Voting Rights / Lawsuits / Voter Supression / HR1 / S1 / Gerrymander Congressional Districts / Gerrymandering

[AndyinPA]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... strictions

Ohio Republicans quietly enacted a measure earlier this month that imposes sweeping new restrictions on voting access in the state, including more stringent voter ID requirements, cutting the early voting period and giving voters less time to return their mail-in ballots.

The new law puts Ohio among a handful of states with the strictest voter ID rules in the country. The state had already required voters to show identification at the polls, but allowed an exception for voters who couldn’t produce one, allowing them to present a bank statement, paystub or other document to prove their identity. The new law gets rid of that exception and only allows someone to vote if they provide certain forms of photo ID.

Those new restrictions will make it harder for people who tend to lack identification – elderly people, the disabled and the poor – to vote, voting rights advocates said.

[RVInit]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... strictions

Ohio Republicans quietly enacted a measure earlier this month that imposes sweeping new restrictions on voting access in the state, including more stringent voter ID requirements, cutting the early voting period and giving voters less time to return their mail-in ballots.

The new law puts Ohio among a handful of states with the strictest voter ID rules in the country. The state had already required voters to show identification at the polls, but allowed an exception for voters who couldn’t produce one, allowing them to present a bank statement, paystub or other document to prove their identity. The new law gets rid of that exception and only allows someone to vote if they provide certain forms of photo ID.

Those new restrictions will make it harder for people who tend to lack identification – elderly people, the disabled and the poor – to vote, voting rights advocates said.

They will likely do the same as was done in Florida. After passing laws that only state issued ID's, available only at DMV offices are acceptable, Florida closed all DMV's reopening new DMV's very carefully located closest to the most affluent residential areas, and none of them are on a bus line. Want to know why Florida became a red state almost overnight? Just study the location of DMV offices in each county after 2010. They are the only place to get that ID you need to vote, and you can't get to any of them there if you don't have a car or a phone with the Uber or Lyft app and couldn't afford the ride if you did have the cell phone and app. Hint: elderly poor do not have cell phones, access to Uber/Lyft and some don't have the stringent paperwork required to prove your identity, especially if you are a woman with a last name different than the name on your birth certificate.

Florida will never have a Democratic legislature or elect a Democratic governor or Democratic President ever again. Count on it. Red states all over the country are following Florida's lead in full scale tactics to keep those states red forever. Republicans have been playing politics like it's a war for decades.

[Ben-Prime]

They will likely do the same as was done in Florida. After passing laws that only state issued ID's, available only at DMV offices are acceptable, Florida closed all DMV's reopening new DMV's very carefully located closest to the most affluent residential areas, and none of them are on a bus line. Want to know why Florida became a red state almost overnight? Just study the location of DMV offices in each county after 2010. They are the only place to get that ID you need to vote, and you can't get to any of them there if you don't have a car or a phone with the Uber or Lyft app and couldn't afford the ride if you did have the cell phone and app. Hint: elderly poor do not have cell phones, access to Uber/Lyft and some don't have the stringent paperwork required to prove your identity, especially if you are a woman with a last name different than the name on your birth certificate.

Florida will never have a Democratic legislature or elect a Democratic governor or Democratic President ever again. Count on it. Red states all over the country are following Florida's lead in full scale tactics to keep those states red forever. Republicans have been playing politics like it's a war for decades.

I had read at one point that photo ids issued by certain associations were also accepted, and that retirement associations were included, and I thought "I'd love to see some Team Blue mega-PAC or supportive billionaire start throwing money at retirement associations to give them the infrastructure to start producing photo IDs."

Alas, these are things that only happen in my head. I suppose it's a lifetime of throwing dice and telling stories.

[tek]

Florida as of 2016:

In 2016, the Florida Legislature adds 3 new categories of acceptable forms of IDs (chapter 2016-167, Laws of Florida) bringing the total number of acceptable forms of photo IDs to 12 as highlighted in green below:
- Florida driver's license.
- Florida identification card issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
- United States passport.
- Debit or credit card.
- Military identification.
- Student identification.
- Retirement center identification.
- Neighborhood association identification.
- Public assistance identification.
- Veteran health identification card issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
- License to carry a concealed weapon or firearm issued pursuant to s. 790.06, Fla. Stat.
- Employee identification card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the Federal Government, the state, a county, or a municipality.
If the photo ID does not contain the voter’s signature, the voter can provide another ID that includes the voter's signature

Note that those must be photo IDs


The Palm Beach County website says:

When you register to vote or update your voter registration record (change to your address, name or political party), we will mail you a new or updated Voter Information Card. It is important that you review the card to make sure all information is correct.

The card includes your party affiliation, assigned precinct and polling location, and your assigned district offices (local, state and federal). If you do not receive your card within 4 weeks, or to replace a lost card, please contact our office (561) 656-6200.

