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voter fraud

Texas

Texas Sues Feds Over Voter ID; Says 'Colorblind' Policy Bans Racial Breakdown Of Voter Data

The state of Texas said Monday that it can't provide voter data allowing the federal government to evaluate whether its voter ID law is discriminatory because they don't track racial and ethnic data in order to "facilitate a colorblind electoral process."

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced on Monday Texas was suing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in an effort to "fast-track" its authority to enforce a voter ID law the state claims would "help deter and detect election fraud."

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Topics: Rick Perry, Texas, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

James O'Keefe

'Dead' Voter Talking: O'Keefe Voter Fraud Stunt Confused 23-Year-Old For Dead 84-Year-Old

Robert William Beaulieu is 23-years-old, lives in Nashua, New Hampshire, and is a registered Democrat. He's also very much not dead.

But you wouldn't have known that if you watched the lastest undercover sting video from James O'Keefe's Project Veritas, which featured a man with an Irish accent attempting to obtain a ballot on behalf of a Robert Beaulieu who lives on Cassandra Lane.

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Topics: James O'Keefe, New Hampshire, Project Veritas, Robert William Beaulieu, Voter Identification, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

James O'Keefe

James O'Keefe Says $50K Donation Funded Voter Fraud Stunt

An "extremely generous donor" gave $50,000 to James O'Keefe's Project Veritas to fund their voter fraud stunt in New Hampshire on Tuesday, the conservative activist said in a email to supporters.

"Our Voter Fraud investigation is being funded with a gift of $50,000 from an extremely generous donor -- but that covers the cost of just ONE national project," O'Keefe wrote in a fundraising email.

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Topics: James O'Keefe, New Hampshire, Project Veritas, Voter Identification, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

James O'Keefe

Election Law Experts Say James O'Keefe Allies Could Face Charges Over Voter Fraud Stunt

Update, Jan. 11, 5:00PM: Mark Zuckerman, a federal prosecutor in the New Hampshire U.S. Attorney's Office, told TPM he recently became aware of the Project Veritas video and was reviewing it but hadn't formed any opinion on whether it presented an issue.

It was one of the few -- if not the only -- coordinated efforts to attempt in-person voter fraud, and it was pulled off by affiliates of conservative activist James O'Keefe at polling places in New Hampshire Tuesday night. All of it part of an attempt to prove the need for voter ID laws that voting rights experts say have a unfair impact on minority voters.

Now election law experts tell TPM that O'Keefe's allies could face criminal charges on both the federal and state level for procuring ballots under false names, and that his undercover sting doesn't demonstrate a need for voter ID laws at all.

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Topics: James O'Keefe, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Christopher Coates

Lawyer Defending South Carolina's Voter ID Law Thinks DOJ Is Biased Against White People


Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC)

Updated: Jan. 11, 11:45AM

South Carolina officials plan to file suit against the federal government because the Justice Department stopped the state from implementing a voter ID law that the state's own statistics showed would have a disparate impact on non-white voters. Fighting on their behalf will be a former DOJ official who claimed that the Civil Rights Division is opposed to protecting the civil rights of whites and who defended the Bush-era politicalization of the division by Bradley Schlozman as an effort to "diversify."

South Carolina has hired former Voting Section Chief Christopher Coates, who defied DOJ's instructions and testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights during the Republican-led probe into the infamous New Black Panther Party case, a spokesman for the South Carolina attorney general's office told The State newspaper.

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Topics: Christopher Coates, New Black Panthers, Paul Clement, Section 5, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Voter Identification

Analysis: Minority Voters Overwhelmingly Rejected Mississippi Voter ID Law

Less than 25 percent of non-white Mississippi citizens voted in favor of a state constitutional amendment to require voter ID at the polls compared to about 83 percent of white voters, according to a newly released report.

An estimated 75 percent of the state's minority population rejected "Initiative 27," a constitutional amendment requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, while only about 17 percent of white voters went against the proposal, according to a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights.

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Topics: Justice Department, Mississippi, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

Artur Davis

Ex-Democrat Rep, Voter ID Convert Artur Davis Says He Might Run As Republican

After coming out in support of voter ID laws and donating to Republicans, former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis is continuing his march to the other side of the aisle, telling the Washington Post he could run for office as an independent or even a GOP candidate.

"I've heard some people at the national level encouraging me to run as an independent for my old office," Davis told WaPo's Aaron Blake. "While there have been Democrats who have switched down there, the Republican Party has refused to accept them. Do I agree with the agenda items in the Alabama Republican Party? Some I agree with, and some I don't."

