Author Archives: ELECTIONLAWCENTER.COM

Dems push same day registration voting

The link is here.  Ellison introduced another bill Wednesday, “The Same Day Registration Act,” which would require every state to provide same-day registration in federal elections.  Including Minnesota, just nine states have some form of same-day registration. Kiffmeyer’s bill in the state Legislature would have eliminated the Minnesota statute that allows registered voters to vouch for a person registering at the polls.

“Mailbox as ballot box gains wider favor”

At the link, we find that absentee voting by mail can be popular and cut costs.  Of course, some remind us that absentee ballots are most vulnerable to fraudulent activity.

Bottom line:  Do we really want to rely so much on the mail service to vote when you see headlines like: 

Postal Bailout Proposed 

Postal workers protest Saturday shutdown 

Funding Woes force many changes in USPS practices

Texas moves for summary judgment on state senate redistricting claims

At txredistricting.org:

The State of Texas has asked the San Antonio panel to grant judgment in its favor without a trial on the state senate claims brought by State Senator Wendy Davis and LULAC.  The motion overlaps substantially with the earlier motion to dismiss filed by the state, which remains pending with the court.


The heart of the state’s contention is the claim that SD-10 is not a protected district under the Voting Rights Act and that it is impossible to draw a version of SD-10 that would have a minority citizen voting age population majority, even if African-Americans and Hispanics are aggregated together.


The state also says that Davis and LULAC lack evidence of discriminatory intent in the drawing of the map.  The state argues that the only evidence that Davis has that the district was “effective” as a coalition district was her election in 2008, which the state says was more the result of a “perfect storm” that strongly disfavored Republicans.  


As a result, the state contends that it was free to dismantle the district and transform it into a stronger performing Republican district- something that it freely admits that it did.


Davis and LULAC are to file their responses on November 9, but have argued elsewhere that the state confuses crossover and coalition districts and that while a state is not required to draw a crossover district in the first instance, dismantling a crossover district, where one exists, raises significant legal and constitutional concerns.  

Corruption, Fraud and Voter Intimidation ignored in Atlantic Beach, South Carolina as elections are overturned

At the link, an shameful example of corruption where the “elect few” use intimidation and manipulation of the levers of the election process to retain political power at any cost.  This is the type of unfortunate situation where DOJ should be quietly observing the voting process to deter illegal activity that harms voters and provide legitimacy to election results when the rules are followed.  Because of the city’s rich history for black Americans, the blatant corruption found in the “Black Pearl” is simply ignored by the Holder Civil Rights Division. 

Why?  Perhaps because the minority population under the thumb are the small number of whites and independent blacks outside the official power structure; therefore, apparently subject to abuse without protection or Justice.  The result:  Atlantic City’s electoral processes are burning so hot that elections are now being overturned. 

ATLANTIC BEACH, SC – The Atlantic Beach election commission Saturday overturned the Nov. 1 municipal election after the results were successfully appealed by three candidates. A new election will be held in 180 days. Benny Webb, town administrator, said the commission accepted that the evidence and witness testimony was solid enough to uphold the appeals and overturn the election.  Windy Price, Misty Umphries and James Van Fleet appealed after the votes were certified on Thursday.  Webb said the three claimed there was intimidation to both voters and candidates and that there was possible voter registration and vote fraud.  The trio also questioned some of the voting machines. The commission apparently agreed.

The Sun News adds more insight to a concerning situation:


Only in Atlantic Beach can a fraudulent election be fraudulently overturned.  A new election was ordered after an almost 9-hour meeting that was more akin to a “Saturday Night Live” skit laced with dark comedy than a legitimate display of representative democracy. 

…That’s in addition to testimony that said one voter declined to vote because he was paid not to, a couple of white residents saying they were intimidated – including the lone white candidate vying for a council seat – and allegations that maybe 35 voters, enough to affect the outcome of the election, were denied the vote, either because scare tactics or landlords who supposedly threatened eviction of anyone not voting for the preferred candidate – even though not one of these people was required to come forward to confirm that they actually exist.


What also became apparent Saturday is that unless you are among the elect few chosen by the election officials in Atlantic Beach, you don’t have a right to have your vote counted.


Irene Armstrong, the former mayor and one of the town’s most well-known citizens, had her vote challenged, as did Bellamy, the outspoken president of the Concerned Citizens of Atlantic Beach. They are on opposite sides of the warring political factions.  Rita Tucker is a fairly new resident. To prove her residency, Tucker provided photo identification, a voter’s registration card, documents from Veterans Affairs mailed to her home, a year’s worth of signed rent receipts – and even her landlord – a and her voted was still not counted.


If this was 1961 in a Deep South, majority-white town run by closeted Ku Klux Klan members hellbent on suppressing the rights of black voters, there would be widespread outrage.  But it’s not. It’s a small, predominantly black town with problems so deeply embedded and tragic most people have stopped paying attention.


And that’s what those who are making such incredible decisions are counting on

Is Indiana election fraud contagious?



The Star Press:  In St. Joseph County, the prosecutor is investigating claims that hundreds of signatures were forged on petitions to qualify Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the state presidential primary ballot in 2008.


In Jennings County, a grand jury last month indicted three Democratic Party campaign workers on 66 counts ranging from voter fraud to perjury. The charges involve absentee ballots and applications submitted in the 2010 elections.


In Clarksville, Police Chief Dwight Ingle is facing accusations he voted absentee this year from an address that belongs to somebody else

Washington Secretary of State Reed says email voting in the future



At the link:

Washington’s secretary of state says it may not be long before you cast your ballot by e-mail.

Elected eleven years ago, Sam Reed pushed for the change to an all snail-mail ballot.


Reed says the obstacle to holding elections through the Internet is that right now no one can guarantee the privacy of a secret ballot.


However, Reed says Washington may be able to expand the bill he pushed through the legislature last year that allows military and others overseas to vote by e-mail

Military voters battle for representation at political party Caucus nominating candidates


At the link a growing movement that parties would be wise to get in front of.  To the story…

Idaho Republican Party leaders said they plan to address the concern of military men and women overseas and homebound residents not being able to vote during the March 6 GOP Caucus. 

In an e-mail to Norm Semanko this morning, Idaho GOP chairman, and Jonathan Parker, executive director, Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, and Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, urged the party to address the issue.


“Unless we are mistaken, the requirement for voters to be physically present at the caucus meeting in order to cast a vote takes the privilege of voting away from our military men and women,” the legislators wrote. “We recommend you direct the state Republican party to correct this deficiency by establishing a method of absentee voting for our citizens who are defending our freedoms, including the right to vote.


“Even though the caucus vote is non-binding, it may prove to be the process by which the Republican candidate is nominated and it thereby has a special importance to all citizens.”


In a response, Semanko said the party has heard the concern throughout the state. It will be on the agenda for the Rules Committee and the State Central Committee to consider during the party’s winter meeting in Boise on Jan. 7.

Making Voting a Condition of Citizenship?

The New York Times opinion piece: Americans to Vote, or Else. 

The Left gets all worked up over voter integrity measures, deriding them as undue conditions on the right to vote.  However, refusing to vote or exercising the right not to vote can be equally seen as an expression of speech (unhappiness) and the freedom not to speak as a citizen.  Even the most prolific voter has walked into a polling place, looked at the ballot, and found themselves simply unable to cast a vote for any of candidates presented.

Would such requirements to vote make voting an undue condition of citizenship?