We are a nation of Laws

Appellate Panel Says Texas ID Law Broke U.S. Voting Rights Act http://nyti.ms/1M5IvXg

Texas voter ID

A U.S. court in Texas heard arguments on Tuesday in a case over a law requiring voters to present photo identification, a move the state's Republican leaders say will prevent fraud while plaintiffs call it an attempt at suppressing minority turnout.

The case is also part of a new strategy by the Obama administration to challenge voting laws it says discriminate by race in order to counter a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that freed states from strict federal oversight.

Voting Rights Act Chart: Proof It's Outdated? - Business Insider

Voting Rights Act Chart: Proof It's Outdated? - Business Insider: "Included in Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act is a chart that rationalizes why the court discarded the portion of the law.

The chart compares the gains in minority voter registration from 1965 to 2004, the last data available before Congress renewed the Voting Rights Act in 2006:"

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Virginia Senate Redistricting Bill Causes Uproar - Business Insider

Virginia Senate Redistricting Bill Causes Uproar - Business Insider: "On a party-line vote, Virginia state Senate Republicans passed a controversial redistricting measure that could give the party an easier path to control in 2015 elections, leaving Democrats furious at what they called a "dirty trick.""

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Romney Co-Chair: Romney Would Have 'Absolutely' Won Wisconsin With Voter ID Law | ThinkProgress

Sad!
Romney Co-Chair: Romney Would Have 'Absolutely' Won Wisconsin With Voter ID Law | ThinkProgress: "HOST: Do you think photo ID would have made any difference in the outcome of this election?
DARLING: Absolutely, I think so. We’re looking at all different kinds of precincts and all sorts of same-day registrations and I know people will go “oh, we don’t have fraud and abuse in our elections,” but what can’t we have voter ID when the majority of the people in Wisconsin wanted it. We passed it. The governor signed it. Why should one judge in Dane County be able to hold it up?"

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Colin Small Disavowed By Republicans After Arrest | TPMMuckraker

Colin Small Disavowed By Republicans After Arrest | TPMMuckraker: "The Pennsylvania man arrested in Virginia on Thursday for allegedly throwing completed voter registration forms into a dumpster was released overnight on a $3,000 bond and scheduled to be back in court the day before the election."
...

While Small listed himself as a “Grassroots Field Director” for the Republican National Committee on his LinkedIn profile, spokesman Sean Spicer told NBCthat Small was never directly employed by the RNC and will be “told to take that down.” The RNC was financing the Virginia voter registration drive as well as drives in seven other swing states, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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Court clears way to early voting in Ohio

Thankfully!

Court clears way to early voting in Ohio: "Early voting will proceed as planned in Ohio, as the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a Republican request to get involved in a dispute over the state's plan.

President Obama's campaign and Ohio Democrats had sued over a state law that would have ended early voting three days before the Nov. 6 Election Day, except for military personnel and residents living overseas."

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Florida Romney Volunteer Calling Up Seniors to Inform Them Obama is a Socialist Muslim - Miami - News - Riptide 2.0

Florida Romney Volunteer Calling Up Seniors to Inform Them Obama is a Socialist Muslim - Miami - News - Riptide 2.0: "According to StAugustine.com, the call was picked up on an answering machine. Somehow the woman forgot to properly hang up after getting an answering machine, and her next call was recorded."


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Suspicious voter registration forms found in 10 Florida counties - latimes.com

Don't let your right hand know what the left hand is doing.  'Voter ID is the problem' on the back end, again,  massive 'Voter Fraud'.  Way to go republicans.

Suspicious voter registration forms found in 10 Florida counties - latimes.com: "Florida elections officials said Friday that at least 10 counties have identified suspicious and possibly fraudulent voter registration forms turned in by a firm working for the Republican Party of Florida, which has filed an election fraud complaint with the state Division of Elections against its one-time consultant.

The controversy in Florida -- which began with possibly fraudulent forms that first cropped up in Palm Beach County --  has engulfed the Republican National Committee, which admitted Thursday that it urged state parties in seven swing states to hire the firm, Strategic Allied Consulting.The RNC paid the company at least $3.1 million -- routed through the state parties of Florida, Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia -- to register voters and run get-out-the-vote operations. Wisconsin and Ohio had not yet paid the firm for get-out-the-vote operations it was contracted to do."

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'My Dad Won't Be Allowed To Vote...Because He Can't Prove His Citizenship' Says Jim Cramer - Business Insider

'My Dad Won't Be Allowed To Vote...Because He Can't Prove His Citizenship' Says Jim Cramer - Business Insider: "CNBC host Jim Cramer said Tuesday that his father was among the estimated 750,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania who lack a state-issued form of identification.

“My dad, a vet, won’t be allowed to vote in Pa. because he does not drive, he is elderly, and can’t prove his citizenship,” Cramer wrote on Twitter."

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Jon Husted, Ohio Secretary Of State, Backs Down On Early Voting | TPMMuckraker

Jon Husted, Ohio Secretary Of State, Backs Down On Early Voting | TPMMuckraker: "After being summoned to court by a federal judge, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted on Friday backed away from his order that would have banned counties from planning for early voting.

