News Clips

• February 2, 2012  |  Madison.com Op-Ed: LWV’s Andrea Kaminski: Citizens without ID caught in ‘Catch 22’ Although public perception is that everyone has a current, up-to-date government-issued photo ID, studies consistently show that as many as 11% of the voting age population nationwide lacks the types of ID that are necessary to vote in an ever-increasing number of states - many of whom are caught in a Catch-22 situation.
• February 1, 2012  |  Kansas Reporter New Kansas voter ID regs hitting voters in nursing home Around 50 elderly residents of a nursing home will likely not be able to vote for the first time in years due to new voter identification requirements.
• January 30, 2012  |  The New York Times Albany Redistricting Plan Faulted as Unfair to Minorities Officials and citizens criticize New York’s proposed redistricting maps as unrepresentative of growing minority populations.
• January 30, 2012  |  MTV Florida NAACP Members ‘Will Not Be Silenced’ By New Voter Laws Vanity Shields, a University of South Florida student and USF NAACP chapter president, expresses student concerns regarding changes to voting laws in Florida.
• January 30, 2012 Lawyers' Committee and Partners' Victory in Georgia NVRA Case Filed on Behalf of Georgia NAACP
• January 27, 2012  |  New America Media Civil Rights Advocates Meet in L.A. to Discuss Voter Suppression Laws Civil rights advocates recently gathered in LA to promote working together for open and accessible elections this year.
• January 26, 2012  |  New York Times Op-Ed: Voting and Racial History Last week, the Federal Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder. Section 5 requires that jurisdictions with histories of racial discrimination prove to the Department of Justice that new laws will not have a racially disproportionate impact before new voting laws go into effect.
• January 25, 2012  |  Columbia Free-Times Dead Wrong? Election Official Disputes Claim That Deceased Voted in S.C. On January 11th, South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles Director Kevin Shwedo claimed 957 dead people voted in the recent election, raising the specter of massive voter fraud. However, new findings have led to widespread skepticism of the DMV report.
• January 25, 2012  |  South Carolina Election Commission SEC Executive Director Testifies on “Dead Voters” Claim Testimony by South Carolina Election Commission Executive Direct Marci Andino refutes the state’s Attorney General’s claim that 953 dead people cast ballots.
• January 23, 2012  |  Time Magazine The New Battle Over Voting Rights Adam Cohen discusses the recent debate over government issued photo identification laws and the mounting aggressive attack on the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act.
• January 21, 2012  |  USA Today Proposed State Voter ID Laws Could Have Big Impact on College Students Opponents of restrictive government-issued photo ID laws believe that the laws have a disproportionate impact on minorities, young adults, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Mimi Murray Digby Marziani, Counsel for the Democracy Program with the Brennan Center for Social Justice in Washington D.C., states that five million voters could have their right to vote taken away from them if these laws are passed.
• January 11, 2012  |  TPM Lawyer Defending South Carolina’s Voter ID Law Thinks DOJ Is Biased Against White People South Carolina officials plan to challenge the Justice Department’s block of a voter ID law that statistics show would negatively affect non-white voters.
• January 11, 2012  |  Media Matters O'Keefe Video Doesn't Show "Dead People Vote In NH" James O’Keefe’s recent video advocating restrictive voter ID laws shows no evidence that voter fraud is actually an issue, only that O’Keefe and his crew have engaged in manufacturing voter fraud.
• January 11, 2012  |  Media Matters For America The Flaws In The O’Keefe ‘Voter Fraud’ Scheme Rather than demonstrating that voter fraud is an easily performed act, James O’Keefe’s “voter fraud” stunt demonstrates how difficult it would actually be to pull off an “election-changing” plot.
• January 4, 2012  |  WOWT.com Proposed Voter ID Bill Meets Opposition A Nebraska senator recently proposed a new voter ID law and opponents of the legislation are already up in arms.
• January 3, 2012  |  TheBaynet.com Deceptive Voter Practices Cannot Be Tolerated U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Charles Schumer are re-introducing the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2011 to protect the vote of minority communities.
• December 30, 2011  |  The Sacramento Bee Op-Ed: Voter ID laws continue an assault on democracy In 2011, five states passed laws requiring voters to present government-issued photo identification before being allowed to cast their vote. Not only are these laws unnecessary because voters already have to prove their residency and citizenship when registering, they make voting more difficult for groups that are less likely to have or need government-issued photo ID in their daily lives.
• December 28, 2011  |  The Grio Voter ID battle will spread from South Carolina to several other key states Restrictive government-issued voter ID laws in several states could dampen minority, elderly, student, and low-income citizen participation in future elections, prompting heightened scrutiny from the Department of Justice.
• December 27, 2011  |  The New Yorker Op-Ed: Holder's Legacy Restrictive new government-issued voter ID laws in South Carolina and other states highlight the importance of the Voting Rights Act, first passed in 1965 and renewed several times since by large bipartisan majorities.
