National: U.S. Supreme Court rejects challenge to Wisconsin voter ID law | Reuters

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to Wisconsin’s Republican-backed law requiring voters to present photo identification to cast a ballot, a measure Democrats contend is aimed at keeping their supporters from voting. The justices declined to hear an appeal filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the law. The ACLU said it then filed an emergency motion with a federal appeals court to try to keep the law from taking effect immediately. Republican Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said the law cannot be implemented for the state’s April 7 election because absentee ballots are already in the hands of voters but would be in place for future elections. “This decision is final,” Schimel said. Voter identification laws have been passed in a number of Republican-governed states over Democratic objections. Republicans say voter ID laws are needed to prevent voter fraud. Wisconsin’s measure, blocked by the Supreme Court last year, was backed by Governor Scott Walker, a potential 2012 Republican presidential contender.

Editorials: Should the Supreme Court Have Accepted a Challenge to Wisconsin’s Voter ID Law? | Ari Berman/The Nation

Ruthelle Frank, an 87-year-old resident of Brokaw, Wisconsin, has voted in every presidential election since 1948. But after the passage of Wisconsin’s voter-ID law in 2011, she became one of 300,000 registered voters in the state without the required ID. Frank was paralyzed on the left side of her body at birth and doesn’t have a driver’s license or birth certificate. Her name is misspelled in Wisconsin’s Register of Deeds, an error that would cost hundreds of dollars to correct. These circumstances led Frank to become the lead plaintiff in a challenge to Wisconsin’s voter-ID law. That law was blocked in state and federal court for the 2012 election and struck down in May 2014 following a full trial, only to be reinstated by a panel of Republican judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit less than two months before the 2014 election. The Supreme Court prevented the law from taking effect for the 2014 election, but only on a temporary basis. After the election, voting rights advocates asked the high court to consider the full merits of the case. Today, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal. As a result, Wisconsin’s voter-ID law—among the most restrictive in the country—will be allowed to go into effect.

Editorials: Concerns grow over voting rights for the South’s language minorities | Facing South

Amid concerns over the rollback of the Voting Rights Act and introduction of voter ID laws, election watchdogs worry about another critical voting rights issue: language barriers faced by limited English proficient (LEP) voters. For people who don’t speak English as their first language, language barriers can be a significant hurdle to voting. Difficulty understanding registration forms, ballots and other voting materials for LEP voters such as recently-naturalized citizens may discourage them from turning out to the polls. In 1975, Congress acknowledged the barriers an English-only voting process created and amended the Voting Rights Act to require certain jurisdictions to provide bilingual materials and translation support to voters. Under Section 203, jurisdictions — usually counties — where a certain level of a language minority are LEP and have an illiteracy rate higher than the national average must provide translated voting materials and an interpreter at the polls.

Voting Blogs: Voting Laws Are Disabling The Disabled: Easy Nationwide Fixes To Re-Enfranchise Voters With Disabilities | State of Elections

Laws affecting voter participation are a current hot topic in the news. Voter identification, early voting, or redistricting laws are all working their way through the legal system almost certainly on their way to the Supreme Court (if they have not reached the high court already). There are mixed opinions on what these laws do. Supporters insist that the laws protect the integrity of elections by preventing voter fraud. Opponents vehemently argue that the laws are simply pretense for stopping poor and minority voters from exercising their rights at the polls. However, one group of minority voters, voters with disabilities, are severely impacted by election administration laws regarding the accessibility of elections. Their story has been largely ignored in the sound-byte thrusts and parries of the politicos and pundits.

Nevada: Voter ID proposal brings contentious debate | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Henderson Assemblyman Lynn Stewart says he has to show his driver’s license to get on an airplane, to withdraw cash at the bank or to make a purchase with a credit card. The same requirement should be in place when Nevadans exercise one of their most precious constitutional rights by voting, the Republican lawmaker said Tuesday in what became a contentious, two-hour debate over the need for such a measure. Stewart said it is just one more security measure to ensure that someone who casts a vote is who he says he is. Stewart and Assemblywoman Jill Dickman, R-Sparks, supported the measures, Assembly Bills 253 and 266, in a hearing before the Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections Committee. No action was taken on the measures. The bills would provide for a free voter ID card issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles if an individual did not have the required identification. But the controversial issue showed the fundamental differences of opinion that individuals have on the issue. The hearing also got heated at times among members of the committee and with witnesses.

