Wisconsin: Federal judge issues ‘targeted remedy’ for problems with voter ID law | The Cap Times

The state of Wisconsin must immediately provide more information to help people seeking state-issued voting credentials navigate the complex process, a federal judge ordered Thursday. U.S. District Judge James Peterson declined to suspend the state’s voter ID law before the November election, arguing he doesn’t have the authority to issue a “brand new injunction” and that it might be “unwise” to make sweeping changes less than a month from Election Day. Instead, the judge opted to focus on providing a “targeted remedy” to issues with the ID petition process, or IDPP, which is designed to help people who don’t have the proper documentation obtain IDs. “What we are doing here is to patch it up, get it in good enough shape to get us through the November election,” Peterson said, adding that a previous court order he issued in July mandates a fundamental reform of the process after the election.

United Kingdom: Tory MPs push for rules to ensure ID checks at polling stations | International Business Times

Tory MPs have urged the Government to get a move on in introducing new rules that would ensure people have to produce ID when they vote. Gary Streeter, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, told the Commons on Thursday the commission has “recommended strongly since 2014” the use of ID at polling stations. He added: “It’s now a matter for Government and for this House to introduce this more robust new provision.” Sir Eric Pickles’ recent review into electoral fraud also backed introducing ID checks when people vote.

Missouri: Groups opposing voter ID amendment team up to relay concerns to voters | St. Louis Post-Dispatch

With only a few weeks left before the Nov. 8 general election, opponents to a voter ID amendment are ramping up appeals to voters they hope will reject the proposal. Some advocacy organizations have formed a coalition for broader outreach. They include Progress Missouri, the NAACP, AFL-CIO, AARP, Missouri Faith Voices, Metropolitan Congregations United and Communities Creating Opportunity. At issue is an amendment that will allow Missourians to decide if the state constitution should be changed to require voters present photo identification before voting. If voters approve it, a bill passed by the legislature will also take effect, which lays out which IDs qualify and requires the state to pay for individuals to obtain an ID or documents necessary to get an ID.

Texas: State Election Officials Say Voter ID Change Ads Should Be Airing ‘Any Day Now’ | KUT

Texans across the state will soon be inundated with TV and radio ads ahead of this year’s presidential election. However, the ads won’t be from candidates running for office, but from the state of Texas. The state-funded ads are intended to inform voters of the recent court-ordered changes to Texas’ voter ID law. When Texas lost a legal battle over its voter ID law earlier this year, they were given a couple of instructions. They had to change the law and make it easier for people to vote this November. They also had to let Texas voters know what changed, and they have to spend $2.5 million doing that. Alicia Pierce, a spokesperson with the Texas Secretary of State’s office, says TV and radio ads have just been shipped to markets for all 254 counties in the state – and they should be airing “any day now.” “It does take time from once it leaves the studio to actually get up on air, but they were approved and could be running as soon as today,” she says.

Wisconsin: Judge blasts state over voter ID | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Ripping the Division of Motor Vehicles for giving out inaccurate information, a federal judge said Wednesday he would order Gov. Scott Walker’s administration to make changes to how it treats people who seek voting credentials but was unlikely to suspend the voter ID law. “I think the training that was provided to the DMV counter service was manifestly inadequate,” U.S. District Judge James Peterson said during a daylong hearing. “The DMV has a lot of competencies, but one of them is not communicating to voters what they need to get an ID. “I don’t know why we’re here a month before the election.” Peterson was reacting, in part, to recently released audio recordings of DMV workers supplying people with inaccurate voter ID information.

Wisconsin: Judge rips Wisconsin officials over voter ID law confusion | Associated Press

A federal judge considering a challenge to Wisconsin’s voter ID law ripped state officials Wednesday over inadequate training for Division of Motor Vehicles workers after some employees recently gave prospective voters erroneous information about obtaining alternative credentials to cast a ballot. Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Institute asked U.S. District Judge James Peterson to block the entire law, citing a flurry of reported problems at DMV field offices. Despite his criticisms of the credential program, Peterson said at the conclusion of a hearing that he was reluctant to block the mandate. A federal appellate court has already found the law constitutional, leaving him uncertain whether he even has authority over the law, the judge said. He added that he wants to respect legislators’ decision to adopt the requirement to protect election integrity.