• December 23, 2011  |  Washington Post Justice Dept. rejects South Carolina voter ID law, calling it discriminatory The Department of Justice rejected South Carolina's new government-issued voter ID law, noting that the law will have a discriminatory impact on registered minority voters, who are less likely to have the current government-issued photo ID required to vote under the law.
• December 16, 2011  |  KnoxNews.com Gov. Bill Haslam voices concerns about requiring photo ID for voting Tennessee governor Bill Haslam worries that the new state law that requires voters to have government-issued photo ID will make it "unnecessarily hard" for some to cast their vote in next year's elections.
• December 15, 2011  |  American Urban Radio Networks (Sheridan Broadcasting Network) Lawyers' Committee's Eric Marshall on Attorney General Eric Holder's Speech on Voting Rights Eric Marshall of the Lawyers' Committee applauded Attorney General Eric Holder's mention of modernizing the outdated voter registration system and support of federal legislation to eliminate deceptive practices.
• December 13, 2011  |  New York Times Holder Signals Tough Review of New State Laws on Voting Attorney General Holder said the Department of Justice would be scrutinizing new state voter laws more closely to ensure they do not have a discriminatory impact. He also called for modernizing the voter registration system with automatic voter registration and introducing legislation to curb the practice of using deceptive robocalls and flyers to intimidate or trick voters into staying home on election day.
• December 12, 2011  |  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Amended state voter ID bill moves forward Pennsylvania's state Senate narrowly passed a restrictive government-issued voter ID bill through committee. Like similar bills passed in states across the country, this bill, if passed, will make it more difficult for groups who are less likely to have the necessary qualifying identification -- senior citizens, people with disabilities, students, minorities, and low-income citizens -- to vote in the 2012 presidential election and beyond.
• December 12, 2011  |  Charleston Regional Business Journal Civil rights groups attempt to block S.C. voter ID law from taking effect More than 200,000 registered voters in South Carolina who have already proven their residency and eligibility to vote, could have their right to vote taken away if a new state law goes into effect. The new law requires registered voters to present a current, valid government-issued photo ID in order to vote, but many voters, especially the elderly, people with disabilities, students, low-income voters, and minorities don't have the required ID.
• December 11, 2011  |  Philadelphia Inquirer Op-Ed: The real reason for pushing the voter-ID plan in Pa. In Pennsylvania, over 20 million votes have been cast since 2004 - yet only 4 individuals were convicted of voter fraud since then. Zero of those convicted were impersonating another person; all four were for voters who registered when they were ineligible to do so. Restrictive government-issued voter ID laws aren't necessary to prevent voter impersonation fraud, which is already a felony.
• December 9, 2011  |  Afro American Newspaper Massive Manhattan Voting Rights Demonstration Set for Dec. 10 Lawyers' Committee Executive Director Barbara Arnwine joins NAACP President Ben Jealous and other civil rights leaders in for December 10th rally in New York City to Address Assault on Voting.
• December 6, 2011  |  Baltimore Sun Schurick guilty of election fraud in robocall case Top political aide to former Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich was found guilty of election fraud and using deceptive tactics to discourage voters from going to the polls.
• December 5, 2011  |  Lawyers.com Don’t Let Rick Perry – or Anyone Else – Keep You from Voting Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's gaffe at St. Anselm College, where he asked students who would be 21 by November 12, 2011 to vote for him (the legal voting age is 18 and the general Election Day in 2012 is November 6th, not November 12th), provide an example of accidental misinformation that could confuse voters or potentially keep people from casting their ballots. However, significant changes to voter registration and proof of eligibility laws have the power to confuse and disenfranchise far more voters.
• December 5, 2011  |  NPR Maryland Case May Discourage Political Dirty Tricks A Maryland case highlights the need for national legislation to combat deceptive practices and political dirty tricks. Some of the most common examples include anonymous flyers and robocalls telling people to vote on the wrong day and flyers advertising false precinct changes intended to make voters go to the wrong polling place.
• December 4, 2011  |  Wausau Daily Herald Voter ID becomes law of unintended consequences In her 84 years of life, Ruthelle Frank never needed a birth certificate -- until now. Wisconsin's restrictive new government-issued voter ID law goes into effect in 2012, and without a birth certificate, Ruthelle won't be able to get a state identification card to be able to vote. Born in her home in 1927, Ruthelle never had a birth certificate -- and never needed one. She's voted in every election since 1948.
• December 1, 2011  |  The Tennessean Nashville homeless man says he got voter ID runaround
• November 29, 2011  |  Roll Call Parties Contest Election-Monitoring Techniques Poll monitors for the King Street Patriots in Texas have been accused of intimidating voters under the guise of preventing election fraud. The group is also being sued for allegedly violating Texas campaign finance law.
• November 21, 2011  |  The Florida Independent New bill would nix prohibition against poll workers asking voters for ‘additional information’ A newly proposed bill in Florida will make it even harder for eligible citizens to cast their ballots. Under the proposed bill, even if a voter brings their government-issued photo ID, and the address on the card matches the address in the voting rolls, and all of the signatures match, a poll worker can still insist on more proof that a voter is eligible.
