Want to know your voting rights? Here is a quick update of the War On Voting.
OHIO: A coalition of liberal organizations, voting activists, and labor groups submitted over 300,000 signatures to have an Ohio law that restricts early voting be put on the ballot in 2012. This means that Ohio voters will decide on the measure and the law will not be in effect for the the 2012 elections. http://bit.ly/rgpO5d
MAINE: Last week, Republican Maine Secretary of State Charles Summers sent a threatening letter to out-of-state college students who are legally registered to vote in Maine. The letter noted that they could possibly be violating election law and should re-register in another state. The letter said that Summers “was presented with a list of 206 University of Maine students with out-of-state home addresses and asked to investigate allegations of election law violations.” In encouraging them to re-register elsewhere, he stated, “you are no longer claiming to be a Maine resident, I ask that you complete the enclosed form to cancel your voter registration in Maine.” http://bit.ly/q0cz7t
SOUTH CAROLINA: The Department of Motor Vehicles says 25 people in South Carolina are getting a free ride to receive a photo identification card to comply with the state’s new voter law. DMV spokeswoman Beth Parks said the agency spoke to 675 people who wanted information on the law and about 48 people requested a ride for Wednesday; however, when the agency called back, people had obtained rides or state IDs in some other way. http://bit.ly/oFhsE9
WISCONSIN: To accommodate for new voting laws, Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs Chair Hannah Somers said University of Wisconsin will be instituting new student IDs to include a signature and a valid expiration date. “This is really good news,” Somers said. “This means we don’t have to lobby the university to change our IDs.” http://bit.ly/qjz2FS
STUDY
BRENNAN CENTER: Once again people are realizing that the new voter ID restrictions are without warrant. “It doesn’t seem to matter what the problem is, (voter) ID is being sold as the solution to a whole bunch of things it can’t possibly solve,” said election law expert Justin Levitt, who wrote “The Truth About Voter Fraud” for The Brennan Center for Justice. http://fxn.ws/rlfrrg