Husted’s original order had essentially ignored a ruling by U.S. District Judge Peter Economus, who declared that the state couldn’t take away early voting in the three days before the election. Economus sided with the Obama campaign, which sued Ohio to get the early voting re-implemented."

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In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud - New York Times

In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud - New York Times: "Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year."

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Rep. Mike Turzai: Voter ID will help Mitt Romney, GOP win Pennsylvania | theGrio

Rep. Mike Turzai: Voter ID will help Mitt Romney, GOP win Pennsylvania | theGrio: "Pennsylvania state

House Republican Mike Turzai got very candid in a speech to the state’s Republican committee. He said that newly passed voter ID laws would allow Mitt Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania. Politics PA reports Republicans cheered, but his remarks hit a nerve with critics of this kind of legislation, who considered Turzai’s claim an admission that the laws are an obvious effort to suppress Democratic voters.

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Ohio Voters Have Nearly Enough Signatures To Block Gov. Kasich's Anti-Voter Law | ThinkProgress

Ohio Voters Have Nearly Enough Signatures To Block Gov. Kasich's Anti-Voter Law | ThinkProgress: "Earlier this year, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) signed a sweeping voter suppression bill which shortens the state’s early voting period, bans in-person early voting on Sundays, and prohibits boards of election from mailing absentee ballot requests to voters. In 2008, four in 10 votes in Ohio’s capitol city were cast using methods that would be eliminated by this anti-voter law."

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Ohio Issue 2: Election Day Robocall Instructs Voters To Go To Polls Tomorrow

At 9:37 a.m. on Tuesday, a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) staffer in Ohio received a robocall message inaccurately telling voters the election was "tomorrow."

"Hi, I am calling to remind you that tomorrow is Election Day," said the voice on the message. "It is critically important that you go vote and protect the future of our country. Tomorrow, please go to the polls and vote YES on Issue 2, and vote YES on Issue 3. Paid for by American Future Fund and not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee. 866-559-5854."

Voting yes on Issue 2 means voting in favor of SB 5, Gov. John Kasich's anti-collective bargaining law.

Study: South Carolina voter ID law hit black precincts hardest - Mackenzie Weinger - POLITICO.com

Study: South Carolina voter ID law hit black precincts hardest - Mackenzie Weinger - POLITICO.com: "A new South Carolina voter identification law is impacting predominantly black precincts more than others in the state, according to a study by The Associated Press.

The measure requires that every person have a photo ID of some kind when they vote, whether it is a driver’s license, military ID or passport, the AP wrote. The law has been under review by the Department of Justice to see whether it violates the Voting Rights Act."

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Democrats Vote On Wednesday: The Long History Of Conservative Election Fraud | NEWS JUNKIE POST

Democrats Vote On Wednesday: The Long History Of Conservative Election Fraud | NEWS JUNKIE POST: "Americans for Prosperity is sending absentee ballots to Democrats in at least two Wisconsin state Senate recall districts with instructions to return the paperwork after the election date.  The fliers ask solidly Democratic voters to return ballots for the Aug. 9 election to the city clerk before Aug. 11.  A Democrat on the ground in Wisconsin said the fliers were discovered to be hitting doors in District 2 and District 10 over the weekend."

Republican States Push Revisions to Voting Laws - NYTimes.com

Republican States Push Revisions to Voting Laws - NYTimes.com: "Less than 18 months before the next presidential election, Republican-controlled statehouses around the country are rewriting voting laws to require photo identification at the polls, reduce the number of days of early voting or tighten registration rules.

Republican legislators say the new rules, which have advanced in 13 states in the past two months, offer a practical way to weed out fraudulent votes and preserve the integrity of the ballot box. Democrats say the changes have little to do with fraud prevention and more to do with placing obstacles in the way of possible Democratic voters, including young people and minorities."

Florida GOP Passes Radical Overhaul Of Election Law, Jeopardizing Voting Rights Of Elderly, Military, Students

This is Florida. I’m embarrass again.

Florida a transient locale. We tend to get the people who decided to reset their lives and relocate to a state without the historical baggage of their former state. If the person is from Illinois they’re escaping Polish and Jews; if they’re from Boston it’s the poor Irish and Albanians; Wisconsin and their Scandinavian potentates also motivate people to leave.

In terms of voting, Florida is on the DOJ’s list for states with historical abuses of voter rights. So to true Floridians this is not new, it’s a continuation of voter disenfranchisement and Antebellum hate. As a Service Member in 2000 those same voter issues robbed me of my vote. source: http://www.civilrights.org/voting-rights/vra/map.html.

I’m still rubbed raw because of it.

Mission accomplished? League of Women Voters to halt voter registration in Florida due to restrictive new law

The GOP’s Voter ID gambit - The Fix - The Washington Post

The GOP’s Voter ID gambit - The Fix - The Washington Post: "As Republican governors and legislators across the country push forward with ambitious and sometimes controversial budget-cutting agendas, the GOP in many states is also quietly encouraging another controversial measure: Voter ID.

The Associated Press reported this weekend that Republicans are moving forward with such measures – which can require people to show identification or swear an oath of their identity when they vote – in about half of the 50 states. And in many of them, the bills have a better chance of becoming law than in a long time."