Maine: Republican senator renews fight for voter ID | Bangor Daily News

The sponsor of a bill to require voters to show photographic identification before receiving their ballots said he will continue to solicit support for his bill despite a 7-5 committee vote against it Wednesday afternoon. Sen. Ron Collins, R-Wells, said he sponsored LD 197 because of “finger pointing and accusations” he saw going around during a recount last year in the Senate District 25 election in the Falmouth area. “It kind of hurt the integrity of the voting process in Maine,” said Collins. “It really bothered me. … To maintain the integrity of the voting process, showing a personal identification is not a big burden.”

New Mexico: House OKs voter ID bill that was previously blocked in committee | The Santa Fe New Mexican

In the past, it was almost an annual ritual in the New Mexico House of Representatives: Republicans would introduce bills to require most voters to show photo identification at the polls, and Democrats would vote them down in committee. But early Tuesday morning, what would have been impossible before the GOP took control of the House in the last election actually happened: The House passed a voter ID bill. At about 1:30 a.m., after a three-hour debate, the House voted 36-26 along party lines to pass House Bill 340, sponsored by Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad. It now goes to the Democrat-controlled Senate, where it is bound to have a tougher time.

Nevada: Bill Would Require Photo ID To Vote | KOLO

Nevadans may soon have to produce identification at their voting places, if a legislative bill is approved and signed by the governor. The voter ID law is designed to crack down on voter fraud. AB 253 goes before the Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections Tuesday afternoon. “It’s a solution in search of a problem,” says Bob Fulkerson, Executive Director of the progressive organization PLAN. That’s how he described Assembly Bill 253–a piece of legislation requiring proof of identity at polling places. “To disenfranchise low income and communities of color,” says Fulkerson.

New Mexico: Voter ID bill passes the House | NM Political Report

The House voted to approve a voter ID bill after three hours of debate, the latest in a long line of Republican priorities that have passed this session. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, would require voters to present a form of identification when voting in person or by mail. The legislation passed on a 37-29 vote. While presenting the bill Brown said her aim was to prevent voter fraud no matter how prevalent it is. She argued that if laws were written based on how often crimes are committed, many current laws would be non-existent. “Frequency is not the test,” she said. Brown went on to say, “Some people say voter ID is a barrier, I say it’s a guardrail.” House Minority Leader Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, offered a floor amendment that would lessen some of the identification requirements. Egolf told the body that the amendment would avoid disenfranchising voters by allowing less stringent requirements for voter identification.

New Mexico: House committee votes to advance voter ID legislation | NM Political Report

A panel with a Republican majority split along party lines on Friday to approve a bill requiring voters to present photo identification before casting election ballots. Similar requirements enacted in other states have ignited controversy and costly court battles; critics contend voter ID laws disenfranchise eligible voters from low-income and minority communities. The legislation now heads to the House floor. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, said HB 340 was drafted to safeguard the integrity of the elections process while also passing constitutional muster.

Tennessee: Voter ID law faces challenge in U.S. District Court | Lebanon Democrat

Tennessee’s voter ID law may have its day in court now that a group of college students has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the state is violating rights guaranteed to them by the U.S. Constitution. At issue is the exclusion of student ID cards from the accepted list of voter IDs. Jon Sherman, an attorney with the Fair Elections Legal Network, is representing the students. “The state has discriminated against students and discriminated on the basis of age,” he states. “They’ve made it easier for older voters to cast ballots without showing ID and made it harder and harder for students to cast their votes.”

