Florida Voter Registration Groups Win Major Victory As Judge Prepares To Block Draconian Law

A federal judge on Wednesday said he was prepared to grant a permanent injunction that would block controversial restrictions on voter registration groups passed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) last year.
Federal Judge Robert L. Hinkle had earlier put a temporary hold on the measure, declaring that it put "harsh and impractical" restrictions on civic groups focused on registering new voters. In his latest order, Hinkle stated that he intends to permanently block the law, pending the case's dismissal from a Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs and the state of Florida have reportedly agreed not to appeal Hinkle's ruling.
“This order is a decisive victory for Florida voters,” said Lee Rowland of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, one of the attorneys who argued the case for the plaintiffs, in a statement. “The Florida legislature has tried repeatedly to stifle access to voter registration opportunities, and once again a federal court has stopped them in their tracks. We are thrilled that voter registration groups can now get back to what they do best -- expanding our democracy.”
The Florida Times-Union reported earlier this week that voter registration groups had largely shut down their operations in the wake of the new strictures, a trend that has done serious damage to registration trends of Democratic voters.
According to the Times-Union's review of state records, in the lead-up to elections in 2004 and 2008, the 13-month period between July 1 and August 1 of election year showed an average increase in registered Democrats of 209,425 voters. Over the same time between 2011 to 2012, registered Democrats increased by only 11,365 voters. It's easily enough to swing the election.
“It has without a doubt hurt registration numbers,” said Deirdre Macnab, president of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Florida. “It really gummed up the works and made it harder for Floridians to get registered.”
The Department of Justice has also mounted a separate challenge against Florida's new voter laws, claiming that they violate the Voting Rights Act with their new limitations on early voting and third-party voter registration groups.

via huffingtonpost

Ohio Early Voting Ruling: Court Orders State To Restore 3 Days Of Voting Before Election Day

A federal judge sided with the Obama campaign and ruled Friday to order Ohio to restore three days of early voting before Election Day, a decision that could affect the outcome of the 2012 election in a key battleground state.
Judge Peter C. Economus of the Southern District Court of Ohio granted an injunction in favor of Obama For America, the Democratic National Committee and the Ohio Democratic Party, which sued Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to restore in-person voting in the last weekend before the election.
"On balance, the right of Ohio voters to vote in person during the last three days prior to Election Day -- a right previously conferred to all voters by the State -- outweighs the State's interest in setting the 6 p.m. Friday deadline," ruled the court. "The burden on Ohio voters' right to participate in the national and statewide election is great, as evidenced by the statistical analysis offered by Plaintiffs and not disputed by Defendants. Moreover, the State fails to articulate a precise, compelling interest in establishing the 6 p.m. Friday deadline as applied to non-UOCAVA [Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act] voters and has failed to evidence any commitment to the 'exception' it rhetorically extended to UOCAVA voters."
The dispute over military voting spilled into the presidential campaign earlier this month, when the Mitt Romney campaign falsely accused the Obama campaign of trying to curtail rights for military voters, characterizing the lawsuit as an "outrage" and an effort to deprive military voters of extra days to vote.
The Obama campaign lawsuit seeks to expand the voting period for all voters, not to deprive military voters of that opportunity. The judge sided with the Obama camp, calling the early voting restrictions "arbitrary."
The Romney campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After a chaotic 2004 election, Ohio passed a law allowing early in-person voting on the weekend before the election. In 2008, some 93,000 Ohioans cast votes in that period. Those who did so were more likely to be African-American. A study by Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates found blacks accounted for 56 percent of all in-person early votes in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, while they accounted for 26 percent of votes overall. In Franklin County, which includes Columbus, African Americans cast 31 percent of early votes and 21 percent of votes overall.
The court ruled that the plaintiffs would suffer "irreparable injury" if early voting was not restored in the three days before election day. The judge also noted the plaintiffs' statistical evidence that low-income and minority voters would be disproportionately affected, which the defense did not counter.
Early voting was curtailed in 2011, when Ohio passed H.B. 194, cutting the number of early voting days and disallowing weekend voting except for military voters. (Subsequent legislative actions have left the weekend voting restrictions in place.) Husted ordered all Ohio counties to allow early voting during weekdays until 7 p.m. in the last two days before the election, but not over the preceding weekend. All voters were given the option of sending in an absentee ballot.
The Ohio Secretary of State's office said it was still reviewing the decision, and the Obama campaign has said that it intends to issue a statement.

