Kansas citizenship check for registration “staying alive” for 2012 implementation

While a Kansas senate subcommittee was too lazy to find time to hear the Secretary of State’s request to implement citizenship verification sooner rather than later, the Kansas House has decided to help the Senate. 

Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s proposal to
move up the date to require proof of citizenship for voter registration
is again before the Kansas Senate.

The Lawrence Journal -World reports that House members have replaced the contents of a Senate bill with
Kobach’s plan. Kobach said the move allows the Senate to vote on it.

Bottom Line:  It appears that the concept of citizenship verification prior to registration is not yet dead.

link.

Ohio elections chief asks for fraud probe into voting in multiple states

Ohio’s top elections official has referred a case of potential voter fraud to the state’s attorney general for investigation.

Republican
Jon Husted said Friday that an initial review by the Fulton County
Board of Elections revealed that an individual appeared to have voted in
both northwest Ohio and South Carolina in the 2008 and 2010 general
elections.

link

Wisconsin received $1.9 million grant for military voting system while simultaneously violating the MOVE Act

During the same time that Wisconsin was violating the MOVE Act with numerous municipalities mailing ballots late to overseas and military voters and negotiating a consent decree with one federal agency the Department of Justice, they received a $1.9 million grant from another federal agency, the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) at DOD.  The money will be spent with a “goal to develop a system that will allow military and overseas
voters to access an online ballot immediately without having to wait for
a reply from an election official.” 

Of course, Wisconsin should already be complying with the MOVE Act.  This seems to be a perfect fit since the municipalities can’t seem to mail the ballots out on time.  Under this system, the voter will be able to pull it down themselves since election officials are too busy to mail the ballots out as federal law requires. Unfortunately, the system only works if the military member has access to a computer and a printer.  The forward deployed troops will be screwed negatively impacted again.

Just file this in the all-messed up category. 

“Federal judges want a quick ruling on Texas voter photo ID”

A federal three-judge panel in Washington is pushing the Justice Department and Texas lawyers to work overtime to reach a quick decision on the legality of the state’s controversial voter photo ID law. The judges made it clear they want a decision in time for Texas to be
able to implement its law — provided it passes legal muster — by the
November general election. link

During Section 5 preclearance process over Voter ID, DOJ harasses Texas legislators with depositions, delays

The U.S. Department of Justice, which is facing off against Abbott’s
office in a case to allow Texas’ voter ID law to go into effect, has
asked to depose — or question under oath — the author of the voter ID
bill, Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay; its House sponsor, Rep.
Patricia Harless, R-Spring; and other lawmakers.

…The
state’s motion called the Justice Department’s requests “an unwarranted
federal intrusion into the operations of the Texas Legislature.” 

Pre-clearance
is outlined in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act — a provision that
Abbott is challenging in this case. Abbott has said it is unfair that
Texas and other places constrained by Section 5 are forced to endure the
pre-clearance process, while most other governments are not.

In
this week’s motion, Abbott’s office also took a swipe at Section 5 for
its “already-questionable incursions on state prerogatives.”

Link to the full story

Michigan newly drawn House districts upheld by court

A coalition of labor and civil rights groups appears to have lost a
lawsuit challenging new boundaries for Detroit seats in the Michigan
House.  …The lawsuit claims the new map is illegal because it dilutes the
political representation of minorities and forces some black incumbents
to run against each other in Detroit this year. The boundaries were
approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov.
Rick Snyder, also a Republican.   link.

Wisconsin weeks late in sending overseas and military ballots; late lawsuit by DOJ

Wisconsin municipalities sent military and overseas ballots extremely late, some as many as 26 days late with DOJ intervening less than 2 weeks prior to the Presidential Primary.  That leaves virtually no time to return the ballots to be counted.

Are states and counties cross the country really ready for the 2012 General Election?  There continues to be stumbles in the primary season — with Alabama and now Wisconsin failing to meet the MOVE Act deadlines in recent weeks.  To the story:

At least 65 of the state’s 1,851 municipalities failed to send
absentee ballots by at least 45 days before the election to voters who
had requested them, as required by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens
Absentee Voting Act. Some were sent as much as 26 days late.

The
Justice Department filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in
Madison, Wis., on Friday, simultaneously with the agreement. Affected
voters who have not yet received their ballots will be offered the
opportunity to receive their ballots electronically.

more details at AirForceTimes.