Note: The voter information card cannot be used as a form of identification at the polls.

[RVInit]

NIce to know that Florida changed the rules for ID after the ridiculous laws they passed in 2010. Elderly people often don't qualify for any of the other ID's specified, and they are the most affected by it, but nice of Florida to make it easier for younger people and those who likely have no problem getting an ID at the DMV. Nice for being able to claim they are making it easier, even though it's easier only for those who already can likely make it to the "local" DMV.

[Foggy]

Elderly people have more time. I worry more about poor people.

My dad is elderly, but Ron DeSantis couldn't put enough hurdles to prevent him from voting, if he lived in Florida. If it took him hours of work and a good amount of money, he would do the work and pay the money. He's almost 95, and he is going to vote in every election until he dies.

No, I'm not voting for him after he's gone, but the point is, being elderly doesn't stop him from voting, period. Laws can make it easier - or harder - for him, but he IS going to vote. So, for that matter, am I.

And I think a lot of elderly people are motivated to vote, and if they have survived this long, they're resourceful, determined, and cagey. You can't stop them from voting.

But poor people have jobs and families. Poor people have real trouble voting, under DeSantis. Poor people can't call in to their job and say, "I'll be there as soon as I finish voting." Poor people can't get off work at 5 and go stand in line until 7:30 after a hard day at work, with their family waiting for them.

On the other hand, if poor people voted, we'd have a very different government.

[RTH10260]

Rightwing groups join forces to woo election officials in Republican states
Groups have created incubator of policies that would restrict ballot access and amplify election fraud claims

Ed Pilkington and Jamie Corey
Wed 5 Apr 2023 12.37 BST

Three of the most prominent rightwing groups which spread election denial lies and advocate for restrictions on voting rights in the US have joined forces in a secret attempt to woo top election officials in Republican-controlled states.


Led by the Washington-based conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation, the groups have created an incubator of policies that would restrict access to the ballot box and amplify false claims that fraud is rampant in American elections. The unstated yet implicit goal is to dampen Democratic turnout and help Republican candidates to victory.

Details of the two-day “secretaries of state conference” held in Washington in February were obtained by the watchdog group Documented and shared with the Guardian.

Officials from 13 Republican-controlled states, including 10 top election administrators, participated in the event. Attendees discussed controversial “election integrity” ideas of the sort weaponized by Donald Trump.

Among the participants were nine secretaries of state and Virginia’s election commissioner, all of whom preside over both statewide and federal elections in their states including next year’s presidential contest. A list of attendees namechecks the chief election officials of Indiana, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Documented also obtained the conference agenda which lists a number of Trump associates among the speakers. They include Ken Cuccinelli who, as acting deputy secretary for homeland security, played a key role in setting elections policy for the Trump administration.

Cuccinelli now runs the Election Transparency Initiative which is fighting Democratic efforts in Congress to shore up voting rights, and has been active in pushing state-level vote restriction measures.





https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... can-states

[RTH10260]

Key conservative group joins attacks on partnership that improves voter rolls
Judicial Watch’s move to align with Trump against the Electronic Registration Information Center has been called ‘pure politics’

Peter Stone
Tue 11 Apr 2023 11.00 BST

An influential conservative group that has filed numerous lawsuits to force states to clean up their voter rolls, has joined Donald Trump and other election denial groups in attacking the most robust tool that accurately improves those voter rolls.

Judicial Watch, whose leader Tom Fitton urged Trump in 2020 to claim victory before all the votes were tallied, released a flawed report alleging potential violations of federal law by the Electronic Registration Information Center (Eric), a bipartisan consortium of over two dozen states that exchange voter registration data to ensure election security.

Fitton’s attack on Eric is part of a growing campaign by Trump-allied election denialist groups and Trump to urge member states to leave the consortium, prompting scathing criticism from voting rights advocates and election experts including some GOP officials.

The group’s 10-page error-riddled white paper, which was posted on its website on 9 March, falsely slams Eric as a “syndicate founded by leftists” and charges that Eric has been “far more effective at swelling voter registration rolls than at keeping them clean”.

Danielle Lang, the lead voting rights litigator at the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center, told the Guardian that the white paper was badly flawed and “makes claims largely based on supposition, inaccuracies and personal attacks”.




https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... enter-eric

[RTH10260]

prior article

Republican states pull out of voter rolls program amid false claims of bias
Three states announce end of Eric membership citing unfounded concerns over security and political leaning of organization

Kira Lerner
Wed 8 Mar 2023 16.46 GMT

Three Republican states announced this week that they would be terminating their membership with a prominent, multi-state consortium that shares voter rolls data to keep their lists up to date. The moves come amid unfounded rightwing conspiracies about the security and partisan leaning of the organization.