• November 18, 2011  |  Albuquerque Journal Possible Vote Fraud Findings Dwindle NM Secretary of State Dianna Duran, who had been investigating voter fraud in her state, revised her claims of voter fraud downward. Previously, she had claimed that 37 out of 1.1 million registered voters (0.0034%) were possibly non-citizens.
• November 17, 2011  |  New York Times Disenfranchise No More The Department of Justice has been protecting the rights of voters for decades using a procedure called preclearance which prevents states from enacting major changes to its election law unless states can show that the new laws will not have a racially discriminatory impact.
• November 15, 2011  |  The Tennessean Murfreesboro couple testify in D.C. about voter ID experience Lee and Phyllis Campbell, a retired couple from Tennessee who had difficulty obtaining a free ID card for voting testified before a panel of House Democrats on November 14. They explained how when they asked for the free ID, the driver's license testing center worker encouraged them to pay $8 for a new license, because a free ID involved "too much paperwork."
• November 15, 2011  |  Brave New Foundation Who is Denying YOUR Vote: New Video on Voter Suppression Laws from Brave New Foundation! Proponents of government-issued voter ID laws claim that the laws prevent fraud - but invalid voter registrations are rarer than one in a million. Government-issued voter ID laws do nothing to prevent voter impersonation fraud - but they do disenfranchise targeted populations, particularly the elderly, people with disabilities, students, low-income voters, and minorities.
• November 14, 2011  |  Voting Rights Project Barbara Arnwine Speaks at House Democrats' Forum on State Voting Laws The right to vote and choose our leaders is at the heart of what it means to be American and participate in our democracy. Right now, state legislatures are actively trying to make it harder for certain segments of our citizenry to vote and have their voices heard.
• November 8, 2011  |  Huffington Post Election Day Robocall Instructs Voters To Go To Polls Tomorrow On November 8, Ohio voters received a suspicious phone call telling them the state election was a day later. On the morning of Election Day, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) office received the automated message, which stated that the election would take place “tomorrow.”
• November 8, 2011  |  Voting Rights Project Lawyers’ Committee Successfully Opposes Texas’ Preclearance Request in Section 5 Declaratory Judgment Action Regarding Statewide Redistricting Plans On November 8, 20011, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied summary judgment to the State of Texas in its lawsuit seeking preclearance, under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, of its redistricting plans for Congress, the state House of Representatives, and the state Senate.
• November 8, 2011  |  Associated Press Maine voters restore Election Day registration In a November 8 ballot referendum, Maine voters restored Election Day registration. 60% of voters called for the repeal of a law passed in June, which forced voters to register two days before an election. The measure had rolled back more than four-decades of successful same-day registration.
• November 7, 2011  |  Middle Tennessee State University Poll Report Voters Don't Know Details of Tennessee Voter ID Law A new poll conducted by the Middle Tennessee State University Survey Group shows that voters do not understand the details of Tennessee's new government-issued photo ID law. Overall, 71% of those surveyed said they were aware of the law, but only 51% of those age 39 or younger knew about it.
• November 4, 2011  |  Public Policy Program Lawyers' Committee Urges Continued Funding for Election Assistance Commission The Lawyers' Committee urges Congress to oppose any efforts to eliminate funding for the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Abolishing the EAC would fail to further voting transparency and reliability that was at the heart of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Furthermore, with the 2012 Presidential Election season well underway, this Congress should focus its efforts on enhancing those institutions with primary voting rights enforcement responsibilities, not undermining their existence.
• October 30, 2011  |  The Commercial Appeal Voter ID Initiative Set for Mississippi Ballot On November 8, Mississippi voters will have the opportunity to decide whether the state should require government-issued photo identification at polling places.
• October 23, 2011  |  Daytona Beach News-Journal New Florida election law stirs up controversy Civics teacher Jill Cicciarelli could face thousands of dollars in fines for helping her students to register to vote under Florida's excessively restrictive new law.
• October 20, 2011  |  Daily News Journal 91 year-old Tennessee woman unable to stand in line for ID Virginia Lasater, 91, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee could not get a photo ID card to vote, because she could not physically stand in line at the driver testing center. Lasater has been voting and has worked on campaigns for the past 40 years, but has never had photo identification.
• October 20, 2011  |  Reuters League of Women Voters files suit to block Wisconsin's new voter ID law The Wisconsin League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit on October 20 to block the state's government-issued photo identification law.
• October 20, 2011  |  Slate The ugly parallels between Jim Crow and modern vote-suppression laws. Although the most obvious forms of vote suppression have faded away, new and inisidious suppression efforts have sprung up, cloaked in the language of preventing voter fraud - much like vote suppression during the Jim Crow era.
• October 19, 2011  |  ABC 27 Pennsylvanians Rally Against Voter ID Voters gathered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to protest House Bill 934, which requires voters to show a government-issued photo ID at the polls. The bill has passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and is pending before the Senate.
