voting rights

The Arizona Republic is indifferent to the constitutional freedom of association

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The media villagers are a forceful defender of their own freedoms under the First Amendment, i.e., freedom of the press and free speech. Infringe on their freedoms, and they will howl like a scalded dog.

But when it comes to the First Amendment freedom of association of political parties, the media villagers are all “Meh, who cares? We hate political parties.”

Constitution

Thus after Arizona’s election debacle last Tuesday, the usual suspects at The Arizona Republic used the fiasco to argue in favor of open primaries, and even Paul Johnson’s damn fool idea of the Top Two Primary (entirely unrelated to the Presidential Preference Election). Exemplary of this was E.J. Montini. Arizona – Where registered voters..CAN’T VOTE!

Arizona law already effectively disenfranchises 36 percent of registered voters.

These would be voters who are unaffiliated with any political party.

Independent. The only way those individuals can vote in a presidential primary is to re-register with a political party. And they have to do so 29 days before the election.

It’s ridiculous to think that 36 percent of Arizona voters — can’t vote.

They represent a constituency that is larger than the state’s Democrats.

They represent a constituency that is larger than the state’s Republicans.

How is such exclusion possible?

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What went wrong in Arizona’s election

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Arizona — OK, the state of Maricopa — was a national disgrace last week with an epic failure on election day for the Presidential Preference Election.  Some voters stood in line for over five hours to vote (which reminds me of the determined souls who stood in the cold for over ten hours in Ohio in 2004, No One Should Have to Stand in Line for 10 Hours to Vote, and the voters who stood in line for over seven hours in Florida in 2012. No One in America Should Have to Wait 7 Hours to Vote; Florida Voting Lines Discouraged 201,000 Voters Statewide).

Screenshot from 2016-03-28 13:33:22

A special Arizona House Elections Committee hearing today will take testimony from Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell, and Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan will announce the results of her preliminary review before the hearing. Arizona House panel to review election foul-ups. You can bet that the Secretary of State will not name everyone responsible for this epic failure.

John Roberts and the Conservative Activist Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court

Chief Justice John Roberts spent his entire legal career seeking to undermine the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He achieved his life’s goal in 2013 with Shelby County v. Holder. The Election in Arizona Was a Mess:

Arizona has a long history of problems at the ballot box. Until 2013, the Grand Canyon State was one of 16 states required to clear all changes to voting law and procedures with the U.S. Department of Justice, under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, because of its history of discriminatory and racist election practices.

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Evil GOP bastards make voter assistance a felony crime

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latinosvoteTea-Publicans in Arizona really hate Latino voting rights organizations helping voters to get their ballots in on time before the polls close.

Political parties have been doing ballot collection and drop off for voters  for years. It only became an issue after Latino voting rights organizations were instrumental in the recall of disgraced former Senate president and anti-immigrant nativist Russell Pearce. This is political payback.

Voter assistance (“ballot harvesting” to right-wing conspiracy theorists) was made a felony crime in the 2013 omnibus election law bill co-authored by Arizona’s queen of voter suppression, then Senator Michele Reagan, who is now unfortunately Secretary of State, and Senator Michelle Ugenti.

There was a citizen uprising against the GOP Voter Suppression Act, and a citizens referendum to reject the GOP Voter Suppression Act was qualified for the 2014 ballot. Our lawless Tea-Publican legislature then repealed the GOP Voter Suppression Act so that the citizens referendum would not appear on the 2014 ballot and cost Tea-Publicans some seats.

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ACLU challenges Kansas proof-of-citizenship law for voter registration

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Last month I told you about how the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) capitulated to the GOP’s voter suppression specialist, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, on requiring proof of citizenship for the federal voter registration form. EAC capitulates to Kansas on federal voter registration form. This action was taken by EAC executive director Brian Newby, who used to work for Kobach in Kansas, who acted unilaterally without the agreement of the three EAC commissioners.

The League of Women Voters and several voting rights groups, including the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, has sued the EAC over Newby’s action. Voting rights groups sue election official over voter registration.

The ACLU has now filed suit to challenge the Kansas law requiring proof of citizenship for the federal voter registration form. A.C.L.U. Challenges Kansas Voter Law Requiring Proof of Citizenship:

NoVoteIn a test of Kansas’ wide-ranging voter registration law, a federal lawsuit filed on Thursday challenged a provision that required residents to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote.

The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, takes aim at a measure that was pushed through the Republican-led Legislature five years ago by Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach, who has lobbied heavily for measures that he said were needed to prevent noncitizens from voting.

[A.C.L.U. Press release.]

The A.C.L.U., saying that fraud claims were unfounded, brought the class-action suit on behalf of six Kansas residents who said they were left off the voter rolls after registering at the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.

The plaintiffs argue that the Kansas law violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, in particular a provision that requires states to allow people to register to vote when they get a driver’s license. That section says that registrants need only to attest that they are citizens, under the threat of perjury if they lie.

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EAC capitulates to Kansas on federal voter registration form (Updated)

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Plaintiffs recently won in Kansas state court challenging Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the GOP’s voter suppression specialist, on his dual election system in which citizens who register using the federal voter registration form are only permitted to vote in federal elections because that form does not require the forms of proof of citizenship that Kansas does. Kansas’ dual election system ruled unlawful; Arizona’s dual election system?

NoVoteFormer Arizona Secretary of State Ken “Birther” Bennett followed Kobach’s voter suppression lead and imposed a similar dual election system in Arizona. Current Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan, the queen of voter suppression, has maintained this dual election system. A separate legal action has not been filed in Arizona, however, Arizona has been a co-party to earlier litigation in Kansas on this subject and is following the lead of Kris Kobach in Kansas.

Today, the Election Assistance Commission appears to have capitulated to Kris Kobach in Kansas (and the state of Georgia) in updating the “state-specific instructions” to the National Mail Voter Registration Form (Note that Arizona’s state-specific instructions have not been updated as of today’s date).

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