Tag Archives: Voter ID

Photo ID opponents struggle to find disenfranchised Tennessee voters

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Tennessee’s photo voter ID law took effect in January, and while no lawsuits have been filed, lawyers are looking for affected voters willing to challenge the law.

The American Civil Liberties Union has been trying to file a lawsuit, but no plaintiffs have come forward.

“They remain silent and their right to vote is chilled, through no fault of their own,” said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU in Tennessee, “and they’re being labeled as apathetic.”

Many potential clients have been able ultimately to acquire the necessary ID, said attorney George Barrett.

Tennessee is not subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, so officials there do not need federal approval to change state and local election law. States with voter ID challenges such as South Carolina and Texas, which need Section 5 pre-clearance, have lawsuits pending and building a case in these states is easier than in Tennessee, Barrett said, because of the federal requirement.

By Kassondra Cloos, News21

Coffee Break Ballot June 21: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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You may not have noticed, but Twitter broke today.

Three times.

That doesn’t mean we weren’t busy reporting, reading the news and building our project, but it does mean that our usual analysis of social media trends in voting rights is a little sparse today.

Still, a Virginia house cat named Scampers did receive voter registration material today, which fits with our post from Tuesday on the dead dog in Virginia. The story didn’t get as much bounce online this morning. That could be related to the Twitter outage and the inclusion of a quote from the Voter Participation Center president who said that stories like the cat and dog items distracted from the center’s real mission.

More on the Twitter outage after these stories.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Walter Mondale, Arne Carlson: Reject voter ID measure,” (Walter Mondale and Arne Carlson, 06/20, Minneapolis Star-Trbune)

“Pelosi: GOP’s contempt move vs. Holder about suppressing voter rights,” (Jake Sherman, 06/21, Politico)

“UPDATE: Governor vetoes four bills, including voter ID,” (Mike Cousineau, 06/20, New Hampshire Union Leader)

“Why sloppy drafting will kill the photo ID amendment,” (David Schultz, 06/21, MinnPost.com)

“The Real Crisis: 35% of Americans Not Registered to Vote,” (Voter Participation Center, 06/21)

“The Supreme Court Speaks, Yet DOJ Won’t Listen,” (David Almasi, 06/21, National Center for Public Policy Research)

Twitter Trends

As mentioned above, Twitter had some technical troubles today. The hour-long outage wreaked havoc on our normal Topsy.com searches, but we were able to notice an interesting spike in mentions of “voter suppression” – which is directly correlated to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s press conference on the Republican opposition to Attorney General Eric Holder.

The California representative accused the Republican Party of using a contempt vote to distract Holder from his attempt to battle voter suppression. Voter suppression is used more infrequently than our more general search terms (“voting rights,” “voter ID” and the charged “voter fraud”), so it was fascinating to see the sharp spike in mentions.

We’ll keep tabs on how long that mention lasts, so follow @WhoCanVote.

Coffee Break Ballot, June 20: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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Hey, happy summer solstice, folks!

Today is a much slower day in voting rights news. As the standoff between the U.S. House Oversight Committee, the Department of Justice and the White House sucks all of the energy out of the traditional digital-political commentary, it seems that all the usual fever surrounding some of our regular search terms has faded.

Even yesterday’s incredibly popular story about the voter registration forms mailed to a dead dog in Virginia has slowed, which probably says just as much about the limited attention span of the 24-news cycle as it does about the story’s merit — or lack thereof.

We’ve still got some good reads for you here, and the surprising return of an April poll about voter ID and disenfranchisement.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Florida Voters Back Voter Purge, Stand Your Ground, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Gov. Scott’s Job Approval Still Very Low,” (Quinnipiac University, 06/20)

“Voter ID groups release first fundraising numbers,” (Catharine Richert, 06/20, MPRNews)

“The Public Eye: Capital-area voter fraud suspects have criminal histories,” Brad Branan, 05/13, Sacramento Bee)

“The Voice of New Rochelle: A League of Their Own,” (Bob Marrone, 06/20, NewRochellePatch)

“Young People, Minorities, Unmarried Women and Dead Dogs,” (Ed Kilgore, 06/19, Washington Monthly)

Twitter Trends

The most curious trend today regarding voting rights and voter ID on social media search engine Topsy.com is the inexplicable tweeting and retweeting of a Rasmussen Report poll from April 2012 that shows 73 percent of likely U.S. voters think that voter ID requirements do not discriminate and that 64 percent think voter fraud is a somewhat serious problem.

An interesting poll, to be sure, but it’s from more than two months ago, and it’s being retweeted by a lot of Spanish-language accounts. We’re not certain where this trend is coming from, but it could have something  to do with the announcement Tuesday of a federal voter ID law introduced by Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill.

The “Mitt Romney voting rights” tweet continues to surface here and there, and we’re still waiting on a Twitter response from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

To see if Romney ever does respond to the demands of the anonymous Twitter hordes  — and for the latest in voting rights news — be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote.

