Tag Archives: news21

Coffee Break Ballot, July 16: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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We’re already big fans of the New York Times‘ Nate SIlver, whose Five Thirty Eight blog has gained a following for its statistical election predictions.

So when Silver tweeted a post, offering his numbers-heavy analysis measuring predictable effects of photo voter ID laws on voter turnout, we were intrigued.

His post is making the rounds around the Twitterverse, with some regular followers in the News21 newsroom tweeting, retweeting and commenting on the post.

It points out that much of the rhetoric on both sides is moot when statistics and raw data are taken into account. That’s one of several numbers-heavy pieces we’ve been looking at this morning.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Measuring the Effects of Voter Identification Laws,” (Nate Silver, 07/15, The New York Times)

“Will Voter ID Laws Cost Obama Reelection?” (Nate Cohn, 07/16, The New Republic)

“Voter ID is a hot topic, but will Alabama’s ID law stop election fraud?” (Tim Lockette, 07/15, Anniston Star)

“Rick Scott: Other states can purge voter rolls,” (Kevin Robillard, 07/16, Politico)

“HUSKEY: Showing ID is common, effective,” (Stan Huksey, 07/15, The Times Herald)

“Ballot fraud retrial gets into details,” (Kenneth C. Crowe II, 07/11, Rochester Times-Union)

“Photo IDs may be inconvenient, but they help prevent voter fraud,” (Robert Bennett, 07/16, The Deseret News)

“Florida Decides Poll: Gov. Rock Scott’s low approval ratings,” (Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, 07/15, Florida13 News)

Twitter Trends

After the Pennsylvania Department of Motor Vehicles released data suggesting more than 700,000 registered voters could lack required photo voter ID under the state’s new law, we’ve been waiting for the conservative pushback. That commentary came today.

One of the most buzzed about items today came from the Daily Caller, which has repackaged a story from the Rochester (N.Y.) Times-Union about a local election fraud trial in which a Democratic city council candidate testified that voter fraud was a “reality of both parties” in the state.

The fraud in question is ballot fraud – not voter impersonation –  which photo voter ID laws would not solve. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t provided ammunition for supporters of photo voter ID legislation.

It’s definitely buzz-worthy, and it meets the criteria for popular tweets — it features a member of the Democratic party admitting that fraud happens, regularly, giving supporters something talk about.

It’s also the kind of detail-orientated story that could prompt real conversation about election administration, but that’s not how Twitter is generally used.

Follow our reporters @DoubleOChen and @JoeHenke as they report from the National Association of Secretaries of State Convention this week in Puerto Rico, and as always, follow us @WhoCanVote for the latest updates on voting rights news and trends.

Washington voter registration?
There’s an app for that

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Washington voter registration? <br>There's an app for that

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed is touting his MyVote Washington voters Facebook application. Photo by Lizzie Chen/News21.

Becoming a registered voter in Washington state is now a social experience.

The state’s MyVote Facebook application fits the lifestyle of many voters, Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed said Saturday, at the National Association of Secretaries of State summer conference in Puerto Rico.

“Our state, like so many, has been financially hurting,” Reed said. He added that this app was a low cost way to improve voter registration.

Washington residents can now log in to their Facebook account, go to the MyVote app, and answer a few questions.

If individuals already are registered, they can update their voter registration information. If not, the system invites them to register.

The app then lets voters review candidates for upcoming elections and displays contact information for elected officials.

The MyVote app adds to Washington’s reputation for changing the voting experience. In 2008 Washington became the first state to hold a top-two primary, rather than using the familiar party nomination system. It also joined Oregon that year as one of only two states to vote by mail only.

Reed wanted to release the new technology this winter, but acknowledged that it wasn’t secure enough. After continuing to work on the app, which the state designed in collaboration with Microsoft and Facebook, it was launched earlier this summer.

Users get access to the app through Facebook, but all information entered is transferred directly to Washington’s database.

“In business they say, ‘location, location, location.’ Well how many people are on Facebook?” Reed asked.

By Joe Henke, News21

Coffee Break Ballot, July 6: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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It’s slightly amusing to look at the gap in news consciousness that a one-day, midweek holiday like July 4 can create.

