In reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's Shelby County v. Holder decision last June, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R., Wis.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) have introduced the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014. The stated purpose is to prevent racial discrimination. But what it would really do is force racial gerrymandering, make race the predominant factor in the election process, and advance the partisan interests of one political party.
WASHINGTON D.C. (Oct. 30, 2013) -- The (ACRU) has sent notices to numerous Alabama counties that they are in violation of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration ("Motor Voter") Act. The counties have more registered voters than voting age-eligible residents, according to official data from the U.S. Census and state voter registration offices.
The has sent notices to numerous Alabama counties that they are in violation of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act.
MOBILE -- U.S. Postal Service officials have launched an investigation into the mailing of several absentee ballots for the Mobile municipal elections, after a postal worker reported what appeared to be voter fraud. Postal officials questioned the mailing of numerous ballots bearing similar handwriting, as well as multiple ballots from the same voters being mailed almost daily.
Houston County -- An investigation is underway by the sheriff's office into allegations of illegal absentee voting in the Dothan City election in District 2 on August 6.
On July 18, 2013, ACRU Policy Board member J. Christian Adams delivered the following testimony on the Voting Rights Act before the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.
MONTGOMERY -- Top Alabama officials say voters apparently will have to present photo identification at the polls in the next election. Gov. Robert Bentley, Secretary of State Beth Chapman and Attorney General Luther Strange said the Supreme Court's ruling on June 24 throwing out part of the federal Voting Rights Act means the state does not have to submit for preclearance a new law requiring voters to show photo identification.
The Supreme Court has decided Shelby v. Holder. It is one of the most important decisions in decades. Now, federal preclearance of state election procedures seems to be forever dead and buried. While some Congressional Republicans had vowed to enact new legislation to "fix" any coverage formula deemed unconstitutional, the Court opinion today offers almost no room to do so.
Rulings on two key voting rights cases could reshape how Americans nationwide cast ballots in federal elections. The more high-profile of the two pending rulings involves an Alabama county that is pushing back against federal oversight of its election procedures.
A lawyer who resigned in protest from his government job took his message of an out-of-control Justice Department to the Port City on May 21, 2013, focusing on several Alabama anecdotes. J. Christian Adams spoke to the Mobile chapter of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, about an ends-justifies-the-means mentality that he contends has infected the Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder. Adams, author of "Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department," rose to prominence in 2010 after alleging that political considerations scuttled the prosecution of members of the New Black Panther Party accused of intimidating white voters in Philadelphia during the 2008 election. Adams said Holder and political appointees are undermining the rule of law. The framers drafted the Constitution to prevent that kind of corruption, he said. "They had these guys in mind," he said. Adams discussed three parts of his book dealing with Alabama - its history of voter fraud, its inflated voter registration rolls and its attempt to enact a voter identification law. Adams cited Perry and Hale counties, both of which have a history of voter fraud - particularly with respect to absentee voting. He said "wranglers" have filled out absentee ballots in local elections and coerced residents to sign them "by the hundreds."