Ohio: Fair Elections Ohio Turns in First 1000 Signatures for HB194 Referendum | ProgressOhio

Representatives of Fair Elections Ohio, a coalition of state legislators, voting rights advocates, labor unions, progressive organizations, and concerned citizens across the State of Ohio, today turned in the first 1,000 valid signatures for a HB194 referendum to the Ohio Attorney General.

“In just five days, concerned citizens from across the state have stepped up to bring HB194 directly to the voters so they can decide if their voting rights should be diminished or curtailed. Because of the nature of the rights at stake, thoughtful, serious volunteers who believe in keeping access to voting available to all eligible Ohioans have done a great job in the gathering the signatures that will allow this process to move forward,” said former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Fair Elections Ohio had dozens of volunteers across the state collect this first round of signatures from over a dozen counties.

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.

Cameroon: Diaspora Member: Voting Rights Law Falls Short | VoA News

A leading member of Cameroon’s Diaspora says recent changes in the West African country’s electoral law fall short of their demands. Cameroon’s National Assembly last week agreed to extend voting rights to the estimated five-million citizens living abroad, but only to those who are registered with their local embassy and who do not hold dual nationality.

Kenneth Ndeh, founder of the American Association of Cameroonians says the Diaspora has been asking for dual citizenship and that the recent changes are only intended to benefit President Paul Biya’s ruling party.

“There are lots of things that most Cameroonians in the Diaspora have asked for from the government both at the executive level and at the legislative level.  Most Cameroonians in the Diaspora have asked for dual citizenship and basic and respectable services at the consulate level of various embassies abroad and none of these things have been implemented,” he said.

Editorials: Carded at the Polls – Will the Justice Department stop the assault on voting rights for minorities, the elderly, and the poor? | prospect.org

One consequence of Republican victories last November has been an onslaught of state legislation to require voters to show photo identification at polling places. This push builds on GOP efforts over the past decade to tighten ID requirements; at least 18 states have enacted more stringent rules since 2003, including, most recently, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

Last week, 16 U.S. senators signed a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calling on the Justice Department to investigate whether the new ID requirements comply with federal law. Representative Marcia Fudge of Ohio, a Democrat, is gathering signatures on a similar letter from House members and held a press conference Wednesday on Capitol Hill with civil-rights leaders, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson, to draw attention to her effort.

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.)

Louisiana: Louisiana Violated Disabled Voter Rights, U.S. Says in Suit | Bloomberg

The state of Louisiana and some of its agencies and officials violated the National Voter Registration Act through their treatment of disabled residents and people on public assistance, the U.S. said in a lawsuit.

The U.S. Justice Department said in the suit filed today in federal court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that the state broke the law by failing to provide voter registration services at offices administering to residents on public assistance or state-funded programs serving people with disabilities. The law requires states to “identify and designate” these offices as voter registration agencies, the U.S. said.

UAE: Federal NationalNational Election Commission launches roadshows | WAM

In the run-up to the forthcoming elections to the Federal National Council (FNC), the National Election Commission will flag off a series of roadshows to enlighten the UAE community on the election process and its importance.

Nearly 130,000 citizens, both men and women from all the seven emirates in the UAE, are supposed to cast their votes to elect half of the members to the country’s national assembly.

Editorials: The right to vote | The Manila Times

The right to vote is more technically called “suffrage.” It was first found in the US Constitution in 1787 (Dictionary.com). The Philippine Constitution provides: “Suffrage may be exercised by all citizens of the Philippines, not otherwise disqualified by law, who are at least eighteen years of age, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least one year and in the place wherein they propose to vote, for at least six months immediately preceding the election. No literacy, property, or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.”

Clearly, it is not obligatory to exercise suffrage. It is due to this permissive provision of the Constitution that failure to cast one’s vote without justifiable excuse (an election offense under Section 261, sub-paragraph 1 of the Omnibus Election Code) is said to have been decriminalized. Under such 1978 penal provision, suffrage was more an obligation than a right.

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.

Morocco: Partido Popular Opposes Granting vote to Moroccans | Gibraltar Chronicle

Partido Popular wants to prevent Moroccan migrants resident in Ceuta and Melilla from voting in local elections in 2015. The party said the right to vote could not be granted to the citizens of a country that has a territorial claim over the two Spanish enclaves, both of which are governed by the PP.

Party officials were speaking after Morocco approved a new Constitution on July 1 that allows foreign residents to vote in local elections. Four days later, Spain’s Foreign Minister, Trinidad Jiménez, said Spain would sign agreements to ensure that right was reciprocated.

Cameroon: Parliament Adopts Groundbreaking Bill Granting Voting Rights to Cameroonians Overseas | Nouvelles – CRTV

A bill awarding voting rights to Cameroonians resideing out of the country was examined and adopted during the extraordinary session that ended this 9th of July 2011. House Speaker, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril qualified the adoption as a landmark victory for Cameroon’s democracy.

