voting rights

A simple change in the law is needed for citizens initiatives, referendums and recalls

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Arizona revised its election laws a few years ago to create the E-Qual system which allows a voter to sign a candidate’s petition and to donate Clean Elections $5 contributions online:

With E-Qual, you can show your support for a candidate from the comfort of your home or anywhere internet access is available.

In Arizona, candidates are required to obtain a minimum number of petition signatures to appear on a ballot. Voters interested in assisting Statewide and Legislative candidates can now sign a petition electronically.

Clean Elections candidates are required to obtain $5 qualifying contributions from registered voters to qualify for public funding. Voters may now contribute a $5 qualifying contribution with E-Qual.

Click on a box below to get started now!

e-qual-spotlight

Do you know what E-Qual does not allow a voter to do? Sign petitions for citizens initiatives, referendums and recalls.

“Why” you ask? Because our authoritarian Tea-Publican legislature really does not want the citizens of this state exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to citizens initiatives, referendums and recalls. They want to make it as difficult and costly as possible to deter voters from exercising their constitutional rights, because it is a direct challenge to their legislative authority and control.

Referring measures to the ballot is the exclusive provenance of our Tea-Publican controlled legislature and their right-wing allies, dontcha know?

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The House Democrats’ ‘By The People’ (BTP) election reforms package

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Michael Golden and Lawrence Lessig have an op-ed at the Chicago Sun Times about an election reform package that the Arizona media ignores and does not report. Opinion: Three ways Congress can muscle-up to your voting rights:

Voting-RightsOver the last year, presidential candidates from both parties have ridden to great success the populist cry of a “rigged system” – in which billions of dollars in campaign cash have destroyed the very idea of a representative democracy. The American electorate has embraced this message.

Donald Trump distilled the charge to a dozen words: “When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to.” And in differing degrees and with different styles, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have both attacked the tight grip of campaign cash on the politics of our nation.

But with three months to go before ballots get cast, only one of the two frontrunners – and her party – has unequivocally supported specific plans to solve these problems. And though the presidential race now dominates the media conversation, it is in Congress, which currently carries a 14 percent approval rating, where these solutions will matter the most. The polarization and paralysis on Capitol Hill, stemming from our rigged election system, prevents legislators from negotiating and compromising to make meaningful progress on the issues that Americans consistently prioritize.

Fortunately, some in Congress are working toward a solution. Just before the national conventions, the House Democratic leadership announced its “By The People” (BTP) legislative package. These reforms, backed by 187 members of the rank-and-file, are designed to “revitalize our nation’s voting laws, restore sanity to the electoral process, and empower everyday Americans to reclaim their voice in the political process.”

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Status of pending election law challenges

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Rick Hasen at Election Law Blog just saved me a lot of work. I was preparing to update the election law challenges in court, but Mr. Hasen has already done the heavy lifting. Thank you Mr. Hasen! Election Litigation 2016: Where Things Stand:

NC-VotingWith 77 days to go until Election Day, and early voting starting much sooner in some places, here is the major litigation affecting election procedures and voting that I’m watching the most closely:

Wisconsin: One trial judge required Wisconsin officials to accept an affidavit instead of one of the strict voter ids for voting. A 7th Circuit panel reversed that holding, and we are awaiting the entire 7th Circuit en banc to rule on this question. A second trial judge struck a number of election rollbacks in Wisconsin, including those limited to early voting. The state has petitioned the 7th Circuit to stay that judge’s order pending appeal. I expect we will hear something on this case this week.

North Carolina: The 4th Circuit struck a number of challenged election rollbacks based upon a finding that North Carolina passed the law with racially discriminatory intent. The state will file a cert. petition in the Supreme Court, and in the meantime it has asked the Supreme Court to reinstate some of the laws that the 4th Circuit blocked. Chief Justice Roberts has asked the plaintiffs to file a reply by this Thursday, the 25th. Expect a ruling the following week (and given the slow pace set by the Chief, I do not expect the stay to be granted so close to the election).

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GOP war on voting rights: Trump election observers and voter intimidation

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VotersI have been an election observer for many years, working with The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law or the Democratic Party. There are very strict guidelines on what observers can and cannot do.

The goal of election observers is to assist in resolving any problems that might arise, e.g., helping voters find the right polling location, and making sure that poll workers are assisting voters in resolving any issues to allow them to cast a ballot.

In all the years I have been a poll observer, it has never been my role to challenge a voter on his or her eligibility to cast a vote.

This is something that the Republican Party, however, has engaged in, as well as Republican Party affiliated organizations such as the notorious True the Vote with a “horrendous record of filing inaccurate voter registration challenges.” A Reading Guide to True the Vote, the Controversial Voter Fraud Watchdog.

Donald Trump, who has sought to delegitimize this election by asserting that “the only way he can lose” is if the “system is rigged” and there is “voter fraud,” Trump urges Pennsylvania backers: Don’t just vote, watch for signs of ‘cheating’ on election day, is now rolling out his own “election observers,” who are likely to follow the True the Vote model.

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Democratic Party asks federal court to block AZ ballot collection law

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As part of an ongoing lawsuit filed earlier this year to challenge our lawless TeaPublican legislature’s election law changes, the Democratic Party asked a federal judge to block the ballot collection provision. Democrats ask federal judge to block ballot collection law:

BallotDropOffLawyers representing state and national Democratic groups opposed to a new Arizona law outlawing collection of early ballots by get-out-the-vote groups urged a federal judge Wednesday to block it from going into effect.

U.S. District Court Judge Douglas L. Rayes heard nearly two hours of arguments Wednesday for and against the Democrats’ request for an injunction blocking the law from taking effect. He said he’ll rule later on the request.

The law makes it a felony to return someone else’s ballot to election officials in most cases. Republicans pushed House Bill 2023 through the Legislature earlier this year, arguing that so-called “ballot harvesting” can lead to election fraud. Gov. Doug Ducey signed it into law in early March, saying it will ensure a chain of custody between the voter and the ballot box.

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