Tag Archives: voter suppression

Democracy Docket reports: An independent federal agency is going forward with President Donald Trump’s sweeping elections executive order despite a barrage of lawsuits challenging it as an assault on states’ constitutional authority to run their own elections. Trump’s order, in part, directs the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) — an independent bipartisan commission — to require eligible voters to show proof …

The Associated Press reports: Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday instructed the Justice Department to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a sweeping election overhaul that Georgia Republican lawmakers passed in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in the state. The lawsuit, filed in June 2021 under former President Joe Biden, alleged that the Georgia law was intended to deny …

CBS News reports: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to freeze a decision from Pennsylvania’s highest court that required election officials to count provisional ballots cast by people whose mail ballots are invalid because they lacked mandatory secrecy envelopes. The order from the justices means that election officials in the key battleground state must tally provisional ballots submitted on Election …

CNN reports: A federal judge on Tuesday tossed out a Republican lawsuit that sought to segregate overseas ballots in Pennsylvania for additional vetting. US District Judge Chris Cooper said that the challengers to Pennsylvania’s policies for overseas ballots filed by GOP members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation and an outside group came too late and that it was too close …

Democracy Docket reports: A judge declined to order South Carolina’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and State Election Commission (SEC) to register thousands of young voters whose registrations were mistakenly denied because they were not yet 18 when they registered but would be by Election Day. These voters will not be allowed to cast a ballot this November. The Richland …

Florida Politics reports:  The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) have filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit over a state law requiring that a voter’s name and Social Security number match the info on their government ID. Civil rights groups, collectively represented by nonprofit plaintiff Florida Rising Together, sued Secretary of State Cord Byrd, …

CNN reports: A text message last week to young voters in Wisconsin is stirring new concerns in the battleground state about a messaging campaign that could intimidate college students from casting ballots this election, according to a letter from voter protection groups released Tuesday. The unsolicited text, sent from at least one 262- number to cell phones of people in …

The New York Times reports: Pennsylvania’s highest court on Friday threw out a lower-court ruling that would have required election officials in the state’s two most-populous counties to count otherwise valid mail-in ballots that had the incorrect date or no date at all on the outer envelope. In a brief, two-page order, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to rule on …

The Texas Tribune reports: An effort by some Republican officials to curb access to early voting on college campuses in Tarrant County failed Thursday, after Tarrant County Commissioners Court voted to keep the polling sites in place. The push to limit the voting locations was led by Judge Tim O’Hare, a Republican and the chief elected official of the county. …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Travis County to block an effort to register more voters before the November election. Paxton’s lawsuit follows a decision by the Travis County commissioners to hire Civic Government Solutions to contact non-registered county residents and encourage them to register. Travis County includes Austin. “We just thought it was nice …

The Associated Press reports: Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Tuesday that makes additional changes to Georgia’s election laws ahead of the 2024 presidential contest in the battleground state, including defining probable causes for removing voters from the rolls when their eligibility is challenged. Republican activists — fueled by debunked theories of a stolen election — have challenged more than 100,000 …

Reuters reports: A federal judge has blocked North Carolina from implementing a more restrictive verification for voters who register and cast ballots on the same day, agreeing with the state Democratic Party that doing so would cause eligible votes to be thrown out. The state legislature’s Republican majority passed a raft of new voting restrictions last year and overrode Democratic …

Politico reports: The challenge, which was shared first with POLITICO, takes on a law passed last year that requires people who register and vote on Election Day without a photo ID to send in missing documentation to the state within seven days. If they don’t, their votes will be thrown out and they’ll be referred to the state Attorney General’s …

The Washington Post reports: A voting rights group filed a lawsuit against presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) Wednesday morning over the use of so-called election police and other alleged intimidation and voter suppression tactics aimed at citizens with felony criminal records. The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and several individuals impacted by the state’s policies allege that they …

CNN reports: A federal judge on Monday blocked a Florida election law that would have set limits on voter registration in the state. Chief US District Judge for the Northern District of Florida Mark E. Walker said while it’s correct for the state to “seek integrity” in its electoral system, “Florida’s solutions for preserving election integrity are too far removed …

The Guardian reports: Alabama discriminated against Black voters when it drew its seven congressional districts last year, the Supreme Court has ruled, a decision that is a major victory for the Voting Rights Act. The decision in the case, Allen v Milligan, means that Alabama will have to draw its congressional map to include a second majority-Black district. Black voters …

Axios reports: An Arizona activist group agreed Sunday to settle a lawsuit accusing its activists of voter intimidation at ballot drop boxes in the state. The League of Women Voters of Arizona filed the suit against a group that formerly called itself Clean Elections USA, whose activists gathered at drop boxes last year in efforts they claimed were to prevent …

The New York Times reports: Propelled by a new coalition of Trump allies, Republican-led legislatures have continued to pass significant restrictions on access to the ballot, including new limits to voting by mail in Ohio, a ban on ballot drop boxes in Arkansas and the shortening of early voting windows in Wyoming. Behind the efforts is a network of billionaire-backed …

CNN reports: Florida lawmakers have passed an array of new restrictions on groups that register voters – an action that voting rights experts say could make it harder for people of color in the state to register and participate in future elections. The measures are part of a sweeping elections bill that now awaits Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature. Several key …

The Guardian reports: Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has admitted to a “dirty trick” that his campaign used to suppress the Hispanic vote during the city’s 1993 mayoral race. Giuliani explained that he spent $2m to set up a so-called Voter Integrity Committee which was headed by Randy Levine, current president of the New York Yankees baseball team, and …