Wisconsin: Battle Over Voter Photo ID Law Could Soon Reach an End | WUWM

Legal challenges to Wisconsin’s voter photo identification law have been underway for four years. Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court might decide whether to rule on the law’s constitutionality. Justices blocked the photo ID law last fall – just weeks before the November election. Now, some organizers wonder if the justices could do an about-face, with only weeks left before next month’s election. “As has often occurred in the past, we find ourselves sort of in this moment of uncertainty – both voters and election administrators,” says Neil Albrecht, the City of Milwaukee’s election commissioner. Like others, he has prepared materials to inform people about the law. Then he put them away, pulled them out, and last fall put them back in storage, as courts changed the status of Wisconsin’s law.

National: Holder and Obama mark Selma events with call for voting rights protections | The Guardian

Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama on Sunday to reprise one of the most powerful acts of the civil rights era. But memorializing history was not the only order of the day, attorney general Eric Holder said in a speech inside the church. In a message that appeared to be coordinated with a pre-recorded television interview by President Barack Obama, Holder attacked a 2013 supreme court decision that invalidated part of the Voting Rights Act as he called for a new national push for protections for minority voters. This year’s march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Holder said, was a symbolic call to finish the work of the original demonstration of 7 March 1965, “Bloody Sunday”, which set the stage for the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Police estimated the crowd crossing the bridge on Sunday at 15-20,000.

Tennessee: Voter ID Law Challenged in U S District Court | Public News Service

Tennessee’s voter ID law may have its day in court now that a group of college students has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the state is violating rights guaranteed to them by the U.S. Constitution. At issue is the exclusion of student ID cards from the accepted list of voter IDs. Jon Sherman, an attorney with the Fair Elections Legal Network, is representing the students. “The state has discriminated against students and discriminated on the basis of age,” he states. “They’ve made it easier for older voters to cast ballots without showing ID and made it harder and harder for students to cast their votes.”

Missouri: State Official Says Photo ID At Polls Would Put ‘Unjust Burden’ on Missouri Voters | The Missourian

Voter photo ID legislation filed in the Missouri House would put an “unjust burden” on voters, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Jason Kander told The Missourian Monday. Under the legislation, which would be subject to voter approval, citizens could be required to present a photo ID at the polls in order to vote. Currently, voters can present an ID without a picture to vote but also have the option of presenting a photo ID. Proponents of photo ID at the polls say it can reduce the risk of voter fraud. Opponents say requiring photo ID can put up barriers for voters.

North Dakota: Student IDs for voting sets off heated debate | Bismarck Tribune

Student leadership and university officials faced off Thursday at the state Capitol over a bill that would create a new student identification option for voting amid questions of student safety and over whether it creates a special class of voters. The House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 2330, which would add a university-issued student ID as an acceptable form of ID for voting. The new IDs would need to list a student’s date of birth and residential address and would be issued beginning Jan. 1. Universities would also be required to provide information on voting eligibility requirements. The debate centered on whether a new student photo ID would enable more students to vote, as well as whether the action would create a special class of voters. The idea of student information on the IDs drew criticism from university officials based on safety concerns.

National: Fight over voting rights continues on Selma anniversary | USA Today

With tens of thousands of people expected to gather this weekend in Selma, Ala., to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a turning point in the American Civil Rights movement, activists hope to use the moment to turn the spotlight back on voting rights issues in the USA. President Obama will visit the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Saturday, joining living foot soldiers of the civil rights movement at the landmark. The bridge is where hundreds of peaceful protesters were brutally beaten on “Bloody Sunday” as they sought to end discriminatory tactics — such as poll taxes and arbitrary literacy tests — used by white officials to prevent African Americans from voting. The protesters of Selma ultimately prevailed, and the moment helped usher in the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. But in moves that activists call sweeping erosions of voting rights that disproportionately affect minority communities, several states have passed more stringent voter ID rules after the Supreme Court in 2013 struck down a key provision of the landmark legislation that was birthed with the blood and sweat of the Selma protesters.

