News
Another Voter Fraud Arrest in Texas Border County
Texas authorities have formally charged two men accused of cheating during the 2012 Democratic Party 2012 Primary near the Texas border. The most recent arrest was carried out by the Cameron County District Attorney's office after a grand jury handed down indictments against two separate individuals, information provided by the Cameron County DA's office to Breitbart Texas revealed. One of the defendants has been identified as Jose Angel Garza. He was formally charged on a five count indictment on the charge of tampering with a marked ballot. Rafael Angel Elizondo has been charged with one count of the same charge for an offense that allegedly took place in July 2012, the information provided to Breitbart Texas revealed. DA's investigators have arrested Garza but Elizondo is in New York. Elizondo is expected to return to the border community where he will be arrested, the DA's office said. The investigation into the voter fraud is being carried out by the Texas Attorney General's Office in conjunction with the DA's office who announced that more indictments could follow. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, the Texas border has been the scene of multiple voter fraud arrests in connection with the 2012 Democrat primaries and the presidential election.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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 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.
West Va. Voter ID Law Bills Introduced
MARTINSBURG -- Two bills have been introduced in the state Legislature that would require voters to produce a photo ID to vote: House Bill 2092 and Senate Bill 340. State Delegate Tim Manchin, D-Marion, is the sponsor of HB2092. He is the minority chair of the House Judiciary Committee. "I think the general public thinks it's a good idea to require people to have an ID to vote," Manchin said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "People are concerned that people who are not qualified to vote are voting."
New Mexico Legislator Seeks New Voter ID Law
ALBUQUERQUE - A state legislator is pushing for voter identification requirements in New Mexico. Cities and state around the country have enacted voter ID legislation. It's required in Albuquerque during city elections, and people in Hobbs recently passed a similar law. "Anybody who's not voting accurately by who they say they are, that's too many," Republican Rep. James Smith told KRQE News 13. Smith filed a bill that would require voters to produce government-issued photo IDs with some exceptions. People who don't bring their ID could still vote if they gave a social security number and date of birth. Smith's proposal would change not only how you vote in person, but also by mail. "This bill covers absentee ballots as well, where you have to prove who you are over absentee ballots and if there is a place for voter fraud, it's more likely in the absentee or the registration than it is in in person voting," Smith said.
The Voter Suppression Myth Takes Another Hit
Federal lawsuits against North Carolina claim that recent changes to the state's election laws will "suppress" minority votes. For example, in N.C. State Conf. of NAACP v. McCrory, plaintiffs assert that the new laws "impose a disproportionate burden on the ability of African Americans to vote" and will "raise costs for voters and deter participation." They highlight testimony by a former director of the State Board of Elections who asserted that the laws will "ultimately reduc[e] turnout in comparison to comparable elections." Turnout data for the 2014 election, posted Dec. 10 on the state's Board of Elections website, tell a different story. Black turnout and registration for the November 2014 election increased by every relevant measure compared with November 2010, the last non-presidential general election. Last July, North Carolina adopted electoral reforms that eliminated same-day registration, reduced the number of days of early voting to 10 from 17, and required ballots to be cast in a voter's home precinct. It also instituted a voter-ID requirement that will take full effect in 2016. Two sets of plaintiffs, led by the NAACP and the League of Women Voters, sued in federal court on Aug. 12, 2013. They were followed a few weeks later by the Justice Department. Attorney General Eric Holder asserted that the state's new laws would restrict "access and ease of voter participation" and "would shrink, rather than expand, access to the franchise." All three suits alleged that the reforms will inflict "burdens" on North Carolina voters--and in particular, on minority voters. These allegations were backed by reams of expert reports submitted by social scientists predicting that these burdens would depress voter registration and turnout. One expert in the Justice Department lawsuit claimed that more than 200,000 black voters, along with 700,000 white voters, would be "burdened" in an off-year election. Another expert concluded that particular provisions "will lower turnout overall" and "will have a disparate impact on African-American voters." Those predictions were not borne out. The 2014 elections were the first test of the impact of North Carolina's new laws, including a "soft rollout" of its voter-ID requirement--under which poll workers asked voters if they had ID and if not, to acknowledge the new requirement in writing. Board of Elections data showed that the percentage of age-eligible, non-Hispanic black residents who turned out to vote in North Carolina rose to 41.1% in November 2014 from 38.5% in November 2010.