The ACLU has intervened in the constitutional challenge  to the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act.  Donors to the ACLU might rightfully question whether this is a wise use of their donations.  After all, what does the ACLU legal team bring that the Justice Department legal team doesn’t??  The Shelby County Reporter has more.   Maybe someone should let David Gelbaum know his money isn’t being used terribly wisely on this one.

District attorney opens a vote fraud investigation in Autauga County AL.  It seems someone’s name appeared as an absentee voter after the final absentee list had been produced, and they weren’t on it.  This would be what happens if someone tries to get a vote in that didn’t follow normal absentee procedures (like mailing it in on time).  The Montgomery Advertiser has the story.

Ten charged with paying people to vote in the 2006 election.  Glasgow Daily Times (KY) has the story.

This is not election related, but I’m posting it in hopes that someone sees it that might not otherwise see it.  It is a single U.S. Marine standing and saluting Rolling Thunder on Memorial Day 2010.  While some flee the city over Memorial Day weekend, hundreds of thousands pour into D.C. on their Harleys to salute the fallen.

And here is a Rolling Thunder event from a few years ago:

On June 18, the Justice Department announced that it will be monitoring elections in Galveston, Texas on June 19.

One wonders why it is necessary to wait until the last second to announce such an undertaking.  According to the June 18 press release, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is doing the coverage.  This means that the observers got to Galveston most likely on June 17.  Captains and co-captains got to Galveston on either June 17 or June 16. Plus, everyone involved knew they would be there days ago.  They didn’t just make plane reservations today.  Yet the Department waited until the day before the election to announce a large federal presence will be monitoring a state election.

The same thing happened in May.  One day notice.

The same thing happened in April.

The same thing happened in March.

In fact, this will be the fourth time the Voting Section has been monitoring Galveston elections in the last four months.

The Department should provide earlier public notice about the decision to monitor elections.  It would be in keeping with a more transparent operation.

How strongly a candidate supports military voting rights has become an issue in the race for governor in Texas.  The Austin American Statesman has this story.

In pertinent part:

“In 1997, White supported two lawsuits that sought to throw out hundreds of absentee ballots cast by military members in a South Texas election on grounds that the voters didn’t meet residency requirements, and that their votes violated the Voting Rights Act.

At the same time, White also favored a legislative proposal that could have made it harder for military personnel to vote in state and local elections in Texas. Why? For each state or local election back home, the affected voter would have to demonstrate they had a local address in the Texas community, register to vote there, and then request the appropriate absentee ballot.”

Testimony yesterday in a Fort Worth trial about irregularities in batches of absentee ballot in a Justice of the Peace race.  The Fort Worth Star Telegram story is here.

Bret Bursey has sued the S.C. State Election Commission over the Democratic Primary in South Carolina where Alvin Greene defeated Vic Rawl.  The complaint is here and a supporting affidavit is here.

New Section 5 regulations have been proposed by the Holder Justice Department.  They are here .  One could reasonably conclude these will govern redistricting next year.  Stay tuned for an analysis of the effect of these regulations.  Also, it is worth noting that the Bush Justice Department failed over the course of eight years to issue new Section 5 regulations.  The Bush DOJ couldn’t issue new regulations over the course of two terms, and after a year, the Obama DOJ has managed to do it.