to take some action before their next election,” said Elections Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire.

North Carolina: McCrory pushing for override of North Carolina voter ID bill vetoed by potential rematch opponent Perdue | The Republic

Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory is trying to build public pressure upon lawmakers to support a voter photo identification mandate vetoed by his potential gubernatorial opponent next year.

McCrory this week began a multimedia effort to persuade Democrats to help override Gov. Beverly Perdue’s veto of the voter ID requirement pushed by Republicans at the Legislature. An override vote is expected July 25. McCrory lost to Perdue in the 2008 election and is considering a 2012 bid.

Editorials: Will long lines sink new voter ID law? | Tri-State Defender

‘Not familiar with Voting Rights Act,’ says Tennessee official

Getting a driver’s license in Tennessee is a test of skill and endurance, but I’m not talking about the road test or written exam, I’m talking about the crazy long lines.

On Friday, I joined 40 people in an outdoor line at 6340 Summer Ave about 12:30 p.m. We huddled together outside of the service center for nearly two hours, standing one-behind the other in 90-plus degree temperatures and punishing humidity. There were no chairs, no water and no restroom breaks. As I steamed, my hair gallantly fought off frizz.

The security guard called four to five customers at a time inside, where we then stood in a second line for 45 additional minutes. It was then we received a customer number and the official wait began. (The Tennessee Department of Public Safety does not officially begin tracking its customer wait time until patrons receive this service ticket. Up to that point, we were just there visiting and hanging out.)

National: Congressional Leaders Speak Out Against Voter ID Laws at Press Conference on the Hill | Campus Progress

Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-OH) held a press conference on Capitol Hill today in opposition to the voter ID laws sweeping states across the country. The event featured statements from Reverend Jesse Jackson, the ACLU, the National Action Network, and other civil rights leaders, along with a host of congressional representatives.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), Rep. Corinne Brown (D-FL), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) were among the leaders who spoke out in strong opposition to photo ID requirements at the polls, emphasizing the laws’ disproportionate effect on the elderly, students, low-income communities, and people of color. This week, Rep. Fudge and twenty congressional representatives signed on to a letter addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder, requesting that the Department of Justice investigate the constitutionality of voter ID requirements, which could possibly violate the Voter Rights Act of 1965. As Campus Progress previously reported, on June 29 Senator Michael Bennett (D-CO) circulated a similar letter to AG Holder which was signed by 15 Senators.

US Virgin Islands: Elections preparing to purge voter rolls | Virgin Islands Daily News

The St. Thomas-St. John District Board of Elections will begin cancelling about 4,700 voter registrations this week. According to law, if a voter misses two consecutive elections, that voter’s registration is cancelled, and he or she must re-register to vote in any future elections.

Following each election, the Elections staff sifts through the voter books and pulls out the registrations to be cancelled. Notices are sent out urging those voters to apply for reinstatement if they do not want to be pulled from the voter rolls.

Wisconsin: New voter ID rule leaves some absentee voters without ballot | Leader-Telegram

At least a few area voters have been confused by a new rule governing absentee voting. Yvonne and George Nelson of Menomonie planned to cast absentee ballots for the 10th Senate District recall primary Monday before taking a trip out of town.

But they were politely told at the Dunn County Courthouse that they couldn’t vote absentee because under the new voter ID law, they needed to vote by Friday. Before the new law had been passed, the deadline was the day before the election.

“I’m furious,” said Yvonne Nelson, who had been unaware of the change. “I feel disenfranchised. We either have to drive a couple hundred miles to come back to town or not vote. “My husband said he’s not driving back 200 miles at $4 a gallon.”

Wisconsin: Voter ID Phased in as Wisconsin Recall Elections Begin | WUWM

Tuesday’s recall primaries will be the first elections held since state Republicans passed a law requiring voters to present photo identification. But you do not have to show an ID card at the polls yet.

“The Legislature decided they wanted what you could call a ‘soft implementation.’ Photo ID is such a big change, and we don’t want to surprise anyone and have anyone be kept from voting when they don’t know about it,” says Reid Magney, spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board. It oversees elections.

South Carolina: Opponents ask feds to block South Carolina’s voter ID law | TheState.com

Opponents to South Carolina’s new photo-ID-to-vote law revved up their efforts Monday to have it declared illegal. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and several members of the Greenville Rainbow PUSH Coalition held a news conference to blast the law, which requires residents to bring a photo ID, such as a valid S.C. driver’s license, to the polls to cast a ballot.