Tennessee: Students sue over voter ID law | The Tennessean

A student organization filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday claiming Tennessee’s voter identification law violates the rights of college students by not allowing them to use school IDs to vote. The lawsuit comes after a four-year debate, protests and multiple failed attempts in the Tennessee General Assembly to allow use of the identification. “For four years, the Tennessee General Assembly has rejected every attempt to add college student IDs to the voter ID list, systematically shutting young voters out of the political process just as they become eligible to vote,” Jon Sherman, a staff attorney for the Fair Elections Legal Network, said in a statement. The Fair Elections Legal Network, a national voting rights organization, and Nashville law firm Barrett Johnston Martin & Garrison, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Nashville Student Organizing Committee, a student-run social justice and civil rights organization.

Missouri: House passes voter ID bills | Northwest Missourian

The Missouri House of Representatives once again passed legislation regarding voter identification. Over the past several years, the House has attempted to implement new laws to combat voter fraud but have been struck down by the Missouri Senate and the Missouri Supreme court. The Missouri legislature first must amend the constitution to allow for a voter identification law to be passed. House Bill 30 will implement voter identification restrictions. Just last year a similar bill was presented, House Bill 1073, but faced scrutiny from Secretary of State Jason Kander.

Voting Blogs: Friday at 6pm: Another Example of Changes in Ohio’s Election Regulation | State of Elections

Ohio is no stranger to changes in election administration and regulation. The Supreme Court determined the constitutionality of Ohio’s voter ID laws. The Sixth Circuit recently permanently enjoined the enforcement of Ohio’s campaign fair practice law that prohibited making false statements in campaigns. Ohio was highlighted in the 2004 election for extraordinarily long lines at its polls, and just eleven days before the 2014 midterm, the Sixth Circuit reversed the Southern District of Ohio, denying the right to vote to persons incarcerated but not yet convicted. Upon conviction of a felony in Ohio, convicted persons lose their right to vote while incarcerated; however, people who are in jail at the time of the election but not yet convicted of a crime are still allowed to vote. The State Board of Elections accomplishes this by sending two representatives, one Democrat and one Republican, to the jail with absentee ballots. The incarcerated individual then fills out an absentee ballot and the team from the State Board delivers the ballot.

North Carolina: Judge denies most voter ID motions | Winston-Salem Journal

A North Carolina state judge has declined for now to strike down or uphold photo identification requirements to vote in person starting in 2016 — keeping the path clear for a summer trial in a lawsuit. In a ruling provided Friday to case attorneys, Superior Court Judge Michael Morgan denied a motion by voters and advocacy groups who sued and believe the voter ID mandate is unconstitutional because legislators created another qualification to cast a ballot. But Morgan also refused to accept all the arguments of attorneys representing the state and State Board of Elections to throw out the lawsuit. With the refusals for “judgment on the pleadings” — meaning arguments with essentially no additional evidence — Morgan is indicating factual issues between the court opponents must be resolved. A trial already had been set for July 13.

Maine: Voter ID brought back to the Leguislature | Maine News Center

An old issue has come back in Augusta: voter ID. A bill sponsored by Sen. Ron Collins (R-Wells) would require Maine voters to show an ID before casting a ballot. The issue has been debated in the Legislature before. Republican staffers say it was proposed in 2011, but did not end up being passed into law at that time. Instead it was passed as a Legislative resolve. That was the same year the Republican majority passed a law eliminating same day voter registration, a law that was ultimately overturned by Maine voters in referendum.

North Dakota: Senate votes down provisional ballots | Grand Forks Herald

The North Dakota Senate voted down a bill Wednesday that would have allowed voters without an approved form of identification to cast a provisional ballot. Senate Bill 2353, sponsored by Sen. Mac Schneider, D-Grand Forks, failed 18-29 Wednesday. Provisional ballots wouldn’t count until the voter could prove their eligibility with a postcard mailed by the county auditor after the election.

Wisconsin: Civil rights alliance weighs in with high court on voter ID | Wisconsin Gazette

A broad alliance of civil rights groups representing voters most affected by Wisconsin’s photo ID law pressed the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the measure enacted during Gov. Scott Walker’s first term. The Wisconsin Department of Justice, meanwhile, are asking the high court to reject the appeal. The case, Frank v. Walker, is pending before the Supreme Court, on appeal filed after the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the statute last October. After the appellate ruling, challengers secured from the Supreme Court a temporary hold that kept the law from being implemented for the 2014 midterm election. However, the high court has not indicated whether it will hear the case on merit.