What does that mean for voting rights? Well, from our perch over the Twittersphere, it seems the already limited attention spans of many users divided over questions of voting rights, voter ID, voter fraud and voter suppression have been reduced even more than usual.

It’s unfortunate, because there were some interesting stories this week — an expansive Mother Jones package on the history of voting rights legislation since the 1990s, a set of data from the Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth suggesting that up to 10 percent of registered voters lack the required photo ID and fraud allegations in Mexico.

No one issue rocketed this week, but next week could be another doozy. A hearing examining the constitutionality of the Texas voter ID opens Monday in Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvania numbers will probably be passed around and parsed.

We’ll have more on all that next week.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Election integrity,” (Editorial Board, 07/05, Battle Creek Enquirer)

“Pennsylvania Voter ID Law May Bar 9% From Presidential Election,” (Romy Varghese, 07/05, Bloomberg)

“Reps. Moore, Ellison: Voter Suppression Issue is Behind Focus on Eric Holder,” (Khalil Abdullah, 07/04,  New American Media)

“Vetoing Voter ID is the (Historically) Republican Thing to Do,” (John Nichols, 07/06, The Nation)

“Stringent voter ID law in Pa. could prevent 750,000 from voting,” (Lucy Madison, 07/05, CBSNews)

Twitter Trends

Maybe it’s just Friday, but we’ve enjoyed seeing the (fictional) President Josiah Bartlet of “West Wing” fame offer his own opinion on the voter ID debate.

One of ‘his’ tweets from this morning already has received 84 retweets as of this post, and users on both sides of the voter ID debate have replied to him asking for clarification or pointing out the fallacy of his tweet.

Remember, Josiah Bartlet is a fictional character, and the Twitter account set up in his name perhaps has little or nothing to do with actual debate, politics or Aaron Sorkin.

But users are engaging him, retweeting and replying and even mocking his views. It’s a great example of how Twitter can be both a useful search tool and also a silly adventure into a blackhole of digital dithering.

Additionally, our routine use of social media search engine Topsy.com shows a dramatic uptick in mentions of #VoterID, which we can assume is directly related to the Pennsylvania voter ID numbers released this week.

We’ll keep tabs on those mentions, which will likely receive a bigger boost from the opening salvo in the Texas court case next week.

Our reporters, @AnneliseRussell and @LindseyRuta, will cover that hearing next week, so be sure to follow them for live updates. And as always, follow us @WhoCanVote for the latest links, tweets and trends from the News21 team.

 

Coffee Break Ballot, July 4: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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Welcome back to the work week!

We, like many of you, enjoyed the tease of a midweek faux-weekend. We also enjoyed the onslaught of Independence Day-themed voting rights columns, blogs and articles (some of which we’ll sample here today).

Nothing like a national holiday to encourage talk of freedom, unity and fundamental rights.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Celebrate Our Independence By Committing to the Right to Vote,” (Eva. M. Clayton, 07/04, Huffington Post)

“Graduating from the Electoral College,” (Jaime Fuller, 07/05, the American Prospect)

“Roberts Faces Shot at Republican Redemption in Race Cases,” (Greg Stohr, 07/04, Bloomberg)

“9.2 Percent of Pennsylvania Voters Lack Valid ID,” (David Weigel, 07/05, Slate)

“8 things the U.S. election system could learn from Mexico’s,” (Robert. A. Pastor, 07/02, CNN)

Twitter Trends

If we’ve tracked anything of note this past week on social media search engine Topsy.com, it’s been the considerable bounce that progressive voting rights Twitter users have provided to a few news items.

Tuesday’s Mother Jones package on voter suppression and election administration continues to buzz, as does a telling report from Slate on what the more than nine percent of registered Pennsylvania voters lacking photo ID could mean for the November election.

Despite a series of broadcast news network pieces on possible election fraud in the federal election Sunday in Mexico, we haven’t seen as many mentions of that country’s voter ID system as we originally expected. As seems to be the case for many international stories, the American Twitter audience has moved on to other flash points, accepting that the election is largely finished there and no longer worth 140-character debate points.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on the diverse threads of progressive commentary in the coming days and weeks, with a special focus on the conservative reaction that has yet to arrive.

