Prospects are up for House passage also.  More here.

Sen. Mamie Locke, D–Hampton, argued against the bill, saying that voter fraud tends to be random and isolated, and that the greater problem is voter apathy.  “We should be encouraging voter turnout, not finding barriers to limit participation,” Locke said. “This bill—and others like it—is so 1866.”

A brief note about Senator Mamie Locke’s history.  1866 was a poor choice.  In fact, 1866 probably saw some the most open elections for freedmen in the Commonwealth.  Perhaps she meant 1864, or 1904.  But in 1866, it was largely Southern white ex-confederates who were disenfranchised, and not so much the freedmen.  But no matter.  Senator Locke has her history, and she’s sticking to it.

But vetoed by “civil rights” groups.  Washington Post.

Starting with the April 24th
presidential primary, Rhode Island voters will have to present
identification to vote. The Secretary of State is about to launch a
campaign to issue photo ID cards to voters who need them.

Secretary of State Ralph Mollis says representatives from his office
will visit every city and town in Rhode Island over the next eight
months to issue photo ID’s for voting. The cards are free and are the
size of a driver’s license and contain the voter’s photograph, name and
date of birth.

Full story here.

 More at the Republic.  “Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis is visiting the East Providence Senior Center and St. Martin de Porres Senior Center in Providence on Tuesday to tell voters how to obtain a free voter ID. His office says voters who attend the events will be among the first to receive state-issued voter IDs.”

Excerpt from Yahoo News

But redistricting isn’t simply a complication for Republicans here in 2012.

[Clark County GOP chairman Dave] Gibbs actually views redistricting as the catalyst for why his party is going to rebound in Nevada this election cycle.

“The redistricting in 2001 was so in favor of the Democrats in Clark
County that it pretty much shut out the Republicans from any significant
level of participation in the state legislature–or at least in the
state assembly,” Gibbs said. “And now with redistricting, we actually
have a chance at getting–if not getting a majority–at least getting
significantly closer to a majority than we’ve been in ten years.”

Gibbs conceded that 2008 was the Democrats’ year for momentum, but he
argued that “one of the good things with pendulums is that the higher
you raise it, you know it’s going to come back.”

Gibbs noted that redistricting has created a new congressional
district this cycle–which his party views as a major pickup
opportunity, in addition to making legislative districts more
competitive. He said voter registration, candidate recruitment, and even
volunteer enthusiasm all indicate that energy is on the Republicans’
side this year.

Story at Philly.com:  A top Harrisburg Republican said Friday that the legislature might
consider moving back the April 24 primary election to make time for a
commission to create new maps for all 203 state House seats and 50
Senate seats. The primary date “is in jeopardy,” Senate Majority
Leader Dominic Pileggi, a Delaware County Republican, told reporters in
the Capitol.

At the link.

In Wisconsin, left-wing groups are hoping to stop photo ID laws just prior to the elections. 

 LA TImes.