News
Justice Department May Try to Settle ID Part of Voter Law Suit
Charlotte --The U.S. Justice Department and others suing over North Carolina's 2013 election overhaul are looking to settle one part of their case: voter ID. Republican state lawmakers watered down the ID provision this summer, just before a federal trial on the overhaul began. Now there's a list of acceptable excuses for not having an ID, including lack of transportation or disability. So the Justice Department, the League of Women Voters and other plaintiffs are finalizing a settlement offer for that part of the case.
How the Latest Federal Court Ruling Affects Texas’ Voter ID Law
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A federal appeals court declared that Texas' strict 2011 voter ID law has a "discriminatory effect" on minorities and violates the Voting Rights Act. But the three-judge panel's unanimous, 49-page decision also overturned a lower court's previous assertion that the law amounted to an unconstitutional "poll tax." Here's a closer look at the Wednesday ruling, the law and where the case stands now.
ACRU Files Suit against Third Mississippi County
ALEXANDRIA, VA --- The on July 27 filed a complaint in federal court against another Mississippi county that has corrupted and inflated voter registrations. Voter rolls maintained by Clarke County actually contain more people registered to vote than citizens eligible to vote. The complaint argues that Clarke County's election commission is violating Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Hattiesburg Division. "Clarke County has had longstanding problems maintaining plausible numbers of registrants on the rolls," the complaint filed against the Clarke County Election Commission says. "During the 2010 federal general election, over 101 percent of living citizens eligible to vote in Clarke County were registered to vote." ACRU's review of databases revealed that as of 2015, more than 100 percent of Clarke's voting-eligible citizens were registered. This strongly indicates the county has failed to purge the names of people who had died, moved away or been convicted of disenfranchising felonies.
Group Files Lawsuit against County over Voter Rolls
The has filed a federal lawsuit against Clarke County claiming the county has more voters on its rolls than living citizens of voting age. The lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Mississippi against the Clarke County Election Commission. The lawsuit says: "Voter rolls maintained by the Defendant for Clarke County contain more voters registered to vote than citizens eligible to vote. In March 2015... Clarke County, Mississippi had 12,646 registered voters, despite having a voting age population of only 12,549 according to the United States Census. More than 100 percent of living citizens old enough to vote were registered to vote in Clarke County in 2015." The lawsuit alleges that the Election Commission has failed to provide required maintenance of the county's voting rolls. Clarke County Circuit Clerk Beth Jordan said the county is in the process, along with the Board of Supervisors attorney, of working with the ACRU to address voter rolls problems or concerns.
Mississippi Circuit Clerk Charged with Vote Fraud
NEW ALBANY, Miss. (AP) -- The Mississippi Attorney General's office has arrested a veteran Union County deputy circuit clerk, accused of trying to influence voters. A newspaper reports Rhonda Wilhite Dowdy, of New Albany, was arrested Monday on one count of voter fraud. Rachael Ring, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Hood, confirmed the arrest Thursday. Dowdy has worked for the Union County Circuit Clerk's office since August 1987. Ring says Dowdy is accused of changing the address of non-resident voters to make it appear they live in the county in exchange for their vote for a specific candidate. Ring could not release which candidate or whether the candidate knew of Dowdy's alleged actions
North Carolina Voter Law Trial Gets Underway
RALEIGH, N.C. - Changes to North Carolina's voting access rules finally went to trial this week. A judge ultimately will determine whether Republican legislators illegally diminished the opportunity for minorities to participate in the political process or acted to protect election integrity. The U.S. Justice Department, voting and civil rights groups and individuals sued soon after the General Assembly approved an elections overhaul law in summer 2013. After interim arguments reached the U.S. Supreme Court last fall, the trial began Monday and is expected to last two to three weeks addresses the crux of the allegations. Attorneys representing those who sued contend the restrictions violate the federal Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution by throwing up large electoral obstacles to minority voters historically subjected to racial bias and should be thrown out. Attorneys for the state and Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who signed the law, say there's no evidence the law will diminish the ability of black citizens to elect who they want representing them. None of the restrictions are barred by the Constitution, according to a brief previewing their case, and black voter participation increased during the 2014 elections -- when changes were first implemented -- compared to the 2010 elections.
FBI Investigating Vote Fraud in Rio Grande Valley of Texas
National Public Radio -- A new FBI anti-corruption task force is trying to clean up the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. According to the Justice Department, in 2013, more public officials were convicted for corruption in South Texas than in any other region of the country. One of the practices the task force is looking at is vote-stealing. They're called politiqueras -- a word unique to the border that means campaign worker. It's a time-honored tradition down in the land of grapefruit orchards and Border Patrol checkpoints. If a local candidate needs dependable votes, he or she goes to a politiquera. In recent years, losing candidates in local elections began to challenge vote harvesting by politiqueras in the Rio Grande Valley, and they shared their investigations with authorities. After the 2012 election cycle, the Justice Department and the Texas attorney general's office filed charges. "Yes, there is a concern in which the politiqueras are being paid to then go and essentially round up voters and have them vote a certain way," says James Sturgis, assistant U.S. attorney in McAllen. In the town of Donna, five politiqueras pleaded guilty to election fraud. Voters were bribed with cigarettes, beer or dime bags of cocaine. In neighboring Cameron County, nine politiqueras were charged with manipulating mail-in ballots.
Evidence Lacking in Charge that Voter ID Laws Reduce Turnout
Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Democratic allies are shining a bright light on voter ID laws and other perceived roadblocks to the ballot box, yet drawing a straight line from laws designed to crack down on fraud to low turnout in a single contest is notably difficult, analysts say, and data on the most recent elections tend to lag behind the fast-moving debate. Individual contests, the amount of time and money spent on each campaign and the weather can be major factors in how many people show up at the polls on Election Day, clouding a debate that has roiled courts and kicked up dust among progressives who say minorities and the poor have been disenfranchised. Many analysts point to a Government Accountability Office study that found turnout dropped by roughly 2 percent in Kansas and Tennessee from the 2008 to the 2012 contests, compared with states that didn't change their voter ID laws. Yet analysts say the record of impartial studies is limited, and researchers are still breaking down November's midterm contests.
Nevada Conservatives Irked at GOP Legislators for Not Passing Voter ID
WASHINGTON -- Nevada conservatives are disheartened that another attempt to pass a voter identification measure out of the legislature failed this session, even though the GOP has full control of the state government for the first time since 1929. Many expected Nevada to join the list of states that require people to show a government-issued ID in order to vote. Texas, where the GOP also is in control, passed a voter ID law in 2011, but is currently bogged down in litigation over its law's intent and impact. Republican legislators had tried to pass a Nevada voter ID bill in previous sessions, but had more muscle on their side this time, with majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval had previously said he would support a voter ID law, though he refused this year to take a stance before any proposal reached his desk. But, as the session closed June 1, bills in the Senate and Assembly hadn't gotten out of committee, leaving Democrats feeling gleeful and conservatives glum. The repeated defeat of voter ID bills in Nevada comes in contrast to states like North Carolina. A large package of voting rights restrictions, including a strict photo ID bill, was passed swiftly in that state in 2013 after Republicans gained control of both the governorship and legislature for the first time in more than 100 years. A challenge to that law will be heard in court next month.
Soros to Spend $5 Million to Attack Voter ID Laws
Billionaire investor George Soros has committed $5 million to aid to fight voter ID laws and other legislation in several key states that Democrats argue keeps voters away from the polls. Attorney Marc Elias, who also represents Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, talked with Soros in January 2014 about supporting planned federal lawsuits for that year and the 2016 election aimed at overturning voter ID laws, according to the New York Times. "We hope to see these unfair laws, which often disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society, repealed," Soros told the Times. The Hungarian-born billionaire, a generous donor to liberal causes, is currently writing lawsuits in Ohio, Wisconsin and North Carolina.