An effort to fight voting fraud could cost state taxpayers millions, though it’s a price some lawmakers are willing to pay. New requirements intended to cut down on fraudulent voters were passed by the House State Government Committee on Monday morning and will head to the House for a final vote. The bill would require…
If Missouri voters say “yes” at the polls in 2012, they will have to show a photo ID when they cast ballots in 2014. But they also will have the option to vote during an 11-day period before Election Day. Lawmakers on Tuesday approved enabling legislation that will put voter-identification requirements and early-voting procedures into…
Voters would be asked for a photo ID in the upcoming recall elections but would still be allowed to vote without one. They would then be informed that a photo ID would be mandatory beginning with the spring 2012 Primary. The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee passed an amended version of the photo ID bill Monday,…
Legislation that would require Texans to show a photo ID before voting was given final approval by the Senate on Monday, with the House expected to sign on later and send the bill to the governor. Senators approved the measure 19-12 along partisan lines, signaling the apparent victory in a long effort by Republicans to…
A measure that would require voters to show photo identification when they go to cast their ballot now awaits consideration by the state House of Representatives, following a lengthy committee debate this morning. The bill from Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry and chair of the State Government Committee, passed the panel on a party-lines vote of…
The fast pace of a bill requiring photo ID at the polls is the latest sign Republicans are moving quickly on their legislative agenda in the face of likely recall elections. The Joint Finance Committee approved the bill 12-2 Monday on party lines, despite fierce objections from Democrats that the bill was taken up when…
Steven Prieve saw a lot of interesting things in his 10 years of running a polling place in Madison. The 59-year-old retired repairman watched as groups of Hmong immigrants arrived with translators in tow. He witnessed droves of students vote in their first elections. And he helped many elderly take part in some of their last.…
Instead of spending $2 million or more to implement a voter ID law in Wisconsin, the state should be spending that money on improving the overall voting process in the state. Lawmakers are getting ready to vote on a measure that would require everyone who wants to vote to show a valid identification card with a…
Gov. Brian Schweitzer has vetoed a bill to require a government-issued photo identification to cast a vote during an election. Schweitzer says the bill would have placed an unnecessary burden on low-income, elderly, disabled and student voters.
A controversial GOP-sponsored elections bill requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls is nearing the governor’s desk after clearing the Minnesota House Thursday. The measure passed on a 73-to-59 largely party-line vote after the Senate approved a similar bill last week. The unified show of Republican support is just the latest signal that the…
Although it seems like Gov. Rick Scott will make the bold and progressive move of banning bestiality, he still plans to screw voters. The election overhaul bill, which many see as backdoor disenfranchisement, cruised through the Legislature and now awaits the governor’s signature. Throughout the legislative session, Scott not only supported the bill verbally but…
“I think it’s a privilege. It’s not a right,” Minnesota GOP House Speaker Kurt Zellers said about voting during an Easter recess radio interview. He soon backtracked, as opponents of a GOP-sponsored change in voting requirements pounced on his words.Zellers did well to recant. No other individual right is as clearly guaranteed in the state…
Last November, the big themes of the 2010 elections were jobs and the economy. But in states across the South and country, many of the most pitched legislative battles have focused on another issue entirely: voting rights. With Republicans taking power or strengthening their hand in many state legislatures — and the 2012 elections looming…
In a 99-52 vote, Missouri’s controversial voter ID bill was passed with amendments by the Missouri House of Representatives on Wednesday. The bill will make it a requirement for voters to present a nonexpired, government-issued photo ID upon entrance to their polling place. Opponents to the bill argue that the requirement of a photo ID targets…
As the Assembly Committee on Election and Campaign Reform passed the Voter ID bill on partisan lines, Government Accountability Board Director Kevin Kennedy criticized it for creating administrative hassle and deterring student voters. The latest draft of the Voter ID bill allows the use of a student ID from an accredited university or college to vote…
The State Supreme Court has declined to intervene in a Tulsa County lawsuit that must be moved to Oklahoma County for it to proceed with its challenge to a voter-approved state question. In an order Monday, the Supreme Court denied a request for it to take jurisdiction over a suit challenging SQ 746, the voter…
Two bills concerning a person’s true identity were approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday afternoon. One would require taking DNA samples from people charged with violent crimes. The other would require poll workers to check the photo IDs of voters, starting with the 2012 election season. The voter ID bill, sponsored by Sen. Harold…
A Republican-sponsored NC Senate bill, SB 657, has been introduced that, if enacted, would severely cripple the state’s One Stop Early Voting/Same-day Voter Registration law that helped President Barack Obama win North Carolina in 2008. Indeed, the bill would eliminate same-day registration, an important tool of voter empowerment for communities of color, proponents say. The goal,…
A proposal to require voters to present a photo ID at the polls has town clerks worried it could create a nightmare during elections. The state House of Representatives is expected to vote today on legislation intended to prevent election fraud. While some election workers think it’s a good idea, they say they are concerned about…
Opponents of a group of Voter ID measures in the Minnesota House and Senate — including one that could lead to a constitutional amendment initiative — are not going to go away quietly. Representatives of more than 20 nonprofit groups held a news conference today to make their case that, among others, students, seniors, homeless…
We hear it all the time: How can you be against making voters show a photo ID when they vote? You need an ID to do almost anything in today’s society — buying beer, driving a car, getting on an airplane, going to an R-rated movie — so why shouldn’t you have to show a…
Minnesota voters would be required to show photo identification at the polls under a Republican bill the Senate passed Thursday on a party-line vote. But the photo ID bill — the subject of fierce partisan debates for the past five years — is unlikely to become law. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton last week said he, like…
Hoping to boost what they view as flagging confidence in the state’s election system, Senate Republicans approved a bill on Thursday that would require Minnesotans to present photo ID at the polls. The measure passed on a 37-26 party-line vote after two hours of debate. It would impose new identification requirements, eliminate vouching for most Election…
Today’s Republicans would never try to reinvent something so crude as the outlawed “poll tax,” which mostly Southern states used, along with literacy tests, well into the 20th century to block voting by blacks, poor whites and Native Americans. Removal of these barriers firmly established every citizen’s right under the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause…
A funny thing happened recently to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on its way to nailing an alleged illegal voter. Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigative arm found that clerical mistakes are sometimes made and that people can be accused of trying to vote illegally when they actually didn’t. The investigators, with the…
Voting rights advocates say that Kansas’ new law that requires a photo ID to cast a ballot is bad enough, but what’s worse is its requirement that to register to vote a person, must prove U.S. citizenship. “That part is actually far more troubling,” said Ernestine Krehbiel, president of the League of Women Voters of…
There was a lively discussion on our letters blog today about the proposed Voter ID bill. Supporters of the measure simply can’t understand why anyone would see a problem with requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls. Joyce McCloy of the N.C. Coalition for Verified Voting didn’t weigh in there, but she…
GOP backers of a plan to require photo IDs at the polls are considering an effort to seek a constitutional amendment if the bill is thwarted by a veto. The controversial voter ID bill is nearing a floor vote after months of hearings and while Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday he is willing to look at…
Via Eric Kleefeld at TPM… “Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser held a press conference at the state Capitol on Monday, in which he declared victory in his reelection race — and at which his campaign advisers said they would object to any recount that might be requested by Prosser’s opponent, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne…
The chief House sponsor of a bill to require a photo ID for voting in Minnesota said Monday she expects the Legislature to pass it soon — and that supporters are likely to bring the issue directly to voters if Gov. Mark Dayton vetoes it. “That is absolutely still an option,” said Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer,…