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

[Virginiá]

Here's a radical idea.  Why not open the polling places for two (or even more) days?  Obviously no votes would be counted until polls were closed on the final day.  We already have extensive mail voting in some states that spreads out the time period when ballots are received.  Yes, it would be additional expense for the states conducting the elections.  But this could be mitigated to some degree by not necessarily having them open for the same hours each day.  For example, in Georgia the polls are open from 7am-7pm.  Why not have them something like 7am-5pm one day and 10am-8pm the next day.

Well if we are ever in a position to discuss making election day a holiday (or moving it), we'd probably be in a position to push early voting to the rest of the country. I suspect that would be done to some degree.

[Virginiá]

New Jersey: Redistricting plan would strip power from state Democratic chairman and Republicans

https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2018/11/19/redistricting-plan-would-strip-power-from-state-democratic-chairman-and-republicans-704304

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New Jersey Democrats giving it another go with pro-gerrymandering constitutional amendments for legislative elections. They pushed a form of this amendment in 2016 as well, but it failed to be approved by the legislature.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is despicable. I don't care if it helps Democrats or not, it's just wrong.

[YE]

This is despicable. I don't care if it helps Democrats or not, it's just wrong.

[Virginiá]

Looks like Ohio is moving to curtail the ability for citizens to amend the state constitution:

https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-summary?id=GA132-HJR-19

Aside from various restrictions on actually gathering petitions, they seem to be upping the approval threshold from a bare majority to 60%, like Florida.

This will have to be approved by the voters.


Thread:

https://twitter.com/MikeBrickner3/status/1069405708490366976

[Progressive Pessimist]

Looks like Ohio is moving to curtail the ability for citizens to amend the state constitution:

https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-summary?id=GA132-HJR-19

Aside from various restrictions on actually gathering petitions, they seem to be upping the approval threshold from a bare majority to 60%, like Florida.

This will have to be approved by the voters.


Thread:

https://twitter.com/MikeBrickner3/status/1069405708490366976

I've said this before, but if Florida is my number one most hated state, Ohio is number two on that list.

[Virginiá]

I just hope the voters are reminded that the GOP is asking them to begin unraveling their initiative process entirely because the GOP feels their grip on power is threatened by it. That alone should be grounds for rejection. The entire point of having such a system is to give voters a way to overrule or bypass the state legislature when they refuse to do something the public wants. Even Republican voters should find utility in that.

[Virginiá]

Also just to note, with regards to Michigan's lame duck power-grab bills, it's possible for citizens to initiate a veto referendum on the bill(s) they are passing if the courts don't intervene. And because Whitmer will be governor, the legislature can't just pass them again with a small budget component to insulate it from a referendum (assuming they aren't passing this way to begin with).

https://twitter.com/PoliticsWolf/status/1070031132224356352

[Badger]

I just hope the voters are reminded that the GOP is asking them to begin unraveling their initiative process entirely because the GOP feels their grip on power is threatened by it. That alone should be grounds for rejection. The entire point of having such a system is to give voters a way to overrule or bypass the state legislature when they refuse to do something the public wants. Even Republican voters should find utility in that.

Yes. Well in principle I think that amendments to the state constitution should be governed by a super majority, there still should be ready remedy with a popular majority vote initiative to repeal legislative Acts. Unfortunately, in Ohio the primary method of doing so is to amend the state constitution, so...

More importantly, I emphasize this is in principle only. As long as Ohio's legislature is grotesquely gerrymandered and we have our share of voter suppression laws as well. As Virginia noted the only and I mean only reason this is being done isn't out of good governance but to consolidate the Republican Monopoly on state power against direct democracy.

[Virginiá]

re-post from AAD:

GOP bill would make ballot citizen petitions tougher in Michigan

www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/10/michigan-republicans-ballot-petitions/2268992002/

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This is on top of their shameless implementing legislation for Proposal 3, regarding same-day registration, where they wrote that people can only register same-day at a county clerk's office, and only a clerk can register voters, which itself makes no sense because that restriction never existed before and seems blatantly aimed at making same-day registration a total mess with huge workloads. Also the petitioners had wanted from day one for people to be able to register same-day AT THE POLLING PLACE. However, if this is litigated and allowed by the courts, I blame no one other than the petitioners themselves, because it's long been known that Republicans cannot be trusted to implement ballot initiatives in good faith, so you have to cover every angle when doing these things. I never would have left this ambiguous if I was writing the amendment text, and I say this with or without hindsight. Never, EVER trust lawmakers to do the right thing. ffs, how many times does this have to happen before people get it?

Only option now I guess would be a veto referendum on one or more of these lame duck bills, and possibly another constitutional amendment to restrict the GOP's ability to restrict petition gathering and whatever else they tried to steal in the lame duck. That would be the smart thing to do, anyway. Otherwise, another round or two of initiatives that the GOP doesn't like and it'll soon become impossible to put things on the ballot in Michigan.