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Topics: Artur Davis, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

Voter Identification

Civil Rights Groups Press Justice Department To Block Other Voter ID Laws


Attorney General Eric Holder

It wasn't long after the Justice Department blocked South Carolina's voter ID law on Friday that Republicans accused the Obama administration of putting the President's reelection ahead of preventing voter fraud.

"Obama's S.C. voter ID decision shows he's putting the 2012 election above policy by opposing efforts to protect against cheating and fraud," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus wrote on Twitter, indirectly acknowledging that voter ID laws suppress Democratic voter turnout. "Moreover, from S.C. decision looks like they just want to benefit from cheating and fraud."

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Topics: Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

South Carolina

BREAKING: Justice Department Blocks South Carolina's Voter ID Law

Updated: Dec. 23, 2011, 5:28PM

The U.S. Department of Justice will block the voter ID provisions of an election law passed in South Carolina earlier this year because the state's own statistics demonstrated that the photo identification requirement would have a much greater impact on non-white residents, DOJ said in a letter to the state on Friday.

The decision places the federal government squarely in opposition to the types of voter ID requirements that have swept through mostly Republican-controlled state legislatures.

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Topics: Bradley Schlozman, DOJ, DOJ Civil Rights Division, Justice Department, South Carolina, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

South Carolina

Justice Department Facing Deadline On Voter ID Decision

The Justice Department has to decide by Tuesday whether South Carolina has proven that their new voter ID law doesn't deny or abridge the voting rights of residents on the basis of race, nationality or language -- a decision bound to enrage either the mostly progressive opponents of voting restrictions or the mostly conservative backers of the identification measure, depending on how they come down on the matter.

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Topics: South Carolina, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

voter fraud

Fox Falsely Claims 'Mickey Mouse' And 'Adolf Hitler' Are On Scott Walker Recall Petition (VIDEO)


Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) shakes hands with Republican legislative members after delivering his budget address to a joint session of the legislature at the state Capitol on March 1, 2011 in Madison, WI.

Fox News reporter Eric Shawn told viewers on Thursday that signatures from "Mickey Mouse" and "Adolf Hitler" were "allegedly on petitions in Wisconsin in the recall for Governor Scott Walker." Fun little story with the potential to go viral? Absolutely. True? Not so much.

In fact, the original story that Shawn evidently built his report off of is about a strictly hypothetical situation discussed by members of the Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board who were asked what would happen if someone signed the petition as Mickey Mouse. There's been no actual allegation that anyone actually signed the petition against Walker that way.

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Topics: Fox News, Scott Walker, Voter Identification, Voting, Wisconsin, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Eric Holder

Obama Administration Backs Bill Combating Voter Intimidation, Deception


United States Attorney General Eric Holder

The Obama administration is signaling support for a forthcoming Senate bill that would impose tough criminal and civil penalties on individuals who make and distribute campaign literature with false information intended to deceive voters and suppress turnout.

Attorney General Eric Holder will announce in a major speech on voting rights in Texas on Tuesday night that Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) will introduce the bill on Wednesday. The bill will be "narrowly tailored" to respect provisions of the First Amendment, according to Cardin's office. It will apply to "only a small category of false communications that occur during the last 90 days before an election, such as literature listing the wrong date or time for the election, giving inaccurate information about voter eligibility, or promoting false endorsements of candidates." A nearly identical bill was introduced by Schumer and then-Sen. Barack Obama back in 2007 but never passed.

In his speech at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library And Museum in Austin, Holder will call for election systems "that are free from fraud, discrimination, and partisan influence" and will say that protecting the right to vote and combating discrimination "must be viewed, not only as a legal issue - but as a moral imperative." Holder's speech also offers a challenge:

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Topics: Barack Obama, Ben Cardin, Chuck Schumer, DOJ, DOJ Civil Rights Division, DOJ Public Integrity, Eric Holder, Justice Department, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Voter Identification

ACLU Sues Scott Walker Over Wisconsin's Voter ID Law

Wisconsin's voter ID law imposes the equivalent of a poll tax on individuals with out-of-state drivers licenses and discriminates against the poor, students and the elderly, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday.

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Topics: Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

Eric Holder

Holder: 'You Don't See Huge Amounts Of Voter Fraud Out There'


Attorney General Eric Holder

If you've been following the debate over restrictive voter ID laws, the fact that there aren't many instances of voter fraud out there (especially of the type that could be prevented by voter ID laws) isn't news. What's interesting is who's saying it.

