voting laws
Republicans falsely created mistrust in elections and are now citing it to justify attacking voters
Do not fall for the Great Election Integrity Hoax. It goes like this: Politicians, courting MAGA love, keep the myth alive that massive voting fraud is real. Either explicitly or implicitly, they perpetuate the lie concocted by a sore loser who fraudulently tried to overturn his election defeat. The kicker? They cite (unfounded) mistrust in […]
Voting advocates raise alarm about Ohio GOP measures to limit absentee voting and drop boxes
Voting rights groups are raising concerns with two voting bills Ohio Republican lawmakers appear poised to advance during the lame duck session: One for photo voter ID, and the other to limit drop boxes and absentee voting. In the Ohio House, lawmakers are working on a proposal that places limits on drop boxes, absentee voting, […]
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 […]
U.S. sues Arizona over proof of citizenship voting law
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division announced Tuesday that it has sued Arizona over a law signed by the state’s Republican governor in March that requires people registering to vote prove their citizenship to participate in a presidential election or to vote by mail in any federal election. Republican proponents of the law, […]
Voting snafus in Texas primary show what may be on the way for other states
HOUSTON — Standing outside a polling location in the historically Black neighborhood of Kashmere Gardens on Election Day, lieutenant governor candidate Carla Brailey predicted that Texas’ performance in 2022’s first primary would gain national attention — no matter the outcome. Texas is already a model for other Republican-controlled states for its new law that makes […]
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 […]
Activists target corporate campaign cash in battle against voting restrictions
Members of the Defend Black Voters Coalition chose Detroit’s Huntington Center as their backdrop earlier this month when they issued a warning about the dangers of “voter suppression legislation” backed by Michigan Republican state lawmakers. The building behind them, formerly known as the TCF Center, was a powerful symbol of what could happen if elections indeed […]
Justice Department to increase legal staff amid surge in restrictive voting laws
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice announced Friday that it is doubling its enforcement attorneys who will work to protect voting rights. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s announcement came as Republicans in state legislatures introduce and pass restrictive voting laws, such as limiting ballot boxes and requiring voter identification. “We are scrutinizing new laws that seek […]
19th Century voting was marked by bribery, violence and chaos. That’s why we have laws now.
Author Edgar Allan Poe, the 19th-century master of American macabre, may have died of dirty politics. According to legend, a gang of party “poll hustlers” kidnapped and drugged him. They forced him to vote, then abandoned him near death. Details are murky, but we do know Poe died in Baltimore days after an election. The […]