Constitutional Law

Challenges Continue To Mount For Voters

An investigation by The New York Times reveals that tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six states have been improperly removed from the rolls. The Times says election officials in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina have illegally removed voters from the rolls 90 days of a federal election and are improperly using Social Security data to verify registration applications. The article notes that in addition to those six states, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana also appear to be purging voters in violation of the federal Help America Vote Act.

Also, National Public Radio reports that varying state laws on the voting rights of ex-offenders is adding to the likelihood of an increase in the number of eligible voters being turned away at the polls. Representatives for the ACLU and the Brennan Center for Justice told NPR that their research has found that many elections officials in a number of states just don’t know what the voting requirements are for ex-offenders. For example, half the election officials in Colorado were not aware that residents on probation are allowed to vote. In New York, New Jersey and Washington State, the organizations’ research discovered that many elections officials were making up voting requirements. “A third of the elections officials said they would require individuals with felony convictions to provide some kind of documentation before allowing them to vote,” Erika Wood of the Brennan Center said. “Even though that documentation is not required by law and in some cases, particularly here in New York, actually doesn’t even exist.”

This week, ACS and the American University Washington College of Law conducted a panel discussion of voting rights experts, including the Brennan Center’s Wendy Weiser, on obstacles facing voters in the approaching elections. Video of the panel discussion, which include discussion of the ex-offenders voting rights, is available here.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on October 09, 2008 (boomark / email).