Tag Archives: voter id

Secretary of State Ross Miller on Friday faced tough questions at a public hearing about his proposal to use photos to verify voters’ identities, with opponents worried the system could be costly or allow ineligible voters and non-citizens to cast ballots. In response, Miller said an electronic poll book using photos of registered voters instead of signatures would allow immediate ID checks with government databases, ensuring no fraud. He argued it would be more reliable and bring the election system into the Internet age of online records. “It would actually be more secure,” Miller said at a two-hour forum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

North Carolina: GOP-led General Assembly plans to pass law requiring voters to show ID | FayObserver

The General Assembly will move gingerly but deliberately to pass a law this year requiring voters to show IDs at polls, said state Rep. David Lewis, chairman of the House election law committee. Republicans have sought a voter ID law for years, saying it’s needed to prevent election fraud. State Sen. Wesley Meredith of Fayetteville supports the idea and expects such a bill to be one of the first pieces of legislation he will sponsor when the General Assembly reconvenes Jan. 30.

North Carolina: Voter ID push may soften | Whiteville.com

A highly controversial voter ID bill, vetoed by the governor last year, may not be dead but several media outlets are reporting that Gov. Pat McCrory may be taking a softer stance on the issue. The bill called for voters to show a photo identification prior to voting at the polls in person but The News and Observer has reported that McCrory is willing to look at alternative methods of identification. While many lawmakers remain focused on a strict voter ID law, others are considering approval of other documents that lack photos as sufficient identification. McCrory said last week he still prefers the photo requirement but would sign into a law with other alternative options, such as a voter registration card.

Virginia: General Assembly set to keep fighting about election laws | The Washington Post

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell got his only standing ovation in last week’s State of the Commonwealth speech with an unexpected announcement: He would support automatically restoring voting rights to nonviolent felons who had paid their debts to society. But the Republican governor didn’t bring everyone in the audience to their feet. “Most of the people standing were Democrats,” said Del. Rosalyn R. Dance (D-Petersburg). A year after Republicans and Democrats fought bitterly over voter identification bills, Richmond seems ready to keep sparring over who casts a ballot and how.

West Virginia: Debate rages over whether ID laws hurt or help election process | The Journal

Many voters who showed up to the polls last November did not think to bring along a photo ID, nor did they need to. That could change with West Virginia’s upcoming legislative session, during which voter ID laws are expected to be discussed. According to a recent report by the Associated Press, a GOP proposal would mandate voters present photo ID at polls and help those who don’t have such identification to obtain one.

Wisconsin: Justices again decline to take up voter ID case | Journal Sentinel

The state Supreme Court for a third time on Monday rejected a request by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to take up a case that voided Wisconsin’s voter ID law. The terse opinion was unsigned, and no one dissented from it. The defeat for the Republican attorney general came just 2 1/2 months before Justice Patience Roggensack faces re-election. The decision means the case will remain before the Court of Appeals in Waukesha. A second case is before the Court of Appeals in Madison. One or both cases are expected to eventually be decided by the state Supreme Court.

National: Voter ID battle set to rage again | NJ.com

January 14, 2013

The national battle over voter ID laws that roiled the presidential campaign for a time then fizzled before Election Day is set to rage again in 2013. This year promises a flurry of new voter ID legislation across the country as well as reignited court battles in states where the laws were blocked last year and a Supreme Court ruling on part of the Voting Rights Act. All of the activity will bring the debate — which pits conservatives targeting potential election fraud against voting-rights groups convinced the laws are really about disenfranchising low-propensity liberal voters — to the forefront again. “There are a number of states where there’s clearly active legislative attempts to make their voter ID laws more restrictive,” said Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, which has been involved in court challenges to a handful of the voter ID laws around the country. “This is not an issue that has gone away.”

North Carolina: Any voter ID law will face legal, GOP obstacles | NewsObserver.com

January 14, 2013

Pat McCrory and Republican legislative leaders pledged that if elected, they would undo vetoes from Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue that GOP legislators could not override because they lacked enough votes. At the top of the list was the 2011 bill requiring voters to show photo identification to cast ballots in person. “If we require an ID to get Sudafed … then I think an ID is good enough for the voting box in North Carolina,” McCrory said in October, referring to a law requiring purchasers of certain cold medicines to show photo ID. Fulfilling their pledge is nearly certain because McCrory was elected governor and Republicans expanded their House and Senate majorities. “I expect a voter ID bill to be passed in the very near future and I will sign that bill,” McCrory said this past week. But getting a bill to McCrory won’t be simple, with some lawmakers insistent on a tough photo ID measure and others comfortable with some non-photo documents. And while 11 states required voters to show some form of photo identification in November, photo ID laws in six other states were in legal limbo for 2012, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Texas: New Bill Would Repeal Texas Voter ID Law | The Texas Tribune

