Voting Rights Act of 1965

Maricopa County settles lawsuit re: long voting lines – vote early to avoid those lines

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Last Thursday, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law announced a settlement that requires Maricopa County to implement a plan to monitor and reduce wait times before the Nov. 8 general election. It must continue the program in each primary and general election through 2020. Biggest Arizona county to revamp polling to avoid long lines:

MaricopaPollLineLawyers’ Committee President Kristen Clarke says the settlement shows county elections officials are serious about avoiding voting problems.

“Arizona’s election officials have acknowledged their debt to voters and are now putting in place the reforms needed to prevent a recurrence of these problems in November,” Clarke said in a statement.

Elizabeth Bartholomew, spokeswoman for the county recorder’s office, said the plan has been in place since early this month.

The county cut polling locations to just 60 from about 200 in 2012, but it returned to the normal 724 polling places for the August state primary and for the general election. The polling place reduction and the fact that independents could not vote as they can in regular primary elections were seen as the two main causes of the problems, which saw some voters waiting for more than five hours to cast their ballots.

The lawsuit was one of several filed after problems with the March 22 election.

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Trump election observers: RNC warns its members not to engage in poll watching or any other so-called ‘ballot security’ measures

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VotersBack in August, Donald Trump said he was recruiting an army of election observers to guard against a “rigged” election. Trump campaign launches drive to recruit ‘election observers’.

This week, Trump added yet another GOP ratfucker to his team to run his election observer operation. Controversial Republican Mike Roman to run Donald Trump’s ‘election protection’:

Donald Trump’s “election protection” effort will be run by Mike Roman, a Republican operative best known for promoting a video of apparent voter intimidation by the New Black Panthers outside a polling place in 2008.

Roman is to oversee poll-watching efforts as Trump undertakes an unprecedented effort by a major party nominee by calling into question the legitimacy of the popular vote weeks before election day.

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(Update) 10th Circuit rules against Kansas on proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration – what about Arizona?

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Kansas and Arizona both use a “dual” election system based upon the form of voter registration one uses.

NoVoteBoth states refused to allow those who use the federal voter registration form, which requires only an attestation of U.S. citizenship, to vote in state and local races after losing a legal challenge earlier to require the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to add the state-specific requirement of proof of citizenship to the federal voter registration form for Kansas and Arizona. Voters using the federal voter registration form can only vote in federal races.

This “dual” election system is being litigated in Kansas, and this week a unanimous 10h Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the arguments of Kansas in an 85 page Opinion (.pdf).

Arizona is not a party to this lawsuit, but it has been working in concert with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the GOP’s voter suppression specialist, in challenging the federal voter registration form for proof of citizenship. This decision is thus persuasive precedent to challenge Arizona’s “dual” election system.

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Senator Elizabeth Warren on the GOP myth of voter fraud

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cartoon_65The Republican Party has for years perpetuated the myth of voter fraud for two purposes: (1) to suppress voter turnout, and (2) to delegitimize Democratic voters.

This GOP mythology has been so pernicious that this week a new poll demonstrates that “41 percent of voters say November’s election could be ‘stolen’ from Donald Trump due to ‘widespread voter fraud.'” Poll: 41 percent of voters say election could be ‘stolen’ from Trump.

This poll result is without any factual evidence to support the GOP’s voter fraud mythology. Trump thinks non-citizens are deciding elections. We debunked the research he’s citing.; Fact-checking two false claims by Trump alleging widespread voter fraud; Can you rig a U.S. presidential election? Experts say it’s basically impossible. (This poll confirms my long-standing theory that 42 percent of the American public is batshit crazy on any given day, believing in things that are demonstrably proven false).

Senator Elizabeth Warren in an op-ed at the Washington Post today writes, Trump didn’t invent the ‘rigged election’ myth. Republicans did.

Cratering in the polls, besieged by sexual assault allegations and drowning in his own disgusting rhetoric, Donald Trump has been reduced to hollering that November’s election is “rigged” against him. His proof? It looks like he’s going to lose.

Senior Republican leaders are scrambling to distance themselves from this dangerous claim. But Trump’s argument didn’t spring from nowhere. It’s just one more symptom of a long-running effort by Republicans to delegitimize Democratic voters, appointees and leaders. For years, this disease has infected our politics. It cannot be cured until Republican leaders rethink their approach to modern politics.

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9th Circuit Court of Appeals to hear ballot collection appeal today (Updated)

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The AP reports today that the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court to consider blocking ballot-collection law:

VotersA federal appeals panel that rejected a Democratic effort to block a new Arizona law barring groups from collecting early ballots from voters now has expedited a full hearing on the request.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled arguments for Wednesday. Last week, a panel summarily rejected an emergency injunction request. But late Friday, the three judges on the panel decided to expedite a full hearing on the Democrats’ request. The previous schedule called for hearings well after the Nov. 8 general election.

Appellants’ Emergency Motion Under Circuit Rule 27-3 For Injunction Pending Appeal And for Expedited Appeal(.pdf), Feldman v. Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, (No. 16-16865) 10/18/2016.

A different three-judge panel is set to hear the case.

The new law signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey earlier this year means people who collect mail-in ballots in most cases face a felony charge.

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