voter rights
Experts warn of election ‘havoc’ across the U.S. if North Carolina case succeeds
WASHINGTON — Legal experts last week warned lawmakers on the U.S. House Administration Committee that if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a North Carolina case that embraces a fringe election theory, it would undermine future elections across the country. “To be blunt, it would be extraordinary destabilizing,” said Carolyn Shapiro, a law professor at the Chicago-Kent […]
Election officials risk criminal charges under 31 new GOP-imposed penalties
Second in a two-part series. See part one here. Since the 2020 election, Iowa has enacted one new felony and two new misdemeanor offenses targeting election officials. The state’s omnibus election law, passed in 2021, criminalizes election officials who fail to perform their duties, don’t adequately maintain voter lists, or interfere with other people performing their […]
Criminalizing the vote: GOP-led states enacted 102 new election penalties after 2020
First in a two-part series During the 2020 election, Rhonda Briggins and her sorority sisters spent days providing voters in metro Atlanta with water and snacks as they waited in long lines at polling places. The lines for early voting and on Election Day at times stretched on for hours. As the national co-chair for […]
Texans go to the polls under sweeping new voting restrictions
HOUSTON — With less than two days until Texas’ primary election, Cedric and Myrtis Tatterson sat in a community center gym in Houston to fulfill the training required of them as election judges. Though they have both served as judges in numerous past elections, Tuesday’s primary will be the first since Texas’ Republican-controlled legislature passed […]
DOJ civil rights official urges Congress to act soon on voting rights
WASHINGTON — A top Justice Department official on Monday stressed the need for Congress to pass legislation named after the late Georgia civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis in order to protect voting rights across the United States. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke told lawmakers that since a 2013 Supreme Court […]
Ohio lawmaker seeks to protect voter education programs with new bill
A Cleveland lawmaker is hoping to protect voter outreach programs that may be in danger of being outlawed in future Ohio elections. The state budget approved earlier this summer includes a number of provisions that voting rights advocates have characterized as anti-democratic. Among them is a prohibition on election officials collaborating with any nongovernmental entity […]
Some voter education programs may be in jeopardy due to new Ohio law
With Ohio searching for more poll workers during the pandemic last year, Secretary of State Frank LaRose had to get creative. Ohioans needed their hair cut after being indoors for months. And, perhaps just as much, they wanted to go out again for drinks. So LaRose announced two new programs meant to spur voter registration […]
LaRose: 104 illegally registered to vote in Ohio, 13 voted in 2020
More than 100 people in Ohio are accused of illegally registering to vote and casting ballots during the 2020 election cycle, Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Monday. LaRose acknowledged some of these cases involve “honest mistakes” and reflect only a small portion of the millions of ballots cast here in 2020. Though he touted […]
DeWine signs budget, blocks erasure of COVID-19 health violations
Gov. Mike DeWine signed the $74 billion, two-year state budget into law, keeping in place nearly all of its signature policy positions and spending priorities while once again nixing an effort by Republican lawmakers to counter his administration’s methods of handling the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The governor also vetoed an attempt by Republican lawmakers to […]
Mailbag: Will the response to Ohio’s voting reforms resemble Georgia?
The U.S. Census Bureau data may be delayed, but the Ohio Capital Journal Mailbag is right on time. Let’s get started: Got a question about Ohio politics/government? Send them by email to [email protected] or tweet them to @tylerjoelb. After the Georgia voting bill passed, lots of folks wished there had been more timely pressure on […]
Unfinished business: 5 legislative priorities in Ohio pushed to 2021
The 133rd Ohio General Assembly wrapped up its term with a flurry of lame-duck activity last week, closing out a challenging year of legislating amid a global pandemic. Lawmakers hurried to get priority bills passed and sent to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk for a signature before the two-year term ended. There were, however, a number […]
We might not know who won Ohio tonight. Don’t panic — that’s OK
Which presidential candidate is going to win Ohio? Donald Trump and Joe Biden both have a good chance. But it’s possible that we will all head to bed tonight not knowing which way the Buckeye State voted. If so, that’s OK. Here is a quick explanation of why that is, and what you can expect […]