Wisconsin: New lawyers sought in voter ID fight | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As state attorneys try to persuade a judge to keep the voter ID law intact, Democrats on the Elections Commission are looking for new lawyers. U.S. District Judge James Peterson in July struck down limits on early voting and ordered the state to reform its system for making sure people have voting credentials under the voter ID law. In recent weeks, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and others have reported on Division of Motor Vehicles workers giving people inaccurate and incomplete information about their ability to get voting credentials. That prompted those suing the state to make a renewed push to overturn the voter ID law. Peterson has ordered a hearing for 9 a.m. Wednesday. Now, two of the Democratic members of the Elections Commission are seeking a new lawyer to represent them because they say GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel’s office would not file a report with the court on their behalf.

Editorials: From Voting Rights to Voting Wrongs | Jacques Leslie/The New York Times

In August, when a divided Supreme Court let stand an appeals court decision striking down North Carolina’s photo ID requirement for voters, the matter might have seemed settled. The provision, which requires voters to present government-issued photo identification, strikes directly at people who don’t have driver’s licenses — the state’s poor and disabled, young adults and the elderly, and particularly minorities. The Fourth Circuit Court pointed out that the law deliberately targeted African-Americans “with almost surgical precision,” and deemed it unconstitutional. Yet more than a month after the appellate court ruling and days after the Supreme Court decision, election officials in North Carolina’s Alamance County sent packets to newly registered voters advising them on one page that photo ID was still required and on another page that it wasn’t.

Wisconsin: Troopers perform voter ID checks | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In response to reports of the Division of Motor Vehicles giving wrong voter ID information, the state retrained its workers and overhauled how it handles cases when people don’t have birth certificates, state lawyers told a judge Friday. The attorneys acknowledged workers sometimes gave inaccurate information but downplayed the significance of those incidents. They wrote that undercover…

North Carolina: A federal court struck down much of North Carolina’s voter ID law – but what’s left could still shrink the black vote | The Washington Post

Many voting rights activists breathed a sigh of relief this year when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit overturned numerous provisions of North Carolina’s 2013 election law. The law had instituted a strict voter ID requirement, curtailed the early voting period and eliminated one-stop voting and registration, among other provisions. Critics argued that if the law were fully implemented it would lead to a sharp reduction in voting by racial minorities and younger citizens. The 4th Circuit agreed, saying that the “new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision.” On emergency appeal, the Supreme Court deadlocked 4 to 4 on granting a stay, which meant that the 4th Circuit’s decision will stand for the 2016 election. But there is an overlooked yet consequential provision of the law that the court did not strike down: the removal of the straight-ticket option from North Carolina ballots. As in 2014, there will be no such option on the ballot in 2016.

National: States Keep Weaseling Around Court Orders Blocking GOP Voting Restrictions | TPM

After a spree of favorable court rulings that softened or blocked Republican-passed voting restrictions, voting rights advocates are engaged in a new phase of trench warfare with a mere month left before November’s election and early voting in some places already underway. There was no time for civil rights groups to rest on their laurels after winning the high-profile legal challenges. In many states, such rulings were met with attempts to undermine or circumvent court orders meant to make it easier to vote. “You take a step back and it’s really appalling,” said Dale Ho, the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project who has been involved in many of the legal challenges to state voting restrictions. “I mean the Department of Justice and other groups, we have all won the cases … you would have thought we would have been finished with this whole thing, when, up until Election Day, we have to stay on these people,” Ho told TPM. At times, it’s hard to pin down whether issues red states have faced in implementing court orders have been motivated by bureaucratic incompetence or something worse. But the pattern is undeniable. In almost every state where voting rights advocates have scored a major legal victory in recent months, they have had to threaten to drag state officials back into court over the shoddy job election administrators have done following the rulings.