North Carolina: Wake judge allows case on voter ID law to proceed to trial | News Observer

A Wake County judge has refused to dismiss a challenge to North Carolina’s voter ID law, saying in a ruling issued Friday that most of the claims in the lawsuit are strong enough to take to trial. Judge Mike Morgan dismissed two of six claims made by the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, the A. Philip Randolph Institute and five female voters who contend that requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls violates the North Carolina State Constitution. Attorneys for the legislators behind the 2013 elections-law overhaul argued three weeks ago to Morgan that the case should be dismissed outright and that no one would be prohibited from voting if they did not have one of the acceptable forms of ID. The attorneys for the lawmakers contended that because an ID will not be necessary to cast a mail-in absentee ballot, that the challengers’ arguments have no merits.

Canada: New voter ID rules face charter challenge from 2 advocacy groups | CTV News

Two advocacy groups are asking the courts to set aside new Conservative election rules that they say will make it more difficult for thousands of Canadians to vote in this year’s federal election. The Council of Canadians and the Canadian Federation of Students have filed evidence to support a constitutional challenge of last year’s legislation, dubbed the Fair Elections Act by the Harper government. “The very legitimacy of the government is at issue if these rules stand, in our submission,” lawyer Steven Shrybman told a news conference Monday. The groups say new voter identification rules contravene Section 3 of the charter, which states everyone has the right to vote, as well as the equality provisions in the Constitution. The office of Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre did not respond to a request for comment on the court challenge.

Editorials: The Next attack on voting rights and why Democrats should fight for a constitutional right-to-vote amendment | Jamelle Bouie/Slate

he last round of voter restrictions came after the 2010 Republican wave, when new GOP majorities passed voter identification laws and slashed ballot access in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. Now, three months after the 2014 Republican wave, another class of state lawmakers are prepping another assault on voting rights under the same guise of “uniformity” and “ballot integrity.” In Georgia, reports Zachary Roth for MSNBC, Republicans are pushing a bill to slash early voting from the present maximum of 21 days to 12 days. The goal, says Rep. Ed Rydners, a sponsor of the proposal, is “clarity and uniformity.” “There were complaints of some voters having more opportunities than others,” he said, “This legislation offers equal access statewide.” If cities like Atlanta want to have more voting access, said Rydners, they could open more precincts and “pay to have poll workers present.”

New Mexico: State House committee OKs middle-road bill on voter ID | The Santa Fe New Mexican

State Rep. Eliseo Alcon held up his right hand where everyone in the room could see it and squeezed his thumb and forefinger tightly together. It was his demonstration to show exactly how negligible the problem of voter fraud is in New Mexico, in his estimation. Alcon, D-Milan, summed up the objections several groups had expressed Saturday to two proposals that would require voters to present identification documents before casting ballots. Opponents argued that the legislation would chill participation in elections — particularly among women, minority groups and senior citizens — when its aim is to thwart voter fraud, an activity that there’s scant evidence of in the state. “Neither one of these bills do anything but hurt a small percentage of people” who are eligible to vote but don’t possess identification cards with photos, Alcon said. But neither critics of the proposals nor New Mexico’s Republican Secretary of State Dianna Duran, who backed the more rigid of the two plans considered by the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee, got their way.

New Mexico: One bill advances, another tabled in voter ID discussion | NM Political Report

The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee voted to pass one bill related to voter ID, while the more strict version was tabled. However, lawmakers on the panel hinted that portions of the stricter bill will appear in the next version of the legislation that passed. The committee saw two different bills related to voter ID on Saturday in a lengthy hearing. The first—called a compromise bill by sponsors Rep. James Smith, R-Sandia Park, and Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque—passed on a party-line 6-5 vote with Republicans in favor. The other, a more strict voter ID bill—was sponsored by Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad—was tabled on an 8-3 vote, with three Republicans voting against it.