On July 18, 2013, ACRU Policy Board member J. Christian Adams delivered the following testimony on the Voting Rights Act before the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.
Beavercreek resident Virginia McMillan, who was sentenced to 20 days in jail after being convicted in June of election falsification last November, told local officials her intent was to "test the system," according to court records obtained by Media Trackers.
LITTLE ROCK - A judge has sentenced a former east Arkansas legislator convicted of election fraud to three years of probation, including nine months of home confinement. Former Democratic Rep. Hudson Hallum pleaded guilty in September, along with his father and two campaign workers to charges of bribing voters and using absentee ballots to commit fraud in the 2011 election for his seat. He was sentenced on June 20.
Bernard Siskin, a statistical expert who served as a consultant for a variety of government agencies and companies, including the FBI, testified that about 511,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania lack the state-issued IDs required at the polls under the new law, which was passed last spring but has yet to be enforced.
MONTGOMERY -- Top Alabama officials say voters apparently will have to present photo identification at the polls in the next election. Gov. Robert Bentley, Secretary of State Beth Chapman and Attorney General Luther Strange said the Supreme Court's ruling on June 24 throwing out part of the federal Voting Rights Act means the state does not have to submit for preclearance a new law requiring voters to show photo identification.
RALEIGH -- Voter identification legislation in North Carolina will pick up steam again now that the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down part of the Voting Rights Act, a key General Assembly leader said.
Last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling partly blocks Georgia from enforcing a law requiring would-be voters to prove U.S. citizenship, Secretary of State Brian Kemp said. In a 7-2 decision on June 24, the court ruled a similar statute in Arizona is pre-empted by federal law. Passed in 2009, Georgia's law requires voter registration applicants to provide proof of U.S. citizenship, such as copies of passports or birth certificates.
The Supreme Court has decided Shelby v. Holder. It is one of the most important decisions in decades. Now, federal preclearance of state election procedures seems to be forever dead and buried. While some Congressional Republicans had vowed to enact new legislation to "fix" any coverage formula deemed unconstitutional, the Court opinion today offers almost no room to do so.
LITTLE ROCK -- A former Arkansas lawmaker and his father were each sentenced June 20 to three years of probation, including nine months of home detention, and fined for conspiring to commit election fraud in a scheme that included destroying ballots and exchanging money and food for votes.
Conservatives are launching a multi-track strategy in the wake of the Supreme Court's striking down Arizona's proof of U.S. citizenship requirement for voting last week.