voting rights

(Update) Plaintiffs rest case in Voting Rights Act trial in North Carolina

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I have been a bit remiss in reporting on this case. If you want daily trial updates, you should visit Rick Hasen’s Election Law Blog via the Winston-Salem Journal.

After two weeks of testimony, the Plaintiffs rested their case this week. The state of North Carolina will present its defense beginning Monday. The Winston-Salem Journal reports, Plaintiffs rest case in federal trial over NC voting law:

WillimaBarberAfter two weeks, attorneys representing the N.C. NAACP and other groups rested their case Friday, having called more than 40 witnesses who testified either in court or via video depositions, that North Carolina’s election law is racially discriminatory.

Now, it is the state’s turn to present evidence. Attorneys representing North Carolina and Gov. Pat McCrory called Janet Thornton, an economist, as their first witness. Thomas Farr, one of the attorneys for the state, said they expect to finish presenting evidence by Wednesday.

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Voting Rights Act trial begins in North Carolina

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The New York Times has reporter Erik Eckholm in Winston-Salem, NC covering this Voting Right Act trial that opened on Monday. Sides Dispute Basis of North Carolina Voting Laws as Trial Contesting Them Opens:

WillimaBarberA trial over North Carolina’s voting laws opened in a federal courtroom here on Monday, with civil rights groups and the Justice Department arguing that the state had turned back the clock with sweeping changes to its election laws, while the state said the revisions applied equally to all and left its voting rules well within the national mainstream.

“The history of North Carolina is not on trial here,” said Butch Bowers, a lawyer representing Gov. Pat McCrory, in an opening statement. “We will show that there is no discrimination, intentional or otherwise.”

The plaintiffs in the case said the legislation, enacted in 2013, was deliberately drafted to reduce voting by African-Americans. They say the legacy of past racism in North Carolina, including the social and economic disparities between black and white citizens, is deeply relevant.

The contested measures reduced early voting days, ended same-day registration, ended out-of-precinct voting and halted the preregistration of 16- and 17-year-old high school students. These measures had been adopted in the past 15 years to increase voter participation and were disproportionately used by black, Hispanic and younger voters.

The Republican-dominated state legislature adopted the changes only weeks after the United States Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965 when it ended a requirement that election changes in North Carolina and eight other states with a history of racial discrimination in voting be preapproved by federal officials or courts.

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Voting Rights Act trial to begin in North Carolina

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The New York Times today has a front page explainer of the Voting Rights Act trial that gets underway in North Carolina on Monday. Voting Rights Legacy of the ’60s Heads to Court as North Carolina Law Is Tested:

A federal trial opening in Winston-Salem on Monday is meant to determine whether recent, sweeping changes in the state’s election laws discriminate against black voters. These changes were adopted by the Republican-dominated state legislature in 2013, immediately after the United States Supreme Court struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 when it ended a requirement that nine states with histories of discrimination, including North Carolina, get federal approval before altering their election laws.

But the case, as well as one involving a Texas law requiring voters to show a photo ID, could have far wider repercussions, legal experts say — helping to define the scope of voting rights protections across the country in the coming presidential election and beyond.

WillimaBarberThe contested measures in North Carolina include reduced early voting days, an end to same-day registration and an end to a program to preregister high school students. They are a far cry from the violent intimidation and poll taxes of the Jim Crow era. Still, few issues are more highly charged than voting rights in the old Confederate states, where the murder of civil rights workers and the brutal police attack on Alabama marchers galvanized Congress to pass the 1965 act, and the trial is fanning old emotions.

“This is our Selma,” said William J. Barber II, president of the North Carolina N.A.A.C.P. [and Moral Mondays Movement (above)], of the election changes in the state. His group brought the lawsuit, alongside the League of Women Voters, a group of college students and the Department of Justice.

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Florida Supreme Court invalidates 8 congressional districts

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On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court struck down eight congressional districts in Florida gerrymandered to benefit Republicans. the Tallahassee Democrat reports, State Supreme Court strikes down congressional districts:

The_Gerry-Mander_EditA bitterly divided Florida Supreme Court threw out eight congressional districts Thursday in a long-awaited ruling, ordering the Legislature to redraw the lines within the next 100 days.

The 5-2 decision, which featured a split between the court’s more-liberal majority and its conservative minority, will likely force lawmakers to return to Tallahassee for their third session of the year. It also marked the second time that justices had tossed out a map drawn by the Republican-dominated Legislature as part of the 2012 redistricting process.

In an opinion written by Justice Barbara Pariente, the majority found that Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis was correct to find that the congressional map approved as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process was corrupted by the efforts of Republican political consultants — violating an anti-gerrymandering “Fair Districts” constitutional amendment voters approved in 2010.

But Pariente argued that Lewis was essentially too timid in his ruling and that he deferred to lawmakers too much when deciding which districts should and shouldn’t be thrown out and how drastic any changes should be.

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New report on the ‘Health of State Democracies’

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The Center for American Progress Action Fund released a report today rating the “Health of State Democracies.” Explore the report and data on the interactive: www.healthofstatedemocracies.org. Here are summary reports. The Health of State Democracies, and Liberty and Justice for All? A 50-State Look at the Health of State Democracies.

The Washington Post’s Niraj Chokshi reports, Is this cold, rural state home to the nation’s healthiest democracy?:

VotersOne of the nation’s whitest, coldest and most rural states may have a new superlative to add to the list: most democratic.

After taking 22 factors into account, Maine’s democracy ranks healthiest in the nation in a new report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the advocacy wing of the liberal Center for American Progress. Alabama’s was weakest, though even top-ranking Maine was far from perfect.

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Measuring democracy is, of course, subjective — to some, requiring identification to vote makes democracies stronger, while others view it as a barrier, a solution in search of a problem. But if broad access to voting, equal representation in state government and a limited concentration of influence over the political system is your idea of a healthy democracy, then Maine is the state for you.

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