Voter ID

Voter ID Maintains The Power Of The Few
ISAIAH assembled 40+ clergy leaders to call for just policies that promote racial and economic equity.
Rev. Paul Slack, pastor at New Creation Church, Mi

The 2014 Midterm election had the lowest turnout in 70 years, and at least then World War II was an actual excuse for the low voter turnout. Hopefully World War III doesn't break out before the polls open up again in two years.

The two candidates for Secretary of State for Minnesota traded barbs with Democrat Steve Simon calling Republican Dan Severson's plan to revamp the state's voting process as an exercise in "race baiting".

Judge William Posner, a conservative jurist for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and once promoter of voter ID laws, lambasted Wisconsin's restrictive and racist attempt to – in the state's words – "combat fraud."

The Voter ID law passed in Texas was promised to be a relatively benign fix to a (non-existent) voter fraud problem. Democrats were wary, and for good reason. Methods for distributing these mandated IDs have fallen far short than what was promised, leaving many likely disenfranchised.

The subject of Voter ID usually revolves around race. Laws have been struck down in states such as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania due to their disproportional effect on minorities and the elderly, but other segments of the population are up in arms as well. Namely, college students.

A new study by researchers at the University of Southern California argues that bias among state legislators against Latino voters is an important factor in the passage of tough voter ID laws across the country. The laws ostensibly are designed to prevent voter fraud, but the researchers said there’s almost no evidence that such fraud is a problem in U.S. elections

The Nation's Ari Berman explains why a Wisconsin judge's ruling against voter ID laws is so important and sweeping — and not just because the state is an important battleground state. Similar voter ID laws are quite the fad among conservative Americans, but what really motivates their proposal? New cases are popping up in North Carolina and Texas, but the history goes back to the Bush administration.

If you show up to vote with only your shiny new Virginia voter photo ID, you won't be allowed to vote. Yep, that's right, despite the genius that is the Virginia General Assembly, a separate class of voters has been created; one that requires two forms of identification to vote.

Once again, there was an effort this week to make voting more difficult in Colorado. Known as the “Reduce Voter Identity Theft Act,” the bill proposed to get rid of several permissible IDs that can now be used to vote: a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the elector. This can lead to disenfranchisement and was fortunately voted down and suspended indefinitely. So how did Colorado do it?