Texas: A quick look at the Hispanic population

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A history of discrimination toward African Americans in Texas prompted the federal government in 1975 to add the state to those whose election laws are monitored. Now the prospect of a new voter ID law in Texas has the U.S. Department of Justice focusing on the Hispanic population there.

In Texas, 38 percent of the population is Hispanic, according to the 2010 Census, compared to 11.8 percent African Americans. In Webb County, just north of the Mexican border near Laredo, 96 percent of county is Hispanic, the largest Hispanic population for a U.S. county.

Members of the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project contend that the voter ID law would disenfranchise members of this growing minority who are unable to obtain the necessary documents to obtain a government-issued photo ID. Texas Republican state senators who support the proposal reject that assertion.

Take a look at the percent of Hispanic residents in Texas’s 10 most populous counties, according to the most recent Census:

 

Texas: A quick look at the Hispanic population

By Annelise Russell, News21

Texas: Voter registration
by the numbers

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Within three weeks, the U.S. District Court is scheduled to hear testimony in Washington, D.C., from the Department of Justice and Texas in the state’s appeal for federal approval of its voter ID law.

Texas officials assert that the law, which would require a photo ID at the polls, does not deny persons the right to vote. Opponents of the ID requirement, such as the Mexican American Legal Education and Defense Fund and the NAACP, argue that the law has the potential to disenfranchise thousands of low-income, elderly, student and minority voters.

Texas is the second-most populous state after California, and has almost 7.5 million registered voters in just the 10 counties with the highest number of registered voters.

How many people is that?  That’s more than 13 times the entire population of Wyoming, according to Census data.

Take a look at the 10 Texas counties with the highest number of registered voters:

Texas: Voter registration <br>by the numbers

Source: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott

 

By Annelise Russell, News21

Coffee Break Ballot, June 18: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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The most notable change in voting rights trends after this weekend is perhaps the very term itself. Friday saw the complete dominance of the term #VotingRights by progressive Twitter users asking where Gov. Mitt Romney stood on Florida’s controversial voter purge, but the hashtag mostly has been passed on to other stories.

But that doesn’t mean that we haven’t been looking for new stories. Happy Monday reading.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Voter Suppression Returns,” (Alexander Keyssar, Harvard Magazine July/August)

“Lawsuit planned over Pennsylvania’s voter ID law,” (Len Barcousky, 06/16, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

“Voter ID bill resisted by town, city clerks,” (Kevin Landrigan, 06/17, Nashua Telegraph)

“Allen West to feds: Let states purge voters,” (MJ Lee, 06/18, Politico)

“Ensuring access to the ballot for American Indians and Alaska Natives,” (Tova Andrea Wang, 06/18, Demos)

Twitter Trends

Besides the aforementioned shift in the #VotingRights hashtag, the most notable trend in our top four Topsy.com search terms (#VoterID, #VoterSuppression, #VoterFraud and #VotingRights) is the back and forth between conservative allegations of fraud and progressive allegations of suppression.

We’ll keep tabs to see whether #VotingRights ever rests at “normal” in the Twittersphere, but for more of the latest trends, be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote.

 

Coffee Break Ballot, June 15: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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As if voting rights and voter ID weren’t already contentious and highly partisan issues, the latest readings from Twitterverse tea leaves suggest the issue has the potential to vault into the chaos of election-year politics.

President Obama’s surprise announcement Friday of a revised administration policy on youth deportation and immigrant rights caused U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., to openly wonder — on FOX News and in a statement on his Facebook page — if the policy was a back-door approach to granting voting rights to illegal immigrants in swing states like his.

The #VotingRights hashtag was taken over yesterday by progressive Twitter users questioning GOP candidate Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with copies of the following tweet:

@MittRomney, where do you stand on the FL voter purge? #p2 #votingrights

The increasing presence of voting rights activists on both sides of the political divide at campaign events and in policy discussions suggests we might see these issues become key electoral questions. Indeed, in potential presidential swing states with contentious tickets for November — states such as North Carolina and Missouri — questions of voter ID laws and the expansion of the franchise have become wedge issues for gubernatorial and secretary of state candidates.

Will this change the digital conversation around voting rights? We’ll be the first to tell you when and if those changes happen.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Florida’s voting standoff deja vu?” (Halimah Abdullah, 06/13, CNN)

“Gov. Scott says he ‘feels your pain,’ will continue purge anyway,” (The Ed Show, 06/14, MSNBC.com)

“Rep. Allen West Alleges New Obama Policy On DREAMers Is Voter Fraud Conspiracy For 2012 Election,” (Adam Peck, 06/15, ThinkProgressJustice)

“On the Administration’s announcement today to grant certain citizenship rights to young illegal immigrants,” (Rep. Allen West, 06/15, Facebook)

“Indianapolis Meeting Compares Voting Machine Standards,” (Network Indiana, 06/15, Indiana Public Media)

“NOTES FROM NARBERTH: Don’t believe the rhetoric: Voter ID law is fair to all,” (Rosemary McDonough, 06/14, Mainline Times)

“The Missing Right To Vote,” (Heather Gerken, 06/13, Slate)

Twitter Trends

As we mentioned earlier, the #VotingRights hashtag has been largely dominated by progressive opponents of Florida’s controversial voter removal. Liberal political action committee MoveOn.org posted a digital call to action yesterday, asking readers to tweet and post Facebook comments inquiring where Romney stands on the voting rights controversy in Florida.

