The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for June 29 – July 5 2015

On the same day that the US Supreme Court ruled that states can appoint independent commissions to draw the boundaries of congressional districts, they also declined to consider letting states require evidence of citizenship when people register to vote for federal elections, rejecting an appeal from Arizona and Kansas. In the redistricting decision, like last week’s Obamacare ruling, Rick Hasen sees a rejection of conservative attempts to use wooden, textualist arguments to upset sensible policies. The special election in Illinois’ 18th Congressional District has brought a variety of challenges, and some unexpected costs, for election officials — and some confusion for voters. The New Jersey legislature has passed a sweeping election reform bill that awaits a signature from Governor Chris Christie. A U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the upcoming federal trial on several provisions of North Carolina’s 2013 elections law won’t consider challenges to the state’s voter identification requirement in light of recent changes to the mandate. A coalition of voting rights advocates has challenged restrictive voter identification requirements in Canada’s ‘Fair Elections Act’, while Greeks face one of the most important votes in its modern history, one that could redefine its place in Europe, though many acknowledge they barely have a clue as to what, exactly, they are voting on.