• October 19, 2011  |  NPR, Associated Press Stories of Disenfranchisement in South Carolina Delores Freelon and Willie Blair are just two of the 178,000 South Carolina voters who may lost their right to vote because of the state's new government-issued photo ID law.
• October 12, 2011  |  Wisconsin State Journal New student IDs for voting could cost UW-Madison $700,000 every two years Issuing new ID cards to students that comply with the new Wisconsin government-issued photo ID law would cost UW-Madison alone $700,000 every two years.
• October 5, 2011  |  Times Free Press 96-year-old Tennessee Woman Denied Voting ID Dorothy Cooper, 96, of Chattanooga was denied an identification card required to vote last month. Although Cooper provided a birth certificate, a rent receipt, and a voter registration card, officials at the Tennessee Department of Safety still refused to give her a photo ID card because her current surname did not match her maiden name listed on her birth certificate.
• October 4, 2011  |  TPM Muckraker Voter ID Under Fire At Progressive Conference; Obama Calls Restrictions A 'Big Mistake' In this article, Ryan J. Reilly discusses the progressive community's response to recently-passed voter ID restrictions.
• September 29, 2011  |  ThinkProgress Maine Secretary of State Targets Student Voters Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers gave 206 university students a grim ultimatum: register a car in the state, give up their right to vote. The letter gave the students 30 days to register their vehicle with the Maine DMV, or return an enclosed form canceling their voter registration. College students had the right to vote in their school’s state affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1979.
• September 28, 2011 Lawyers' Committee Urges DOJ to Reject North Carolina’s Citizenship Verification and Purge Procedure for Voter Registration On September 28, 2011, the Lawyers’ Committee, along with the ACLU Voting Rights Project, wrote to the Justice Department urging the Department to not grant Section 5 preclearance to North Carolina’s new citizenship verification and purge procedure for voter registration. The new procedure wrongly presumes that new registrants who were not citizens at the time they obtained a driver’s license also were still not citizens when they registered to vote months, if not years, later.
• September 28, 2011  |  The Root DC, Washington Post The Assault On The Fundamental Right to Vote The U.S. Constitution is under assault. So much so that maybe we ought to inscribe this Latin phrase, Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate, or Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, on it alongside the other weighty ideas. This is particularly true for African Americans on the lower economic rungs.
• September 21, 2011 Lawyers' Committee Successfully Defends Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act This morning, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upheld the constitutionality of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act against a challenge by Shelby County, Alabama, a largely-white suburb of Birmingham. The ruling in the case, Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, No. 1:10-cv-00651 (D.D.C.), held that Congress acted appropriately when it reauthorized the preclearance requirement of Section 5 in 2006.
• September 16, 2011 Lawyers’ Committee and Partners File Appellate Brief Supporting Expansive Reading of the NVRA The Lawyers’ Committee and its coalition partners filed a brief in the Tenth Circuit defending a district court victory in our case challenging the failure of the State of New Mexico to distribute voter registration applications to public assistance clients, as required by the National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”).
• September 9, 2011 'Countering the Assault on Voting Rights' Panel Videos Videos from the September 8th Panel Discussion, "Countering the Assault on Voting Rights"
• September 7, 2011  |  The Capital Times (Madison.com) Top DOT official tells staff not to mention free voter ID cards to the public — unless they ask "An internal memo from a top Department of Transportation official instructs workers at Division of Motor Vehicles service centers not to tell members of the public that they can obtain voter identification cards free of charge - unless they know to ask for it. The memo was sent to all state Department of Transportation and Department of Motor Vehicles employees on July 1, the same day employees were to begin issuing photo IDs in accordance with a controversial new Voter Photo ID law adopted earlier in the year."
• August 31, 2011 DOJ Says that More Information Needed from SC to Prove that New Voter ID Law Won’t Disenfranchise The U.S. Department of Justice has told South Carolina it needs to provide further evidence that its new voter ID law will not disenfranchise minority voters before it will pre-clear the law. The Lawyers’ Committee would like to thank the more than 1,300 people who participated in our call to action and sent letters to the DOJ encouraging them to strictly scrutinize South Carolina’s proposed voting. Without your help, this may not have been possible!
• August 24, 2011  |  Voting Rights Project Lawyers’ Committee and Partners Complete Review of Ohio’s Election Administration Plans As part of a landmark settlement of a federal lawsuit aimed at dramatically improving the administration of elections in Ohio, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee) and the League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWV Ohio), in collaboration with Lawyers’ Committee pro bono partners Arnold & Porter LLP and Proskauer Rose LLP recently completed a review of Ohio’s Election Administration Plans (EAPs) prepared by county boards of elections prior to the 2010 general election. The review revealed that approximately half of the thirty-two Plans reviewed were either deficient or minimal in key areas of election administration.
• August 22, 2011  |  Voting Rights Project Michigan Failing to Offer Voter Registration to Public Assistance Clients: National Voting Rights Groups Put Secretary of State Johnson on Notice of Voting Rights Violations Citing clear evidence that the State of Michigan is failing to provide low-income residents with a legally-mandated opportunity to register to vote, attorneys from the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL), Demos, Project Vote, and the NAACP sent a pre-litigation notice letter on August 19, 2011 to Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, on behalf of the Michigan State Conference of the NAACP. The letter demands that the Secretary immediately act to bring Michigan into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) or face litigation.
