The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly April 7-13 2014

Appearing at the annual convention of the National Action Network in Manhattan, President Obama accused Republicans of trying to rig the elections by making it harder for older people, women, minorities and the impoverished to cast ballots in swing states that could determine control of the Senate. Pew released its 2012 Elections Performance Index that uses standardized data from the U.S. Census, the Elections Assistance Commission, and a major survey to assess states on 17 different variables and judge just how well they are running their elections. Rather than finding new voting sites to replace polling places without accessible restrooms, the Miami-Dade elections department has decided to prohibit all voters from using restrooms to avoid charges of discrimination. A federal judge agreed Tuesday with the American Civil Liberties Union that a state court should decide a lawsuit challenging Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s enforcement of the state’s voter-citizenship rule. In spite of claims of massive potential voter fraud, the North Carolina election board’s data has offered little proof of rampant fraud. The Department of Justice may investigate a new law passed by the GOP-controlled state legislature prohibiting local election officials from sending out absentee ballot applications. Voters in Afghanistan defied threats of violence from the Taliban to cast votes and in one of the most logistically challenging elections, Indonesians elected a new legislature.