Voter ID Archives - Page 110 of 147 - Voting Integrity Institute

Obama Administration Fighting Efforts to Keep Non-Citizens from Voting

By Hans von Spakovsky Several well-funded organizations -- including the League of Women Voters and the NAACP -- are fighting efforts to prevent non-citizens from voting illegally in the upcoming presidential election. And the United States Department of Justice, under the direction of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, is helping them. On February 12, these groups filed a lawsuit in D.C. federal court seeking to reverse a recent decision by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The Commission's decision allows Kansas and other states, including Arizona and Georgia, to enforce state laws ensuring that only citizens register to vote when they use a federally designed registration form. An initial hearing in the case is set for Monday afternoon, February 22. Under federal law, the EAC is responsible for designing the federal voter-registration form required by the National Voter Registration Act, or Motor Voter, as it is commonly called. While states must register voters who use the federal form, states can ask the EAC to include instructions with the federal form about additional state registration requirements. Some states are now requiring satisfactory proof of citizenship to ensure that only citizens register to vote.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:38:02+00:00February 21st, 2016|ACRU Commentary, Proof of Citizenship, Voter ID|

Judge Won’t Suspend Alabama Voter Photo ID Law

MONTGOMERY (AP) A federal judge will not suspend Alabama's photo voter identification requirement in the upcoming elections. U.S. District Court Judge L. Scott Coogler Wednesday denied Wednesday a preliminary injunction sought by groups that challenged the law requiring voters to present photo identification. The groups had asked the judge to expand the state's alternative identification process so people without photo identification can vote if they present certain documents or identification. Coogler said he would not use a backdoor method to effectively do away with the photo identification requirement that took effect in 2014. Coogler also said plaintiffs offered no convincing reason why obtaining a valid photo ID is an undue burden.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:35:34+00:00February 19th, 2016|In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

West Virginia House Approves Voter ID Bill

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The West Virginia House has approved a proposal to require voters to show ID at the polls. With a 64-34 vote Friday, the House sent the bill to the Senate. The bill would require a state or federally issued ID featuring a name and photo, ranging from driver's licenses to valid in-state high school IDs. The requirements would be effective January 2018. Voters could also produce Medicare or Social Security cards without photos. The ID can be six months expired on Election Day. Instead of presenting ID, a voter could be accompanied to the polls by an adult who has known the voter at least six months, including poll workers. They would sign affidavits and show IDs with their name, address and photo. Otherwise, voters would cast provisional ballots.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:41+00:00February 19th, 2016|News, Voter ID|

Voter ID in Wisconsin Primary ‘Pretty ‘Simple’

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) - The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board [...]

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:41+00:00February 17th, 2016|News, Voter ID|

Congressman Seeks to Add Florida to National Voter Database

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch is calling on Florida election officials to participate in a national database aimed at preventing voter fraud -- amid reports that more than two dozen people possibly voted twice in the 2014 general election. The West Boca Democrat penned a letter to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner on Tuesday, urging him to sign up for the Electronic Registration Information Center, a database used by 15 states and the District of Columbia. Deutch says the system known as ERIC would improve the accuracy of voter rolls by allowing Florida to compare its list of voters with other states' at a minimal cost of $50,000. "We have a record when it comes to our elections that is obviously not one we are terribly proud of," he said. "I can't understand why we wouldn't join an effort with a nationwide database that can combat problems of people being registered to vote in two states." Deutch's calls come after election supervisors in Broward and Palm Beach counties launched probes in January into reports of as many as 32 people voting twice in the 2014 general election -- once in Florida and once in their home state up North. It's a felony to vote in the same federal election twice.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:35:34+00:00February 17th, 2016|News, Vote Fraud, Voter ID|

Missouri Voter Photo ID Bills Head to Senate Floor

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) Two proposals aimed at requiring Missourians to show photo ID before voting are heading to the Senate floor. Senators voted 8-2 Monday along party lines to advance a bill and a constitutional amendment out of committee. Both measures have already passed the House, though the constitutional amendment would need voter approval.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:35:34+00:00February 9th, 2016|News, Voter ID|

Voter Fraud in the U.S.: Documented

Refuting the contention that vote fraud is rare, a compilation by Discoverthenetworks.org of thousands of incidences of vote fraud shows why voter photo ID laws are needed now more than ever.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:36:33+00:00February 2nd, 2016|Expert Reports and Studies, Resources, Vote Fraud, Voter ID|

Ruling May Be Weeks Away in North Carolina Photo Voter ID Case

A federal judge's decision appears to be at least several weeks away in litigation over North Carolina's photo ID mandate for voters, making it likely that the new requirement will begin when early in-person voting begins March 3. Trial ended Monday in multiple lawsuits over the new statute, which is supposed to be implemented for the first time during the March 15 primary. The requirement, first approved by Republican elected officials in 2013 but eased somewhat last summer, makes North Carolina one of more than 30 states with some kind of voter ID requirement now in force. But the U.S. Justice Department, state NAACP and others challenged the requirement in a state with a history of racial discrimination and racially polarized voting. Their lawsuits also challenged other provisions in the 2013 law that in part scaled back early voting and ended same-day registration during the early-vote period. Only voter ID was considered during the six-day trial. The trial judge had refused before the trial to block voter ID from taking effect on schedule. U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder asked both sides to provide additional documentations by Feb. 24. Lawyers who oppose the law pointed in their closing arguments to their expert's report presented last week in court that up to 224,800 registrants lack proper voter ID. The expert also said black voters were more than twice as likely as white voters to lack a qualifying ID and face economic and social obstacles to obtain one. A competing database expert who took the stand Monday as a final defense witness testified that the report had several weaknesses and the number of those lacking ID was inflated. There are more than 6.4 million registered voters in North Carolina.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:41+00:00February 2nd, 2016|Early Voting, News, Same-Day Registration, Voter ID|

Closing Arguments Begin in North Carolina Voter ID Trial

Closing arguments are set to begin this afternoon in the closely watched federal trial on North Carolina's photo ID requirement. Janet Thornton, a labor economist at Economic Research Services in Florida, was the last witness that state attorneys called. Plaintiffs, including the N.C. NAACP, rested their case Thursday. The photo ID requirement was passed in 2013 as part of a sweeping elections law that state Republican legislators pushed soon after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a key section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That section required mostly southern states and 40 counties in North Carolina to seek federal approval of major changes in elections laws. Voting rights activists consider North Carolina's election law, known as the Voter Information Verification Act, to be one of the most restrictive in the country. The photo ID requirement didn't take effect until this year and was amended last year just weeks before a federal trial on other provisions of the law. The N.C. NAACP, the U.S. Department of Justice and others filed a federal lawsuit in 2013, alleging that the elections law places undue burdens on blacks and Hispanics, is unconstitutional and violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Thornton was called to criticize the work of one of the plaintiffs' experts -- Charles Stewart, a professor of political science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Stewart testified last week that based on his analysis matching databases from the State Board of Elections and the Department of Motor Vehicles, blacks were twice more likely to lack a photo ID than whites. Thornton testified that Stewart's methodology was flawed and that it was hard to know exactly how many people did not have a photo ID. She also testified that his analysis failed to account for voters who were later removed from voter registration rolls or were considered inactive.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:41+00:00February 1st, 2016|In the Courts, News, Voter ID|

Voter ID Measures Advance in Missouri House

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - Republicans' decade-long effort to add an ID requirement for voters won initial approval Wednesday in the Missouri House of Representatives. In a voice vote, lawmakers finalized the language of a bill and a constitutional amendment aimed at requiring a photo ID to vote. The measures still need a final vote to pass the chamber, and the constitutional amendment would need voter approval. A Senate committee heard testimony this week on a similar bill and constitutional amendment. House Republicans blocked attempts by Democrats to add more forms of acceptable photo IDs, to register people to vote automatically when they apply for driver's licenses, and to add the phrase "voter suppression" to the amendment's ballot language. Lawmakers are pursuing a constitutional change because in 2006 the Missouri Supreme Court struck down a photo ID requirement, saying such measures weren't narrowly tailored enough and were an undue burden on voters.

ACRU Staff2020-05-03T23:34:42+00:00January 22nd, 2016|News, Voter ID|

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