New state rules raising hurdles at voting booth, By Michael Cooper, October 2, 2011, New York Times: “Since Republicans won control of many statehouses last November, more than a dozen states have passed laws requiring voters to show photo identification at polls, cutting back early voting periods or imposing new restrictions on voter registration drives. With a presidential campaign swinging into high gear, the question being asked is how much of an impact all of these new laws will have on the 2012 race. State officials, political parties and voting experts have all said that the impact could be sizable. Now, a new study to be released Monday by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law has tried to tally just how many voters stand to be affected…”
Tag: Voter registration
Voter Registration at Public Assistance Agencies
Welfare agencies boost voters, By Richard Wolf, July 22, 2010, USA Today: “The recession that impoverished millions of Americans is producing a side effect: new voters. Lawsuits by voting rights groups in Missouri and Ohio have led hundreds of thousands of people to file voter registration applications at welfare agencies, as mandated by the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, or the ‘motor voter’ law. Cases pending in Indiana, New Mexico and other states, as well as new Justice Department guidelines, probably will boost those figures. Voting rights advocates say millions of low-income people could be registered this way. A U.S. Election Assistance Commission report in 2007-08 showed 21 states registered less than 1% of voters at welfare offices. Only Vermont, Tennessee and New York registered more than 4% that way…”
Voter Registration and Proof of Citizenship – Tennessee
- TN senators pass voter registration measure, but some fear a deterrent effect, By Lucas L. Johnson II (AP), May 11, 2010, The Tennessean: “People would be deterred from registering to vote if required to show proof of citizenship, say opponents of the proposal that passed the state Senate on Monday. Lawmakers spent more than two hours debating the measure sponsored by Republican Sen. Dewayne Bunch of Cleveland before approving it 20-12. It is different than the companion bill that passed the House 92-1 last week. That version would require prospective voters to check a box to affirm they are citizens…”
- Voter citizenship bill would violate federal law, TN attorney general says, By Chas Sisk, May 20, 2010, The Tennessean: “Legislation that requires new voters to show proof of citizenship when they register would violate a federal law meant to get more people to vote, the state attorney general said in an opinion released Wednesday. A voter-registration bill that has cleared the Senate would break the so-called Motor Voter Act, a 17-year-old law that requires states to let people register to vote at state agencies and by mail, Attorney General Robert Cooper said. But the bill does not necessarily violate the U.S. Constitution or the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the bedrock federal law aimed at eliminating discrimination at the polls, Cooper’s office said…”