Voter Suppression

Voting rights are under attack in this country. States are making it harder for people to vote as legislatures pass voter suppression laws under the pretext of preventing voter fraud and safeguarding election integrity. These regressive laws take many forms and pose significant barriers for eligible voters trying to exercise their most fundamental constitutional right.

The Democracy Restoration Act: Everyone Deserves a Voice

By Georgeanne M. Usova, Washington Legislative Office at 12:18pm

Six years ago, Desmond Meade stood along a set of railroad tracks and considered jumping in front of an oncoming train. Homeless, unemployed and recently released from prison, Desmond felt out of options, and couldn't imagine a future for himself. Thankfully, Desmond did not end his life that day, but instead, incredibly, found the courage to turn it around completely. Today, he is a second-year law student at Florida International University College of Law and president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

Wichita Blues: Kansas Mandates Photo ID For Its Voters

By Jon Sherman, Voting Rights Project at 4:12pm

Kansas took a giant leap backwards this week by enacting one of the harshest voter ID laws in the country. Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill into law Monday that will require voters to present photo ID at the polls as well as proof of citizenship in order to register. Kansas has joined a small group of outliers in passing such a retrograde law. Thirty-two state legislatures have introduced similar photo ID bills this year in what appears to be a nationwide coordinated effort to erect new barriers to voting. Only two other states in the union—Indiana and Georgia—refuse to hand a regular ballot to a voter who lacks photo ID without exception or alternative.

ACLU Lens: U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Voting Rights Act Case

By Vesna Jaksic, ACLU at 4:41pm

The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to review a case that challenges the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, which has been a crucial tool for protecting the minority vote and ensuring equal access to the ballot box.

The court agreed to hear Shelby County v. Holder, which involves Shelby County, Ala. The ACLU intervened in the case in order to represent minority voters and the state NAACP chapter, and protect the right to vote.

No Pictures Please: Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Put on Hold

By Steve Gosset, ACLU at 7:30pm

In a victory for Pennsylvania voters, a state judge today halted the enforcement of the state’s voter ID law, which threatened to disenfranchise thousands of elderly residents, students, the homeless and communities of color this November. 

Judge Robert Simpson Jr. ruled that he was “not convinced” that the requirement to show photo ID at polling stations would not lead to voter disenfranchisement, as the state had argued.

ACLU Lens: Federal Court Blocks Texas Voter ID Law

By Vesna Jaksic, ACLU at 2:46pm

A federal court today struck Texas’s discriminatory voter ID law, which would have prevented many eligible citizens from exercising their fundamental right to vote. 

The ACLU had intervened in the case in order to represent individuals and organizations who would be negatively impacted, and protect the right to vote. Today’s decision by a three-judge Washington, D.C. panel comes at a time when the right to vote is under attack nationwide.

“By blocking this law, the court reaffirmed the right of all people in this country to participate in our democracy,” said Nancy Abudu, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Voting Rights Project, which intervened in the case along with the ACLU of Texas.

States to Young Voters: We Don’t Want a Repeat of ‘08

By Demelza Baer, Washington Legislative Office at 5:21pm

Defying the stereotype that they are apathetic or disengaged, young voters turned out in droves in the 2008 presidential election, capping off their record-setting participation in many state primaries and caucuses. Although the high water mark for turnout among voters under 30 remains 1972, which was the first presidential election after the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution lowered the voting age to 18 years, the highest youth turnout in the past four decades happened in 2008 and 1992.  Perhaps most significantly, 2008 marked the third consecutive presidential election that youth turnout increased, and nearly six out of ten young African-American voters turned out in 2008, which is the highest voter turnout among young people of any racial or ethnic group since the voting age was lowered.

Wisconsin’s Recall Election: State Law Makes Voting An Uphill Battle for Young Voters

By Demelza Baer, Washington Legislative Office at 4:16pm

You remember Wisconsin, right? It’s the place where last year a battle over proposed budget cuts – that would reduce employee benefits and collective bargaining rights – prompted the prolonged protests of thousands of people in the state’s capital, as well as the temporary self-exile of state senators to Illinois to delay a vote on the budget measure. Fiercely-held opinions on both sides of the issues prompted a gubernatorial recall petition drive.

Ohio Poised to Roll Back Dangerous Voter Suppression Law

By Mike Brickner, ACLU of Ohio at 3:00pm

It's Super Tuesday and as voters go to the polls in Ohio today, we're reminded that in recent months, the nation has seen a tidal wave of legislation seemingly coordinated to keep some voters away from the ballot box. Ohio, as one of the perennial "swing states," is not immune. In June 2011, state legislators passed House Bill 194, which would severely limit voters' access to the ballot box by limiting early voting, prohibiting poll workers from assisting voters completing election forms and ballots and making it more difficult for local boards of elections to promote early voting to all registered voters.

Willing to Die for Their Country, But Unable to Vote in It

By Jon Sherman, Voting Rights Project at 4:36pm

One veteran told us: "If I can serve my country, I should be able to vote for who runs it."

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