National: Voter ID laws threaten lifelong voters | BBC

67-year-old Leroy Switlick is angry. He’s angry because he’s made three separate trips to the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office in Milwaukee to get a photo ID so he can vote in next month’s general election. Each time he’s come away empty-handed. Leroy has voted in every presidential election for more than 40 years, but Wisconsin’s new voter ID law means that even though he’s registered, he will not be able to cast his ballot without showing photo ID such as a driving licence or passport. “It’s silly,” he says. Switlick, who has been partially sighted for most of his life, never learned to drive – and so never had a driver’s license. He was not previously required to have a state-issued ID for any other purpose. “The first question the man behind the counter asked me was ‘Can I see your photo ID?’ Now if I’m coming to get a photo ID, how can I already have a photo ID?” Each time he visited the DMV, he took a satchel full of documents including his birth certificate. But the DMV never actually examined his papers.

Wisconsin: Democratic lawmakers request federal investigation of voter ID implementation | The Cap Times

Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate reports that Division of Motor Vehicles employees gave inaccurate information to would-be voters seeking identification cards. “With less than 35 days until the election, we are requesting that your department immediately investigate these claims and, if merited, take appropriate legal action to ensure Wisconsin electors hoping to vote in the upcoming election are able to do so,” reads a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch signed by 28 Assembly Democrats. The letter comes one day before the due date for a DMV investigation into the reports, first detailed last week in The Nation and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Because eligible voters may have been turned away, we feel that federal oversight may be warranted,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote.

Wisconsin: Federal judge to consider request to suspend Wisconsin’s voter ID law next week | The Cap Times

A federal judge will consider next week a request to temporarily block Wisconsin’s voter ID law following reports that the state may have violated a previous court order related to the administration of free identification cards. U.S. District Judge James Peterson has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 12 to consider a motion filed late Tuesday by the liberal group One Wisconsin Institute. Peterson on Friday ordered an investigation into media reports that Division of Motor Vehicles employees had given inaccurate information to people seeking state-issued free IDs for the November election, potentially violating an order from the judge’s July ruling in a broad challenge to voting laws implemented over the last five years. The findings of the DMV investigation are due to the judge by Friday. Peterson said both sides may offer evidence at the Oct. 12 hearing to argue whether the state has complied with his initial order.

Wisconsin: Experts Say Judge ‘Unlikely’ To Change Voter ID Law This Close To Election | Wisconsin Public Radio

A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for next week to consider a motion by voter ID opponents to block the law ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Western District Court Judge James Peterson will also use the hearing to discuss a state investigation into recordings that allegedly show eligible voters being turned away from getting IDs. “The parties should be prepared to discuss whether any of the relief requested by plaintiffs is necessary or appropriate,” Peterson wrote. The audio recordings were made public by a group called VoteRiders. In a sworn declaration to the court, the group’s Molly McGrath said they feature Wisconsin Division of Motor Vehicle employees giving people incorrect advice about what to do if they lack IDs. For example, one of the recordings features a man being denied an ID and directed away from a petition process for people who can’t easily get identification.

Texas: The Texas Voter ID Fight Keeps Getting Weirder | Bloomberg

Texas officials have spent years in court fighting to keep their state’s controversial 2011 voter-ID law alive. The law, one of the toughest in the U.S., requires Texans to show some form of government-issued identification at their polling place. Under a court-approved August compromise with the Department of Justice, Texas must allow voters who show up without a driver’s license or other photo ID to sign a sworn affidavit stating that they’d encountered an impediment to obtaining the required documents before Election Day. On Sept. 20, the federal district judge who oversaw the August agreement denied a plea from the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and Dallas and Hidalgo counties claiming Harris County clerk Stan Stanart and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton were effectively intimidating voters by publicly suggesting that people who filed affidavits could be criminally prosecuted if it turned out they’d been issued driver’s licenses or other IDs in the past. “If you sign that affidavit and you lie about not being able to get a photo ID, you can be prosecuted for perjury,” Paxton told Fox News on Aug. 18. The judge’s ruling was a victory for Stanart, an active member of the state Republican Party whose campaign website touts him as “the proven conservative leader.” Harris County, which covers Houston, is the biggest in Texas and third-largest in the U.S., with a population the size of Kentucky. Early voting in Texas starts on Oct. 24.