Florida, West Virginia and Missouri said this week that they are leaving the Electronic Registration Information Center (Eric), a group of roughly 30 states on both sides of the aisle that assist one another in voter roll maintenance. The group matches member states’ voter rolls to each other to flag registrations of duplicate voters or people who have moved or died. The more states that are involved, the more accurate Eric’s services can be.

Georgia House Republicans pass Voter Restriction bill, Atlanta, GA, USA - 01 Mar 2021<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by Robin Rayne/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock (11781278z) Protesters gather outside Georgia statehouse as Republican representatives pass a bill to restrict ballot drop boxes, require more ID for absentee voting and limit weekend early voting days. The bill passed the Georgia House amid protests that the proposals would make it harder for voters to participate in democracy..The House voted along party lines, 97-72, on the sweeping elections bill supported by Republicans who want to impose new voting requirements after losing presidential and U.S. Senate races in Georgia. Georgia House Republicans pass

In a statement announcing its decision on Monday, Florida’s Republican secretary of state, Cord Byrd, said he is withdrawing to protect the data privacy of state residents.

“As secretary of state, I have an obligation to protect the personal information of Florida’s citizens, which the Eric agreement requires us to share,” he said. “Florida has tried to back reforms to increase protections, but these protections were refused. Therefore, we have lost confidence in Eric.”

Earlier this year, Alabama and Louisiana also pulled out of Eric, citing similar concerns. Alabama’s new secretary of state has denied the results of the 2020 election and supported a lawsuit brought by Texas against four other states for election “irregularities” that allegedly caused Trump’s loss.

Eric has been supported by its member states, including many GOP-controlled states, since it launched in 2012 as a way to supplement the insufficient national voter registration database. It was not until last year, when rightwing conspiracy theories began to spread, that the organization began to be viewed as partisan and states began to question their membership.

Far-right groups and websites, which were already actively spreading election misinformation and sowing doubt in election administration, began describing Eric as left-leaning and falsely tied the organization to liberal billionaire George Soros. The rightwing website Gateway Pundit published a series of baseless blog posts claiming that Eric was a liberal plot to inflate voter rolls and that it could allow private voter data to become public.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... conspiracy

[raison de arizona]

So stupid, they are doing the exact opposite of their supposed intent.

[raison de arizona]

[RTH10260]

Alarm after lawyer who aided Trump’s 2020 election lie attacks campus voting
Rightwing lawyer Cleta Mitchell faces criticism after comments to GOP donors urging new rules to make voting harder for students

Peter Stone in Washington DC
Mon 8 May 2023 08.00 BST

Rightwing election lawyer Cleta Mitchell, a key ally of Donald Trump as he pushed bogus claims of fraud to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 win, is facing intense fire from voting watchdogs and bipartisan criticism for urging curbs on college student voting, same day voter registration and absentee voting.

The scrutiny of Mitchell, who runs the Election Integrity Network at the pro-Trump Conservative Partnership Institute to which a Trump Pac donated $1m dollars, was sparked by recent comments Mitchell made to Republican donors, and a watchdog report criticizing her advisory role with a federal election panel.

Long known for advocating stricter voting rules that are often premised on unsupported allegations of sizable voting fraud, Mitchell last month promoted new voting curbs on students in a talk to a group of wealthy donors to the Republican National Committee, efforts that critics call partisan and undemocratic.

Mitchell’s private RNC address to rich donors zeroed in on curbing college campus voting rules, automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters and same-day voter registration, as the Washington Post first reported.

The talk by Mitchell, who has done legal work for Republican committees, members of Congress and conservative groups such as the National Rifle Association, focused on college campuses in key swing states including Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Virginia and Wisconsin, all of which have large college campuses.

In an audio of her remarks obtained by liberal journalist Lauren Windsor, Mitchell slammed college voting procedures.

“What are these college campus locations? What is this young people effort that they do? They basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed.”

Further in one part of her presentation cited by the Post, Mitchell charged blithely that “the Left has manipulated the electoral systems to favor one side … theirs. Our constitutional republic’s survival is at stake.”

It’s unclear if the RNC will back the latest proposals made by Mitchell, who the committee has worked with previously. But an RNC spokesperson offered effusive praise of Mitchell to the Post, saying: “As the RNC continues to strengthen our Election Integrity program, we are thankful for leaders like Cleta Mitchell who do important work for the Republican ecosystem.”

But voting rights watchdogs voice alarm at Mitchell’s proposals to the RNC donor crowd.




https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ent-voting

[Foggy]

Only one American political party is a direct threat to American democracy and our way of life.

[raison de arizona]

“What are these college campus locations? What is this young people effort that they do? They basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed.”

So you think we should start putting the polls for people far from where the people are to...show that they really want to vote? How much effort does one need to show, exactly? Are we going to make people from the suburbs come in to the city to vote? Or does this only apply to young people?

