ACRU Staff, Author at Voting Integrity Institute

Wisconsin Attorney General: Voter ID Fight Is Over

It's been a long, costly court battle, but Wisconsin's attorney general says the fight over Voter ID is over -- despite attempts by opponents to find a different legal appeal. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the law requiring Wisconsin voters to show a photo ID. Backers of the law say it's a commonsense bill that makes it easy to vote and hard to cheat. Opponents are still fighting for the estimated 300,000 voters they say can't easily get a state ID. Sunday on "Upfront with Mike Gousha," Attorney General Brad Schimel said challenges to the law are a moot point. "The Supreme Court doesn't make decisions with the intentions of leaving all sorts of loopholes and opportunities to challenge their decision. This has been looked at carefully. If there were arguments that these groups had to make, they should have made them when the case went up the first time," Schimel said.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:43+00:00March 30th, 2015|News, Voter ID|

Supreme Court Deals a Blow to Racial Redistricting

The Supreme Court has dealt a heavy blow to efforts -- often by the Republican Party -- to draw legislative districts that pack black voters into majority black legislative districts in order to elect black representatives. In a case decided today arising out of Alabama state legislative plans, the Supreme Court held that the Voting Rights Act does not require the preservation and protection of legislative districts with percentages of black voters designed to produce black elected officials. Republicans and black politicians often argue that the Voting Rights Act requires line drawers to preserve proportional black representation by creating districts where black candidates are sure to win election. These plans help Republicans by bleaching out surrounding areas helping to elect Republicans. Instead, the Court ruled that what must be preserved is the "ability to elect" minority preferred candidates of choice -- who need not necessarily be minority candidates themselves. This means legislatures can dip below numeric thresholds which create majority black districts, and not necessarily offend the Voting Rights Act.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:38:05+00:00March 25th, 2015|ACRU Commentary, In the Courts, Redistricting, Voter ID|

Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Wisconsin Voter ID Law

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal to overturn Wisconsin's voter identification law, upsetting civil rights and liberal groups that say the law discourages minorities from casting their ballot. On Monday the justices said, without comment or explanation, that they would not hear an appeal aimed at overturning the voter ID law, which was signed into law in 2011 by Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a potential 2016 presidential contender. The American Civil Liberties Union immediately filed a motion for a stay so as to not allow the law to go immediately into effect. The ACLU challenged the law -- which requires voters to present photo identification before they cast their ballots -- saying it violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act against discrimination in voting. In a statement Monday, Mr. Walker praised the justices' decision to let the law stand as "great news for Wisconsin voters" and "a common-sense reform that protects the integrity of our voting process, making it easy to vote and hard to cheat."

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:43+00:00March 24th, 2015|In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

Vote — Or Else: The Siren Call of Universal Suffrage

It's not enough to propose liberal ideas. Eventually, you must use force against your fellow citizens if they don't embrace them. Coercion is at the heart of the liberal enterprise. Hence, President Obama has unveiled his latest plan to fundamentally transform the United States -- mandatory voting. It comes on the heels of his unconstitutional order granting legal status to 5 million illegal immigrants. Coincidence? Ironically, it also landed the very same day that Hillary Clinton floated the idea that summer camps should be created for adults because we have a "fun deficit." Perhaps they will get together and create Camp Chicago, where "fun" activities include voting early and often. To bolster his case, Mr. Obama noted at the town hall in Cleveland on Wednesday that, "Other countries have mandatory voting." Most other countries have voter ID laws too, but I guess that doesn't fit the narrative. "It would be transformative if everybody voted -- that would counteract money more than anything," Mr. Obama said. This is the man who shunned matching funds as hundreds of millions of dollars poured into his campaign, some of it anonymously from outside of the country.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:37:08+00:00March 23rd, 2015|ACRU Commentary, Early Voting, Voter ID|

Obama’s Mandatory Voting Fantasy

There's nothing that excites someone to vote like being forced to do it. But federal force is one of President Obama's favorite things, so his recent announcement that mandatory voting might be a good idea is hardly a surprise. Normally, Americans have an aversion to being told what to do. Imagine if a president had proposed mandatory prayer for all Americans. Most previous presidents thought prayer was a good idea, so why not prayer for everybody -- by mandate? Mandatory voting is just as unappealing. After all, part of the right to vote we hear so much about also includes the right not to vote. Americans have the constitutional right to reject the political process, check out and not vote. In fact, one might argue electoral apathy is a sign of a nation's health. If things are going well enough, if people are content, then voting isn't a priority. Voting only rises in importance when the government manages to screw up people's lives enough to make voting important again. Deciding not to vote is still casting a ballot of a different kind. Or as Neil Peart put it in another context, "if you chose not to decide you still have made a choice."