Wisconsin: DMV retraining workers on voter ID | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Division of Motor Vehicles began retraining hundreds of workers Tuesday as more instances came to light of state officials providing incomplete or inaccurate information about the ability of people to get IDs for voting. “We still have plenty of time to right any wrongs that may have occurred,” DMV Administrator Kristina Boardman told reporters. She made her comments just hours before groups suing the state asked a federal judge to suspend or soften the voter ID law for the Nov. 8 election. In court filings, the groups cited instances of voters not receiving IDs or being told wrong information about whether they could get them. “Taken together, this evidence makes clear that the state does not have — and is incapable of implementing — a functioning safety net for its strict voter ID law,” attorney Joshua Kaul wrote.

Wisconsin: Group asks federal court to block Wisconsin voter ID law | Associated Press

Wisconsin’s voter ID law should be suspended for next month’s election in light of new audio recordings revealing state Division of Motor Vehicles workers giving inaccurate information about what’s required to vote, a liberal advocacy group argued in a motion filed Tuesday in federal court. The motion from One Wisconsin Institute argued that the state is “nowhere close” to being in compliance with a federal court order detailing how the law should be administered. It was filed just hours after the head of the state Department of Transportation tried to reassure lawmakers that front-line workers would receive additional training with the election just five weeks away. “Clearly, we take seriously some of the recent news reports about allegations we didn’t provide accurate information or provided wrong information,” DOT Secretary Mark Gottlieb said in a public hearing.

Wisconsin: DMV workers at 7 more stations give wrong voter ID info | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Workers at seven Division of Motor Vehicles stations across Wisconsin provided inaccurate or incomplete information about the availability of IDs for voting, newly released recordings show. “You’re not guaranteed to get an ID card. Nothing’s guaranteed,” a worker at the DMV station in Hudson told a woman on Wednesday. That conflicts with what Attorney General Brad Schimel’s office has claimed in court documents. His assistants have claimed all DMV workers have been trained to tell people they will get credentials for voting within six days, even if they don’t have birth certificates. The recordings could further roil litigation over Wisconsin’s voter ID law. On Friday, a federal judge ordered the state DMV to investigate an incident in which three DMV workers gave incorrect information about whether a Madison man could get an ID without a birth certificate. The recordings were made by the group VoteRiders, which assists voters in getting IDs and describes voter ID laws on its website as “challenging and confusing.”

Wisconsin: Federal judge orders investigation into Wisconsin’s voter ID system | The Washington Post

A federal judge on Friday ordered Wisconsin officials to investigate whether DMV workers are giving prospective voters correct information about a system meant to provide IDs to those who might have trouble getting them. If they aren’t, it could jeopardize the state’s voter ID law. U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson wrote in a two-page order that state officials must investigate whether DMV employees are instructing customers properly on the “ID Petition Process” — a system by which Wisconsinites who lack required documents, such as birth certificates, can get alternate papers that would let them vote. That is pivotal, because a federal appeals court has previously said its conclusion that Wisconsin’s voter ID law is constitutional depends on officials adequately implementing and informing the public about the ID Petition Process. Peterson had previously ordered reforms to the process so that it could function as a “safety net” for those who might be left unable to cast a ballot by Wisconsin’s strict ID requirement.