[Ben-Prime]

“What are these college campus locations? What is this young people effort that they do? They basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed.”

So you think we should start putting the polls for people far from where the people are to...show that they really want to vote? How much effort does one need to show, exactly? Are we going to make people from the suburbs come in to the city to vote? Or does this only apply to young people?

The latter. You won't see a conversation about how the polling places are convenient in The Villages. Don't take my word for it. Here's the map of polling place distribution in The Villages.

[raison de arizona]

“What are these college campus locations? What is this young people effort that they do? They basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed.”

So you think we should start putting the polls for people far from where the people are to...show that they really want to vote? How much effort does one need to show, exactly? Are we going to make people from the suburbs come in to the city to vote? Or does this only apply to young people?

The latter. You won't see a conversation about how the polling places are convenient in The Villages. Don't take my word for it. Here's the map of polling place distribution in The Villages.

Wow, that's really convenient. Great map! I'm astonished that what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander.

[raison de arizona]

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wants to ban 18-24 year olds from voting unless they pass a citizenship test or spend 6 months in the military or as a first responder.

Why come would this only be for 18-24 year olds? Seems like one would want EVERY voter to pass a citizenship test, iffin' they want youngsters to.

I wonder if that isn't what this is really about. Hmm.

[sugar magnolia]

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wants to ban 18-24 year olds from voting unless they pass a citizenship test or spend 6 months in the military or as a first responder.

Why come would this only be for 18-24 year olds? Seems like one would want EVERY voter to pass a citizenship test, iffin' they want youngsters to.

I wonder if that isn't what this is really about. Hmm.

Somethingsomethingliteracy testsomethingsomething

My memory from 60 years ago is a bit murky.

[Suranis]

That was the plot of Starship Troopers the book. "Service guarantees citizenship!"

[John Thomas8]

North Carolina fucktardians join the race to the bottom:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/28/us/n ... ander.html

Last year, Democratic justices on the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that maps of the state’s legislative and congressional districts drawn to give Republicans lopsided majorities were illegal gerrymanders. On Friday, the same court led by a newly elected Republican majority looked at the same facts, reversed itself and said it had no authority to act.

The practical effect is to enable the Republican-controlled General Assembly to scrap the court-ordered State House, Senate and congressional district boundaries that were used in elections last November, and draw new maps skewed in Republicans’ favor for elections in 2024. The 5-to-2 ruling fell along party lines, reflecting the takeover of the court by Republican justices in partisan elections last November.

[Phoenix520]

Community service is a noble endeavor. I’d like to see it in some form. Sprout’s elementary and high schools had community service built into the curriculum. One semester at least for everyone.

But to go from nothing as a society to a mandatory condition for participating in democracy is not that.

I do not want this Vivek character to rise.

[raison de arizona]

another case that presents a threat of SCOTUS making the country less democratic: A unanimous 3-judge panel concluded South Carolina legislature drew districts to dilute the votes of racial minorities.

SCOTUS is going to hear the GOP's challenge to that ruling.

[Slim Cognito]

Well, we already know how that’ll turn out.

[RVInit]

Yeah, don't they typically not bother to take up a case where they suspect they will agree with the lower court ruling?

[RTH10260]

Texas Republicans target state’s largest city with voting restrictions
Two laws approved by the house on Tuesday will affect Democratic stronghold of Houston

Kira Lerner
Wed 24 May 2023 12.03 BST

Republican lawmakers in Texas are targeting Houston, the state’s largest city and Democratic stronghold, with a series of bills that would limit local authority to administer elections and give that power to the state.

House Republicans on Tuesday gave final approval to two bills, both already passed by the senate in April, that would affect elections in Harris county, the third most populous county in the country. One bill, SB 1750, would get rid of the election administrator position in the county, eliminating a non-partisan role, and give their authority to the county clerk and tax assessor-collector. Another, SB 1933, could give the Texas secretary of state, currently a Republican appointed by Greg Abbott, the governor, administrative oversight of a county office administering elections.

It allows the secretary of state to investigate election “irregularities” if prompted by a complaint and allows them to remove a county election official if the secretary of state has “good cause to believe that a recurring pattern of problems with election administration or voter registration exists in the county”. Problems might include delays in reporting election results, failure to comply with list maintenance procedures and issues with voting equipment.

The house amended the second bill this week to apply only to counties with more than 4 million people, which is currently just Harris county. Changes must be approved by the senate before the bill can head to Abbott’s desk and become law.

Harris county is home to nearly 5 million people, a population that’s more than 20% Black and 44% Latino, according to census data.

The county attorney, Christian Menefee, said that Republican legislators’ latest effort targeting Harris county is part of a trend of them trying to make it more difficult to vote and to administer elections and to subvert local control. He pointed out that currently, all three local officials being targeted – the county election administrator, clerk and assessor-collector, are Black.




https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -authority