He also considered it as an indication of President Paul Biya’s determination to foster the democratic process in the country.

The issue of double nationality was also raised during deliberations but postponed. According to some sources, it shall be decided through a national referendum to be organised in 2012.

UAE: Emirates expand voting rights for some | Global Post

The United Arab Emirates increased the number of citizens eligible to vote in the country’s legislative elections, CNN reported on Monday, as protests calling for greater political reform continue sweeping across much of the Arab world.

More than 129,000 voters can now cast ballots in the UAE’s upcoming election for the country’s legislative advisory body – the Federal National Council. Still, only around 12 percent of Emirati citizens are allowed to vote in the country’s upcoming election.

In the 2006 election for the FNC, around 6,500 members of an electoral college were eligible to vote. Voters in the Gulf sheikhdom will elect a new FNC on September 24.

South Carolina: Critics challenge South Carolina ‘Voter ID’ plan | TheState.com

When Delores Freelon was born in 1952, her mother could not decide on a name for her. So the space on the birth certificate for a first name was left blank. In the decades since, the incomplete birth certificate did not prevent Freelon from getting her driver’s license and voter registration card in the various states she has lived, including Texas and Louisiana.

But a measure — already passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Nikki Haley — will create new hurdles for Freelon and others to vote.

Delores Freelon, 59, who has voted since she was 18 years old, worries she wont’ be able to vote under the new photo ID law. Although she has a Social Security card, a Medicare card, and an expired Louisiana drivers license the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles will not issue her a S.C. drivers license or S.C. identification card because her first name is not on her birth certificate.

Editorials: Laughlin McDonald: Georgia’s photo ID law infringes on the right to vote | The Washington Post

In his June 23 letter, Georgia’s secretary of state, Brian Kemp, said his state’s photo ID law, which requires a photo ID for in-person voting, is necessary because “every year we investigate and penalize hundreds of people guilty of election and voter fraud.” He failed to note, however, that when Georgia’s photo ID law was challenged in federal court in 2005, the state was unable to point to a single instance of fraudulent in-person voting.

He also claimed that the photo ID law does not “reduce turnout among minority groups.” Again, he did not note the federal court’s finding that the photo ID law “is most likely to prevent Georgia’s elderly, poor, and African American voters from voting. For those citizens, the character and magnitude of their injury — the loss of their right to vote — is undeniably demoralizing and extreme.”

Editorials: Bob Hall: Voter ID requirement a step backward | FayObserver.com

Forty years ago this month, North Carolina played a pivotal role in expanding voting rights for American citizens. On July 1, 1971, our General Assembly became the final state legislature needed to ratify the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

A few days later, at a signing ceremony for the amendment, President Richard Nixon looked around the room of assembled young people and said, “America’s new voters, America’s young generation, will provide what America needs as we approach our 200th birthday – not just strength and not just wealth, but the Spirit of ’76, a spirit of moral courage, a spirit of high idealism in which we believe … that the American dream can never be fulfilled until every American has an equal chance to fulfill it in his own life.”

Thousands of miles away, 18-year-old Americans were fighting and dying in Vietnam. The cry of “old enough to fight, old enough to vote” had grown louder through the 1960s, and Congress finally proposed the 26th Amendment in March 1971. It sped through state legislatures, gaining the necessary ratification of three-fourth of the states with our General Assembly’s historic vote.

Later this month, the General Assembly will consider several bills with a far different purpose. They aim to restrict, rather than expand, opportunities for qualified voters.

Egypt: Foreign Ministry to develop Egyptian expatriate voting process | Al-Masry Al-Youm

The Foreign Ministry seeks to develop an expatriate voting process for any upcoming elections or referendums in collaboration with other state bodies, it said Thursday. The ministry’s official spokesperson, Menha Bakhoum, said in a statement that there are many obstacles to organizing the balloting process for Egyptians abroad, such as the absence of legislative rules.

The interim government granted Egyptian expatriates voting rights when it amended election laws earlier this year.

However, in an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology Maged Othman ruled out the possibility of expatriates taking part in parliamentary elections set for September.

National: Senators concerned by photo ID requirement to vote | ajc.com

Sixteen Democratic senators want the Justice Department to look into whether voting rights are being jeopardized in states that require photo identification in order for people to vote.

The lawmakers wrote Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday to express concern that millions of voters do not have a government-issued ID — particularly older people, racial minorities, low-income voters and students. The senators say the photo ID requirements have the potential to block millions of eligible people from exercising their right to vote.

Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said the department is monitoring, as it routinely does, this type of legislative activity in the states.

Ohio: ‘Most Restrictive’ Voter ID Law In The Country Loses Support Of Republican Secretary Of State | TPM

The Ohio state Senate was set to consider this week what critics are calling the most restrictive voter identification law in the country. The push for restrictive voter ID measures in the Buckeye state is part of a trend of similar legislation sweeping Republican-controlled legislatures across the country.

