Posted by AzBlueMeanie: In yet another major victory for voting rights advocates this week, a federal judge today sided with President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in Obama for America v. Husted and ordered Ohio to allow early voting on the three days prior to the Nov. 6 election to all voters. Federal judge orders Ohio … Read more
by Pamela Powers Hannley
Tuesday's Arizona primary was a good day for women.
As we all know, the Arizona Legislature was on the forefront of the War on Women in the spring of 2012. Our legislators passed some of the country's most draconian laws restricting access to contraception, crippling Planned Parenthood, claiming that personhood begins before conception, and forcing women to submit to vaginal ultrasounds against their will.
Primary day was a good day for women because all eleven of the women candidates backed by the pro-choice group Arizona List won their races. The only way we can change Arizona's reactionary ways is to change our government in Phoenix. We're counting on these women to help us do that.
Candidate list after the jump.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Earlier this week, a U.S. District Court judge issued an injunction against Ohio’s "wrong precinct" law, which could cause a voter’s ballot not to be counted. Judge Issues Injunction Against Ohio’s ‘Wrong Precinct’ Election Law – The Daily Beast:
Until this Monday, in Ohio, if among the chaos of voting at peak hours in major elections, you were mistakenly directed to the wrong precinct at table 4 instead of your precinct at table 5 by a confused election worker, your vote could become a provisional ballot. That would mean it would likely be discounted because you voted in the wrong precinct without knowing you were doing so.
On Monday, a federal judge issued an injunction against the perennial swing state’s so-called wrong-precinct law (known to some as the “right church, wrong pew” rule), which stipulates that provisional votes cast in the wrong precincts can be discounted. According to the Advancement Project, a civil-rights group that filed the original suit against the state, 14,000 voters in Ohio had their ballots rejected in the 2008 election cycle due to the wrong-precinct rule.
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Rick Hasen, a professor of election law at UC Irvine and the author of The Voting Wars, called Monday’s decision “the most important ruling on voting rights we’ve had this election cycle.”
U.S District Judge Algenon L. Marbley, who halted the law, wrote in his decision that “recent experience proves that our elections are decided, all too often, by improbably slim margins—not just in local races…but even for the highest national offices. Any potential threat to the integrity of the franchise, no matter how small, must therefore be treated with utmost seriousness.”
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
A federal judge said on Wednesday that he planned to block provisions of the Florida voter suppression law of Governor Lex Luthor Rick Scott that made it harder for organizations to register voters in the state. Judge to Block Changes in Florida Voter Registration – NYTimes.com:
The measure, part of a broad and contentious 2011 election law in Florida, had a serious impact on third-party voter groups, like the League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote, which filed the suit along with the Florida Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. The groups asserted that the new requirements were onerous and made volunteers vulnerable to fines and even felony charges.
Voter registration, particularly among Democratic voters, declined significantly in the past year. The Florida Times-Union reported this week that the number of registered Democrats had increased by only 11,365 from July 1, 2011, to Aug. 1, 2012, a sharply lower figure than in the same periods during the past two presidential races. In 2004, nearly 159,000 new Democrats were registered in that period. In 2008, the number was nearly 260,000.
The 2011 Florida election law required groups that registered voters to turn in their completed forms within 48 hours or risk penalties. As a result, several organizations, including the League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote, stopped working in the state. Previously, groups had 10 days to submit the forms.
Deirdre Macnab, the president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, which suspended its operations for a year, said she was delighted with the ruling.
“It sets an important precedent in Florida and nationally that gives a strong level of protection for third-party registration groups,” Ms. Macnab said. “We have been a historical part of America in reaching out to underserved communities.”
But, she added, the all-volunteer voter registration groups now face an arduous task. The registration deadline for the November election is five weeks away.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: In the second major victory this week for the Obama administration's Justice Department, voting rights advocates, and for the rule of law, a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court ruled unanimously today that the Texas Voter ID law intentionally discriminates against minority voters. Federal court rejects Texas voter ID law as unfair … Read more