At a hearing Wednesday in Washington, U.S. District Judge John Bates asked repeatedly about a section of the law that singles out mostly Southern states for additional election monitoring because they have histories of racial discrimination 40 or 50 years ago.
An Alabama county is suing the government over the law in a case that many predict will reach the Supreme Court.
Shelby County, with backing from conservative legal groups, maintains that it and other governments should no longer be forced to get federal approval before changing election procedures. The Justice Department and others counter that the localities are now using more subtle means to suppress minority votes.
No time, at the moment, to even begin responding to, or digging into, this one. But seems like we should put it on your radar. So for now, there it is. Please have at it.
For the record, the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been re-authorized by Congress four times since it was originally created and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The VRA’s most recent re-authorization, for another 25 years, was signed by George W. Bush in 2006 after it was passed by the Republican-led U.S. House 390 to 33, and by the U.S. Senate in a unanimous 98 to 0 vote.
[Hat-tip @PourMeCoffee via Twitter.]
OT, Brad.
Connecticut – “Two years later, ACORN cleared of voter-fraud charges”
Because ACORN under state law was required to turn in all cards to registrars, the organization would identify at the top those identified as defective — an effort to avoid the very complaints filed by Borges and Corelli.
After that is when the system fell apart, according to the Elections Enforcement Commission’s investigation.
“The Commission finds ACORN … maintained a system designed to prevent or diminish inaccuracies or inefficiencies in the voter registration drive,” read the report. “Unfortunately these attempts to flag problem cards were rendered useless upon processing [by the registrars?] when the top portion … was separated and discarded from the voter registration card below, which was retained for record keeping.”
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Two-years-later-ACORN-cleared-of-voter-fraud-993123.php