Wisconsin: Judge orders DMV to investigate voter ID incident | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A federal judge on Friday ordered the state to investigate an incident in which a voter received incorrect information on getting an ID from three Division of Motor Vehicle workers, saying the state may have violated an order he issued in July. U.S. District Judge James Peterson issued Friday’s ruling a day after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Nation published articles about what happened to Zack Moore, who was told he couldn’t get an ID or temporary voting credentials because he did not have a birth certificate. “These reports, if true, demonstrate that the state is not in compliance with this court’s injunction order, which requires the state to ‘promptly issue a credential valid as a voting ID to any person who enters the IDPP or who has a petition pending,’ ” he wrote, referring to the ID petition process the state uses for those who have the most trouble getting IDs. Moore tried to get an ID on Sept. 22, the same day Attorney General Brad Schimel filed court documents claiming DMV staff were trained to ensure people would get IDs or temporary voting credentials within six days, even if they didn’t have a birth certificate.

Wisconsin: DMV gives wrong information on voter ID | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

State officials told a judge they had trained workers to make sure people could easily get IDs for voting, but an audio recording was released Thursday of Division of Motor Vehicles employees telling a man he couldn’t get one quickly because he didn’t have a birth certificate with him. “You don’t get anything right away,” one DMV employee said on the recording. How IDs are handled is “up in the air right now,” said another. The recordings were made Sept. 22, the same day Attorney General Brad Schimel filed court documents claiming DMV “field staff are now trained to ensure that anyone who fills out these forms will receive a photo ID, mailed to them within six days of their application,” even if they don’t have a birth certificate. The Nation first reported on the recording, which was made by Molly McGrath, the national campaign coordinator with VoteRiders, a group opposed to voter ID laws that also helps people get IDs.

National: Voter ID laws could prevent 34,000 trans people from voting | Metro Weekly

A new study has found that over 34,000 transgender people may be prevented from voting in the upcoming election due to strict voter ID laws. The study, “The Potential Impact of Voter Identification Laws on Transgender Voters in the 2016 General Election,” was released by UCLA School of Law’s The Williams Institute — a think tank focused on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy. Its author, Williams Institute Scholar Jody L. Herman, Ph.D., used data from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality to look at voter ID laws in eight states: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin. In those states, around 112,000 transgender are estimated to have transitioned and be eligible to vote, but about 30% may be prevented from doing so. The reason? A lack of identification that accurately reflects their correct gender, according to the study. Currently, thirty-four states have voter ID laws that require someone to produce an “acceptable” form of identification to poll workers in order to vote. The strictest forms of those laws require government-issued ID, which is where transgender people face a potential barrier.

Georgia: Elections Probe Exposes ‘Assault On Voting Rights’ | News One

An investigation into Georgia’s Election Administration claims that state officials at the highest levels have engaged in a “long-term assault on voting rights.” The report by Allied Progress – a national non-profit group – found that officials were systematically making it more difficult for minorities, the elderly, disabled, and low-income voters to cast ballots.The scathing report accuses Georgia’s Secretary of State and Governor of pushing suppression efforts, which include: Strict voter ID requirements, Proof of citizenship, Reduced early voting, and Felon voting right restrictions. Karl Frisch, Executive Director of Allied Progress, joined Roland Martin on NewsOne Now and said, “You’ve got an election administration process from the top on down to the bottom where people have admitted to their partisan motivation and when they thought no one was looking, they sometimes say in public or on social media absolutely racially abhorrent things.” By Frisch’s account, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp said, “If minorities get registered to vote, they could beat Republicans.” He continued, “As if it would be a bad thing for minorities to get registered to vote.”

Editorials: Voting Rights: Will Court Protections Deliver? | Allegra Chapman/The American Prospect

The electoral dirty work done by dozens of state legislatures in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision Shelby County v. Holder is the focus of determined legal challenges by voting-rights advocates, and decisions are coming down at a dizzying pace. Not every court involved has come down in favor of voters, but there’s encouraging evidence that judges, including conservatives, recognize state laws purportedly passed to ensure “voting integrity” for what they really are: suppressive tactics. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County, state legislators representing nearly half the country rolled back effective reforms and erected new barriers to voting. It was a throwback to the era before the 1960s, when Jim Crow laws finally triggered passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).