[Virginiá]

New York’s Horrific Voting Laws Might Actually Get Changed

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-york-voting-reform_us_5c1003ebe4b0ac5371797b57

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Unfortunately, it looks like to do same-day registration, early voting (?), and changing election boards, they have to amend the state constitution. I don't see what that wouldn't pass, but it would have to wait until 2020.

Other things can be done immediately, and if they move quickly, automatic voter registration could be in place for 2020. They could also shorten the registration deadline to, I think, at least 10 days before the election.

[Virginiá]

Meanwhile in Michigan, this is how Republicans decided to implement same-day voter registration (passed by voters):

https://twitter.com/dale_e_ho/status/1075768893753442304

Restrict where people can register on the same day to one location for each county, and if the thread comments are true, some counties don't even have a clerk's office?

I'd say this is blatantly unconstitutional based on the text of Prop 3, but who knows what 3+1 Republicans/nominal Republicans on the state Supreme Court will do.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Federal Judge struck down WI's lame-duck voting restrictions.

Democracy wins.

[Virginiá]

New York's recent election reform bills signed into law. Still waiting on AVR/felony disenfranchisement reform (and primary stuff):

https://twitter.com/PoliticsWolf/status/1088476351537893376


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https://www.abqjournal.com/1271967/democrats-push-host-of-election-proposals.html

New Mexico looks like it could potentially end felony disenfranchisement entirely and let people in prison vote, like Vermont and Maine. They also might pass automatic voter registration and same-day registration.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Wonderful news through and through!

I don't know why they didn't add reenfranchisement though. Oh well.

[GeorgiaModerate]

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[Virginiá]

Democratic group to spend $30M on voting rights effort

https://apnews.com/48621ea0253a4d8d89e8fdffad829e18

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[Virginiá]

All kinds of states are taking up felony disenfranchisement reform too. Will have to see how that goes.

[Progressive Pessimist]

All kinds of states are taking up felony disenfranchisement reform too. Will have to see how that goes.

That's good. Florida actually started a positive precedent, for once. Wait...did I just say something positive about Florida? Hey, look, pigs are flying! Awesome! I love pigs!

[Badger]

New York's recent election reform bills signed into law. Still waiting on AVR/felony disenfranchisement reform (and primary stuff):

https://twitter.com/PoliticsWolf/status/1088476351537893376


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https://www.abqjournal.com/1271967/democrats-push-host-of-election-proposals.html

New Mexico looks like it could potentially end felony disenfranchisement entirely and let people in prison vote, like Vermont and Maine. They also might pass automatic voter registration and same-day registration.

Am I a big old fascist meaning for saying that allowing people actually in prison to vote is Step too far? I mean, it's one thing to say once people have completed their parole / probation, or even allowing those on probation parole to vote has Ohio does, what people actually doing time?

[Virginiá]

Am I a big old fascist meaning for saying that allowing people actually in prison to vote is Step too far? I mean, it's one thing to say once people have completed their parole / probation, or even allowing those on probation parole to vote has Ohio does, what people actually doing time?

The voting rights movement has basically turned on the entire idea of felony disenfranchisement, which, imo, correctly questions why voting rights are even brought into the process of punishing criminals when it basically started (more or less) as an initiative of racists to disenfranchise people they thought were inferior to them. If you have someone serving time for felony assault, do they really deserve to be excluded? Or felony drug charges? I mean what purpose does it serve? The only charges I can rationalize to myself are voter fraud, treason, public corruption and espionage. Everything else is just a middle finger to offenders but otherwise serves no useful purpose.

Plus, there is the issue of minorities believing that it is twice as bad that a criminal justice system disproportionately locks them up, resulting in those same people disproportionately losing a say in elections.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yes, of f**king course inmates have a right to vote. They are citizens like everyone else, and they actually have more of a stake in government policy than most people.

The ease with which Americans go about dehumanizing people who happen to have committed a crime (or been framed by a corrupt judicial system for a crime) never ceases to amaze me, even after all these years.

[jimrtex]

All kinds of states are taking up felony disenfranchisement reform too. Will have to see how that goes.

That's good. Florida actually started a positive precedent, for once. Wait...did I just say something positive about Florida? Hey, look, pigs are flying! Awesome! I love pigs!

Not really.

Florida, Virginia, and Iowa were the only states where a convicted felon was not re-enfranchised after completing their sentence. They were just catching up to the rest of the country.

[junior chįmp]

CO joins the NPVIC

Without a single Republican in support, national popular vote effort moves to Colorado governor’s desk

[Gass3268]

North Carolina State Court Rules State Voter ID Constitutional Amendment is Void Because Enacted by a Racially Gerrymandered Legislature.

I look forward to this going to the 6-1 Democratic NC Supreme Court.