Report: Soros-Backed Democrat Officials Covering Up Illegal Foreign Voting in Virginia
“Virginia election officials don’t seem to care that thousands of [...]
Countering the Lies about Election Reform
The U.S. Supreme Court has pheld Ohio’s election reform law, but liberal courts have struck down voter photo ID laws in other states such as North Carolina and North Dakota and watered down photo ID laws in Texas and Wisconsin. Federal judges also have vacated statutes in Alabama, Georgia and Kansas that permitted states to require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. The media and prominent Democrats cannot hide their delight.
Court Overrules Federal Election Official on Proof of Citizenship
A top appeals court has overturned a federal official’s ruling [...]
A Great Win for Election Integrity
By Hans von Spakovsky (June 30) Yesterday was a great day for election integrity and everyone (other than the Obama administration and its political allies) who wants to make sure non-citizens don't illegally vote in our elections. Federal district-court judge Richard Leon issued an order Wednesday refusing to grant the injunction sought by the League of Women Voters (and the U.S. Justice Department to its everlasting shame) against the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in litigation over a state requirement that individuals registering to vote provide proof of citizenship. As I previously explained to readers of The Corner in February, several well-funded groups including the League and the NAACP filed a lawsuit trying to reverse a decision by the EAC granting the requests of Kansas, Georgia, and Alabama to modify the instructions on the federal voter registration form. The modification would notify residents of those states that they have to provide proof of citizenship if they use the federal form to register to vote. The U.S. Justice Department, which is charged with defending federal agencies when they are sued, tried instead to throw the case. It came into court, to Judge Leon's great surprise, attempting to concede the case and agreeing to the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction the plaintiffs wanted. Commissioner Christy McCormick, the chairwoman of the EAC, was so concerned over the Justice Department's misbehavior and potentially unethical conduct, that she sent a letter to Leon asking for permission to get outside counsel to represent the EAC. She expressed her "grave concerns regarding the potential conflict of interest and failure of the Department of justice to provide" the EAC with proper representation. DOJ later requested (and got) a protective order sealing her deposition, which apparently included discussions of DOJ's potentially improper behavior and prior involvement in EAC decision-making. Makes you wonder what DOJ wants to hide. In February, Leon denied the request for a temporary restraining order. Yesterday in a 25-page opinion, he also denied the request for a preliminary injunction -- the same injunction the Justice Department wanted to agree to when it tried to lose the case. Leon held that the plaintiffs had not proved they will suffer an irreparable harm from this change in instructions on the federal registration form. He obviously did not put much stock in their claim that this would damage them because their voter registration drives would be less successful and require more effort on their part to educate the public about the fact that you have to be a citizen to register to vote. But as Leon said, "let's be candid; doing so pales in comparison to explaining to the average citizen how the ACA or tax code works!"
Judge Upholds 3 States’ Proof of Citizenship for Voter Registration
Residents of Kansas, Georgia and Alabama will have to prove they are U.S. citizens when registering to vote for federal elections using a national form, a judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sided against a coalition of voting rights groups that sued a U.S. elections official who changed the proof-of-citizenship requirements on the federal registration form at the request of the three states and without public notice. Residents of other states only need to swear that they are citizens, not show proof. Leon refused to issue a temporary injunction sought by voting rights advocates to overturn the move by Brian Newby, the executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, until the case can be decided on its merits at trial. No trial date has been set.
A Big Win for Election Integrity
By Hans A. von Spakovsky Electoral integrity has scored big -- District of Columbia federal district court Judge Richard Leon just issued an order denying the request by the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, and the U.S. Justice Department for a temporary restraining order (TRO). Thus, there will be no TRO preventing the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) from instructing residents of Alabama, Georgia, and Kansas that they must comply with state laws requiring proof-of-citizenship when they register to vote. Judge Leon said in a four-page order that because "the registration deadlines for the Alabama and Georgia primaries and for the Kansas Republican Caucus had already passed at the time this TRO motion was filed . . . and that the effects of the [EAC's] actions on the ongoing registration process for the Kansas Democratic Caucus . . . are uncertain at best, plaintiffs have not demonstrated they will suffer irreparable harm" before the scheduled March 9 hearing on the request for a Preliminary Injunction. Judge Leon was also "not yet convinced that plaintiffs have demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on the merits and looks forward to the benefit of full, adversarial briefing on the complex and important issues this case presents." This is a tremendous victory, particularly given the questionable conduct of the Justice Department, which came into court on Monday refusing to defend the actions of the EAC and saying it would consent not only to a TRO, but to a preliminary injunction. Judge Leon castigated DOJ during the hearing and added a footnote to his four-page order about the behavior of Justice after he said he expects a "full, adversarial briefing."