Social media search engine Topsy.com suggests the hashtag dominance hasn’t been enough to produce a major spike in the term when compared to recent high points — the June 5 Wisconsin recall election and the eruption of election lawsuits in Florida June 12 — but it has increased mentions and taken over our Tweet Deck column.

There may not be another contentious election or primary before November for us to test the admittedly elementary theory that ballot access only receives widespread attention when everyone is actively voting (or not voting), but we’ll keep our eyes open for better ways to chart the mention trends of #VotingRights, #VoterID, #VoterFraud and #VoterSuppression.

Be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote, and stay tuned for more from our team next week!

Arizona appeal to Supreme Court
to continue citizenship requirement

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Arizona asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday for permission to continue requiring proof of citizenship from those who seek to register to vote. State officials asked this as Arizona prepares to appeal an April ruling that eliminated the requirement from the state’s voter-ID law.

Solicitor General Dave Cole said that the proof-of-citizenship requirement should stay in place for the November election.

Arizona law directed county officials to reject any registration document not accompanied by proof of citizenship. But a 1993 federal law requires only a sworn statement of citizenship on federal registration forms. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in April found that Arizona’s law conflicted with federal law, and struck the citizenship requirement. The state plans to appeal to the Supreme Court by its July 16 deadline.

“The basic issue is the extent to which the federal and state forms conflict, and the extent to which the federal government can say, ‘Look, we have full authority to do this and the states can’t do anything,’” Cole said.

By Jack Fitzpatrick, News21

Coffee Break Ballot, June 13: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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So little time, so much Florida.

We promise that we’re looking out for other states and other stories with  trends and news in voting rights and election administration. For example, did you know that Louisiana just voluntarily moved the New Orleans City elections in 2014 so as not to conflict with the Big Easy’s famous Carnival Parade season?

But Florida keeps dominating the digital conversation. Gov. Rick Scott made an appearance on NPR’s “Tell Me More” this morning, and the Florida struggle prompted a lively US News & World Report Debate Club session on voter fraud.

Will Florida stay in the forefront of national voting news? Maybe — but meanwhile, we’ve been looking into some other issues in the newsroom. Check out our list of stories this morning for more.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Is Voter Fraud a Real Problem?” (Debate Club, 06/13, US News & World Report)

“Florida’s noncitizen voter purge grew from 5-minute conversation,” (Marc Caputo, 06/13, Miami Herald)

“Purge Overkill — John Oliver & Florida’s Voter Registration Law,” (John Oliver, 06/12, The Daily Show”

“Jon Stewart’s ‘Daily Show’ Blasts Voter ID Laws, Ridicules Florida Governor,” (Casey Cheap, 06/13, Red Alert Politics)

“How Should Voter Purges Work?” (Abby Rapoport, 06/13, The American Prospect)

“The Real Victims of Voter ID Laws,” (Short Documentary, 06/13, Center for American Progress)

Twitter Trends

Thanks to a recent bipartisan call to sum up President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney’s respective campaigns in pithy, plentiful tweets, many political Twitter users have been sending bouncy voter ID-related tweets about both political parties.

The buzz has created a minor spike in our regular voting rights search terms in the last few days, according to social media search engine Topsy.com.

For more on the latest voting rights news and trends, be sure to follow @WhoCanVote.

Raymond Rutherford: Midwife’s error creates voting rights uncertainty

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For years, Raymond Rutherford used for official identification a photo ID card issued in 1979 by a Sumter, S.C., discount liquor store.

When Rutherford recently sought to comply with a new South Carolina law that requires a government-issued ID to register to vote, he found that the state would not accept his store-issued ID. He had to show his Social Security card to get a government-issued ID. The problem is that card carries the birth certificate error made by the midwife who delivered him. It incorrectly identified him as Ramon Croskey. The midwife forgot his mother’s married name, he said.

Rutherford’s birth certificate, errors and all, was used when he applied for a Social Security card.

Rutherford described his situation in stark terms. He compared the issue of voter IDs in South Carolina to that of slaves who were beholden to white masters for their identity.

“[They] couldn’t do anything unless their master signed for it,” he said. “They didn’t have
proof what their name was, so they took whatever name their master gave them. It seems
to me they’re trying to send us years back, where they can control who we vote for.”

Rutherford is still working to obtain an ID so he can vote in the November election if the South Carolina voter ID law is upheld in federal court. A ruling could come in
early September.

By Caitlin O’Donnell, News21