But Ohio’s measure is so restrictive — it requires the photo IDs to be issued by the state, so voters couldn’t identify themselves with their full Social Security numbers — that it lost the support of Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted.

“I want to be perfectly clear, when I began working with the General Assembly to improve Ohio’s elections system it was never my intent to reject valid votes,” Husted said in a short statement posted on his official website. I would rather have no bill than one with a rigid photo identification provision that does little to protect against fraud and excludes legally registered voters’ ballots from counting,” Husted said.

Ohio: Secretary of State Husted at odds with GOP lawmakers over photo ID bill | Examiner.com

In a statement Friday afternoon that may earn him his own profile in courage award, new Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted parted ways with many of his former GOP colleagues, who are poised to pass a bill next week that would impose a new standard to vote in Ohio. Democrats and other election experts say it is both unnecessary and a likely violation of federal election law, and that it would leapfrog Ohio over Georgia and Indiana, two states whose voter laws are currently perceived as the harshest ones in the nation.

Husted minced no words on whether he would capitulate to or oppose an attempt by a Republican-led legislature to require an otherwise registered voter to present a valid photo ID before voting. The bill in question, HB 159, raced through the Ohio House and is expected to come to the floor of the Senate next week, where the GOP enjoys a lopsided majority of 23-10.

Yesterday, at a media conference held to discuss other matters, Ohio’s Republican Gov. John Kasich, who won the office last November with only 23.5 percent of registered voters or less than half of half of Ohio’s voting population, told reporters he anticipates signing the bill that would preempt voter fraud, a phenomena Republicans have long claimed is rampant while actual evidence for its practice is slim to none.

Maine: Coalition to wage people’s veto campaign to revive Election Day voter registration law | Bangor Daily News

Critics of the Legislature’s recent decision to end Election Day voter registration in Maine said Thursday a broad coalition is building to quickly collect the 57,000-plus signatures needed to put the issue in front of voters this November.

“We are organized, we are energized and we will be successful,” said Ben Dudley, executive director of Engage Maine, a coalition of progressive groups.

After heated debate that elevated partisan tensions in Augusta, the Legislature voted largely along party lines earlier this month to repeal Maine’s 38-year-old law allowing voters to register at the polls on Election Day.

Ohio: Voter ID provision yanked from Ohio bill | Middletown Journal

After discussion with Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, Senate Republicans removed a provision in an elections reform bill on Wednesday that would require Ohio voters to present government-issued photo identification at the polls.

Husted opposes the voter ID requirement that was inserted into the bill on Tuesday. But the issue lives on in a separate bill that is slated for a hearing and possible vote on Thursday morning.

Requiring photo ID to vote sparked outrage from voting rights groups, unions, the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the Ohio Democratic Party and others.

Maine: LePage signs bill banning same-day voter registration, but critics vow to fight | Bangor Daily News

Gov. Paul LePage has signed a controversial bill that bans voters from registering on an election day, but critics who say the law disenfranchises voters have vowed to challenge that change through the citizens’ referendum process.

The governor signed LD 1376 on Tuesday, along with several other bills that have come across his desk in recent weeks, but did not offer any comments, LePage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said.

The bill, an Act To Preserve the Integrity of the Voter Registration and Election Process, was sponsored by House Speaker Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, and endorsed by Secretary of State Charlie Summers, In addition to eliminating same-day voter registration, the legislation bans absentee voting two days before Election Day.

Maine: Bill signed ending same-day voter sign-up | The Kennebec Journal

Gov. Paul LePage signed a bill Tuesday to repeal Maine’s 38-year-old law allowing same-day voter registration. Before the end of the day, a coalition led by the League of Women Voters of Maine filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s Office to launch a people’s veto campaign.

“We feel that we want to preserve voting rights in Maine,” said Barbara McDade, president of the league. “For 38 years, people have been able to register to vote on the day that they vote. This puts up a barrier to people and so we want to repeal that.”

Joining McDade was Bob Talbot, representing the Maine Civil Liberties Union and the Maine NAACP, and Evert Fowle III of the MCLU.

Editorials: Floor Statement on Republican Efforts to Terminate the Election Assistance Commission | Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer

House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor today in opposition to Republican efforts to terminate the Election Assistance Commission, the agency Congress created to help ensure fair elections. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

“The right to vote is at the foundation of our democracy—and so it is extremely disappointing that this bill would undermine our nation’s ability to protect that right.

“I rise in strong opposition to this bill, which would cut funding for fair and accessible elections. Eliminating funding for the Election Assistance Commission would harm the integrity of our elections in 2012, and for years to come. Voters deserve assurance that their votes will count.

