ACRU Staff, Author at Voting Integrity Institute

Colorado Democrats Kill Voter Photo ID Bills

DENVER - Colorado lawmakers on Feb. 18 once again took up the issue of photo identification as a requirement to vote, killing two measures that would have mandated the practice. The Republican-backed measures were killed by the Democratic-controlled House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on party-line votes. Similar attempts in recent years at the Legislature also failed. Both bills addressed same-day voter registration, enacted by a Democratic-backed measure in 2013 that made sweeping reforms to the state's election laws, including allowing voters to register on Election Day.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:35:35+00:00February 23rd, 2015|News, Same-Day Registration, Voter ID|

Nebraska Legislature Shelves Voter ID Bill

LINCOLN -- A bill that would require voters to show government-issued photo identification is dead for this year. Nebraska lawmakers voted 25-15 on Feb. 18 on a motion to bracket -- or table -- Legislative Bill 111 until the end of the session. The vote ended what had promised to be a four-day filibuster. State Sen. Tyson Larson of O'Neill, who introduced the measure, said he was disappointed. He promised to keep working on the issue and perhaps bring it up again next year.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:44+00:00February 23rd, 2015|News, Voter ID|

Not-Great Scott in Florida

By John Fund Governor Rick Scott of Florida has doggedly pursued pro-growth policies that have helped make his state, which is the third-largest in the nation, a success story. I praised him as recently as last month for his inaugural address calling for further tax cuts and budget reform. But when Scott runs off the rails, he creates a real train wreck. In 2012, he infamously proposed expanding the state's Medicaid program to comply with Obamacare. He was rescued from that folly only by his Republican legislature, which knew that Washington couldn't be trusted with its end of the bargain. Now he has once again confounded his allies and emboldened his critics. This time, it's about his failure to block non-citizen voting.

ACRU Staff2015-02-23T14:20:03+00:00February 23rd, 2015|ACRU Commentary|

Missouri House Passes Photo Voter ID Bills

The Missouri House has passed two pieces of legislation to require voters to show government-approved photo identification at the polls.The first, House Joint Resolution 1, is a proposed constitutional amendment to allow for a photo ID law to be passed by the legislature. It would also have to be passed by Missouri voters. The second, House Bill 30, would be the implementing bill placing photo ID requirements in state law. House Democrats and black caucus members sharply criticized the proposal on Wednesday, calling it racist and saying it would amount to a poll tax on people without a photo ID. Shamed Dogan of Ballwin, the only black Republican in the Missouri legislature, strongly disagreed during today's final debate. "There's no truth to these allegations," Dogan said, "to say that other members of this body are trying to pass legislation for some sort of insidious reasons, racially discriminatory reasons, it's out of line (and) it's really uncalled for."

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:44+00:00February 21st, 2015|News, Voter ID|

Felon Voting and Unconstitutional Congressional Overreach

The states -- not Congress -- have this authority.

ACRU Staff2015-02-11T11:23:22+00:00February 11th, 2015|Expert Reports and Studies, Resources|

D.C., Other Cities Debate Non-Citizens Voting

Last month, for the third time in a decade, a bill was introduced in the D.C. Council to allow legal immigrants to vote locally. The measure has little chance of passage, but it is illustrative of a growing movement to expand local voting rights to noncitizens that has spawned similar proposals in several dozen communities across the country.

ACRU Staff2015-02-11T10:07:55+00:00February 11th, 2015|News|

MSNBC Misleads about Woman ‘Arrested for Voting’; It Was Perjury

In his February 9 story on MSNBC's The Reid Report, headlined "Counted Out," network correspondent Zachary Roth offered viewers a misleading look at the plight of an Iowa woman -- now suing the state for restoration of her voting rights -- who "had been charged with illegal voting." "For a lot of people, this sounds insane, the idea that this woman, that people would try to jail her for thinking she could vote again," anchor Joy-Ann Reid told Roth after the conclusion of his pre-taped segment. But in point of fact, the woman in question, a convicted drug offender named Kelli Jo Griffin, was prosecuted last March for committing perjury by virtue of allegedly lying about her voting disqualification on a voter registration form.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:38:05+00:00February 10th, 2015|ACRU Commentary, Voter ID|

Indiana Voter ID Law for Absentee Ballots Advances

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana legislative committee has backed a proposal that would require the use of voter identification numbers for mail-in absentee ballots. The Senate Elections Committee voted 5-4 Monday to advance the bill. Sponsor Republican Sen. Mike Young of Indianapolis says requiring the identification number will help prevent instances of voter fraud. The number would be available via a state phone line and website.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:44+00:00February 9th, 2015|Absentee / Mail-in Voting, News, Vote Fraud, Voter ID|

ACRU Asks Court to Take NC Voter Law Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. --- The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals erred when it overruled a District Court's opinion upholding a law reforming North Carolina's voting process just before the 2014 election, the argues in a brief filed Feb. 4 urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the state's appeal. In State of North Carolina, et al. v. League of Women Voters of North Carolina, et al., the ACRU's brief, written by General Counsel Peter Ferrara, notes that minority voting percentages in 2014 rose under the law instead of declining as the plaintiffs had projected.

ACRU Staff2015-02-09T15:09:35+00:00February 9th, 2015|In the Courts, News, Press Releases|