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.

02/28/2012

Celebrate Black History

A Legacy of Civil Rights Is at Risk

By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:48pm

A growing number of states have enacted laws that will suppress voting, yet the minority community has uttered little protest

01/27/2012

Voter Suppression

Florida Sets the Stage: U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Holds Field Hearing on State's Regressive Voting Laws

By Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Howard L. Simon, ACLU of Florida at 2:24pm

With Florida’s primary just days away, all eyes are on the Sunshine State. And in an effort to shine a light on the state’s new regressive voting laws, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, chaired by Sen. Dick Durbin, is holding a federal field hearing today in Tampa, Florida.

12/19/2011

Voter Suppression

ACLU Lens: A Fight Far From Over: Julian Bond Stands Up Against the Latest Attacks on Voting Rights

By Sandhya Bathija, Washington Legislative Office at 2:09pm

In Sunday’s issue of the Chicago Tribune, famed civil rights activist Julian Bond reminded us that expanding access to the ballot for all Americans has been a critical part of our country’s history.

No one knows this better than Bond, who has spent much of his life advocating for the right to vote. In the 1960s, he was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which led sit-ins and freedom rides, marched on Washington and organized voter registration drives in states such as Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

06/14/2011

Voter ID

Lions and Tigers and Fraud, Oh My! Secretary of State Kris Kobach Is at It Again

By Jon Sherman, Voting Rights Project & Katie O'Connor, Voting Rights Project at 2:09pm

In a recent column in the Wall Street Journal, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach takes a victory lap trumpeting the passage of his voter ID law. He writes: "You can't cash a check, board a plane, or even buy full-strength Sudafed over the counter without [a photo ID]. That's why it's not unreasonable to require one in order to protect our most important privilege of citizenship." Voting, however, is not a privilege; it is a fundamental right guaranteed by more constitutional amendments than any other right we have. Cashing a check, getting on an airplane, and buying a nasal decongestant are not similarly enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

04/21/2011

Voter ID

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.

01/21/2013

Immigration Detention

Mr. President, What Will Be Your Civil Rights Legacy?

By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:09am

Watching President Obama take the Oath of Office four years ago was a historic moment I will never forget. I remember meeting him when he was an Illinois state senator...

01/15/2013

Immigration Detention

Mr. President, What Will Be Your Civil Rights Legacy?

By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:44am

Watching President Obama take the Oath of Office four years ago was a historic moment I will never forget. I remember meeting him when he was an Illinois state senator...

10/02/2012

Challenges to Voter Suppression Laws

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.

09/12/2012

Election 2012: Let Me Vote

By Elizabeth Beresford, ACLU at 5:16pm

Do you know what you need in order to vote this year? How about your grandmother? Or your neighbor?

With a pivotal election less than two months away, we’re launching “Let Me Vote,” a nationwide voting rights campaign to make sure all Americans have the information they need in order to vote.

In a time when dozens of states are trying to make it harder to vote, we need to ensure that everyone—especially students, the elderly and communities of color—know their rights. We all need to fight back against voter restrictions, but in the meantime, we can beat these new barriers by getting ready to vote now.

06/08/2012

Voter Suppression

Déjà Vu All Over Again: Florida’s Latest Attempt to Purge Voters from the Rolls

By Katie O'Connor, Voting Rights Project at 5:20pm

The ACLU and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights filed suit today in federal district court in Florida challenging the state’s latest attack on voting rights: purging voters from voter registration rolls.

In May of this year, Secretary of State Ken Detzer distributed nearly 2,700 names for removal from the voter registration rolls, claiming that those voters on the list were not U.S. citizens. The list is fraught with inaccuracies and false positives. In Florida’s most populous county, Miami-Dade, where about 1,600 of the 2,700 ”ineligible” voters are registered, nearly 500 of the targeted voters have already proven to be lawfully registered U.S. citizens. That’s more than a 30 percent error rate.

American Civil Liberties Union