Texas: Judge Orders Texas Officials To Reprint Misleading Voter Education Materials | News One

A federal Judge in Texas has ruled the state violated an agreement it made in July to soften its voter ID law, one of the strictest in the country and as a result, will have to reprint their voter education materials. In July, a court ruled that the Texas voter ID law discriminated against Blacks and Hispanics who were less likely than Whites to have government-issued photo ID’s. Texas officials agreed to ease the photo ID restrictions allowing other forms of identification to be used, but the phrasing in their voting guidelines did not make that clear. According to the agreement made in July voters would be allowed to cast their ballots with a signed affidavit and a paycheck, bank statement, utility bill or other government document that included their name.

North Dakota: Judge’s order requires voter affidavit option in North Dakota | Bismarck Tribune

North Dakota will offer an affidavit to voters who don’t bring an identification to the polls, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland’s order comes roughly a month and a half after he said the state couldn’t implement its voter ID laws without offering some kind of “fail-safe” mechanism. Seven members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa sued Secretary of State Al Jaeger in January, arguing the voter ID laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2013 and 2015 disproportionately burden Native Americans. The 2013 change eliminated the option to use an affidavit, which voters could use to swear they were a qualified elector in a particular precinct, as well as the ability for poll workers to vouch for a voter’s eligibility.

Texas: Attorney General To Ask Supreme Court To Rule On Voter ID Law | CBS

The nation’s highest court may soon decide the fate of the controversial voter ID law here in Texas. State Attorney General Ken Paxton will ask them to take up the case. Paxton will make the request to find out once and for all whether the state’s voter id laws are legal. Republican State Senator Don Huffines of Dallas applauds Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s decision to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the state’s voter ID law. “I think it’s a great decision.” says Senator Don Huffines. Huffines says he’s confident the nation’s highest court will overturn lower court rulings that the 2011 law is discriminatory against minorities. “We’ve had voter ID in Texas for several years now, and we’ve conducted several major statewide elections under the law, and we have no history of anyone being disenfranchised.”

National: New laws and rulings could cause Election Day confusion | Associated Press

With more than 120 million Americans expected to cast ballots for president this fall, the nation’s voting process seems more convoluted than ever and rife with potential for confusion come Election Day. Voting rules vary widely by state and sometimes by county, meaning some Americans can register the same day they vote, while others must do so weeks in advance. Some can mail in a ballot, while others must stand in line at a polling place that might be miles from home. Some who forget photo identification can simply sign an affidavit and have their ballot count, while others must return with their ID within a few days or their vote doesn’t matter. Fourteen states have new voting and registration rules in place for this election, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law. Legal challenges have led to a multitude of recent court rulings that have blocked or struck down some provisions and upheld or reinstated others, scrambling the picture further. The new rules and the rapidly shifting landscape have already caused confusion, and some experts fear problems on Nov. 8.

Virginia: Court that nixed North Carolina voter ID law studies Virginia’s law | Associated Press

The Democratic Party of Virginia argued before a federal appeals court on Thursday that its ruling blocking North Carolina’s voter identification law should also apply to Virginia’s, since Republican lawmakers in their state also sought to suppress voting by minorities and young people. Bruce Spiva, an attorney for Virginia Democrats, told a three judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that state’s law requiring people to show photo identification at the polls was passed for a single purpose: to make it more difficult for blacks, Latinos and young people to vote. “The same Legislature that passed the voter ID law is the same Legislature that was found to have racially gerrymandered its districts,” Spiva added, referring to 4th Circuit’s ruling that Virginia Republicans packed too many black voters in one congressional district to make adjacent districts safer for GOP incumbents. Much of Thursday’s debate centered on how Virginia’s law — and the facts surrounding its implementation — differ from North Carolina’s.