Jackson called the measure an effort to suppress voter turnout, according to the Greenville News, adding he has sent a letter to the U.S. Justice Department and is meeting with members of Congress on the issue.

Rhode Island: Some liberals, Democrats stunned by passage of Rhode Island voter ID | The Providence Journal

When a voter ID bill passed in Rhode Island last week, longtime opponents were stunned. How could this happen in one of the country’s most Democratic and liberal states? Why did Democratic leaders and black legislators support it? And why did Governor Chafee sign it?

Some say black politicians were trying to protect themselves from Hispanics’ growing political power — two longtime black legislators were defeated by Hispanics in the 2010 elections. Some cite illegal immigration as a driving force. Some say voter ID is simply essential.

Whatever the reason, people are still seething a week later. That includes many within the minority community, who chide Chafee for saying he was compelled by concerns from the “minority community” about voter fraud.

Bangladesh: Election Commission to distribute smartcard ID for voters | Financial Express

The Election Commission (EC) is often at the receiving end of strong criticism for its failure to conduct national elections properly. Such criticisms are generally made by the defeated candidates or political parties. The presence of ‘ghost’ voters on the electoral rolls and fake voting are common problems that the EC has been facing for decades. There were, allegedly, some other greater schemes, designed by powerful quarters in the past, to which the EC had become a party by default or by design.

The EC, at the initiative taken by the last military-backed caretaker government, prepared and distributed national identity cards (IDs) to all eligible voters and also printed electoral rolls carrying photographs of the voters before the last general elections. It was a huge task for the EC. But it could accomplish the task quite efficiently under a Tk. 5.7 billion project — large part of which was financed by the external donors — with the active assistance from the Bangladesh Army. The EC had undertaken in the early 1990s a voters’ ID card project but it was abandoned later, after wasting a substantial amount of money.

National: Students claim ID rules make it harder to rock the vote | Merimbula News Weekly

A series of laws and proposals popping up across the United States this year to strengthen voter identification requirements is part of an effort to discourage voting by students, who turned out in large numbers for Barack Obama in 2008, the head of a youth lobby group told a conference of young liberals on Thursday.

”Under the radar, there [is] a set of people trying to make it harder for students to vote,” said the president of Rock the Vote, Heather Smith, at the Campus Progress National Conference, just one day after Rhode Island announced a new voter identification law requiring photo IDs.

Wisconsin: Voter ID law impacts Wisconsin recall elections | Fox11.com

Voter Photo ID is now the law in Wisconsin. Starting next year, voters will be required to show a photo ID in order to receive a ballot and vote. While it’s not in place just yet, the new law will still have an impact on this summer’s recall elections.

Ahead of Tuesday’s primary recall elections, area poll workers are undergoing intense training with the passage of the new Voter Photo ID law. Poll workers are required to ask people for photo identification, even though it’s not mandatory yet.

“If people don’t have photo identification with them then they’re required to give them information on what they can bring for photo identification for next spring. So it’s kind of like a little early run through to get people familiar with that process,” said Chief Deputy Brown County Clerk Sandy Juno.

Ohio: House GOP pushes Husted to back photo ID | Columbus Dispatch

Pointing to recent action in Rhode Island, a member of House GOP leadership is calling on Secretary of State Jon Husted to get behind a bill stalled in the Senate that requires voters to show photo ID at the polls.

“It is very encouraging that other states are moving forward on this common-sense concept that will strengthen elections and restore voters’ confidence in the democratic process,” Rep. John Adams, R-Sidney, said in a release. “I am disappointed that (Husted) has not supported this legislation despite nationwide bipartisan support from both state legislatures and the public.”

Husted has said he does not favor a strict photo ID bill and has not come out in favor of a softer Senate-amended version either, arguing that he has all the tools he needs to keep Ohio elections secure in a separate election overhaul bill that passed last week. Senate leaders have taken some action on the photo ID bill, House Bill 159, but have not brought it up for a full vote.

Ohio: Hold On Ohio, Rhode Island’s Voter ID Bill Isn’t the Same | Rock the Vote Blog

Today’s Columbus Dispatch suggests that there are efforts to revive the strict photo ID bill in Ohio in a special legislation session next week. Some Republican leaders are trying to push fellow Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted, who has beenopposed to the photo ID legislation, and members of the Ohio Senate to accept the bill. Their rationale is that Rhode Island, which has a Democratic legislature and an independent Governor, passed legislation that implements new voter ID requirements at the polls.

… Let’s be clear: the newly enacted Rhode Island law is different from the Ohio proposal in many important ways.