Tag Archives: voting rights

NBC News reports: Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that he plans to double the number of staff within the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division dedicated to protecting voting rights. “There are plenty of things up for debate in America, but the right of all eligible Americans to vote is not one of them,” Garland said. The staffing surge would …

From an op-ed published today by the Charleston Gazette: Some in my party have argued that now is the time to discard bipartisan voting reforms and embrace election reforms and policies solely supported by one party. Respectfully, I do not agree. I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy, and for that reason, …

The New York Times reports: The American Civil Liberties Union and the Native American Rights Fund filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging two new election laws in Montana as unconstitutional infringements on Native Americans’ right to vote. Montana legislators enacted the laws — H.B. 176, which eliminated same-day voter registration, and H.B. 530, which restricted ballot collection — this spring, …

CBS News reports: The Senate Rules Committee will consider amendments on Tuesday to S.1, the For the People Act, a massive voting and elections bill that Democrats claim is necessary to counter new voting restrictions being considered by multiple states. Committee Chair Amy Klobuchar announced last month that the committee would hold a “markup” session on the bill on May …

The Hill reports: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed legislation Tuesday night that would restore voting rights to formerly convicted felons upon their release from prison. The bill, which the state legislature passed in mid-April, immediately restores voting rights when people are released from prison, even if they are on parole. Prior to conviction and sentencing, criminal defendants are …

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports: Gov. Andy Beshear signed into law Wednesday a significant election reform bill that will make it easier for Kentuckians to vote early, bucking a national trend of more restrictive election laws in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Even with the expansions included in the bill, the state’s voting laws in many ways remain more restrictive …

ABC News reports: A lawsuit has been filed challenging Georgia’s new law imposing voting restrictions. The 35-page lawsuit has been filed by three voting rights groups claiming the law violates voters’ rights and will make it harder for lawful Georgia voters to take part in state elections. The lawsuit says SB 202 will impose unnecessary and burdensome new identification requirements …

The Associated Press reports: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday signed into law a sweeping Republican-sponsored overhaul of state elections that includes new restrictions on voting by mail and gives the legislature greater control over how elections are run. Democrats and voting rights groups say the law will disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color. It is part of a wave of …

MSNBC reports: The bills introduced by Michigan Republicans on Wednesday stand as a greatest-hits list amid a nationwide effort led by Republican legislatures to restrict access to the ballot box. But the sheer number of bills introduced – 39 – eclipses states like Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, where legislators have been hard at work advancing measures to change election rules. …

The Associated Press reports: A new executive order from President Joe Biden directs federal agencies to take a series of steps to promote voting access, a move that comes as congressional Democrats press for a sweeping voting and elections bill to counter efforts to restrict voting access. His plan was being announced during a recorded address on the 56th commemoration …

The Hill reports: President Biden, in remarks prepared for the Martin & Coretta Scott King Unity Breakfast on Sunday, is calling on Congress to restore parts of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013. “In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, holding that times have changed and blatant voter discrimination was …

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court appeared ready Tuesday to uphold voting restrictions in Arizona in a key case that could make it harder to challenge a raft of other voting measures Republicans have proposed following last year’s elections. All six conservative justices, appointed by Republican presidents, suggested they would throw out an appellate ruling that struck down the …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: A bill to restrict ballot drop boxes, require more ID for absentee voting and limit weekend early voting days passed the Georgia House on Monday amid protests that the proposals would make it harder for voters to participate in democracy. The House voted along party lines, 97-72, on the sweeping elections bill supported by Republicans who …

The New York Times reports: Led by loyalists who embrace former President Donald J. Trump’s baseless claims of a stolen election, Republicans in state legislatures nationwide are mounting extraordinary efforts to change the rules of voting and representation — and enhance their own political clout. At the top of those efforts is a slew of bills raising new barriers to …

Axios reports: There are at least 165 proposals under consideration in 33 states so far this year to restrict future voting access by limiting mail-in ballots, implementing new voter ID requirements and slashing registration options. As Trump’s impeachment trial begins over his role in the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overturn President Biden’s victory — fueled by baseless …

Via press release from the Justice Department: The Justice Department today announced its plans for voting rights monitoring in jurisdictions around the country for the Nov. 3, 2020 general election. The Justice Department historically has monitored in jurisdictions in the field on election day, and is again doing so this year. The department will also take complaints from the public …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: About 309,000 names were set to be erased from Georgia’s list of registered voters Monday night, a mass cancellation that a federal judge allowed to move forward. By Tuesday morning, the number of registered voters in Georgia was set to shrink from 7.4 million to 7.1 million. A voting rights group, Fair Fight Action, said in …

NPR reports: Tuesday is a historic day in Florida. Under an amendment passed by the voters in November, as many as 1.4 million former felons are regaining the right to vote. The referendum overturned a 150-year-old law that permanently disenfranchised people with felony convictions. Before the change, people who served their time could apply for clemency to a board headed …

Courthouse News reports: A federal judge in Texas threw out a closely followed lawsuit Thursday accusing Dallas County of drawing voter district lines to dilute the influence of white voters. U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, wrote the plaintiffs “failed to prove” the lack of a second county …

USA Today reports: By the 2020 presidential election, 16 and 17-year-olds may be able to vote in the nation’s capital. Washington, D.C. may lower the voting age for federal and local elections to 16. The legislation was introduced last Tuesday by D.C. council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who said he was inspired by the high schoolers that came to …