• August 12, 2011  |  www.mysanantonio.com Veterans Affairs Photo IDs Not Enough to Vote in Texas The controversial voter ID bill in Texas would exclude VA photo IDs from the list of accepted photo IDs required to vote.
• August 6, 2011  |  Politico States’ Rights Redux: Voting Rights Act + 46 States’ rights is code for discrimination. A century and a half ago, some states asserted the right to leave the union. We fought the nation’s bloodiest conflict, then admitted the traitors back into the country on generous terms. Though our Confederate brothers and sisters died defending the enslavement of African-Americans, we did this in the name of peace and forgiveness.
• August 6, 2011 The Voting Rights Act at 46: A Time for Reflection The anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a reason to celebrate. Forty-six years after President Lyndon Johnson signed this transformational piece of legislation into law, the Act still evokes the struggles of the civil rights community and its allies to guarantee equal access to the polls. This year’s commemoration, however, must be tempered by the resolve to face new challenges threatening the progress that was made possible by the Voting Rights Act.
• August 5, 2011 Lawyers' Committee and Partners Ask DOJ to Block South Carolina's New Photo Voter ID Law On August 5, 2011, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, American Civil Liberties Union's Southern Regional Office, Brennan Center for Justice, and League of Women Voters of South Carolina wrote to the Department of Justice urging a denial of preclearance for the state's new photo voter ID law.
• August 1, 2011 Deceptive Absentee Ballots Sent to Wisconsin Voters Wisconsin voters in at least two state senate districts have reportedly received misleading absentee ballots, underlining the need for legislation that combats voter deception and intimidation during and around elections.
• July 29, 2011 Protecting Voting Rights in Florida Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Executive Director Barbara Arnwine and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, President and Founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, released the following statement in response to the action by the Florida Secretary of State to withdraw portions of the voter suppression act (HB 1355) from consideration by the Department of Justice.
• July 26, 2011  |  BET.com Floridians Protest New Voting Law; Civil rights groups have urged the Justice Department to reject the law. “The state is getting rid of a practice that has been relied on by minority citizens for a long time. Voter registration groups like the NAACP and the League of Women Voters are now under some really onerous restrictions,” said Marcia Johnson-Blanco, co-director of the Lawyers’ Committee’s voting rights program.
• July 25, 2011  |  Charleston Democrat Examiner Getting the "free" Voter ID in Wisconsin an ordeal Getting the "free" Voter ID in Wisconsin proves to be an ordeal for one citizen whose personal banking statement was scrutinized.
• July 24, 2011  |  Columbus Dispatch New Ohio Law Ends Popular Voting Options 234,000 absentee or early ballots that new law ends were cast in county in 2008.
• July 24, 2011  |  Philadelphia Tribune Voter I.D. laws bring thoughts of ‘Jim Crow’ “Republicans are imposing laws all over the country, acting like … voter fraud is rampant, and it’s ridiculous,” Wasserman Schultz said. The National Republican Congressional Committee responded by accusing the four-term Democratic congresswoman of making “absurd accusations” and “offensive remarks.” In a statement the Republican committee said, “Wasserman Schultz will ‘literally’ say anything.” Schultz later recanted and said “Jim Crow was the wrong analogy to use.” But there are those who agree with her and Clinton. Particularly, Marcia F. Johnson-Blanco, Co-director of the Voting Rights Project Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
• July 15, 2011  |  Voting Rights Project Lawyers' Committee Asks DOJ to Block Voter Suppression Law in Florida The Lawyers’ Committee has filed a lengthy comment letter with the Justice Department, urging the Department to exercise its authority under the Voting Rights Act to block a new Florida law that would impose onerous and unnecessary limitations on grassroots voter registration drives.
• June 23, 2011  |  Black Voices News Article on "The Conspiracy to Steal the 2012 Election" Featuring Barbara Arnwine and the Lawyers' Committee's Map of Shame Barbara Arnwine, leader of the D.C. based Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, is on a mission. She wants to make sure that every citizen has the right to vote. On its face, it seems like a retro mission, since the right to vote has long been established. But one look at her Map of Shame, a map she shared at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s 40th Anniversary and annual conference, and the mission becomes quite urgent.
• May 26, 2011 Executive Director Barbara Arnwine in The Root: ID Laws Burdensome for Minority and Low Income Voters Barbara Arnwine, Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, was quoted in an article in The Root describing the effects of new voter ID laws on black voters.
• April 27, 2011 Lawyers' Committee's Eric Marshall Testifies Against WI Voter ID The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law's Manager of Legal Mobilization submitted testimony opposing Wisconsin Assembly Bill 7 - requiring government-issued photo identification in order to vote - stating that it would, "make Wisconsin among the most restrictive election systems in the country."
