Issues Archives - Page 190 of 222 - Voting Integrity Institute

Supreme Court Upholds Texas Voter ID Law

The Supreme Court allowed Texas to enforce its strict voter identification laws in the upcoming midterms on Oct. 18. The decision, which came at 5 a.m., was unsigned and contained no reasoning. The court rejected requests from the Obama administration and civil rights groups, refusing to re-impose an injunction against the law that was granted by a district court judge but lifted by the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 14. The law requires voters to present a photo ID at the polls before casting their ballot. Acceptable forms of ID include a Texas drivers license, a military ID, passport, or Texas gun license. All three female Justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, publicly dissented from the decision.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:45+00:00October 21st, 2014|In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

Arkansas Supreme Court Strikes Down Voter ID Law

In a ruling that could affect a key U.S. Senate race, the Arkansas Supreme Court on Wednesday declared the state's voter-identification law unconstitutional. The unanimous decision, which upheld a lower court, came just days before early balloting begins Monday for the Nov. 4 election. The justices ruled that Act 595, which required voters to show government-issued photo identification, "imposes a requirement that falls outside" the four qualifications outlined in the state constitution: A voter must be a U.S. citizen, an Arkansas resident, 18 years old and registered to vote. The constitutional qualifications "simply do not include any proof-of-identity requirement," the majority wrote in its 20-page opinion. The law, which took effect Jan. 1, was approved in April 2013 after the Republican-dominated Legislature overrode the veto of Gov. Mike Beebee, a Democrat.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:45+00:00October 16th, 2014|In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

Appeals Court Upholds Texas Voter ID Law

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday afternoon gave the state of Texas permission to enforce its strict voter ID law, finding that a federal judge's ruling last week barring the use of that law "substantially disrupts the election process . . . just nine days before early voting begins...next Monday." The three-judge panel commented that the Supreme Court "has repeatedly instructed courts to carefully consider the importance of preserving the status quo on the eve of an election." That was a controlling reason, it said, for permitting the law to govern voting in the remaining days before the November 4 election. Opponents on Tuesday immediately filed an application to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the law.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:45+00:00October 15th, 2014|Early Voting, In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

Supreme Court Upholds North Carolina Voting Law

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld North Carolina's new voting law, which cuts back on early voting and eliminates same-day registration. The ruling affects North Carolina, scene of a tight Senate race that could help decide which party wins control of that chamber for the final two years of President Obama's term. The justices reversed a federal appeals court's decision that would have allowed same-day registration and counted votes cast mistakenly in the wrong precincts. Those were among several other procedures eliminated by the state Legislature last year.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:30:15+00:00October 10th, 2014|Early Voting, In the Courts, News, Same-Day Registration|

Free Downloads Offered of ‘Crimes Against the Republic’ Book

J. Christian Adams, former Justice Department Voting Section attorney and current ACRU Policy Board member, has published a new book, Crimes Against the Republic. The book will be available at no charge for downloading at PJ Media until Election Day, Nov. 4, 2014.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:21:00+00:00October 10th, 2014|ACRU Commentary, Vote Fraud|

Courts Strike Down Wisconsin, Texas Voter ID Laws

The U.S. Supreme Court late Thursday blocked Wisconsin from enforcing its strict voter identification law in November's election. By a 6-3 vote, the justices granted an emergency appeal from civil rights lawyers, who argued it was too late to put the rule into effect this year. Lawyers for the ACLU noted that the state had already sent out thousands of absentee ballots without mentioning the need for voters to return a copy of their photo identification. At nearly the same time, a federal judge in Texas struck down that state's new voter ID law on the grounds that it violated the constitutional right to vote and discriminated against racial minorities. Texas Atty. Gen. Gregg Abbott said the state would appeal. The Wisconsin and Texas cases were the two most closely watched tests of new voter rules this year. In both states, Republican-led legislatures sought to tighten the rules for voting and to require all registered voters who did not have a driver's license to obtain a photo ID card at a state motor vehicles office.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:45+00:00October 10th, 2014|Absentee / Mail-in Voting, Early Voting, In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

Appeals Court Upholds Wisconsin Voter ID Law

MADISON, Wis. - A federal appeals court ruled Monday that Wisconsin's requirement that voters show photo identification at the polls is constitutional, a decision that is not surprising after the court last month allowed for the law to be implemented while it considered the case. State elections officials are preparing for the photo ID law to be in effect for the Nov. 4 election, even as opponents continue their legal fight. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Advancement Project asked the U.S. Supreme Court last week to take emergency action and block the law. Opponents argue that requiring voters to show photo ID, a requirement that had, until recently, been on hold since a low-turnout February 2012 primary, will create chaos and confusion at the polls. But supporters say most people already have a valid ID and, if they don't, there is time to get one before the election. The opinion from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes a month before the election involving the closely watched race between Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who supports the law, and Democratic challenger Mary Burke. A lower court judge, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, struck the law down as unconstitutional in April, saying it unfairly burdens poor and minority voters who may lack such identification. Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen asked the 7th Circuit to overturn that ruling.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:45+00:00October 7th, 2014|In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

O’Keefe Releases Second Sting Video of Battleground Texas

HOUSTON, Texas -- Battleground Texas (BGTX) may have failed to take any action regarding the "admission" of an undercover volunteer with BGTX that she had broken multiple election laws, according to a new video investigation by journalist James O'Keefe's organization Project Veritas. The allegations come on the heels of sting earlier this year that busted BGTX, a group attempting to turn Texas blue, for illegally copying voters' personal data for campaign purposes.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:36:59+00:00October 7th, 2014|News, Voter ID|

Democrats Losing War against Voter ID

In one month, voters will go to the polls to elect the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate. Will the midterms be clean? Could some elections be stolen? Everyone ostensibly agrees that voters have a right to know that their decision is not being ignored. And a clear majority supports a simple way to make sure: voter ID. You would not know it if you read only the New York Times or watched only MSNBC, but the Left and President Obama are losing their fight to block the widespread introduction of voter ID cards. In courts of law and the court of public opinion, the issue is gaining traction. With few exceptions, liberal pressure groups have lost lawsuits in state after state, with courts tossing out their faux claims that ID laws are discriminatory, unconstitutional or suppress minority voting. Polls show that a large majorities including Republicans, Democrats, whites, blacks and Hispanics support voter ID as a common-sense reform. The myth that voter ID is a new Jim Crow-type effort to reduce minority voting is widely rejected for the rubbish that it is -- except by academia and the glitterati of the mainstream media. One Rasmussen poll found that 72 percent of the public believes all voters should prove their identities before being allowed to cast ballots, and also that when it comes to voter ID, "opinions have not changed much over the years."

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:45+00:00October 6th, 2014|ACRU Commentary, Voter ID|

Court’s Ohio Decision on Early Voting Could Affect Other States

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court delayed the start of early voting in Ohio on Sept. 27, a day before it was scheduled to begin, temporarily blocking a victory won by voting rights groups in lower courts. The decision has potential implications for other states, including Wisconsin, North Carolina, Texas and Arkansas, where state efforts to tighten up voting procedures are opposed by civil rights groups who say they disproportionately affect minorities. Ohio's was the first of those cases to reach the high court, and the conservative majority blocked lower court rulings that would have jump-started early voting Tuesday. Their action, opposed by the court's four liberal justices, reversed a federal appeals court decision that had blocked the state from reducing early voting from 35 to 28 days. The lower court also had ordered the state to restore some evening and Sunday voting that the Legislature had eliminated. Those reductions remain in place as a result of the high court's order. The justices invited the state to seek a full ruling on the merits of the case. If that request is denied or the state loses in court, the expanded voting hours would be restored -- albeit too late for this year's election.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:26:46+00:00October 6th, 2014|Early Voting, In the Courts, News|

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