Voting rights bills and lawsuits megathread (Updated: April 27th 2020)

[YE]

The new way to protest an outcome of an election you don't like. Petition for recalls.

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Once again this is the classic case of the GOP state party - who if all goes well will be drawn out of existence soon - using desperate ways to cling to power.

[Virginiá]

The new way to protest an outcome of an election you don't like. Petition for recalls.

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Once again this is the classic case of the GOP state party - who if all goes well will be drawn out of existence soon - using desperate ways to cling to power.

I did find this kind of amusing, from the Republican Senate Leader:

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So basically he'd like to just keep holding elections for Democrats until they lose. Pretty basic stuff coming from a partisan politician. I'm not sure why he wants to hold special elections in this environment. Republicans are performing super poorly in them

I'm not really convinced outcomes in Nevada would lead to a surge of recall efforts across the country. Recalls could end up getting weaponized for redoing elections, but I doubt it would hinge on NV. It'll happen or it won't. That being said, next time Democrats have an opportunity to do so, they might want to consider placing some more restrictions on recalls.

[junior chįmp]

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[junior chįmp]

UNF Public Opinion Research Lab poll:

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[KingSweden]

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Are they applying AVR to agencies other than licensing?

[junior chįmp]

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Are they applying AVR to agencies other than licensing?

Good question but IDK. I haven't read the bill

[KingSweden]

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Are they applying AVR to agencies other than licensing?

Good question but IDK. I haven't read the bill

Reason I ask is because WADOL doesn’t ask for proof of citizenship, so AVR only based out of the DOL probably won’t make a huge dent.

[Virginiá]

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Are they applying AVR to agencies other than licensing?

Good question but IDK. I haven't read the bill

Reason I ask is because WADOL doesn’t ask for proof of citizenship, so AVR only based out of the DOL probably won’t make a huge dent.

http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2017-18/Htm/Digests/Senate/6353-S3.DIG.htm

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So to answer your question - yes, it does. It uses the healthcare exchange to register, and studies the possibility of auto-registering naturalized persons and also babies when they are born (lol).

All-in-all it's better than it sounds, especially when the same-day registration bill that also moves the date up at which a person can register+get a ballot mailed.

[KingSweden]

Thanks Virginia! That does sound better than initially advertised. Using the (largely successful) healthcare exchange in the process is a clever innovation.

[Virginiá]

The WA House just passed an AVR bill that was only for commercial licenses. I assume that won't be the final version after conference, but I don't get why they passed the weakest AVR bill they could come up with.

[Gass3268]

Promote the Vote campaign in Michigan, a broad coalition that includes the League of Women Voters, the ACLU of Michigan and the state and Detroit branches of the NAACP, just got approval to start collecting approximately 316,000 signatures to get a massive voter rights measure on the November ballot. The initiative to amend the State Constitution would:

- Protect the right to vote a secret ballot
- Ensure military service members and overseas voters get their ballots in time for their votes to count
- Provide voters with the option to vote straight party
- Automatically register citizens to vote at the Secretary of State’s office unless the citizen declines
- Allow a citizen to register to vote until 15 days before an election by mail or in person. After that, citizens may register to vote in person with proof of residency up to and on Election Day.
- Provide all registered voters access to an absentee ballot for any reason
- Ensure the accuracy and integrity of elections by auditing election results

Source

Michigan also has an initiative to amend the Constitution to create an independent redistricting committee.

[KingSweden]

How strict is Michigan’s voter ID law?

[Virginiá]

Promote the Vote campaign in Michigan, a broad coalition that includes the League of Women Voters, the ACLU of Michigan and the state and Detroit branches of the NAACP, just got approval to start collecting approximately 316,000 signatures to get a massive voter rights measure on the November ballot. The initiative to amend the State Constitution would:

- Protect the right to vote a secret ballot
- Ensure military service members and overseas voters get their ballots in time for their votes to count
- Provide voters with the option to vote straight party
- Automatically register citizens to vote at the Secretary of State’s office unless the citizen declines
- Allow a citizen to register to vote until 15 days before an election by mail or in person. After that, citizens may register to vote in person with proof of residency up to and on Election Day.
- Provide all registered voters access to an absentee ballot for any reason
- Ensure the accuracy and integrity of elections by auditing election results

Source

Michigan also has an initiative to amend the Constitution to create an independent redistricting committee.

God. With redistricting too, Republicans are going to fight this either before and/or after passage. Democrats better hope they win either the Governor's office and/or a legislative chamber, because I can see Republicans refusing to implement it or sabotaging it by going against the spirit of the amendment somehow. Similar to how FL Republicans implemented the medical marijuana amendment by banning smoking, when smoking was definitely intended.

[Virginiá]

How strict is Michigan’s voter ID law?

Michigan is listed as non-strict:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_ID_laws_in_the_United_States

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[Frodo]

I think this belongs here:

Democrats barrel ahead on Russia with election security report

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It's very telling how lackadaisical the GOP has been about this. 

[Virginiá]

This is from a federal lawsuit that led to a stay on the Michigan legislature's bill that ended straight ticket voting:

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/16/michigan-gop-straight-ticket-ban/110494644/

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Lots of partisan wrangling on that. I mean, let's be honest. If ending straight ticket voting but not doing anything to mitigate the longer lines it would cause is going to give Republicans any advantage, it's going to be a pretty small one, so why are they going through all this effort for it? They've already rigged both the legislative and Congressional maps. Is that not enough for them?

It's really absurd how far lawmakers are taking this crap.

[Virginiá]

New Jersey Democrats Offering Bill to Allow Prisoners To Vote

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-jersey-prisoners-to-vote_us_5a942b9be4b01f65f598c58e

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I do feel pretty good about the chances of this. It's also worth noting that some Democrats held up the entire Democracy Act (large set of election reforms) from being put on the ballot in 2016 because Sweeney didn't want to add a provision letting inmates vote, as he felt it would tank the whole amendment and give Republicans a talking point if Democrats later tried to pass reforms with a Democratic Governor (eg "the voters already rejected this stuff!").

I really hope NJ Democrats get moving on voting reforms. Most of the reforms were ready to go in the Democracy Act and yet still nothing this year. That probably means that no changes will be in effect for this year's elections, unfortunately.

[Boobs]

^ It's very sweet that NJDems are trying to make sure Menendez can vote for himself.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee (Eric Holder's group) is suing Wisconsin Gov. Walker over his refusal to call special elections for two vacant legislative seats.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/26/eric-holders-group-sues-wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-over-not-calling-special-elections/374278002/

Featuring a candidate for Most Asinine Interpretation of a Law award:

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[MasterJedi]

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee (Eric Holder's group) is suing Wisconsin Gov. Walker over his refusal to call special elections for two vacant legislative seats.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/26/eric-holders-group-sues-wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-over-not-calling-special-elections/374278002/

Featuring a candidate for Most Asinine Interpretation of a Law award:

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The way it sounds was the vacancy happened before 5/2/18 since 2018 is a regular election year so it should be filled...

[GeorgiaModerate]

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee (Eric Holder's group) is suing Wisconsin Gov. Walker over his refusal to call special elections for two vacant legislative seats.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/26/eric-holders-group-sues-wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-over-not-calling-special-elections/374278002/

Featuring a candidate for Most Asinine Interpretation of a Law award:

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The way it sounds was the vacancy happened before 5/2/18 since 2018 is a regular election year so it should be filled...

Yeah, that's clearly the intent of the law.  They're arguing that since the vacancy didn't happen "in the year in which a regular election is held" that the law doesn't apply.  See "straws, grasping of".

[Koharu]

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee (Eric Holder's group) is suing Wisconsin Gov. Walker over his refusal to call special elections for two vacant legislative seats.

Thank God. The partisan finagling to artificially hold on to power in this state is just disgusting, and the fact that it's so blatant now makes it feel even worse.

I just hope this forces something to happen sooner rather than later. With the case now at the Supreme Court, it feels like any ruling will be too little too late, as many awful decisions have already been made. But even some improvement for 2018 and/or 2020 would surely be appreciated.

[Virginiá]

http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/02/28/poll-floridians-strongly-support-voting-rights-for-felons/

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Florida QU poll has pretty favorable numbers for ending felon disenfranchisement. This confirms that the amendment is still on track for passage. We'll just have to see how big the No campaign is, but I'm wondering if they will be able to change at least 8-9% of peoples minds. This is a pretty basic and well-known issue, and I'm not sure that many people are truly on the fence about it. It helps that the amendment excludes people convicted of murder and sex crimes, which are easy marks to sully such an initiative.

[Gass3268]

http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/02/28/poll-floridians-strongly-support-voting-rights-for-felons/

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Florida QU poll has pretty favorable numbers for ending felon disenfranchisement. This confirms that the amendment is still on track for passage. We'll just have to see how big the No campaign is, but I'm wondering if they will be able to change at least 8-9% of peoples minds. This is a pretty basic and well-known issue, and I'm not sure that many people are truly on the fence about it. It helps that the amendment excludes people convicted of murder and sex crimes, which are easy marks to sully such an initiative.

The attack on this initative are going to be heinous and supporters need to be ready for it.

[muon2]

This is from a federal lawsuit that led to a stay on the Michigan legislature's bill that ended straight ticket voting:

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/16/michigan-gop-straight-ticket-ban/110494644/

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Lots of partisan wrangling on that. I mean, let's be honest. If ending straight ticket voting but not doing anything to mitigate the longer lines it would cause is going to give Republicans any advantage, it's going to be a pretty small one, so why are they going through all this effort for it? They've already rigged both the legislative and Congressional maps. Is that not enough for them?

It's really absurd how far lawmakers are taking this crap.

I'm generally in favor of opening the voting process, especially when it comes to AVR and ballot access. I don't understand why anyone thinks straight party ticket options are democratic in a non-parliamentary democracy. I like the CA top two system which is antithetical to straight ticket voting.