• April 25, 2011 The Case Against Florida Senate Bill 2086 The Lawyers' Committee's Marcia Johnson-Blanco submits written testimony on Florida Senate Bill 2086 before the Senate Budget Committee.
• April 14, 2011 2012 Election Begins: Legislative Initiatives Are Targeting Vulnerable Voters With the 2012 election less than two years away, voter suppression efforts are already in high gear across the nation. There is a persistent and well-coordinated effort in state legislatures to deter certain voters from access to the ballot.
• April 14, 2011  |  Great Falls Tribune Governor Schweitzer Vetoes Montana Photo ID Bill The Great Falls Tribune reports that Montana Governor Schweitzer has vetoed, among other bills, one that would eliminate same-day voter registration and another that would impose stringent voter ID requirements. The vetoes were emphasized with an outdoor ceremony in which the Governor used a heated brand reading "VETO" to burn the word into wooden plaques representing the rejected bills. The governor noted that all the bills vetoed "are either frivolous, unconstitutional or in direct contradiction to the expressed will of the people of Montana."
• March 23, 2011 Lawyers' Committee Provides Written Testimony on PA and OH Voter ID Bills Testimony urges Pennsylvania and Ohio not to enact barriers to the ballot and to consider the negative impact that the proposed voter ID bill would have on traditionally disenfranchised voters.
• February 16, 2011 Voting Rights Project Defends Section 5 of the VRA in Federal Court The Project represents Shelby County resident Bobby Lee Harris, who intervened in the case to defend Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
• February 7, 2011 Lawyers' Committee and Partners Write Letter Opposing Missouri Voter ID Bills The letter expressed strong opposition to Missouri HJR 14 and HB 329 and urged members of the House Elections Committee to vote “no” on both bills, saying that they would "enshrine anti-democratic, discriminatory and costly provisions into the Missouri State Constitution."
• December 21, 2010 Victory in New Mexico Voter Registration Case On December 21, 2010, U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera issued an important ruling in a case in which the Voting Rights Project represents the plaintiff challenging the failure of the State of New Mexico to properly implement the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 at the State's public assistance offices. The Court found that the State is violating the NVRA because its policy is to provide voter registration forms to public assistance clients only if the clients make an affirmative request to register to vote.
• November 16, 2010 Voting Rights Project Files Major Brief in Shelby County, AL v. Holder Case The Project represents Shelby County resident Bobby Lee Harris, who intervened in the case to defend Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
• November 2, 2010 New York City Voters Encounter Only Scattered Problems Election Protection volunteers help monitor scattered reports of issues at the voting polls, while NYT notes that New Yorkers appear to have experienced fewer issues casting ballots this year.
• November 1, 2010 Election Protection Combatting Voter Suppression on Election Day and Before Lawyers' Committee submits amicus curaie brief in opposition to Minnesota Tea Party-related groups' lawsuit seeking to wear pins that say "Please I.D. Me" in polling places. The Judge's decision denying that request relied on the Lawyers' Committee/Election Protection position that: “The record suggests that the buttons are designed to affect the actual voting process at the polls by intimating that the voters are required to show identification before voting. This intimation could confuse voters and election officials and cause voters to refrain from voting because of increased delays or the misapprehension that identification is required.”
• October 7, 2010 Voting Rights Project Launches Searchable Index of Objections and Observers! Our tool is the most comprehensive resource available for analysis of objections and observers under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965!
• September 28, 2010 VRP Co-Director Bob Kengle a Panelist on ACS Voting Rights Symposium Kengle participated in “A National Dialogue on the State of Voting Rights in 2010: Past, Present, and Future.”
• September 14, 2010 Election Protection Off to a Great Start Assisting Primary Election Voters Washington, D.C. “The most widely reported problems this morning have been broken machines, which in most cases have been alleviated by the use of paper ballots, and lack of access to some sites,” said Marcia Johnson-Blanco, acting co-director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s Voting Rights Project. “Field volunteers are on the ground to assist voters in person or place telephone calls to the appropriate election official and Election Protection experts are here to help. Voters in D.C. as well as Maryland may call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683) toll-free until 8:30 p.m. EST with any questions or issues that arise at polling areas.”
• September 9, 2010 Election Protection Hotline Available to Help Voters in Washington, D.C. and New York Toll-Free Number (1-866-OUR-VOTE) Available Now; Live Assistance on Primary Election Day
• August 9, 2010  |  New York Times A Welfare Check and a Voting Card Increased voter registration in Ohio and Missouri is a result of Lawyers’ Committee Litigation.
• July 1, 2010 Lawyers’ Committee Settles NVRA Suit Against New Mexico Motor Vehicle Agency The Lawyers' Committee settled its lawsuit against New Mexico for its failure to offer voter registration at the state's motor vehicle offices in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
• June 16, 2010 Competing Redistricting Amendments In Florida Florida voters face competing redistricting amendments this year.
