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Landmark Civil Rights Law in Jeopardy?

Some residents of a small Texas municipal district believe that a key section of landmark voting rights legislation -- created in 1965 to protect minorities in jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination -- is archaic and should be abolished.

The debate has teed up today's Supreme Court argument, which could forever change the intersection between election law and civil rights.

Posted in civil liberties, voting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2009
11:43 AM

CONTACT: ACLU

Maria Archuleta, (212) 519-7808 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org

Supreme Court to Hear Voting Rights Act Challenge Wednesday, April 29

ACLU Represents Individual Affected by Oversight Provision

WASHINGTON - April 27 - On Wednesday, April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal brought by a small municipal utility district in Austin, Texas challenging a key section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the landmark federal law that ensured African-Americans and language minorities access to voting booths across the South.
 

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The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

ACLU Links:
Posted in civil liberties, voting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2009
1:30 PM

CONTACT: ACLU

Maria Archuleta, (212) 519-7808 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org

Supreme Court to Hear Voting Rights Act Challenge Wednesday, April 29

ACLU Represents Individual Affected by Oversight Provision

WASHINGTON - April 24 - On Wednesday, April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal brought by a small municipal utility district in Austin, Texas challenging a key section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the landmark federal law that ensured African-Americans and language minorities access to voting booths across the South.
 

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The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

ACLU Links:
Posted in civil liberties, inequality, voting

Most Electronic Voting Isn't Secure, CIA Expert Says

Technicians check Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) at a warehouse in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad March 9, 2009. (REUTERS/Amit Dave)

WASHINGTON - The CIA, which has been monitoring foreign countries' use of electronic voting systems, has reported apparent vote-rigging schemes in Venezuela, Macedonia and Ukraine and a raft of concerns about the machines' vulnerability to tampering.

Appearing last month before a U.S. Election Assistance Commission field hearing in Orlando, Fla., a CIA cybersecurity expert suggested that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his allies fixed a 2004 election recount, an assertion that could further roil U.S. relations with the Latin leader.

Posted in voting

DC Voting Rights Debacle

Last week, twenty-two Democrats failed to muster the courage of Republican Senator Richard Lugar and vote against a draconian gun amendment that had no business being attached to a voting rights bill.

Posted in gun control, voting

Court Refuses to Expand Minority Voting Rights

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that electoral districts must have a majority of African-Americans or other minorities to be protected by a provision of the Voting Rights Act.

The 5-4 decision, with the court's conservatives in the majority, could make it harder for southern Democrats to draw friendly boundaries after the 2010 Census.

Posted in voting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 24, 2009
4:00 PM

CONTACT: Common Cause
Mary Boyle (202)736-5770

Common Cause Applauds Senate Vote on DC Voting Rights

WASHINGTON - February 24 - Common Cause applauds the U.S. Senate for its historic vote in support of the DC House Voting Rights Act and urges the Senate to act quickly to pass this bill to ensure that the citizens of the District of Columbia have voting representation in Congress.

"The Senate has passed a critical test of its commitment to the democratic rights of all Americans," said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause, "Now Senators must vote against potential efforts to undermine this important voting rights legislation and proceed quickly to final passage of the bill."

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Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.
Common Cause Links:
Posted in civil liberties, voting

Iraqis Vote in Key Test of Nation's Progress

Iraqi women display their ink-stained fingers after voting in the country's provincial elections in Najaf, Iraq, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009. Polls opened Saturday under extremely tight security, which includes driving bans in major cities and searches of all voters. The election is considered an important test of Iraq's stability after nearly six years of conflict. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

BAGHDAD - Millions of Iraqis voted in provincial elections on Saturday in a crucial test for a nation struggling to emerge from years of sectarian strife and to strengthen its fledgling democracy.

Security for the country's first ballot since 2005 was extremely tight with Iraqi police and military deployed in force as part of ramped-up measures aimed at preventing militant attacks and turnout was forecast to be high.

Only a few incidents of violence marred what was otherwise a peaceful vote which wrapped up at 1500 GMT, an hour later than planned.

Posted in voting, Iraq

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2009
4:28 PM

CONTACT: ACLU
James Freedland, ACLU, (212) 519-7829 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org
Tia T. Gordon, Advancement Project, (202) 728-9557 or (202) 906-0149

ACLU and Advancement Project Challenge Unlawful Disenfranchisement of Michigan Resident

Wife of US Serviceman Was Target of Unlawful Statewide Voter Purge Program

DETROIT - January 29 - Today, Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union and Pepper Hamilton LLP filed a motion on behalf of Lisa A. Blehm - a Michigan resident who was improperly disenfranchised in the November election - that would allow her to join a previously filed voting rights lawsuit challenging the state's unlawful voter purge programs. The motion was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, Michigan Bureau of Elections Director Christopher M. Thomas and Standish City Clerk Rebecca Lakin.

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The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

ACLU Links:
Posted in civil liberties, voting

US Voting Access A Work in Progress

Last week the Pew Center on the States sponsored a summit called "Voting in America - The Road Ahead," which detailed our ballot booth access inconsistencies. And it wasn't just about Florida's shenanigans in 2000 or Ohio's in 2004. They called for systemic change of our election process and the elimination of voter disenfranchisement.

The problem is, we've got a backward way of voting in this country. Here, people have to register to vote. That may sound perfectly reasonable but it isn't. It only allows us to pretend that we've eliminated all barriers to voting.

Posted in voting
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