The Santa Clara Weekly has calculated the costs to the taxpayers of California’s version of the Voting Rights Act.  $8,000,000.  Now the costs can be weighed against the benefits. Remember, Section 2 of the (federal) Voting Rights Act applies also in California.  California’s law is more plaintiff friendly than the federal law.  A portion of the article:

“For example, the LCCR sued the Tulare Local Healthcare District even though its five-member governing board includes two Indian-Americans, one Latino, and an African-American. The claim? That Latinos – one third of the district’s residents – were “shortchanged.”

No, not because of Voting Rights Act issues.  More over at PJ Tatler.

“This morning, John Fund was on WMAL-AM, the talk radio powerhouse in Washington D.C. He mentioned that nobody in Democratic circles is defending Obama anymore. Buyer’s remorse is everywhere. Essentially, only those actually working for the Administration or Democratic Party, trapped inside the Alamo, are defending the fort now.”

Full story at link.

I will be doing a book event at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. on October 14 for my forthcoming book Injustice published by Regnery Publishing.  The event is free and more information is here. 

Civil Rights groups are trying to taint Texas Governor Rick Perry for his support of Voter ID laws in Texas.  You can only imagine this is a fight Perry wants.  Voter ID is wildly popular among the public, with support ranging near 85% in some polls, and among a majority of Democrats and African-Americans, as well as white Republicans.  Yet, reflexively, some groups, including the Soros-funded Demos, have sent a letter to the Voting Section at Justice complaining about the racially discriminatory actions of those in Texas who passed Voter ID.  Politico has more here, and the letter.  If Justice blocks voter ID anywhere, expect this to explode into a Presidential campaign issue overnight, and the supporters of voter ID will have a mighty political tailwind.

Reports from yesterday’s elections in Oklahoma from Tulsa World:

Shelly Boggs, assistant secretary of the Tulsa County Election Board, said about two dozen voters were required to complete provisional ballots because they did not have proper identification. In the majority of cases, voters either presented IDs that were expired or did not have an ID.

The number is about twice what the Election Board sees during a municipal election, Boggs said.

But “it was nothing like we thought it might be,” she added.

The latest installment of the Every Single One series is up at Pajamas Media. It relates to the criminal section at the Civil Rights Division. I discuss more about the activities of this section in my forthcoming book, Injustice. But for now, a portion of the Pajamas Media piece today:

As I wrote before, a pretextual hiring standard is being employed. Division leaders, of course, aren’t calling it a “liberal” litmus test; they are instead referring to it as a requirement that all successful candidates have “civil rights experience.” But their definition of “civil rights experience” only includes prior employment, membership, or affiliation with left-wing advocacy organizations.

Worse, Loretta King, while serving as the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights at the outset of the Obama administration, ordered the resumes of highly qualified applicants to be rejected only because they didn’t have political or left-wing civil rights experience. Multiple DOJ sources with direct knowledge of hiring committee practices have confirmed this to me.

So what does the corrupted hiring mean to the average American? It means if you go to the Wisconsin State Fair and are beaten because you are white, your federal government will do nothing for you, even as it would act if attacker and attacked races were reversed. It means if you are Marty Marshall standing in your front yard watching fireworks with your family, and are attacked  by a mob yelling “this is our world. This is a black world,” don’t expect DOJ to act. It means if you are Dick Retta and are pepper-sprayed by a liberal for praying and exercising federal rights to protest abortion, don’t expect the law to protect you.

What does it mean? It means we have reached that dangerous line crossed in past civilizations where the law appears to apply to some, but not to all. This is un-American, and must stop. Otherwise, Americans will stop it next year at the ballot box.

Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell defends voter ID laws and turns the tables on U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Al Franken.  More at the Tennessean:

“I would suggest to our federal officials that they get their own house in order first. In an era of rising deficits, ballooning debt, and bloated federal government in Washington Dick Durbin and Jim Cooper have chosen to ignore those problems and come to Tennessee to trample on states’ rights. No wonder Congress has an 82 percent disapproval rating. Congressman Cooper has assumed the Washington mentality of not respecting states’ rights.

Pitkin County Colorado has decided to print ballots in Spanish despite having no legal obligation to do so.  Election official Dwight Shellman noted that Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act currently does not require Spanish language ballots in Pitkin Colorado, but that they will print them anyhow for the November election:

The county has ordered about 10,000 ballots, the printing of which will cost about $4,300. In addition, it ordered envelopes for mailing them out, and separate envelopes that voters can use to return their ballot to the Clerk and Recorder’s Office. All of the items would need to be in both languages if the county were to run a dual-language election.

Instead, the county is working on the finishing touches of a dual-language sample ballot that voters can pick up at the clerk’s office or view online. Shellman said his office is also willing to put one in the mail to anyone who requests one. Individuals who are more comfortable reading Spanish can use it as a guide as they fill out their official ballot, he said.

“I think it’s a good service that we can provide,” Shellman said.

Shellman said he doubts that Pitkin County would have to provide dual-language voters under the federal criteria anyway (the census counted 716 county residents who identified themselves as Spanish-speakers), but said getting the ballot translated has been a worthy exercise.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange won’t take a chance on an unfair Department of Justice objection to Alabama’s redistricting plans.  He is going straight to United States District Court. 

Of course the Associated Press misses the bus when it asks: “Officials in the attorney general’s office did not immediately say why the request was made directly to the court.” 

Why?  Here are a few reasons why, and here.

You can’t make this stuff up.  New York has asked the Department of Defense for a waiver from the provisions of federal law protection military voters – for the 2012 election.  The cover letter is here from Robert Brehm, the elections director and the waiver application is here.

The MOVE Act, the law at issue, passed in October 2009.  Two years later, New York still isn’t protecting military voters.