• June 15, 2010 New York Senate Passes Anti-Deceptive Practices Bill On June 15, 2010 the New York State Senate passed S2554B, “The Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act,” by a vote of 33-28. The Lawyers’ Committee’s New York Election Protection leadership played an important role in the bill’s passage, working with the Senate on the legislation, testifying in front of the committee last year, and sending a letter of support on the eve of the vote.
• June 4, 2010 Lawyers' Committee Legal Director Addresses Electoral and Campaign Finance Reform During Recent Panel Discussion, "How Broken is Our Democracy? And How Should We Fix It?" Lawyers' Committee Legal Director Jon Greenbaum joined other leading experts and advocates during a June 1st conference co-sponsored by Demos, AmericaSpeaks, Everyday Democracy, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School and the Brookings Institution to discuss electoral and campaign finance reform.
• May 24, 2010 South Carolina House Passes Voter ID Bill On May 5, 2010, despite strenuous objections of Democratic members, Republican Representatives of South Carolina’s General Assembly pushed a bill through the House that would require voters to present a photo-ID prior to voting.
• May 3, 2010 Lawyer's Committee Letter of Opposition to Missouri's HJR 64 and HB 1966 On May 3, 2010, the Lawyers' Committee sent a letter of opposition to the Missouri State Senate regarding House Joint Resolution 64 and House Bill 1966. The opposition letter argued that both peices of legislation would create an "unprecedented regime of disenfranchisement that falls disproportionately on seniors, minority voters, low income voters, students and young voters, and voters with disabilities."
• April 28, 2010 Lawyers' Committee Comment Letter to DOJ On April 27, 2010, the Lawyers’ Committee sent a comment letter to the U.S. Justice Department objecting to changes the State of South Carolina is seeking to impose on the Fairfield County, South Carolina school district. The district is governed by a seven-member elected board, of whom six are African-American; however, under legislation enacted by the state two additional members would be appointed by the all-white local legislative delegation and the board’s budgetary authority would be transferred to a finance committee also appointed by the delegation. The changes are being reviewed by the Justice Department pursuant to its preclearance authority under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
• April 14, 2010 Lawyers' Committee Challenges Voter Eligibility Standards in Virginia On April 13, 2010, the Voting Rights Project sent a letter to Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli II concerning recent reports that the Governor of Virginia is imposing new requirements for nonviolent ex-felons who seek restoration of their civil rights, including their voting rights. The letter reminded Attorney General Cuccinelli that changes to voter eligibility standards in Virginia must receive preclearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act before they can lawfully be implemented.
• December 15, 2009 Settlement Agreement Reached in Harkless v. Brunner The Lawyers' Committee and its co-counsel reached a settlement agreement on November 25 in a major lawsuit, Harkless v. Brunner, brought under Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act against the Ohio Secretary of State and the Director of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services ("DJFS"). The plaintiffs in the case were Lorain resident Carrie Harkless, Cleveland resident Tameca Mardis, and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
• December 11, 2009 Moving Voter Registration Toward a Digital Democracy Yesterday, the Lawyers' Committee submitted a response to an open public notice from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) titled "Moving Toward a Digital Democracy." Based on our experience as the leader of the Election Protection coalition, the largest non-partisan voter protection effort in the country, the Lawyers' Committee focused on the pressing need to upgrade and modernize the process of voter registration nationwide.
• November 19, 2009 Ohio House Passes Election Reform Bill In an article today, The Columbus Dispatch reports on the Ohio House passing a bill that would change ”virtually all aspects of the voting process.”
• September 30, 2009  |  National Law Journal & Legal Times Civil Rights Groups Seek International Help on Felony Voting Lawyers' Committee's Marcia Johnson-Blanco discusses needed attention to the issue of felony disenfranchisement and to put a human rights framework on the issue.
• September 17, 2009 Indiana Court of Appeals Strikes Down Burdensome Voter Identification Law The Court of Appeals of Indiana unanimously decided in League of Women Voters v. Rokita that Indiana's government-issued photo identification requirement for most in-person voters violates the Indiana Constitution's Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause.
• September 9, 2009 Lawyers' Committee Partners with ACLU and Sentencing Project to File Felony Disenfranchisement Petition
• September 8, 2009 Lawyers’ Committee Urges Federal Court to Enjoin Implementation of Georgia’s Discriminatory Registration Program On Friday, September 4, 2009, the Lawyers' Committee (along with its coalition partners) urged a federal court in Georgia to issue an injunction preventing the state of Georgia from implementing its discriminatory citizenship verification program for voter registration.
• August 31, 2009 Voter Registration Modernization is Gaining Momentum! A bipartisan group of officials, including former Senators Thomas A. Daschle and John C. Danforth, as well as Trevor Potter, former general counsel for John McCain's presidential campaign and Mark Elias, lead lawyer for Al Franken's 2008 recount, have come together in support of modernizing our antiquated voter registration system. The Lawyers' Committee applauds the Committee to Modernize Voter Registration's support of this critical reform.
• August 29, 2009 Lawyers’ Committee Urges DOJ to Reject Georgia’s Discriminatory Registration Program On Friday, August 29, 2009, the Lawyers' Committee (along with its coalition partners) urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to continue to block the efforts of the Georgia Secretary of State to implement a discriminatory voter registration verification program that threatens to disenfranchise numerous persons eligible to vote in Georgia.