Missouri: Missouri Governor Vetoes Controversial Voter ID Bill | Campus Progress

A major victory for voting rights was handed down on Friday when Missouri Governor Jay Nixon vetoed controversial voter ID legislation. The bill, which would have required a photo ID to vote, was heavily opposed by many state and national groups, including Campus Progress, who joined with over 40 other organizations in signing on to a letter that was sent to the Governor on Friday before he handed down his veto. In vetoing the legislation, Governor Nixon joins Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and Mark Dayton of Minnesota who also struck down photo ID bills passed earlier this year in their states. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has more on Nixon’s justification for the veto:

“In a letter explaining his veto, Nixon said the photo ID requirement would have hurt senior citizens and people with disabilities who are qualified to vote but are less likely to have a drivers license or other government-issued photo ID. ‘Disenfranchising certain classes of persons is not acceptable,’ he said.”

National: More states require ID to vote | USAToday.com

State legislatures across the country have passed a record number of laws this year requiring photo identification to vote, a controversial move pushed by Republicans and opposed by Democrats.

Proponents say the measures prevent vote fraud. Opponents say they are designed to stifle turnout among students, poor people and minorities, who are more likely to vote for Democrats but might lack government-issued IDs, such as driver’s licenses and passports.

Buoyed by big Republican gains in the 2010 elections, six states have enacted photo ID laws since January — Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Bills in New Hampshire and North Carolina await gubernatorial action.

Editorials: Rev. Jesse Jackson calls photo ID laws for voters in some states a new form of disenfranchisement | chicagotribune.com

The Rev. Jesse Jackson kicked off the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s 40th annual conference Saturday by warning that photo ID laws in some states impinge on the voting rights of blacks, college students and others who are less likely to carry official identification.

Speaking before about 150 people at Rainbow PUSH headquarters in the Kenwood neighborhood, Jackson said the requirement that voters in Indiana, Georgia and six other states bring photo ID cards to the polls is a new form of disenfranchisement. PUSH remains important four decades after he founded the organization in Chicago, Jackson said, because it brings attention to these issues.

“We’ve come full circle,” Jackson said from the stage, conjuring memories of the civil rights battles he waged alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. “All that Dr. King stood for, fought for, that we now honor him for, is under attack.”

Editorials: Robert M. Brandon: Have You Checked Your Right to Vote Lately? | Hufffington Post

Over the past few years, many states have attempted to implement restrictive photo identification laws. The debate surrounding this legislation is now familiar — those supporting such laws state that a government-issued photo ID is needed to board a plane, rent a movie, or purchase cold medicine. Opponents point out that none of those activities are fundamental rights protected by the U.S. Constitution, and that certain groups — the poor, minorities, the elderly, the disabled — are far less likely to have the required types of ID.

It is easy to block out both sides of the argument, attributing it to the noise of partisan political bickering, especially if you are part of the fortunate 89% of the country that does have a valid driver’s license.

North Carolina: North Carolina bill forcing voters to show photo ID before voting heading to Senate vote, likely passage | Daily Journal

North Carolina lawmakers are moving ahead on legislation to require people to show a photo identification card before voting.

A Senate judiciary committee approved the legislation Tuesday. A vote by the full Senate could come later Tuesday. The measure already has passed the House by a margin too small to override a potential veto by Gov. Beverly Perdue. Perdue has indicated she might veto the legislation.

Editorials: Lions and Tigers and Fraud, Oh My! Secretary of State Kris Kobach Is at It Again | Katie O’Connor/Huffington Post

In a recent column in the Wall Street Journal, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach takes a victory lap trumpeting the passage of his voter ID law. He writes: “You can’t cash a check, board a plane, or even buy full-strength Sudafed over the counter without [a photo ID]. That’s why it’s not unreasonable to require one in order to protect our most important privilege of citizenship.” Voting, however, is not a privilege; it is a fundamental right guaranteed by more constitutional amendments than any other right we have. Cashing a check, getting on an airplane, and buying a nasal decongestant are not similarly enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

The putative targets of photo ID and proof-of-citizenship laws are alleged perpetrators of registration and in-person voter impersonation fraud. However, voting rights groups have obtained records from Kobach’s own officethat deflate his claims that “[v]oter fraud is a well-documented reality in American elections.” The disclosed report, which covers Kansas elections from 1997 to 2011, shows merely 221 incidents for 14 years of elections, and 200 of these could not have been prevented by the new proof-of-citizenship and photo ID requirements. These include more than 98 fraudulent or erroneous absentee ballot applications, 18 instances of attempted or completed double-voting in different precincts or jurisdictions, 17 instances of felons voting, 16 instances of absentee ballot fraud, as well as reports of electioneering and voter intimidation. Photo ID and proof-of-citizenship laws, which at their best can only confirm identity at the polls and block ineligible noncitizens from registering, simply do not prevent any of the above conduct.