ACRU Staff2015-03-23T14:38:45+00:00March 23rd, 2015|ACRU Commentary|

ACRU Wins Consent Decree to Clean Up Texas County’s Voter Rolls

SANDERSON, TX (March 18, 2015) --- The United States District Court in Del Rio, Texas, has entered a consent decree requiring a Texas county to maintain clean voter rolls. Terrell County had more registered voters than age-eligible residents. In the decree, signed by Judge Alia Moses, Terrell County officials agree to abide by federal law and clean the voter registration rolls of deceased persons, former residents and otherwise ineligible voters. "We're very pleased," said ACRU Chairman and CEO Susan A. Carleson. "The Left's 'Battleground Texas' campaign is counting on vote fraud to 'turn Texas blue' and end national two-party competitiveness, but they will have a tough time if all Texas counties clean up their voter rolls."

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:36:58+00:00March 19th, 2015|ACRU Litigation News, In the Courts, News, Press Releases, Vote Fraud, Voter ID|

ACRU v. Terrell County, Texas — Consent Decree

ALEXANDRIA, VA. (March 15, 2015) -- The has won a [...]

ACRU Staff2015-03-15T16:16:56+00:00March 15th, 2015|ACRU Consent Decrees, In the Courts|

Supreme Court to Decide Whether to Hear Wisconsin Voter ID Case

Legal challenges to Wisconsin's voter photo identification law have been underway for four years. Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court might decide whether to rule on the law's constitutionality. Justices blocked the photo ID law last fall - just weeks before the November election. Now, some organizers wonder if the justices could do an about-face, with only weeks left before next month's election.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:43+00:00March 13th, 2015|In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

WSJ Writer Rejects False Narrative on Voter ID Laws

George Evans, the mayor of Selma, Ala., steered clear of playing the race card in a recent interview, writes the Wall Street Journal's Jason Riley. In his opinion piece, Riley highlights the fact that Mayor George Evans did not give in to a National Public Radio interviewer's tactic of tying Selma's history dealing with race issues to today's race relations. "Ferguson, Mo., in 2015 is not Selma, Ala., in 1965. Black people in America today are much more likely to experience racial preferences than racial slights," Riley writes. "The violent crime that is driving the black incarceration rate spiked after the civil-rights victories of the 1960s, not before. And if voter-ID laws threaten the black franchise, no one seems to have told the black electorate. According to the Census Bureau, the black voter-turnout rate in 2012 exceeded the white turnout rate, even in states with the strictest voter-ID requirements."

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:44+00:00March 13th, 2015|ACRU Commentary, Voter ID|

Another Voter Fraud Arrest in Texas Border County

Texas authorities have formally charged two men accused of cheating during the 2012 Democratic Party 2012 Primary near the Texas border. The most recent arrest was carried out by the Cameron County District Attorney's office after a grand jury handed down indictments against two separate individuals, information provided by the Cameron County DA's office to Breitbart Texas revealed. One of the defendants has been identified as Jose Angel Garza. He was formally charged on a five count indictment on the charge of tampering with a marked ballot. Rafael Angel Elizondo has been charged with one count of the same charge for an offense that allegedly took place in July 2012, the information provided to Breitbart Texas revealed. DA's investigators have arrested Garza but Elizondo is in New York. Elizondo is expected to return to the border community where he will be arrested, the DA's office said. The investigation into the voter fraud is being carried out by the Texas Attorney General's Office in conjunction with the DA's office who announced that more indictments could follow. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, the Texas border has been the scene of multiple voter fraud arrests in connection with the 2012 Democrat primaries and the presidential election.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:36:58+00:00March 2nd, 2015|News, Vote Fraud, Voter ID|

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