“I think what we’ve seen over the past several years is the Obama administration politicize the voting rights section in ways we’ve never seen before,” said North Carolina state Sen. Phil Berger, the top Republican in the chamber. “I do not think they are a non-partisan or neutral arbiter.” Full article here.
“Yes, the RNC Really DID Support Federal Oversight of State Elections”
PJ Rule of Law: According to the unequivocal position announced last Friday, any RNC effort to reactivate federal oversight of state elections under the Voting Rights Act is dead and buried. The decades-long flirtation between the RNC and the racial left that ended last Friday has been an unfortunate saga of politics over principle. . . . He who rides a redistricting tiger becomes afraid to dismount. As the RNC clutched the tiger’s ears tightly and created safe racially gerrymandered districts using federal oversight, Section 5 was also used to destroy election integrity and aid the institutional left. Until you see the abuse of power as it happens from inside the DOJ Voting Section as an employee, you simply cannot fathom how the federal power over the states is abused by DOJ bureaucrats. Or, just ask Texas Governor Rick Perry or South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson about the abuse. And abuse they did – to the tune of millions of dollars in sanctions against DOJ lawyers and even DOJ employees who have committed perjury in an effort to conceal these abusive ideological biases in the unit given the power to review state election laws.”
“Yes, the RNC really did support federal preclearance oversight of state elections, just as Eric Holder does now. When this support ended is an unanswered question after the RNC on Friday unequivocally stated it opposes any fix to Section 4 that would place states such as Texas, South Carolina, and Virginia back under a federal boot. That’s good news. . . .
“Democrats Still Haunted By 2010 Defeats and Redistricting”
“Huge pain in the ass, yeah, every day,” one senior Obama aide told Politico about the GOP’s success at the state level, which has enabled them to undermine not only Obamacare but abortion rights, gun control, voting rights, and municipal unions. “Everyone is focusing on the House as hampering us, but no one has really focused on losing all those governorships and state legislatures,” the aide added, according to Politico. More @ Newsmax
Pennsylvania: “Statistical duel in trial on voter ID”
A statistician hired by the state Thursday criticized the methodology of another expert who claims that hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania voters lack the photo identification they would need to cast ballots under a pending law.
William Wecker testified Thursday about his review of Philadelphia statistician Bernard Siskin’s report during a Commonwealth Court trial of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the photo ID law on constitutional grounds.
Wecker said Siskin overstated the number of voters without IDs by failing to subtract those who have died, moved out of state or are barred from voting because they are incarcerated felons.
“He’s not ascertained that they’re even alive,” he said.
Wecker, who is based in Wyoming, claimed Siskin’s report also did not adequately reflect voters who have acceptable IDs from non-government sources such as the armed forces, universities or assisted living centers.
“Holder’s fact-free rant on Texas and voter ID”
…there’s little doubt that Holder and the left are hoping the hysteria that race merchants like Al Sharpton have helped stir up in the last two weeks will help them turn public opinion on the question of voter ID laws that are at the heart of the federal attack on Texas.
More at RealClearPolitics
North Carolina Governor signs photo ID into law, bringing total states with ID reforms to 21
Before the 2011 rush began, seven other states had photo voter ID laws, bringing the total today to 21. Another 14 states require or request voters to present some other form of identification.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Friday he plans to sign the voting reform bill. When he does, a string of southern states previously covered by the Voting Rights Act — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia — will be photo voter ID states.
“Section 2 is really the meat of the Voting Rights Act, and it remains in effect,” North Carolina Senate Leader Berger said. “If folks have a problem with the legislation they’re free to file whatever litigation they deem to be appropriate, and the courts will make the decision about this.”
link to story here at CBS News.
Voter ID approval reaches new heights with 83% seeing it as a “good thing”
A McClatchy poll released Thursday shows that 83% of those polled believe laws requiring voters to “show identification in order to vote” is a “good thing.” Only 13% see it as a “bad thing.” Moreover, a full 72% of Democrats see voter ID as a “good thing.” Brietbart
Krauthammer: “Voter ID laws utterly logical”
At NRO Corner, Charles Krauthammer defended the constitutionality of voter-ID laws and criticized Attorney General Eric Holder for seeking to re-establish Justice Department review of Texas election law under the Voting Rights Act. “It seems utterly logical that you would have to ask for a simple demonstration that you are of age, that you live where you live, you aren’t a felon, and in fact that you haven’t voted an hour and a half before,” Krauthammer said.
The syndicated columnist also argued that case law is on the side of the states; he referred specifically to the 2008 Supreme Court case Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, in which a six-justice majority led by John Paul Stevens found that an Indiana law requiring voters to show an official photo ID was not unconstitutional. “What Holder is doing is, he wants to stigmatize [mandatory voter ID] and to go after any state that actually institutes it,” Krauthammer said, adding, “I think he’s got a very weak case.”
“Holder Signals New Push to Gain Control Over State, Local Voting Laws”
The U.S. Department of Justice plans to ask a federal court to reinstate its authority over voting laws in Texas, part of a new Obama administration strategy to challenge state and local election laws it says discriminate by race, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Thursday. Newsmax
Texas GOP Pushes Back Against Holder
Fox News.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz released a statement following Holder’s announcement accusing him of continuing the Justice Department’s “longstanding pattern of refusing to follow the law.”