January 14, 2013

State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, started the 83rd legislative session with one issue in mind: voter identification laws. Johnson filed five bills Thursday, his first legislation of the new session, aiming to both increase voter participation and strike down a bill requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls. Senate Bill 14, the voter ID law, passed in 2011, requires voters to present a government-issued photo ID to cast their ballot, but the law has yet to be implemented. It was rejected by both the U.S. Department of Justice and a federal three-judge panel in 2012. The rulings said that Texas did not prove that the measure did not discriminate against minorities.

Editorials: Voting Rights Act: What’s lost if the Supreme Court kills it? | Richard Hasen/Slate Magazine

January 11, 2013

Odds are, the Supreme Court will strike down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act after hearing a case from Alabama that will be argued next month. If the part of the law called Section 5 does indeed go down, minority voters in Southern states and elsewhere will lose a key bargaining chip. Section 5 has enabled them to beat back some attempts to make it harder for them to vote, and helped insure that the gains they’ve made in representation and redistricting are not rolled back. As another recent fight over South Carolina’s voter ID law shows, Section 5 still serves a vital role in an era in which partisan legislatures may manipulate election laws for political gain. Like many other states with Republican majority legislatures acting over the last few years, South Carolina adopted a tough photo identification law before the 2012 election. The state’s Republican legislature likely acted out of the belief that such laws would marginally depress Democratic turnout and help Republicans at the polls. Controversy over voter ID laws also motivates the Republican base to turn out to vote. (What voter ID laws don’t do is prevent a lot of real voter fraud, though that’s the rationale their supporters cite.)

Editorials: Downshift on North Carolina Voter I.D. | NewsObserver.com

January 11, 2013

What’s this? Republicans backing away a bit from an issue they used to politically club former Gov. Beverly Perdue? It seems so, and if it is so, good. During a visit to the General Assembly on Wednesday, Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican with super majorities of his party in both houses of the legislature, indicated he might be willing to compromise on the GOP’s push to require North Carolinians to produce photo identification when voting. Republicans passed the bill last session. Perdue rightly vetoed it.

North Carolina: Republicans soften voter ID stance | CharlotteObserver.com

January 10, 2013

Republicans grasped historic dominance at the statehouse Wednesday, starting the legislative session with a supermajority in the House and Senate, even while expressing interest in compromising on a political flashpoint. GOP leaders are softening their stance on legislation to require voters to show a photo identification card at the polls after seeing a new analysis from state election officials showing that it may hinder nearly one in 10 voters. Gov. Pat McCrory and House Speaker Thom Tillis said they favor allowing voters to show other forms of identification that don’t include a photo, such as a registration card or other government documents. “I would still like a photo on it, but I would also be willing to accept other options,” McCrory said. “I’ll let the legislature work to develop those bills. I expect a voter ID bill to be passed in the very near future.”

North Carolina: Voter ID Law Could Impact 613,000 Voters, Report Says | Huffington Post

January 10, 2013

As Republicans in North Carolina make a renewed push to pass a voter ID law, a new report from the State Board of Elections suggests that nearly one in ten voters lack state-issued photo identification. The report shows that up to 613,000 voters, about 9.25 percent of all registered voters in North Carolina, lack state-issued photo identification. Former Gov. Bev Perdue (D) vetoed a voter ID law passed by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2011. But current Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, spoke out in favor of the law on the campaign trail and has promised to sign it if it reaches his desk.

Kansas: Voting rights takes center stage at legislative forum | Wichita Eagle

The state’s voter identification law came under fire Tuesday night at a legislative forum where ordinary citizens got a chance to tell lawmakers what they want from the session that begins next week. The open-mike session drew a crowd of about 100, about 40 of whom chose to speak on a variety of issues ranging from abortion to fluoridated water to police brutality. But the 25 lawmakers who attended the forum heard the most about dissatisfaction with the voting law they passed in 2011 at the request of Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kobach contends that photo ID and proof of citizenship are necessary to prevent voter fraud by immigrants legal and illegal. But resident Bryan Mann told the lawmakers that the real purpose of the voter ID law is to suppress Democratic-leaning voter groups – especially minorities and the elderly – to cement Republican domination of state government.

