Voting rights bills and lawsuits megathread (Updated: April 27th 2020)

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

We seem to be arguing two separate things. I'm arguing that it is easy to set up the machines to do the right thing. You're arguing that it's easy to set them up to do the wrong thing. This is one of those cases where we're both right. 😈

[jimrtex]

We seem to be arguing two separate things. I'm arguing that it is easy to set up the machines to do the right thing. You're arguing that it's easy to set them up to do the wrong thing. This is one of those cases where we're both right. 😈

Straight-ticket voting is never the right thing.

[Virginiá]

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Court strikes down North Carolina voter ID law
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http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/court-strikes-down-north-carolina-voter-id-law-226438

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As the article says, voter ID requirements are ended and same-day registration and out of precinct voting are now back in effect (actually they were always in effect due to an injunction, but now that is solidified). This essentially brings us back to where North Carolina was in 2008-2012, in terms of voter access. I don't think this will be significantly consequential for the November elections, but it will definitely have an effect based on the types of voters who tend to benefit most from these pro-voter reforms - Minorities and young voters, two critical blocs of the Democratic coalition.

So, if you will allow me just a moment of gloating over a decision I have been waiting on for months...

AHA! WE WIN! (for now)

[dspNY]

Huge win for Dems as it racially disenfranchised a large number of minority voters

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/court-strikes-down-north-carolina-voter-id-law-226438

[dspNY]

Not SCOTUS, the 4th Circuit.  But there aren't likely 5 votes to reverse or stay this at SCOTUS before the election, so it should be final.  4th Circuit precedent is binding on VA as well as NC.  Does this mean the VA voter ID law also falls, or is it specific to the circumstances under which the NC one passed?

Just the NC voter ID law I believe. I corrected the thread title

[Virginiá]

Not SCOTUS, the 4th Circuit.  But there aren't likely 5 votes to reverse or stay this at SCOTUS before the election, so it should be final.  4th Circuit precedent is binding on VA as well as NC.  Does this mean the VA voter ID law also falls, or is it specific to the circumstances under which the NC one passed?

They were only handling the NC voter restriction bill as I understand it. I don't think this ruling was on the merits of voter ID in general, but rather NC's bill in particular.

I think the plaintiffs in Virginia's voter ID case appealed the unfavorable decision handed down in May, but I don't actually know if they went through with it. However, if they did file it, the appeals court will need to decide soon or SCOTUS could indeed end up putting it on hold if ruled on too close to the election.

Anyone else know any specifics about that case?

This should also be the basis for bailing NC back into VRA Section 5 coverage.  There is a provision in the VRA that allows courts to order that under these circumstances when a voting law was passed with discriminatory intent.  A similar proceeding should soon happen in Texas.

That was my first thought the second I read “passed with racially discriminatory intent.” Given the reality that the GOP is likely to control the NC state legislature for some time to come, it'll be helpful in stopping what promises to be a biannual NCGOP tradition of passing small tweaks to election laws in order to suppress voting in any ways they can.

[Antonio the Sixth]

AHA! WE WIN! (for now)

Plausibly, is this going to get to the SCOTUS before or after the confirmation of Scalia's replacement?

[Miles]

Great day for democracy!

[Virginiá]

AHA! WE WIN! (for now)

Plausibly, is this going to get to the SCOTUS before or after the confirmation of Scalia's replacement?

I think the state is most definitely going to appeal, and SCOTUS may or may not respond before the election - They have a habit of rapidly going through election-related cases before elections and either delaying lower court decisions until after or allowing them.

Now, I think this decision will stand for 2 primary reasons:

1. Conservatives no longer have a majority on the bench and the liberal wing will not vote to overturn the 4th circuit's decision. A tie means the lower court's ruling stands.

2. Most of the services that the 4th circuit upheld - Same day registration and out-of-precinct voting were still in effect due to an injunction from year(s) ago. I believe they only were repealed after the district court's ruling from Schroeder. The reason this is important is because SCOTUS would generally delay changes like this so close to the election because the state wouldn't be ready to implement them and there would be a lot of troubles at the polls. However, this is not the case here. The state is already prepared for same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting. Restoring those services would take very little effort as they were already in place as early as April of this year. So there is no argument in saying that the state would face an undue burden by having to institute those pro-voter services for this election. Same goes for early voting expansion and pre-registration for teens.

I suspect this will help Clinton a decent bit, as the Democratic base in NC for presidential races is heavily stacked with young voters and minorities, the two groups who use these services the most. Democrats downballot will benefit as well.

Because of this, well-funded groups organizing extensive GOTV operations (like Steyer and his 40+ million dollar turnout effort(s)) might move into North Carolina and try to flip Burr's seat. Steyer had previously only committed his resources to states with more competitive seats and/or states with pro-voter laws like same-day registration. Because NC had repealed that, he mostly stayed out. This could very well change now.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Thanks! Very informative, and very good news!

I'd kind of have hoped to see this decision overseen by a full SCOTUS, so as to have a chance to set precedent instead of just affirming the decision through a tie. Heh, I guess there's a chance Kennedy might wake up in a good mood and join the liberals, who knows?