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.
NAACP Sues Alabama over Voter ID Law
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A civil rights group on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama's photo voter ID law as an infringement on voting rights and an attempt to suppress the influence of black and Hispanic voters. The Greater Birmingham Ministries and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed the suit Wednesday in Birmingham federal court. Alabama's law requires voters to show a valid state-issued photo identification at the polls in order to vote. The law went into effect in the 2014 elections. "It is appalling that, 60 years after Rosa Parks' courageous protest in Montgomery and 50 years after voting rights activists marched in Selma, the Alabama Legislature continues to pass laws that are designed to deprive people of color of their basic civil rights," said Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The lawsuit is the latest attempt to roll back voter ID requirements implemented in Republican-controlled states. The U.S. Justice Department challenged photo identification requirements in North Carolina and Texas, and a federal appeals court in August found the Texas law to be discriminatory. States that have implemented the requirements say the measures are needed to curb voter fraud. Opponents, often Democrats, say the requirement presents a barrier to the ballot box for poor, minority and elderly voters. The lawsuit contends that Alabama politicians who created and backed the law knew that black and Latino voters "disproportionately lack the required photo ID." Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said his office will review the lawsuit. "Voting rights are important to every citizen, and it is imperative that every Alabamian who is eligible to vote have the ability to vote," Bentley said in a statement. "A photo ID protects the process of voting and ensures fair elections are held."
Hillary Clinton Warns Black Audience over Voter ID Laws
Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton warns black legal activists that "there is mischief afoot" when it comes to voting rights issues in the United States. Speaking at the National Bar Association's 60th anniversary celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Montgomery bus boycott on Dec. 1 in Alabama, Clinton appealed to the conspiracy-minded instincts of those who believe that photo ID laws represent a Republican effort to suppress the vote, rather than a way to prevent voter fraud. "I thought we'd solved that problem," Clinton said about voting access. "Unfortunately, there is mischief afoot. Some people are just determined to keep other Americans from voting." Clinton cited the closing of some DMV offices in Alabama, as part of necessary budget cuts, as a vote-suppressing plot, despite evidence to the contrary. Clinton was introduced at the event by Benjamin Crump, the high-profile lawyer for the Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown families who was recently named president of the National Bar Association following his headline-grabbing advocacy work
About That Voter-ID Fracas in Alabama: Much Ado About Nothing
By Hans A. von Spakovsky Many on the left are in a ferment over Alabama's closure of some part-time Department of Motor Vehicles offices. It's being done for budgetary reasons, but liberals are claiming it's being done to raise a "barrier for poor and minority voters" in getting an ID to vote, according to the Washington Post. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that "it's a blast from the Jim Crow past" and Jesse Jackson claimed that "this new Jim Crow isn't subtle." It's really a sign of how desperate critics of voter-ID laws are that they would raise such inflammatory, ridiculous claims over a budget issue that has nothing to do with race, Jim Crow, or discrimination. After all, they've been steadily losing their fight against voter ID in the courts, with only a few exceptions, and in the realm of public opinion. Alabama's new voter-ID law for both in-person and absentee voting went into effect last year. Despite the outcries that it would "suppress" votes, there have been no problems or complaints that anyone has been unable to vote because of the new requirement. It's been the same in all of the other states, such as Georgia and Indiana, that have implemented such ID laws. I've written numerous papers looking at turnout data in states after ID laws became effective -- ID laws have no discernible effect on decreasing or preventing turnout. Alabama has 44 driver's-license offices throughout the state. It apparently also had 31 satellite offices that were open only part-time and that accounted for less than 5 percent of the driver's licenses issued each year. Because of the budget passed by the state legislature, Alabama's state government had to "allocate scarce limited resources in Fiscal Year 2016," according to a letter sent by Governor Robert Bentley to Representative Terri Sewell (D., Ala). So the state government decided to close these satellite offices. Sewell is one of the critics whose "impulsive, ill-informed" comments about that decision were, Governor Bentley says, "based on irresponsible media reports." What all of the media and critics missed or deliberately ignored is that, in addition to being able to use a driver's license to meet the voter-ID requirement, you can get a free voter ID in every single county in the state. In addition to DMV offices, the secretary of state offers free voter IDs in all 67 counties through the local election registrar.