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House Passes Bill to Fight Voter ID Laws Across the United States

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The House of Representatives passed a bill to undermine state voter ID laws on Friday by a mostly party-line vote of 228-187.

H.R. 4 — also called the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 — is an effort by House Democrats to restore preclearance provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were thrown out by the Supreme Court in the 2013 ruling on Shelby County v. Holder. It seeks to do this by updating the preclearance formula that the high court rejected.

Only one Republican, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Penn., voted with Democrats in favor of the measure. The House’s lone independent, Justin Amash, Mich., voted against the bill.

“Action is urgently needed to combat the brazen voter suppression campaign that is spreading across America,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said said at a press conference ahead of the vote. “We must, we must restore the strength of the voting rights act.”

But what kind of “voter suppression” does the bill go after? House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., put it plainly when he called the legislation “a good step to right the wrongs that’ve dismantled the fundamental right to vote through Voter ID laws, purging voter rolls & closing majority-minority polling places.”

And while the bill’s proponents portray it as an effort to protect voting rights, conservatives criticized the measure as undermining efforts to combat voter fraud by exerting more federal government control over state and local election practices.

“This bill would essentially, federalize state and local election laws when there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that those states or localities engaged in any discriminatory behavior when it comes to voting,” said top House Judiciary Committee Republican Rep. Doug Collins, Ga., in a statement sent out ahead of the vote.

“Full protections are afforded under current federal law for all those with valid claims of discrimination in voting,” Collins explained. “Unfortunately, the bill before us today would turn those federal shields that protect voters into political weapons.”

“Supporters of the legislation simply want to reverse state voter identification laws,” the Club for Growth said in opposition to the measure. “Voter ID laws protect the integrity of the ballot box. This legislation would sacrifice that integrity by allowing the possibility of more illegal votes to be cast and the will of legal voters’ decisions to be thwarted by voter fraud.”

The bill is expected to die in the Republican-controlled Senate. (For more from the author of “House Passes Bill to Fight Voter ID Laws Across the United States” please click HERE)

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Federal Court Refuses To Block N.C. Voter ID Law

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

At Netroots Nation, liberals slammed voter ID laws, labeling them something akin to “Jim Crow” laws. Yesterday, the U.S. District Court For The Middle District Of North Carolina refused to block the state’s voter ID law, which will be enforced in the upcoming midterm elections.

Here’s what the Court said in their opinion:

After careful consideration, the court concludes that Defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings should be denied in its entirety. Plaintiffs’ complaints state plausible claims upon which relief can be granted and should be permitted to proceed in the litigation. However, a preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy to be granted in this circuit only upon a “clear showing” of entitlement.

Read more from this story HERE.

DOJ Files Lawsuit Against North Carolina’s 'Discriminatory' Voter ID Law (+video)

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Photo Credit: TownHallAre voter ID laws inherently racist? Do they curtail voting rights? Those are questions a North Carolina judge will ultimately determine sometime next July.

To recap, the North Carolina state legislature passed a law in 2013 that, among other things, abolished same-day voter registration and instituted a voter ID provision. Naturally, it has been pilloried by both civil rights groups and activists as discriminatory.

Such provisions limit access to the right to vote, they argue, and therefore must be struck down to preserve the integrity of elections held in the state:

A North Carolina law passed last year that requires voters to present photo identification and eliminates same-day voter registration has been called one of the farthest-reaching overhauls to election rules in the country. Now a judge will decide whether it will stay that way.

Lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice, the North Carolina NAACP, the League of Women Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union will argue the case against state lawyers over the law in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem on Monday. U.S. attorneys and civil rights groups are asking a judge for a preliminary injunction to temporarily delay implementation of parts of the law. The hearing is a prelude to a trial scheduled for July 2015 where a judge will determine whether to uphold or strike down the law.

Read more from this story HERE.

Critics Who Claim Voter ID Laws Are Racist Won’t Like the Results of This Study

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Photo Credit: APIf there was a hidden agenda behind North Carolina’s voter ID law to suppress minority turnout – as the law’s opponents claim – it hasn’t worked, based on a study showing not only more voters overall, but an increase in black voter turnout especially, after the law’s implementation.

The findings came before a scheduled hearing next week where the U.S. Justice Department will ask a U.S. District Court for an injunction against the law going into the November midterms. The Obama administration has argued that such a law will make it more difficult for minorities to vote.

Comparing May 4, 2010 North Carolina primary election data with the May 14, 2014 primary data, the study found that voter turnout increased across the board, but particularly among black voters, where it increased by 29.5 percent, compared to an increase of white voter turnout of 13.7 percent. The findings were based on Census Bureau data and public names who signed the voter rolls.

Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, commissioned the study and included the findings in an amicus brief for the July 7 hearing. Judicial Watch was joined in its legal brief by the Allied Educational Foundation and by former Buncombe County commissioner candidate Christina Kelley Gallegos-Merrill.

Read more from this story HERE.

Poll Finds Wide Support for Voter ID Laws

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Photo Credit: TownHall Once again, registered voters have shown that they are overwhelmingly in favor of voter ID laws, a recent Fox News poll found.

“There is a debate about state laws that require voters to show a valid form of state-or federally-issued photo identification to prove U.S. citizenship before being allowed to vote,” the question stated. “Supporters of these laws say they are necessary to stop ineligible people from voting illegally. Opponents say these laws are unnecessary and mostly discourage legal voters from voting. What do you think?”

Seventy percent of respondents said voter ID laws are “needed to stop illegal voting,” while 27 percent said these laws are “unnecessary and discourage legal voting.”

The survey found majorities of every demographic support the law. Ninety-one percent of Republicans offer support, and 66 percent of independents feel the same.

Read more from this story HERE.

Federal Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Voter ID Law

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A federal judge in Milwaukee has struck down Wisconsin’s voter Identification law, saying it unfairly burdens poor and minority voters.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman issued his long-awaited decision Tuesday. It invalidates Wisconsin’s law.

Wisconsin’s law would have required voters to show a state-issued photo ID at the polls…

Read more from this story HERE.

North Carolina Governor Signs Extensive Voter ID Law

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North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) on Monday signed into law one of the nation’s most wide-ranging Voter ID laws.

The move is likely to touch off a major court battle over voting rights, and the Justice Department is weighing a challenge to the new law, which is the first to pass since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act.

The measure requires voters to present government-issued photo identification at the polls and shortens the early voting period from 17 to 10 days. It will also end pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-old voters who will be 18 on Election Day and eliminates same-day voter registration.

Democrats and minority groups have been fighting against the changes, arguing that they represent an effort to suppress the minority vote and the youth vote, along with reducing Democrats’ advantage in early voting. They point out that there is little documented evidence of voter fraud.

Republicans say that the efforts are necessary to combat such fraud and that shortening the window for early voting will save the state money. They also note that, while the North Carolina law makes many changes to how the state conducts its elections, most of its major proposals — specifically, Voter ID and ending same-day registration — bring it in line with many other states. More than three-fifths of states currently have some kind of Voter ID law, and even more have no same-day registration. Not all states allow in-person early voting.

Read more from this story HERE.