Author Archives: ELECTIONLAWCENTER.COM

Dems Falsely Accuse States Complying with NVRA of Voter Suppression


While Dems are busily suing several states for supposedly not registering enough low-income voters under Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act, they are simultaneously attempting to bully others into ignoring Section 8 of the NVRA and maintaining inaccurate, out-of-date voter rolls, as witnessed in Florida and now in New Mexico:


 


Democrats in New Mexico have accused Secretary of State Dianna Duran of trying to suppress voter turnout after her office sent out nearly 178,000 postcards to voters tagged as potentially “inactive” but Duran says her office is simply following federal guidelines the US Department of Justice instructed it to do…


Duran points to a letter dated from last September from a deputy chief at the Department of Justice reporting that the state is not in compliance with the National Voting Rights Act because of the failed efforts in 2007 and 2009 and is obligated to “remove persons from the voter rolls who have become ineligible” though a “general program of list maintenance.”


 


Despite the specific requirements of NVRA Section 8, the DOJ directive to remove ineligible voters, and the fact that no voters will be removed from the list until 2015, New Mexico state Rep. Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque) hysterically claims that “steps are being taken to purge our voter file — a likely illegal act that is now disenfranchising legitimate, long-time voters in our state.”

“U.S. military overseas deserve to have every vote counted”

Democrats and Republicans likely won’t agree on much this election
year. But here is one thing on which they should agree and take action:
ending the single largest legal disenfranchisement of voters in America.  Those disenfranchised voters are the brave Americans serving overseas
in the U.S. military. Under the rules of both parties, they are unable
to vote in the selection process for presidential delegates in the many
states that hold caucuses to pick those delegates.

There are now more than 200,000 military personnel serving overseas,
and more than 1.4 million in the armed forces, who could potentially be
required to serve overseas.  Yet, those Americans serving overseas, and, in many cases, risking
their lives, were unable to vote in party caucuses in 18 states that
held caucuses instead of primaries in 2012, including Arizona, Hawaii,
Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, Nevada, Maine, Utah, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska,
North Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska, Washington, Florida, Missouri and
Michigan.

These Americans, if they are Democrats or Republicans and are serving
in uniform, can be denied the ability to cast a ballot to select their
own party’s nominee for commander in chief. How has this been
overlooked?

Link.

New Poll Finds Broad Support for Voter ID


Almost three-quarters of all Americans support the idea that people should have to show photo identification to vote, according to a new Washington Post poll. 


 


Highlights:



  • Overall, there is high, strong and cross-party support for such laws.


  • About half of those polled see voter fraud as a “major problem” in presidential elections.


  • Slightly more Americans are concerned with fraud than with voter suppression.


  • 57 percent see a genuine interest in fair elections as a big motivator.


  • Big majorities of those whom critics see as bearing the brunt of the laws are supportive of them, including about three-quarters of seniors and those with household incomes under $50,000 and two-thirds of non-whites.

“ID please”

Battles continues over voter law – Pennsylvania.

“I feel the public in general understands the reason for this law is to provide a common-sense, easy way to ID a voter at the polls, which we don’t have right now,” [Pennsylvania Department of State Press Secretary Ron] Ruman said.

Sole Democratic Congressman in Arkansas retires, complains about redistricting increasing partisanship

Ross is the only Democratic congressman in Arkansas and has led the
moderate to conservative Democrats known as Blue Dogs. Ross announced
last year that he wouldn’t seek another term representing southern
Arkansas’ 4th District and earlier this year said he would pass on a
widely expected 2014 run for governor.

Ross’ district was redrawn
last year and added traditionally Republican areas in northwest
Arkansas. Democratic nominee Gene Jeffress, a state senator, faces an
uphill battle to keep the seat as he runs against Republican Tom Cotton,
an Army veteran.   Ross said his decision to retire from Congress had nothing to do with the way the Arkansas Legislature redrew his district.

Link.

“Southern White Democrats Face End of Era in Congress”

The only remaining white Democrat in the House of Representatives
from the Deep South, Rep. John Barrow, is in jeopardy of losing his job
in November, which would mark a monumental shift in American politics. In an stark realignment, voters in the Deep South have divided into an
increasingly black Democratic Party and a mostly white Republican Party.
Already, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana are represented in the
House solely by white Republicans and black Democrats. Georgia could
join that list if Mr. Barrow, who is running in a district redrawn to
include more whites and Republicans, loses in November.

Wall Street Journal

“The Voter ID debate has become condescending”

The debate continues in Pennsylvania. 

For many years, I’ve resented the patronizing attitude that many in
society have toward senior citizens. This “oh, poor seniors” group now
says that up to one-quarter of the Pennsylvania Voter Hall of Fame
members — all of whom are elderly — may not have acceptable ID to
vote. I happen to belong to that group of voters and this is the last
straw. These overly concerned do-gooders seem to think that all folks
past retirement age are nothing but mindless flakes of protoplasm and
couldn’t work their way out of a paper bag with large-print
instructions! ...As for me, on Election Day I’ll drive to the polls, show my photo ID,
make small talk with the election officials and vote. Yes, just like
normal people do.

Fox and Friends SUNDAY

I’ll be on Fox and Friends in the 8am hour SUNDAY discussing the Justice Department’s treatment of whistleblowers.  This was originally scheduled for Saturday, but the Paul Ryan accouncement bumped everything.  To that end, here is a Paul Ryan quote that relates to an issue important to this blog:


“Restoring the rule of law — reducing the influence of bureaucrats in the lives of Americans and empowering them to take more control over their own lives — is central to the budget we passed earlier this year.”


 


“What makes our Constitution such an extraordinary document is that, in making the United States the freest civilization in history, the Founders guaranteed that it would become the most prosperous as well.”