"You constantly hear about voter fraud... but you don't see huge amounts of vote fraud out there," Attorney General Eric Holder told the Washington Post.

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Topics: Eric Holder, Justice Department, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

Artur Davis

Former Dem Rep. Artur Davis Still Wouldn't Provide Examples Of Voter Fraud

Former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis, who now supports voter ID laws as a method of preventing voter fraud but refuses to discuss any particular instances he says he witnessed, is again declining to provide any examples of voter fraud he witnessed, claiming doing so would turn the debate over voter ID laws into a 'he-said-he-said' controversy.

"If you think I made it up, you're entitled to do that, and if you think there's no credibility and I just made it up because I had nothing to do some day, that's your prerogative," Davis told TPM in a phone interview on Tuesday.

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Topics: Artur Davis, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Michigan Tea Party

Second Michigan Dem Pleads No Contest In Fake Tea Party Scheme

A former operations director of the Oakland County Democratic Party pleaded no contest to charges that he committed election fraud when he attempted to get fake Tea Party candidates on the Michigan ballot.

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Topics: Jason Bauer, Michael McGuinness, Michigan, Michigan Tea Party, Tea Party, voter fraud

voter fraud

GOP New Mexico Sec of State Finds Tiny Fraction Of The Voter Fraud She Alleged

New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran said earlier this year that her state had a "culture of corruption" and referred 64,000 voter registration records to police that she thought were possible cases of voter fraud. Now a new report from her office proves she was completely right, 0.0296875 percent of the time.

Duran's interim report now alleges that 104 voters -- about one for every 10,577 on the rolls -- were illegally registered to vote. Of that group, just 19 -- or approximately one for every 57,894 registered voters -- actually allegedly cast a ballot they shouldn't have.

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Topics: Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

Matthew Vadum

Columnist: 'Registering The Poor To Vote Is Un-American' Piece 'Indelicately Worded'

Conservative columnist Matthew Vadum explained to the Texas-based King Street Patriots on Monday night that his "Registering The Poor To Vote Is Un-American" article may have been "indelicately worded" but said his larger point stands.

"Why do I hate democracy and the poor?" Vadum joked, clarifying that he "wasn't saying that people shouldn't have the right to vote if they're poor."

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Topics: Catherine Engelbrecht, King Street Patriots, Matthew Vadum, True The Vote, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, voter fraud, voter intimidation

voter fraud

Tennessee Resident: I Really Had To Fight To Get A Free Voter ID

Updated: 4:07PM

Most people would have just paid the $8 fee to obtain a photo ID required to vote in Tennessee. Not Lee Campbell. The retired teacher and his wife fought for their right to a free photo ID and on Monday went to Capitol Hill to complain about what he called a "poll tax."

Campbell, a Utah native who taught and served as a teacher and a guidance counselor for 42 years and has voted in every presidential election since 1964, testified before a panel sponsored by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee on Monday that he "experienced first-hand the harmful impact of all these voting changes that are springing up across America."

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Topics: House Judiciary, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Eric Holder

Holder: Voting Restriction Efforts 'Inconsistent' With American Values

Efforts to make it more difficult for voters to cast a ballot are inconsistent with American values and will be thoroughly investigated by DOJ's Civil Rights Division, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.

"This Department of Justice will be aggressive at looking at this jurisdictions that have attempted for whatever reason to restrict the ability of people to get to the polls," Holder said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

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Topics: Eric Holder, Voter Data, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Maine

Maine GOP Ad: The Gays Are Trying To Impose Same Day Voter Registration

Here's an interesting way to rally opposition to a ballot proposition that would allow for same-day voter registration: convince voters that its being pushed by gay activists and their pro-gay agenda.

That's what the Maine Republican Party did with ads they paid thousands of dollars to run in Maine newspapers.

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Topics: Maine, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

Artur Davis

Artur Davis, New Voter ID Convert, Donates To Republicans

Throwing his support behind his state's voter ID law isn't former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis' only new hobby. He's also started giving to Republicans.

The Daily Caller flags two donations Davis recently made to Republicans: one to Senate candidate Heather Wilson in New Mexico and another to Mississippi gubernatorial hopeful Phil Bryant.

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Topics: Artur Davis, Voter Identification, voter fraud

Artur Davis

Alabama Democrat Artur Davis Flips On Voter ID But Won't Say Who He Saw Committing Fraud

Former Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) hasn't been making many waves since he left office, lost his bid for Alabama governor and joined a Washington law firm. About the only time he's been in the news is when he was offered up as an expert to say the Justice Department's case against John Edwards is weak (an area in which he might have a point).

Still, an editorial he wrote recently in support of voter ID laws has managed to ruffle some feathers. Davis wrote that as a member of Congress he "took the path of least resistance on this subject for an African American politician" when he "lapsed into the rhetoric of various partisans and activists who contend that requiring photo identification to vote is a suppression tactic aimed at thwarting black voter participation."

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Topics: Artur Davis, Voter Identification, voter fraud

Voter Identification

91-Year-Old Who Can't Stand Unable To Get Voter ID In Tennessee

If you're trying to avoid being disenfranchised by your state's voter ID law, it's usually a good idea to avoid being a minority, a college student or poor. As it turns out you also probably shouldn't be 91-years-old and have trouble standing for a long period of time.

Tennessee resident Virginia Lasater found out the hard way after she was unable to get the photo ID required to vote in her state because she wasn't able to stand in a long line at a DMV:

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Topics: Tennessee, Voter Identification, voter fraud

Michigan

Michigan Dem Pleads No Contest In Fake Tea Party Scheme

The former chair of the Oakland County Democratic Party pleaded no contest last week to charges that he committed voter fraud last November when attempting to get fake Tea Party candidates on the ballot in order to split the Republican vote.

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Topics: Michigan, Michigan Tea Party, Tea Party, voter fraud

Barack Obama

What The Justice Department Can Actually Do About Voter ID Laws

President Barack Obama last week told a radio audience that he's made sure the Justice Department is reviewing restrictive voting laws passed across the country. But as a practical matter, DOJ's reach is limited.

Sure, federal officials with DOJ's Civil Rights Division are reviewing voter ID laws passed in South Carolina and Texas because both states have a history of discrimination and are covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. DOJ told South Carolina in August that they need more info before making a decision and in September told Texas they have more questions.

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Topics: Barack Obama, Civil Rights, Civil Rights Division, Civil Rights Division Voting Section, DOJ, DOJ Civil Rights Division, Justice Department, Obama Administration, Thomas Perez, Voter Identification, voter fraud

Voter Identification

Voter ID Under Fire At Progressive Conference; Obama Calls Restrictions A 'Big Mistake'

A few dozen progressives sat in a room in the Washington Hilton on Monday during the Take Back the American Dream Conference discussing how restrictive voter ID laws would affect the 2012 election.

"The groups of voters that are going to be most impacted, what do you all think?" asked moderator Megan Donovan. "Who does this affect primarily?"

"College students!" someone said. "Minority groups!" said another. "Elderly voters!" chimed in one person. "Disabled voters!" said one woman.

"Democrats!" came a voice from the back of the room. The audience burst into laughter.

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Topics: Barack Obama, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Voting

Restrictions Could Keep Five Million Traditionally Democratic Voters From The Polls In 2012

Restrictive voting laws in states across the country could affect up to five million voters from traditionally Democratic demographics in 2012, according to a new report by the Brennan Center. That's a number larger than the margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections.

The new restrictions, the study found, "fall most heavily on young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities. This wave of changes may sharply tilt the political terrain for the 2012 election."

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Topics: Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, voter fraud

Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley's South Carolina To Give Rides To 22 Voters To Get Photo IDs


Nikki Haley

Arguing last month that the voter ID law she signed into law in May wasn't discriminatory, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley offered to give voters free rides to obtain their photo ID from the DMV. 22 people took her up on it.

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Topics: Civil Rights, Civil Rights Division, Civil Rights Division Voting Section, DOJ, DOJ Civil Rights Division, Justice Department, Nikki Haley, South Carolina, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

Rick Perry

Coalition: Perry's Voter ID Law Intentionally Discriminates Against Minorities


Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

A photo voter ID law signed by Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry is unnecessary, unfair, restrictive and intentionally discriminates against African-American and Latino voters, a coalition of civil rights groups will argue in a letter to the Justice Department on Wednesday.

Groups in the coalition want DOJ's Civil Rights Division to oppose preclearance of Texas's photo voter identification law under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Asian American Justice Center, Southwest Workers Union, a statewide Hispanic organization and Demos say the state failed to prove that the law was enacted for a nondiscriminatory purpose and that it will have no discriminatory effect on minorities.

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Topics: Civil Rights, Civil Rights Division, Civil Rights Division Voting Section, DOJ, DOJ Civil Rights Division, Justice Department, Rick Perry, Thomas Perez, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

Todd Rokita

GOP Rep: Voter Fraud 'Happening Everywhere,' But Prosecutors Wouldn't Take Cases (VIDEO)


Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN)

An interesting side note to the Senate hearing on voter rights laws from last week: the author of Indiana's photo voter ID law is now a member of Congress.

Freshman Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN) was Indiana's Secretary of State when the state passed a voter ID law in 2006 that the Supreme Court then upheld in 2008. At Thursday's hearing, Rokita launched a passionate defense of photo ID laws at the polls.

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Topics: Todd Rokita, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud

voter fraud

Al Franken Smacks Down Hans von Spakovsky Over Flawed Voter ID Stats (VIDEO)


Hans von Spakovsky

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) squared off with voting rights restrictions enthusiast Hans von Spakovsky at at Senate hearing on Thursday, accusing the Heritage Foundation fellow of leaving out a crucial piece of data that undermined his argument that voter ID laws don't suppress minority turnout.

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Topics: Al Franken, Hans von Spakovsky, Voter Identification, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham Backs Federal Voter ID Law, Calls Restrictions 'The Future Of The Country'


Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Congress should follow in the footsteps of state legislatures and pass a federal voter ID law that requires voters to present photo identification at the polls, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Thursday.

Graham defended South Carolina's recently passed voter ID law, which is under review by the Justice Department.

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Topics: Civil Rights Division, Civil Rights Division Voting Section, Justice Department, Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Hans von Spakovsky

GOP Senators Trot Out Hans von Spakovsky To Defend Voter ID Laws


Hans von Spakovsky

Democrats will have a longtime civil rights lawyer and a law professor who conducted an extensive study on voter fraud testify at Thursday's Senate hearing on the rash of voter ID laws sweeping states across the country. The Republicans will have Hans von Spakovsky.

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Topics: Hans von Spakovsky, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation

Voter Identification

Legal Battles Loom In Fight Over Voter ID Laws

Conservative "investigative reporter" Matthew Vadum caused a real stir last week. As one of the many individuals who proselytizes about the threat of voter fraud and the need for restrictive measures to protect the ballot box, he's generally expected to stick to a predictable script.

The argument usually goes like this: everyone should be able to vote and that voter ID isn't supposed to make it harder for anyone to vote. Also, voter ID efforts aren't partisan, but rather about good government, and that if you have to show your ID to buy liquor or rent a movie from Blockbuster you should have to show it to vote.

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Topics: Tea Parties, Tea Party, True The Vote, Voter Identification, voter fraud

Voter Identification

Dick Durbin To Chair Hearing Examining Rash Of Voter ID Laws


Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) will chair a hearing next week examining the rash of voter ID laws passed by state legislatures this year amidst concerns that such laws could suppress Democratic turnout across the country.

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Topics: Dick Durbin, Voter Identification, voter fraud

Matthew Vadum

Columnist: Registering Poor To Vote 'Like Handing Out Burglary Tools To Criminals'


Matthew Vadum of the American Spectator

Updated: September 2, 2011, 5:05 PM

Conservative columnist Matthew Vadum is just going to come right out and say it: registering the poor to vote is un-American and "like handing out burglary tools to criminals."

"It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country -- which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote," Vadum, the author of a book published by World Net Daily that attacks the now-defunct community organizing group ACORN, writes in a column for the American Thinker.

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Topics: Matthew Vadum, voter fraud

Charles Webster

Maine GOP Chair: Students Should Pay Taxes If They Want To Vote


Maine GOP Chairman Charles Webster

The Chairman of Maine's Republican party has doubled down on his crusade against the apparently widespread problem of voter fraud-committing college students, declaring this week that if students want to vote they should be paying taxes.

"I get tired of talking about this because the law is clear," Charles Webster said. "If I want to vote, I need to establish residency. I need to register my car and pay taxes in that community. You can't just become a student and vote wherever you want."

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Topics: Charles Webster, Maine, Voter Identification, voter fraud

Nikki Haley

DOJ Has More Questions About South Carolina's Voter ID Law


Nikki Haley

The Justice Department wants more information about South Carolina's new voter ID law, which was signed by Gov. Nikki Haley (R) in May.

Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, South Carolina is required to have changes to the state's voting laws precleared by federal authorities or by a federal court to insure they're not discriminatory.

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Topics: Justice Department, Nikki Haley, South Carolina, Voter Identification, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud