ACRU Staff, Author at Voting Integrity Institute

Alaska Legislators Approve Voter Information Sharing

The Alaska House has approved a bill calling for the state to share voter information with other states in an effort to deter voter fraud. Representatives voted 36-3 Saturday afternoon to approve Senate Bill 9, one of many items of legislation considered by the Alaska House and Alaska Senate on the 89th day of the Legislative session. The Electronic Registration Information Center is a project of several states and supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts. As of December 2015, 15 states participated in the information-sharing program, including Republican-leaning ones like Alabama and Democratic-leaning ones like Oregon. "ERIC is a proven model that works," said Rep. Dan Saddler, R-Eagle River and the bill's prime sponsor in the House. Rep. Sam Kito III, D-Juneau, spoke up in support. In a speech on the House floor, he explained how one Juneau woman, attending college Outside, was encouraged to register to vote at the college when she couldn't remember if she had previously registered in Alaska. "By registering again, she lost her eligibility for her Permanent Fund Dividend," Kito said. "It's important for us to be able to share information with other states."

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:36:33+00:00April 19th, 2016|News, Vote Fraud, Voter ID|

New Yorkers File Suit over Alleged Election Fraud

More than 200 outraged New York voters have joined a lawsuit claiming the party affiliation on their voter registration changed without their consent. The voters say they are unfairly being shut out of Tuesday's primary. The suit, filed Monday in Brooklyn, calls for New York to be an open primary state, allowing anyone to vote in primaries regardless of party affiliation. "For many of our complainants, to have the electoral process deprived of them, it's devastating," Shyla Nelson, an activist and spokeswoman for Election Justice U.S.A., told the Daily News. New York is one of 11 states that has a closed primary system and, due to an obscure election law, voters must have been registered by November of the previous year for the party whose primary they plan to vote in -- this is the earliest change-of-party deadline in the country.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:22:29+00:00April 19th, 2016|In the Courts, News, Vote Fraud|

Texas Defends Voter ID Law at Supreme Court

Arguing that its five-year-old law requiring voters to have a photo ID before they may cast a ballot will not deny anyone in Texas the right to vote, state officials urged the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon to allow the law to remain in effect while a federal appeals court conducts a new review of it. If federal voting rights law would treat the requirement as illegal, the federal law would be unconstitutional under the Fifteenth Amendment, the state contended.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:41+00:00April 13th, 2016|In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

ACRU Sues Philadelphia over Voter Records

The ACRU is suing Philadelphia over city officials' refusal to open voter registration records for public inspection as required by federal law. In a complaint filed April 4 in U.S. District Court under Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (Motor Voter Law), the ACRU seeks "specific records... to ascertain why Defendants have implausible percentages of active registrants as compared to age-eligible United States citizens who live in Philadelphia." Specifically, the ACRU seeks a court order finding the city in violation of NVRA, and requiring officials to allow inspection of voter registration records and the various means by which the city is supposed to be updating them. The ACRU had requested access to the records in a January letter to city officials. Philadelphia voter rolls have contained an implausible number of registrants over the years with the total registered nearly exceeding the number of eligible citizens in Philadelphia. The ACRU seeks to examine why this is occurring and what can be done to ensure that only eligible citizens are voting in Philadelphia elections

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:26:57+00:00April 7th, 2016|ACRU Litigation News, Early Voting, In the Courts, News, Press Releases|

Group: Philly’s Voter Rolls Are Abnormally and Suspiciously Large

By Victor Fiorello It seems like every time there is an election in Philadelphia, there are allegations of shenanigans soon to follow, with the good ol' saying "vote early and vote often" being a staple of our democratic process. But one group isn't waiting until after the April 26th primary to cry foul. They've already filed a lawsuit. The Virginia-based is the right wing's answer to the left's American Civil Liberties Union. Founded by late Reagan administration advisor Robert Carleson and with a board that includes anti-porn and anti-drug crusader Edwin Meese, the ACRU has gone to court against Obamacare and in favor of gun owners and the formerly anti-gay Boy Scouts. And now the ACRU has come to Philadelphia with some pointed questions about our voter registration numbers. ACRU filed a federal lawsuit against the City Commissioners Office, the municipal body in charge of our elections, claiming that it hasn't bothered to respond to a January letter that the organization sent demanding access to voter registration records here. The ACRU says the letter was sent by certified mail, and in failing to reply, ACRU maintains that the city is in violation of the National Voter Registration Act.

ACRU Staff2016-04-07T14:24:00+00:00April 7th, 2016|In the Courts, News|

Supreme Court Got It Wrong: Noncitizens Shouldn’t Be Counted

By Hans von Spakovsky and Elizabeth Slattery In a loss for voters, the Supreme Court has ruled unanimously against two residents of Texas who had argued that the Texas legislature diluted their votes when it used total population to redraw state Senate districts. In Evenwel v. Abbott, the Supreme Court allowed states to use total population in redrawing district lines, even though that this includes a large number of noncitizens (legal and illegal), felons, and others who are ineligible to vote. Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger challenged the state Senate districts drawn by the Texas legislature using total population in 2013.They claimed that both the number of citizens of voting age and the number of registered voters in their districts deviated substantially--between 31 and 49 percent--from the "ideal" population of a Texas Senate district. They argued that this disparity significantly diluted their votes in comparison to those of voters who live in districts with large numbers of non-voters. According to this logic, their votes were worth roughly half those of voters in other districts. In other words, they claimed that their Senate districts had the same number of representatives as other districts that contained the same number of people but only half the number of eligible voters. This is a particular problem in Texas, which has almost two million illegal aliens, about seven percent of the state's population.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:38:01+00:00April 5th, 2016|ACRU Commentary, Voter ID|

Heloise Gets It about How to Prevent Vote Fraud

The household advice column "Hints from Heloise" weighed in this week on the importance of accurate voter registration rolls: Dear Heloise: In 2012, my father died, and in 2014, I was still getting voter mailings in his name. I went to the voter-registration office in our town and had his name removed. I also checked when we went to vote to make sure his name was removed. I did the same last year for my mother. By doing this, no one can use their names to vote. - Nancy J. in North Carolina Dear Nancy: I am sorry about the loss of both of your parents in such a short time. Hopefully others reading this hint will keep this in mind. It's amazing how many dead people vote, in every state. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires that every state "make reasonable efforts to remove persons who have died," but there is no set standard for doing this. Each state is different, so take the time to make sure a deceased person's name is no longer on the roll. Notify your voter-registration office yourself, and follow up when you go to vote. - Hugs, Heloise

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:38:01+00:00April 5th, 2016|ACRU Commentary, Vote Fraud, Voter ID|

Supreme Court: Count Illegals in Legislative Districting

A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday that illegal immigrants and other noncitizens can be counted when states draw their legislative districts, shooting down a challenge by Texas residents who said their own voting power was being diluted. The ruling does not grant noncitizens the power to vote, but says the principle of one person, one vote doesn't require localities to only count those who are actually eligible to vote when they are deciding how many people to put inside of each district. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the court, said even though only eligible voters are supposed to cast ballots, elected officials represent all people within their districts, and it is that act of representation, not the election itself, that the boundaries are drawn to.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:38:01+00:00April 5th, 2016|In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

ACRU’s Complaint against the City of Philadelphia

ALEXANDRIA, VA (April 4, 2016) The has sued the city [...]

ACRU Staff2016-04-04T16:07:31+00:00April 4th, 2016|ACRU Complaints, In the Courts|

Voter ID Laws Do Not Suppress the Vote

By Hans von Spakovsky Polls consistently show that Americans -- regardless of race or ethnicity -- agree that requiring identification to vote is a common-sense way to ensure the integrity of our elections. The repeated narrative pushed by critics that this "suppresses" votes is a myth. That claim has been disproven by the turnout results in states such as Georgia and Indiana, whose voter ID laws have been in place for years. In fact, these states experienced almost no problems despite apocalyptic predictions of opponents. The number of Americans who don't already have an ID is minuscule -- and every state with a voter ID law gives a free ID to anyone who can't afford one. Opponents who say there is no voter fraud are wrong. As the Supreme Court noted in 2008 when it upheld Indiana's photo ID law, we have a long, documented history of voter fraud in this country -- and it could make the difference in a close election. That is why states should also be requiring proof-of-citizenship to register to prevent non-citizens from illegally voting.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:41+00:00April 4th, 2016|ACRU Commentary, Proof of Citizenship, Vote Fraud, Voter ID|

About ACRU Staff

SUBSCRIBE