via huffingtonpost

Federal Court Rejects Texas Voter ID Law

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A law in Texas that would allow would-be voters to cast ballots with only certain forms of photographic identification has been knocked down by a U.S. court in Washington.

 

Voter ID laws have become a hot-button issue leading up to the November presidential election, pitting state legislatures proposing and sometimes passing such laws against civil rights advocacy organizations who argue the laws are designed to keep minorities from the ballots.

In issuing their 56-page opinion Thursday, the judges wrote that the Texas law likely would have a "retrogressive effect" on the ability of minority voters to cast ballots and said the "implicit costs" of obtaining necessary ID "will fall most heavily on the poor." The three-judge panel also noted that a disproportionately high percentage of African Americans and Hispanics in Texas live in poverty.

Texas and other proponents of voter ID laws say the measures are necessary to prevent voter impersonation or fraud. Last year, Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Wisconsin passed new voter ID laws while Texas, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee tightened existing laws.

Governors in Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire and North Carolina vetoed strict new voter ID laws. This week, South Carolina's law is on trial in front of a three-judge panel in the same federal courthouse where the Texas law was struck down.

Civil rights organizations have argued that minority voters are less likely to have picture IDs, less likely to be able to afford new photo IDs and, in some cases, older minority voters might not have been granted the birth certificates required to obtain some forms of photographic identification.

The judges in Washington reviewed the Texas measure after the state appealed a rejection from the Justice Department, which is required to review proposed voting laws in Texas and other states and jurisdictions that have a history of voter discrimination.

The office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the state would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Today's decision is wrong on the law and improperly prevents Texas from implementing the same type of ballot integrity safeguards that are employed by Georgia and Indiana and were upheld by the Supreme Court," the statement said, referring to voter ID measures in those two states that passed Supreme Court challenges.

The office of Gov. Rick Perry issued a bristling statement that read, "Chalk up another victory for fraud. Federal judges subverted the will of the people of Texas."

The Department of Justice opposed the Texas law because, the agency said, it would have required many people without the proper voter identification to travel long distances in order to get one and, in some cases, pay for the documents they might need to secure that ID.

"When a jurisdiction meets its burden of proving that a proposed voting change would not have a racially discriminatory purpose or effect, the Department will not oppose that change," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. "When a jurisdiction fails to meet that burden, we will object."

The head of the Texas State Conference of the NAACP, which presented evidence before the judges against the proposed law, said the decision proves the need for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires preclearance.

"The (Texas) law was so broad and unreasonable that clearly its goal was to suppress minority votes," Gary Bledsoe, conference president, said.

A representative for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said no one is saying they are in favor of voter fraud, but added that the state's current law, which allows some non-photo identification for voters, already prevents fraud.

"That's sort of a solution in search of a problem," Bob Kengle, co-director of the committee's Voting Rights Project, said of Texas' position.

The Texas secretary of State issued a statement Thursday saying the election would proceed under current state law.

 

via usatoday

Nike LeBron X+ “USA” Sport Pack

The Nike LeBron X has been a huge topic of discussion since first viewed. The “USA” themed colorway will release on September 29. After much debate over the alleged price tag, the price is set at $290 for the enhanced Sport Pack.
Nike LeBron X+ “USA Sport” Pack
White/Metallic Gold-Obsidian
542244-100
$290

via nicekicks