[NV Greens] Fwd: [usgp-dx] Massive review of voting laws under way (Reuters)

Fri May 27 00:13:54 PDT 2005

>
>
>Massive review of voting laws under way
>
>By Michael Conlon
>Reuters, Thu May 26, 8:38 AM ET
>http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/rights_voting_dc
>
>
>CHICAGO (Reuters) - Long lines, challenged
>ballots and two of the closest presidential
>elections in the country's history have touched
>off a landslide of proposed voting law changes
>across the United States.
>
>Some are hailed as much-needed upgrades that will
>assure everyone of a vote with no fraud; others
>are alarming civil libertarians who fear new
>restrictions could disenfranchise the poor and
>others at society's margins.
>
>The National Council of State Legislatures, which
>tracks law-making developments, has compiled a
>list of sometimes competing proposals that have
>surfaced this year in 26 states, covering 21
>pages of fine print.
>
>Many deal with a central issue -- proof of
>identity for valid voters. But other proposals
>being debated include stiffer training for poll
>workers, allowing voters to register on or closer
>to election day, making it illegal to pay someone
>to register voters, harsher penalties for voter
>registration fraud, guidelines for casting
>provisional ballots and upgrades to election
>equipment.
>
>The changes generally require approval by both
>the legislature and governor in any given state.
>
>A new Nebraska law, for instance, allows heavily
>populated precincts to split in two on election
>day to eliminate lines, and establishes special
>satellite voting centers at hospitals and other
>institutions 20 days in advance of an election to
>give more people a chance to cast ballots.
>
>PHOTO IDS DEBATED
>
>Voter identification issues have been among the
>most hotly debated, evidenced recently when the
>Democratic governor of Wisconsin, Jim Doyle,
>vetoed a bill that would have required photo
>identification for all voters -- one day after
>his Republican counterpart in nearby Indiana,
>Mitch Daniels, signed a photo ID measure into
>law.
>
>Doyle said the ID requirement would
>disenfranchise 100,000 people in his state,
>mainly the elderly who no longer have drivers
>licenses or other photo IDs, many of whom live in
>nursing homes.
>
>John Gard, speaker of the Republican-controlled
>Wisconsin Assembly, accused Doyle of "siding with
>the cheaters and felons" who last year cast at
>least 12,000 questionable ballots in the state.
>He vowed to try to override the veto.
>
>Daniels, once President Bush's budget chief,
>signed what may be one of the toughest measures
>yet enacted in the country requiring voters to
>present photo ID.
>
>It stipulates the ID must be issued by the state
>of Indiana or the U.S. government. Voters without
>one must cast a provisional ballot that would be
>counted only if they return to the local election
>board by noon of the following Monday and either
>present additional proof or swear they have some
>other valid reason, such as poverty, for not
>having a picture ID.
>
>The Indiana Civil Liberties Union and the state's
>Democratic Party are suing in state and federal
>court respectively to overturn the law.
>
>Ken Falk, legal director of the Indiana civil
>liberties group, said other states which demand a
>photo ID as the preferred proof from a voter also
>allow alternatives such as pay stubs or utility
>bills.
>
>Georgia this year also passed a stiff voter ID
>provision which is being reviewed under a law
>requiring the U.S.     Justice Department to
>scrutinize laws in states with a history of
>voting rights abuses, such as those once common
>in South.
>
>Federal law currently requires identity proof
>only for those who register by mail. But
>legislation has been introduced in the U.S.
>Congress that would require a recent photo ID
>issued by a government entity every time a voter
>casts a ballot.
>
>Beyond that there is also a recently enacted
>federal law that would in effect turn drivers
>licenses into national photo ID cards by setting
>standards for issuance, something proponents feel
>would enhance security in the post-9/11 world.
>
>CLASH OF VIEWS
>
>The debate on voter ID is a clash between some
>people, many of them conservatives, who believe
>more restrictions are needed on voting and
>registration to rein in fraud, and others who
>think the process needs to be opened up to more
>voters, according to Miles Rapoport, who as
>secretary of state for Connecticut from 1995 to
>1999 oversaw that state's election process.
>
>"These competing tendencies were unleashed by the
>2000 (presidential) election and encouraged by
>the Help America Vote Act and propelled further
>along by the problems in the 2004 election," said
>Rapoport who now heads Demos: A Network for Ideas
>and Action, a policy and advocacy center.
>
>Last year's race for the White House was decided
>in Ohio amid complaints about delays, long lines
>and disputes over registration procedures.
>
>The 2002 federal Help America Vote Act, on the
>heels of the 2000 presidential election that went
>to the Supreme Court for resolution, was to pour
>$3.9 billion into the states to help them
>modernize voting systems.
>
>More than $2.5 billion has been dispersed so far,
>Rapoport said. One of its valuable requirements
>becomes effective in January when states must
>have computerized voter registration databases,
>pulling together electronic records which will
>help poll workers verify the identity of voters
>through laptop computers placed in every
>precinct.
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand