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Georgia Secretary of State Probing Possible Vote Fraud
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) said Tuesday his office was investigating allegations of voter fraud by a group led by the state's Democratic House minority leader that it believes may have forged voter registration documents and signatures and filled out voter applications with false information. Kemp said in a memo obtained by WSBTV that his office has received complaints about the group in five counties in northern Georgia outside Atlanta -- Barow, Butts, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Henry, and Muscogee -- and sent subpoenas to the New Georgia Project and Third Sector Development, its parent organization, led by Georgia Rep. Stacey Abrams (D). "We're just not going to put up with fraud," Kemp told WSBTV. "I mean, we have zero tolerance for that in Georgia, so we've opened an investigation and served some subpoenas."
Trial Begins in Texas Voter ID Law Case
(Reuters) - A U.S. court in Texas heard arguments on Tuesday in a case over a law requiring voters to present photo identification, a move the state's Republican leaders say will prevent fraud and which plaintiffs claim is an attempt at suppressing minority turnout. The case is also part of a new strategy by the Obama administration to challenge voting laws it says discriminate by race in order to counter a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that freed states from strict federal oversight. The trial that started on Tuesday at the U.S. District Court in Corpus Christi stems from a battle over stringent voter ID measures signed into law by Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican, in 2011. The law requires voters to present a photo ID such as a concealed handgun license or driver's license, but it excludes student IDs as invalid.
Appeals Court Delays Wisconsin Voter ID Ruling
MADISON (AP) - A federal appeals court put off a decision until next month on whether to put Wisconsin's voter ID law back in place. Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen had asked the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the voter ID law while it considers a lower court ruling that found the requirement to present a photo ID at the polls violated the U.S. Constitution and Voting Rights Act. Wisconsin's Republican-led Legislature passed the photo ID requirement and Gov. Scott Walker signed it in 2011.
Poll: 74 Percent Support Voter ID Laws
A federal judge in North Carolina recently struck down the latest challenge by the U.S. Justice Department to a state law that requires voters to bring photo identification to the polls. Voters continue to strongly support voter ID laws and don't consider them discriminatory. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 74% of Likely U.S. Voters believe all voters should be required to prove their identity before being allowed to vote. Nineteen percent (19%) disagree.
NC Voter ID Law Will Fight Fraud, Black Conservative Says
U.S. District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder ruled this month that North Carolina's November election can be held under a new voting law, considered one of the toughest in the nation and approved by Republican lawmakers. Opponents challenging the law say it will suppress minority voter turnout. But Schroeder denied their motion to hold the November vote under the old rules, saying the groups failed to show they would suffer irreparable harm. Horace Cooper of Project 21 serves as Director of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Voter Integrity Project. He says the judge clearly didn't buy into the Justice Department's argument. Cooper, Horace (Project 21)"They made up and distorted the case log to try to come up with an argument in this case," he tells OneNewsNow. "And the judge simply didn't buy it. They had to acknowledge that, yes, under the states that have voter ID, they have seen higher black voter turnout."
Rock the Vote Targets Voter ID Laws
Rock the Vote has state voter ID laws in its cross hairs, announcing a new coalition to tackle such legislation and enlisting support from stars in the music industry. Rock the Vote, which focuses on youth voting rights, announced the launch of the ProtectVoting coalition in a release on August 11 following the Aug. 8 court ruling to uphold voter ID laws in North Carolina, the organization said.
Citizenship Rule Takes Effect in Arizona, Kansas Primaries
Election rules in Kansas and Arizona that require proof of U.S. citizenship are set to take effect in coming weeks in state primaries. Some people will be barred from voting in state races, even as the federal government allows some of them to vote in congressional races. The split system is the result of a growing battle between federal officials and a handful of states over the necessity of verifying that a newly registered voter is a U.S. citizen. Kansas and Arizona say the federal registration process doesn't rigorously check citizenship. They have established their own verification systems and are barring people who register using the federal system from voting this month for such offices as governor and local posts. In recent years, mostly Republican-controlled states have tightened voting rules, including requiring voters to produce picture identification at the polls, arguing it prevents fraud. "There is a very real problem with aliens being registered to vote," said Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who said about a dozen states are likely to pass such measures in coming years.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Voter ID Law
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld a 2011 law backed by Republicans requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls. The rulings in two separate voter ID cases were released Thursday morning among several major decisions issued simultaneously. The law already was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court judge in Milwaukee this spring, meaning that Thursday's rulings have no immediate effect. That federal court decision is under appeal. For the law to take effect, both the state Supreme Court and the federal courts would have to find it to be constitutional. In April, U.S. District Judge Lynn struck down the law, saying it violates the federal Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution. Gov. Scott Walker praised Thursday's rulings and said he was confident voter ID would ultimately be upheld in federal court. "Voter ID is a common-sense reform that protects the integrity of our elections," Walker said. "People need to have confidence in our electoral process and to know their vote has been properly counted. We look forward to the same result from the federal court of appeals."
Court to Hear Texas Voter ID Case
In early September, a court in Corpus Christi begins a trial that should decide whether the current law requiring Texas voters to show government-issued photo identification before casting a ballot is constitutional. As it has happened with cases over redistricting, the Texas voter ID fight is expected to get national attention because two years ago a three-judge federal court in Washington ruled the 2011 legislation unconstitutional.
Justice Department to Intervene in Ohio, Wisconsin Voting Law Cases
The Obama administration plans to join lawsuits against Republican-backed voting restrictions in Ohio and Wisconsin -- two major swing states, Attorney General Eric Holder has said. The moves would represent the first time that Holder's Justice Department has intervened against statewide voting laws outside the areas that the Supreme Court freed from federal oversight in last year's Shelby County v. Holder ruling. They underline the administration's intention to aggressively protect voting rights across the country, not only in the mostly southern jurisdictions directly affected by Shelby. Earlier this year, Ohio's Republican legislature passed laws that cut six days from the early voting period and ended same-day registration, among other restrictions. Secretary of State Jon Husted then announced that there would be no early voting on Sundays or on week-day evenings. A federal judge recently restored early voting on the last three days before the election, but the other cuts remain in force. They're being challenged by the ACLU and other civil rights groups, which allege that they disproportionately affect non-white voters. A brief filed recently by the laws' challengers uses detailed voting records to establish that blacks are far likelier than whites to take advantage of early voting. In 2012, 20% of blacks did so, compared to just 6% of whites. Wisconsin's strict voter ID law was recently struck down by a federal judge, who ruled that it discriminated against black voters. But the state has appealed the ruling, and the litigation is ongoing.