More at PJ Tatler.

Indictment here.

Keith Lepak says no.  Read his reply brief filed this week in Lepak v. City of Irving.

NBC-10.  “A former employee of the town of Johnston and her husband were arrested Wednesday by Rhode Island State Police.  Agnes Mancini, 67, and her husband, Anthony, were charged with one count of voter fraud.”

Atlanta Journal Constitution.  Tucker recognizes one downside to the 1982 amendments that effectively require single member districts in many circumstances:

“Unfortunately — like so many measures designed to provide redress for historic wrongs — those racially gerrymandered districts also come with a significant downside: They discourage moderation.”

PJ Tatler: Christopher Coates departs the Justice Department.

Commentary:  “The attempt to paint voter ID laws as racist is clearly a political tactic aimed at delegitimizing any effort to halt voter fraud. Democrats who oppose such laws claim that there is no evidence of attempts to steal elections via the votes of those who ineligible to vote (such as persons who are not citizens or illegal aliens) or who have already voted in another district.

But the problem with this argument is that stuffing ballot boxes with ineligible, fictitious or multiple votes by the same person is as American as apple pie. Such practices date back as far as colonial days and have been pursued with vigor in big cities and small towns and in every region and state of the union. The stakes involved in democratic elections are high and not just in terms of policy. Government patronage of one form or another has always been a standing temptation to cheat on the local, state and federal levels.”

Carl Hiaasen.

“The city agreed in 1995 to change to a system with six aldermen, each representing a ward. Voters approved the measure via referendum, but McCoy and Perkins, who won seats on that new city council, weren’t satisfied. They said a six-ward system gave the mayor too much power and violated state law because it had an even number of wards.”  Full story here on Chicago Heights.

After 6 year fight, Perry signs Voter ID into law.

Lone Star Report:  “Democrats blew up the entire 2009 session to kill a simple ballot integrity bill, and they paid for it at the polls. In addition to killing voter ID, they also killed lots of measures such as the Department of Insurance Sunset bill that would have caused Republicans to cast controversial votes on pocketbook issues. And now, a much stronger voter ID law is headed onto the statute books.”

Perry’s provacative pushback: “Governor Perry pushed back boldly today as he signed the nation’s latest voter ID law.  Texas, of all the states, has the longest southern border with Mexico and is heavily impacted by criminal activities and illegal immigrants that pour across the Rio Grande each day. The estimated cost for K-12 public education of illegal immigrants alone is over $1 billion. Texas also reports cost expenditures for illegal alien children with special health needs as being nearly 3 times that of citizen children with similar concerns. Nationwide it has been shown that illegal aliens have voted within the margin of error in several states, essentially stealing elections across the country.”

Lawmakers Join Perry in Support of Voter ID.