For more of the latest voting rights trends and links, be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote.

J. Morgan Kousser: The Voting Rights Act and Hispanic Voters

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UPDATE: 07/10 — J. Morgan Kousser testified today in the Federal Appeals Court hearing. Lawyers for both sides came to a last-minute agreement on witness lists.

The Voting Rights Act faces a sustained legal challenge that could threaten its existence, a Cal Tech researcher says, and there are striking similarities – with a notable demographic difference – to historic voting rights battles.

“After the initial passage of the Voting Rights Act, there was a huge attempt to inhibit the growth of political participation,” J. Morgan Kousser, a professor of history and social science at the California Institute of Technology, said of the 1965 law.

“But today, what we see is more than anything a reaction to the growing Latino population and a reaction to Latino growth in places where it really hasn’t been before.”

States such as Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Georgia and Virginia fit that profile, Kousser said. He planned to testify in the scheduled federal court hearing on the constitutionality of the new Texas voter ID law, but the state’s legal team successfully petitioned last week to deny his testimony calling it opinionated and tangential.

If the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a case challenging all or parts of the Voting Rights Act in its next term, Kousser said it is possible that the entire law could be ruled unconstitutional, opening the door to a new series of election laws.

“Suppose you made everybody re-register in a central location in a limited amount of time, and did not make that registration permanent,” Kousser said. “Nobody’s proposed this yet, but we had the umbrella of the Voting Rights Act protecting against such things.”

By Nick Andersen, News21

Juan Rosa: Living the American Dream at the ballot box

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Juan Rosa: Living the American Dream at the ballot box

Juan Rosa immigrated to the United States from El Salvador and voted for the first time in 2002. Photo by Lizzie Chen/News21.

Juan Rosa, 45, of Del Valle, Texas, is the healthy living coordinator at El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission.

Rosa escaped the Salvadoran Civil War and immigrated to California to live what he called the American Dream. Part of that dream includes the right to vote, and Rosa believes it is important to have his voice heard.

“As soon as I got my citizenship, I made plans to go vote, and I did. I was so proud. It was something amazing,” Rosa said of his voting in 2002. “I still have the little sticker that said “I voted” and I’m proud of it.”

Many Latino advocacy groups in Texas argue the state’s voter ID law will hamper legal access to the ballot for Latino voters like Rosa, but he understands the need for a photo ID law, he said.

“I think there are always pros and cons when things like that come up. I see the pro because it may take sometime to get used to it, but Im pretty sure that it will save some problems that I’ve seen in the past or heard about in the past with people and voting when they are not supposed to,” Rosa said.

“We have to be all for changes, and I think this is a good one. I think it’s just an extra step they are taking to be safe on the voting side,” he said.

By Lizzie Chen, News21

Coffee Break Ballot, July 2: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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Nothing like the nation’s birthday week to get voters interested in political affairs.

There’s a closely watched presidential election this week for the U.S. southern neighbor Mexico, and it is important for several reasons. The liberal Institutional Party of the Revolution is widely expected to return to power after 12 years of conservative rule; the election includes Mexico’s first major female candidate for president, and Mexico is one of America’s most important trade partners.

But this morning on Twitter and Facebook, American voters are making connections between Mexican election laws that require voters to use a federally provided photo ID and U.S. Department of Justice legal challenges to state laws requiring such IDs at the polls.

Mexican elections have a much more complicated history of voter suppression and election fraud, reports suggest, but it is interesting to see these kinds of cross-continent connections. The 2006 Mexican presidential election was decided by fewer than 300,000 votes, leading to widespread allegations of election mischief.

Even more, a purported video example of election fraud has exploded on Facebook, giving election wonks and fraud opponents everywhere something to chew.

What We’ve Been Reading

“20 Years of Registering Voters in High School!” (League of Women Voters, 07/02)

“Mess in Texas,” (Bill Buck, 07/02, CBS Atlanta)

“Lehman declared winner in Senate recall,” (Todd Richmond, 07/02, Associated Press)

“Charges of voter suppression in Rangel primary election,” (Eric Shawn, 07/02, FOXNews)

“PICKET: Mexico’s poll workers ask voters for ID at polls,” (Kerry Pickett, 07/01, Washington Times)

“LETTER: US DOJ to Bancroft PLLC,” (Thomas E. Perez, 06/29, via Election Law Blog)

“Planned Detroit-to-Lansing protest march opposing emergency manager, voting laws,” (Kathleen Gray, 07/02, Detroit Free Press)

Twitter Trends

As we mentioned, some of the biggest social media buzz today comes in the form of American users drawing attention to alleged instances of voter suppression in the Mexican general election.