[Gass3268]

Federal judge overturns restrictions on early, weekend voting in Wisconsin

Plus strikes down voter ID, second federal judge to do so in WI

[heatcharger]

Federal judge overturns restrictions on early, weekend voting in Wisconsin

Plus strikes down voter ID, second federal judge to do so in WI

Beautiful! Although does early and weekend voting actually help Republicans more than Democrats? Just a hunch that older voters don't like standing in line.

[Gass3268]

Federal judge overturns restrictions on early, weekend voting in Wisconsin

Plus strikes down voter ID, second federal judge to do so in WI

Beautiful! Although does early and weekend voting actually help Republicans more than Democrats? Just a hunch that older voters don't like standing in line.

Recently they have helped the Democrats more because of better GOTV operations, I imagine that will be the case this year as well as Trump has no ground game as of this moment.

[Virginiá]

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Federal Judge Bars North Dakota From Enforcing Restrictive Voter ID Law
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/north-dakota-voter-identification-law.html?_r=0

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[Virginiá]

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Automatic voter registration begins in Connecticut
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http://wtnh.com/2016/08/08/connecticut-dmv-motor-voter-registration-starts-this-week/

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This deal was already hashed out some months ago, and was already in the news, but I figured I'd post that it is now going active. Voters will be automatically registered to vote when conducting business with the DMV. No legislation was passed for this.



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Stuff worthy of mention, but not in their own post(s)
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Automatic voter registration bill that Christie will surely use his grubby sausage fingers to veto:
http://www.nj.com/suburbannews/index.ssf/2016/08/automatic_voter-registration_r.html

Judge rules Wake County (NC) must use 2011 maps after Republicans did their usual shenanigans:
http://abc11.com/politics/ruling-wake-co-must-use-2011-voting-maps-in-november/1462685/

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Conservative group sues to block Illinois same-day registration law:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-illinois-idUSKCN10F283

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Technically citizens in counties with <100,000 people can still register same day at the clerk's office, but I see some merit on the challengers' side. I don't know if the legislature forbid registration at polling sites in counties with less than 100,000 people, or simply didn't require it, but suspending the law because of this would be completely ridiculous. It makes more sense just to have all the smaller counties allow it at polling sites before early voting starts, or if there is not enough time, just have the state run a campaign to inform citizens in smaller counties of how to register same day, and then mandate that all counties allow it at polling sites after the election.

At any rate, I'm not convinced much will come of this. People in smaller counties can still register on the same day. They should be able to at the polling place, but their argument is too weak to suspend it for everyone this November if you ask me.

[Virginiá]

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Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals stays lower court ruling weakening voter ID law
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http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/federal-appeals-court-issues-stay-of-voter-id-ruling/article_da79480c-9d7a-5bf4-8240-8ab3c21f97b4.html

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A separate ruling by another federal judge that forced Wisconsin to quickly issue IDs and documents to those in need still remains in effect. It's possible that this federal judge's other rulings suspending recent changes to early voting and absentee voting could be stayed and overturned as well.

Short of any additional surprises, voter ID will be in full effect in Wisconsin for the presidential election.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Ugh.

[Classic Conservative]

Huzzah!

[Antonio the Sixth]

Huzzah!

ITT: people happy their political opponents will be prevented from voting.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Huzzah!

ITT: people happy their political opponents will be prevented from voting.

Constipated Conservative is a hack, you see.

[Virginiá]

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Illinois Governor vetoes automatic voter registration bill / demands changes
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-bruce-rauner-veto-automatic-voter-registration-met-0813-20160812-story.html

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As usual, whining about fraud roughly translates into "I don't want to risk voters voting me out of office by making it easier to vote". He wants the bill to delay implementation until after 2018 so he won't have any extra trouble in his bid for reelection.

A veto override is quite possible, as Democrats have a bare supermajority right now and seems unlikely they would lose it after November, unless select IL State House races aren't going so well.

In the end, Illinois still has same-day voter registration, so automatic voter registration was always just sort of icing on the cake.

[Virginiá]

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Appeals court rejects bid to end straight-ticket voting in Michigan
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http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2016/08/straight-ticket-voting-michigan-court-ruling-227114

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[Antonio the Sixth]

Good!

[Classic Conservative]

Huzzah!

ITT: people happy their political opponents will be prevented from voting.

Constipated Conservative is a hack, you see.

I'm not constipated so...

[Virginiá]

This isn't a lawsuit or bill, but it is indeed relevant to the recent lawsuit in North Carolina:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/north-carolina-voting/496415/

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Important:

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The state party is now leaning on county election board members to slash early voting hours/locations and eliminate Sunday voting days. Wake County's extra 7 days only allow early voting at 1 location - the board of elections office in downtown Raleigh. That is ridiculous and a blatant attempt at voter suppression.

The arguments being put forth are basically "early voting is bad because it gives more opportunities for fraud", which is patently false. The only way early voting could be construed as a way for more fraud is if you think any chance to vote is a chance for fraud. Why not get rid of voting altogether then? Obviously we can't stand for a handful of cases of fraud per millions of vote, so let's just let the Republican party pick all our lawmakers! Finally, the idea that same-day registration during early voting is going to cause fraud is ridiculous. You still need some sort of identification to register, just as if you did it at the DMV. If you say same-day registration leads to fraud, you're basically saying all voter registration leads to fraud.

These excuses are pathetic and board members using them should be ashamed of themselves.