Nevada: Secretary of State Miller pitches state voter ID bill to Reno Republicans | Reno Gazette-Journal

Secretary of State Ross Miller presented his case for a Nevada voter ID bill at Reno’s Republican Men’s Club and got a warm reception. Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick was cheered loudly when he stood up and said “It’s about time Nevada has a voter ID bill.” Miller, a Democrat, was complimented by many in the audience for what he called “stepping into the lion’s den,” and presenting his plan to a group of Republicans. Yet Miller could get a better reception from the GOP than from his own party, noted State Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, who spoke earlier in the day and questioned the $10 million possible price tag for the bill.

North Carolina: Voter ID law could hinder more than 600,000 voters | WECT

More than 600,000 registered voters in North Carolina could be left out of the voting booth if a voter ID bill becomes law. Former Governor Bev Perdue vetoed the last bill, but current Governor Pat McCrory will have the final say this time around. Before state lawmakers start a new session at the end of January, the State Board of Elections compared voter registration records with information from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Editorials: North Carolina Voter ID may be bigger project than expected | FayObserver.com

The argument in favor of voters showing photo ID before they can cast a ballot is appealing, on first hearing. After all, who’s in favor of voter fraud? Granted, there’s little record of fraud committed at polling places, despite all those jokes about cemeteries emptying out on Election Day. If there’s a real problem, it’s with absentee ballots, which are much easier to cast illegally. But still, as technology advances and there’s far greater incidence of identity theft, the possibility of fraud is out there and pre-emptive measures may be wise.

South Carolina: Lawmakers: State fails on voter ID promises | Times and Democrat

Orangeburg County lawmakers say the state is failing to tell voters they don’t need photo identification to cast a ballot under South Carolina’s new voter ID law. Tuesday’s special election in Branchville will be the first one in the state under the new law. But Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter says officials aren’t telling residents they only need a valid voter registration card to cast a ballot and photo identification is not required. The Orangeburg Democrat said she will bring up the matter in the General Assembly, which opens its new session Tuesday. But “that’s after the fact. The town is having the election” Tuesday, she lamented. “The question is who doesn’t vote because they don’t know” they don’t need a photo ID, said Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg.

South Carolina: Voter ID Legal Fees Must Be Paid Partly By Feds, Court Rules | Huffington Post

Federal taxpayers will have to foot the bill for some legal fees incurred by the state of South Carolina when it successfully fought to implement its voter ID law over the Justice Department’s objections, a panel of federal judges ruled Friday. The same three D.C.-based federal judges who ruled in October that South Carolina could not implement the law in 2012 said in a court order that because the state successfully argued it could begin implementing the law in 2013, it “is the prevailing party” in the case. Justice Department lawyers had previously argued that “neither party fully ‘prevailed’ in this complex case” and said each party should bear its own costs and expenses.

South Carolina: State will recoup ‘tens of thousands’ of $3.5 million bill for voter ID lawsuit | TheState.com

South Carolina will recoup “tens of thousands of dollars” of the $3.5 million it spent to sue the federal government over the state’s controversial voter ID law, according to a spokesman for S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson. Wilson told a legislative panel Friday the total price tag for the state’s lawsuit was $3.5 million – more than three times his original estimate. Lawmakers on the Joint Other Funds Committee then approved a $2 million budget adjustment for Wilson’s office to pay for the lawsuit. But late Friday, a federal three-judge panel ruled that, because South Carolina was “the prevailing party,” the federal government had to pay some of the state’s expenses. Attorney General spokesman Mark Powell said Monday the office expects to recoup “tens of thousands of dollars.”

Virginia: Voter ID measures back before General Assembly | HamptonRoads.com

In the minds of some Republicans, the General Assembly didn’t go far enough last year when it approved tougher voting identification laws. Accordingly, several GOP lawmakers — Dels. Rob Bell and Mark Cole, and Sen. Mark Obenshain among them — are offering new voting measures for consideration by their legislative colleagues. Bell plans to sponsor a bill that would require voters to present a government-issued photo ID to vote, show proof of citizenship to obtain an ID, and let the state provide the necessary documents at no-cost to eligible voters who can’t afford them. “Everyone who’s eligible should vote on Election Day, but it’s important that we only count the ballots of citizens who have the right to vote,” said Bell, R-Albemarle County.

Virginia: Cole pushes for new voter identification legislation | WTOP.com