• August 28, 2009 Lawyers’ Committee Fights for Student’s Voting Rights in Virginia The Lawyers’ Committee has been an active member of the Virginia State Board of Elections Task Force on Residency, fighting to ensure students across the Commonwealth will not be prevented from registering to vote where they go to school. During last year’s historic elections, ambiguity in Virginia’s residency requirements made it difficult for students to register to vote in several jurisdictions across the state.
• August 17, 2009 Advocating for Election Reform in Pittsburgh Voting Rights Project Campaign Manager, Eric Marshall, moderated a panel on modernizing our nation’s antiquated voter registration system at the 2009 Netroots Nation convention in Pittsburgh, PA on Saturday, August 15, 2009. In its fourth year, Netroots Nation is a national gathering of progressive leaders and activists that “inspire[s] action and serve as an incubator for ideas that challenge the status quo and ultimately affect change in the public sphere.”
• July 9, 2009 Lawyers' Committee and Partners File 2 Major Voter Registration Lawsuits Citing clear evidence that hundreds of thousands of low-income Indiana and New Mexico residents have illegally been denied the opportunity to register to vote, the Lawyers' Committee and its partners filed lawsuits on Thursday, July 9, 2008 against officials in both states for violations of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
• June 26, 2009 Lawyers' Committee Legal Director Quoted in Kansas City Star The Lawyers' Committee's Jon Greenbaum was quoted in the Kansas City Star today discussing the settlement reached with the state over its implementation of the National Voter Registration Act, "'The lawsuit has led to a 2,000 percent increase in the number of people registering to vote at Missouri public assistance agencies,' Greenbaum said. 'We appreciate that since they've been under court order, Missouri's Department of Social Services has been a national model in showing how to implement this law.'"
• June 25, 2009 Bipartisan Support for Voter Registration Modernization The former general counsels to the Obama and McCain presidential campaigns, Bob Bauer and Trevor Potter, published a forceful op-ed in support of modernization our nation's antiquated voter registration system today in the Washington Post.
• June 25, 2009 Settlement in Missouri is a Victory for Low-Income Voters In a victory for low-income voters, the Lawyers' Committee and its partners reached a settlement with the state of Missouri that will continue a program that has already resulted in over 100,000 new voter registrations collected at public assistance agencies in just a few months.
• June 16, 2009 Why the Voting Rights Act Matters On the eve of the Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the New York Times highlighted the Lawyers' Committee's recent victory in Georgia as evidence to why the law is so vital.
• June 1, 2009 DOJ Blocks Discriminatory Georgia Voter Registration Verification Program On Friday, May 29, 2009, the Department of Justice, using the authority granted under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, blocked changes Georgia made to its voter registration verification program that would have disenfranchised countless eligible voters in a letter sent to Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker.
• May 22, 2009 Lawyers' Committee Urges DOJ to Object to Discriminatory Georgia Law On May 19, the Voting Rights Project submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Department of Justice urging the Attorney General to file an objection under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to Georgia's program for verifying the citizenship and identities of certain voter registration applicants.
• May 4, 2009  |  National Journal A Bad Time To Cut Voting Rights Protections
• April 28, 2009 Sound the Alarm ... Civil Rights, Still At Risk With the historic election of Barack Obama as this nation's first African American president, we still are in a time where we must "sound the alarm" and heighten awareness of the ongoing struggle for racial justice and equality across the country as never before. The racial contradictions in our society are in many ways peaking instead of waning. Nowhere is this truer than in this term of when the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear nine civil rights cases, almost a record number.
• April 27, 2009  |  Gannett Washington Bureau (TheNewsStar.com) High Court to Tackle Voting Law
• April 25, 2009  |  American Constitution Society High Court Set To Consider Case Challenging Voting Rights Act On Wednesday, April 29, 2009, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder. This critical case is expected to decide the constitutionality of the preclearance requirement of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The Lawyers' Committee, representing a defendant-intervenor in the case, filed a lengthy brief with the Court defending the statute's constitutionality. The following is an article that appeared on the American Constitution Society's blog, by Mark Posner, senior fellow in the Voting Rights Project, that discusses the issues presented by this case.
• April 21, 2009  |  Washington Afro American Supreme Court to Weigh Voting Rights Act Challenge
• March 18, 2009  |  Los Angeles Times Conservatives invoke Obama in Voting Rights Act challenge
• March 16, 2009  |  Voice of America US Supreme Court to Rule on Important Challenges to Civil Rights Laws
• March 11, 2009 Jonah Goldman Testifies Before Senate Rules Committee Director of the Lawyers' Committee's National Campaign for Fair Elections, testified before the Senate Rules Committee about the effects of our flawed voter registration system on the 2008 election.
• September 7, 2008  |  New York Times Voter Registration by Students Raises Cloud of Consequences
• August 8, 2008  |  New York Times The Right to Vote