According to social media search engine Topsy.com, the Mexican election is making big waves, especially in relation to News21 daily general search terms “voter ID” and “voter suppression.”

Social media encourages a chorus of anger, meaning that upcoming state primaries in some key presidential states — North Carolina and Michigan prime among them — might spark some new calls for stronger ballot protection initiatives and insidious suggestions of voter suppression.

For more contributions to social media, be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote. And remember to follow @MichaelCiaglo and @AndreaRumbaugh, who are reporting from Florida this week.

Lillian Johnson: Putting Florida felons back to work

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Lillian Johnson: Putting Florida felons back to work

Lillian Johnson, director of the Havana Learning Center, gives felons and community members who are down on their luck, a place to come together to look for work and get back on their feet. Photo by Michael Ciaglo/News21

Lillian Johnson is the founder and director of Havana (Fla.) Community Technology and Learning Center Inc. She works with felons by helping them find jobs.

“I think that after they’ve done their prison time, when they walk out of that door, they should be free citizens, right then. They should be able to have everything that they had before they went in,”Johnson said. “They’ve done the time for the crime that they’ve done. They should be free.

“They should be able to come right back out and pick up where they left off at — to be able to vote, especially. Because at this time, it’s critical. It’s critical. Do you realize how many prisoners come out and they can’t vote?”

By Andrea Rumbaugh, News21

Behind the Scenes: This week in the News21 newsroom

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News21 sent reporting teams to Tennessee and Florida this week, but back in the newsroom, reporters and editors hunkered down to begin working on stories and videos that detail the initial findings of our investigation on voting rights.

Here’s a look at what the News21 team was up to:

Behind the Scenes: This week in the News21 newsroom

News21 fellow Sarah Jane Capper of Syracuse University continues her research. Photo by Lizzie Chen/News21.

Behind the Scenes: This week in the News21 newsroom

News21 fellow Ana Lastra spends the afternoon in an editing booth sorting through video clips. Photo by Lizzie Chen/News21

Behind the Scenes: This week in the News21 newsroom

News21 fellow Joe Henke spends an afternoon reading through voting rights material. Photo by Lizzie Chen/News21.

Coffee Break Ballot, June 29: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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This was a busy week in voting rights news.

Florida’s controversial voter roll cleanup was allowed to continue; the New Hampshire Legislature overrode Gov. John Lynch’s veto of a photo voter ID bill, and a new Tennessee law will give one-time, non-violent felons a new pathway to vote.

Meanwhile, we’re getting into full-drafting, editing and revision mode at News21. More from the newsroom later, but first, some Friday reads.

What We’ve Been Reading

“House GOP backs down, allows election money in the budget,” (John Frank, 06/28, Raleigh News & Observer)

“Would-Be Voters of Color Face Obstacles Not Well Reported,” (Nadra Kareem Nittle, 06/28, Maynard Institute)

“Rangel’s Rivals Make Allegations of Voter Fraud and Uncounted Ballots,” (Hunger Walker, 06/28, New York Observer)

“Dear Governor Snyder,” (Clayola Brown, Niel Richie, E. Faye Williams, 06/28, ProjectVote)

Twitter Trends

The most significant piece of Twitter-related news we’ve noticed lately is both political parties capitalizing on buzz words and twisting opposition fervor into a clarion call.

Case in point: Monday/Tuesday’s excitement over Pennsylvania state Rep. Mike Turzai’s comments on voter ID laws. The evolution of that story from progressive anger into conservative pride is remarkable and perhaps indicative of general Twitter usage patterns.

Old links and retired outrage can take days or even weeks to fizzle, meaning the story probably will cycle through the Twittersphere until the election, or until something else buzz worthy pops up.

We’ll keep you posted on that front, and, as always, be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote.