Voting rights bills and lawsuits megathread (Updated: April 27th 2020)
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  Voting rights bills and lawsuits megathread (Updated: April 27th 2020)
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Author Topic: Voting rights bills and lawsuits megathread (Updated: April 27th 2020)  (Read 182836 times)
Virginiá
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« Reply #50 on: August 18, 2016, 02:03:20 PM »

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Federal judge rules Texas law violates Voting Rights Act by needlessly restricting voter access to interpreters
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http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/federal-judge-strikes-down-texas-law-violates-voting-rights-act-n632831?cid=sm_tw

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This is emblematic of the kind of contemporary voter suppression methods used by Republicans. These little regulation changes that seem insignificant to the average person but when they throw them altogether, it can impede voting enough to give Republicans a decent advantage.

Here, interpreters had to be registered as a voter in the county they were helping in, which is a completely pointless restriction and really ironic coming from the party who is constantly railing against regulations. Further, apparently almost anyone could technically help a voter if the voter specifically asked for an assistor, but if they ask for an interpreter, only someone registered to vote in that county could help. I mean this really makes no sense except in the context of preventing voters who have difficulty with English from voting.

When is this nickle-and-diming strategy of voting regulations/restrictions going to stop?
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Gass3268
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« Reply #51 on: August 22, 2016, 11:38:37 AM »

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Antonio the Sixth
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« Reply #52 on: August 22, 2016, 11:40:56 AM »


Well then...

If he does that, he's a certified BADASS.

...he is.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #53 on: August 23, 2016, 02:18:38 PM »

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Appeals court: Week of early voting shouldn't return to Ohio
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http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/appeals-court-week-of-early-voting-shouldnt-return-to-ohio-227319

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So there will be no 'golden week' where people can register and vote on the same day. Personally I think this change should have blocked just based on their intent, which I 100% believe to be for partisan advantage, but in the end Ohio still has a lot of early voting time, and the same-day registration quirk was only available for 1 week, so it shouldn't make a big difference either way.


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7th U.S. Circuit Court denies stay in Judge Peterson's overturning of broad voter restrictions in Wisconsin
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http://www.wpr.org/federal-appeals-court-allows-early-voting

From another article, these are the restrictions that were overturned:

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I think I already posted before when Judge Peterson made his ruling, but this new ruling from the appeals court means those restrictions definitely won't be in effect. It's interesting because the same appeals court put a stay on another judge's ruling that effectively overturned the voter ID law in Wisconsin, but they allowed this far broader ruling to remain. Anyway, 1 for 2 isn't too bad. These restrictions had no real purpose other than to suppress turnout among Democrats.
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Gass3268
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« Reply #54 on: August 24, 2016, 06:57:20 PM »

Looks like California will be going to Vote by Mail
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Antonio the Sixth
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« Reply #55 on: August 25, 2016, 03:07:34 AM »
« Edited: August 25, 2016, 03:12:13 AM by I did not see L.A. »


This looks great, but I don't understand why they have to close existing polling places. This might create confusion among long-time voters who are used to the old system. Why can't they keep both in place?
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #56 on: August 25, 2016, 04:40:17 AM »


This looks great, but I don't understand why they have to close existing polling places. This might create confusion among long-time voters who are used to the old system. Why can't they keep both in place?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Renting and staffing precincts is a major cost of elections.
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The Other Castro
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« Reply #57 on: August 31, 2016, 02:46:45 PM »

The Associated Press ‏@AP  7m7 minutes ago
BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court refuses to restore North Carolina's GOP-backed voter ID and its reduction in early voting days.
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Antonio the Sixth
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« Reply #58 on: August 31, 2016, 02:58:57 PM »

The Associated Press ‏@AP  7m7 minutes ago
BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court refuses to restore North Carolina's GOP-backed voter ID and its reduction in early voting days.

YES! It's happening! Cheesy

What's the vote tally?
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President Punxsutawney Phil
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« Reply #59 on: August 31, 2016, 03:04:36 PM »

The Associated Press ‏@AP  7m7 minutes ago
BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court refuses to restore North Carolina's GOP-backed voter ID and its reduction in early voting days.

YES! It's happening! Cheesy

What's the vote tally?

Obligatory gif
Needless to say, wonderful news!!
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The Other Castro
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« Reply #60 on: August 31, 2016, 03:05:46 PM »

The Associated Press ‏@AP  7m7 minutes ago
BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court refuses to restore North Carolina's GOP-backed voter ID and its reduction in early voting days.

YES! It's happening! Cheesy

What's the vote tally?

4-4 deadlock, so it couldn't overturn the 4th circuit. If Scalia were there though...
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Antonio the Sixth
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« Reply #61 on: August 31, 2016, 03:25:23 PM »

The Associated Press ‏@AP  7m7 minutes ago
BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court refuses to restore North Carolina's GOP-backed voter ID and its reduction in early voting days.

YES! It's happening! Cheesy

What's the vote tally?

4-4 deadlock, so it couldn't overturn the 4th circuit. If Scalia were there though...

Ugh, this could have made jurisprudence if Garland had been confirmed. Sad
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Virginiá
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« Reply #62 on: September 09, 2016, 11:40:46 AM »

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Supreme Court rejects Michigan straight-ticket voting appeal
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-election-idUSKCN11F1YA

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I'm really going to enjoy reading about more voting restrictions from Republicans being overturned from 2017+ when a liberal SCOTUS majority and a significantly more liberal federal judiciary no longer rubber stamps conservative-backed restrictions on voting.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #63 on: September 09, 2016, 11:51:57 AM »
« Edited: September 09, 2016, 02:50:58 PM by Virginia »

EARLY VOTING IN NORTH CAROLINA
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http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/ruling-north-carolina-board-careful-vote-41968963

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Possibility of a lawsuit still seems high given both the circumstances that lead up to the BOE hearing yesterday and a number of early voting plans the State BOE voted for.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #64 on: September 09, 2016, 03:04:06 PM »

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Three Judge Court Dismisses Maryland Legislative Gerrymander Case on Procedural Grounds
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http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86358

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That's a shame - As I understand it, this case had the potential to get some sort of test before the Supreme Court to hopefully be used to reign in gerrymandering nationwide. Or was that a different Maryland case?

Anyway, down to the Wisconsin case for now.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #65 on: September 10, 2016, 10:38:05 AM »

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Appeals court overrules federal election official on proof of citizenship for voting
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http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/voters-proof-of-citizenship-alabama-georgia-kansas-227986

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Virginiá
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« Reply #66 on: September 13, 2016, 03:14:53 PM »

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Supreme Court kills last hope of restoring key early voting week in Ohio
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https://thinkprogress.org/ohio-loses-golden-week-of-early-voting-afb451f9c356#.7kv0bh1el

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Not surprised. Unfavorable circuit court rulings (from the Democratic perspective) are not stayed for the same reason favorable rulings to voting restrictions weren't.

In the end, this quirk was 99% likely to not make a real difference in the presidential/Senate race anyway. It's nothing like, say, the restrictions overturned in North Carolina.


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In other less important news - NJ lawmakers are taking another stab at overriding Christie's veto of automatic voter registration, as they had 54 votes in the Assembly (bare 2/3rds majority), but they need another 3 in the State Senate. I don't see that happening. Election reforms will just have to wait until Christie leaves office. Such reforms could have been on the ballot this November, but completely unreasonable Democratic lawmaker(s) from Essex County put the kibosh on that.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #67 on: September 16, 2016, 02:25:12 PM »

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Polling places become battleground in U.S. voting rights fight
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-vote-precincts-insight-idUSKCN11M0WY

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It never ends. Saving money as an excuse really doesn't do it for me. Is it really too much to ask to have enough polling stations so everyone, including those without cars, can easily go vote? We don't have elections every month. At the very least, polling places should be plentiful for federal elections.

But what I am saying - this often has little to do with saving money. When morally and ethically bankrupt people run the government, silencing political opposition by impeding their ability to vote is just business as usual.

Just another reason why Congress needs to set basic rules for federal elections - including a fair formula for # of polling places per population, minimum polling hours and requirements to keep lines to a minimum. States can't be trusted to do this, and over a hundred years of non-stop voter suppression schemes proves it.
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Ebsy
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« Reply #68 on: September 16, 2016, 04:34:30 PM »

Too bad the VRA was gutted or the Justice Department could stop this in its tracks.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #69 on: September 23, 2016, 06:37:55 PM »

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Federal appeals court rules against Ohio voter-roll purges
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-appeals-court-rules-against-ohio-voter-roll-purges/2016/09/23/67c1311e-81b4-11e6-a52d-9a865a0ed0d4_story.html

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Personally I don't see a problem with registrations being deleted if the person has been verified beyond a doubt as dead or moved out of state. However, while Republicans say they aren't removing eligible voters, they often end up doing just that, which is the purpose. For instance, Kobach's "Interstate Crosscheck System" is a fraud of a system that flags people to be removed simply based on matching first/last names, which disproportionately targets minorities with ethnic names. They have the necessary information to avoid removing legitimate voters, but they purposefully ignore it so they can remove minorities and then later claim "system error" or "it was an accident", when it most definitely was not an accident.

It doesn't really matter how bloated a digital registration list is with now-dead or moved voters, especially in states where ID is required to vote. Voter list purges are more not critical to have and it is especially stupid to be purging lists close to election day. If we must do purges, they should be done immediately after a federal election so there is 2 years for people to re-register.
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Antonio the Sixth
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« Reply #70 on: September 23, 2016, 06:52:38 PM »

Good.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #71 on: September 23, 2016, 07:49:59 PM »

UPDATE ON VIRGINIA VOTER ID APPEAL
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http://www.dailypress.com/news/politics/dp-nws-voter-id-appeal-20160922-story.html

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This is the most telling part, and imo it likely tells us how this case will end up:

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The entire panel is Republican appointees, which is a lucky break for the VA GOP, because the 4th circuit's active roster has a huge majority of Democrat appointees.

Anyway, basically, it's 90%+ likely they will rule that the voter ID law is constitutional or they will remand it back to Judge Hudson (Republican-appointed district judge) to reconsider, as the one appeals court judge mused about, and Hudson will again rule it constitutional. I imagine the plaintiffs will then request an en banc hearing, as the entire circuit is heavily Democratic and will likely rule their way.

I don't say that this because I think the judges are corrupt and would rule for their party, but it's become very common now for voting rights cases to have heavily partisan results. Republican-appointed judges tend to rule in favor of voter suppression and Democrat-appointed rule against voter suppression. There are outliers like the Texas case, but this has become a pattern.

Take this for example:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-court-partisan-voting-20160912-snap-story.html

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The North Carolina case was clear-cut discrimination. It's as clear as it will ever get in modern society. No politicians are going to blatantly say they are trying to stop black people from voting, as they now use the claim of "fraud" to enact policies that prevent many Democrats from voting.

So why did all 4 conservative justices vote in favor of NC's voter suppression law? These are the same people who gutted the VRA. My view is that they are hostile to voter protections for one reason or another, and I wonder if it's because they were picked specifically because they had an ideology that would clash with voting rights, or if some of them have partisan motives. Roberts has been notably anti-VRA for a long time now, going back decades. It just seems weird how helpful the Roberts court has been for Republicans and their attempts to game elections via voter suppression and a flood of special interest money unleashed by CU/SpeechNow/McCutcheon.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #72 on: September 23, 2016, 11:34:37 PM »

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Judge rejects hold on Arizona law that bans collection/delivery of ballots for voters
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http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/09/23/judge-rejects-hold-arizona-ballot-harvesting-law/90921920/

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Apparently it's a thing in some areas for people to collect ballots from voters who can't otherwise make it and deliver it to polling places. The argument here is that it will disproportionately hurt Hispanics.

I've followed this case a little bit since they filed, and my take on it is basically that there is a 50/50 chance Republicans actually passed it out of some fear of fraud. However, there are a few reasons to believe it was out of some vague idea that they might reduce Democratic votes by, what, like a couple hundred max? First, tampering with delivered ballots is almost as ineffective as in-person fraud. Second, they don't even have evidence this is happening on a scale big enough to warrant inconveniencing voters. Third, it passed along party lines. Why was it so important? Couldn't they work with Democrats to address the issue in a way that satisfies both sides? I suppose in a one party state like AZ it's par for the course to deny everyone who doesn't vote for you any input in anything. Fourth, Republicans have a rich (and recent) history of tinkering with election regulations like this in the hope that they get an advantage.

Nonetheless, this fits a pattern of Republicans making tiny little changes to election regulations where ever possible to try and game the system. Sometimes the changes don't actually end up helping them, and sometimes Republicans don't even know if it will help them. We'll see.

Injunction request is heading to 9th circuit for appeal, and case in general is ongoing.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #73 on: September 23, 2016, 11:40:50 PM »


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California: Newly signed Student Voter Act to facilitate registration
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http://dailybruin.com/2016/09/22/newly-signed-student-voter-act-to-facilitate-registration/

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This didn't seem like it was worth posting here (especially since California will have automatic and same day registration by 2017), but I'm trying to be thorough.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #74 on: September 27, 2016, 11:09:29 PM »

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Judge blocks Election Day registration at Illinois polling places
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-chicago-voter-registration-met-20160927-story.html

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I'm doing this in list form:

1. Not for a second do I believe IL Democrats altruistically mandated such rules for high-population counties while leaving it optional for smaller counties with less resources. The intent I assume was to blunt Republican voter use of SDR. It's a shame because we might have a presidential election where SDR could have helped a lot of would-be voters but due to electoral greed, may not be there to use. There is just no way that Madigan & friends were not aware beforehand of how this setup would have presented a potential legal issue.

2. With #1 in mind, I do agree with the plaintiffs in general, but they waited too long. They could have brought this case a long time ago, but no, they didn't. What happened to staying changes to election law changes/lawsuits so close to elections? SCOTUS seemed very active in that regard in 2014. Perhaps the legislature was devious here, but so were the plaintiffs. They seem to have acted in a way that prevented any remedies due to the timing of the lawsuit leaving no time to fix the issue.

3. Rauner also vetoed an automatic voter registration bill that would have added most of the state's unregistered voters to the rolls before election day. What the hell is going on? I see quite a scheme here. So is Rauner going to veto a fix to the SDR law to prevent Democrats from expanding SDR statewide before 2018, when he plans to run for reelection? We'll see I suppose.

4. If counties were allowed to enact SDR themselves but it is still unconstitutional, why are counties in states like NC/FL allowed to have different early voting hours/days? It's the same general concept - differing election services in different counties give unequal voter access.

5. Since when do Republican-appointed federal judges care about voter access? When it is conservatives bringing the lawsuit? (I know, I know. They do exist, albeit seemingly a rare breed these days. I'm just being an ass because I'm upset about this situation)
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