Texas

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

Ryan J. Reilly | January 23, 2012, 3:30PM

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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Rick Santorum

End Of Days? Rick Santorum Agrees With The ACLU

Ryan J. Reilly | January 17, 2012, 12:56PM

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (R)

Senate Republicans who agree with former Sen. Rick Santorum -- that disenfranchising felons had an unfair disparate impact on African-American communities -- have an opportunity to take a stand by backing a bill introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) back in December.

The Democracy Restoration Act would create a uniform standard for voting in federal elections and replace the patchwork of state laws currently on the books. It's backed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) introduced the House version of the bill last year.

Santorum went after Mitt Romney during Monday night's Fox News debate for an ad sponsored by Restore Our Future (a "super PAC" backing Romney) that showed an individual in a bright orange prison outfit along with the claim that Santorum "voted to let convicted felons vote."

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James O'Keefe

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

Ryan J. Reilly | January 14, 2012, 2:25PM

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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James O'Keefe

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

Ryan J. Reilly | January 12, 2012, 1:46PM

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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James O'Keefe

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

Ryan J. Reilly | January 11, 2012, 3:05PM

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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Christopher Coates

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

Ryan J. Reilly | January 11, 2012, 5:53AM

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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Voter Identification

Analysis: Minority Voters Overwhelmingly Rejected Mississippi Voter ID Law

Ryan J. Reilly | January 6, 2012, 1:48PM

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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Artur Davis

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

Ryan J. Reilly | December 30, 2011, 5:17PM

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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Voter Identification

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

Ryan J. Reilly | December 28, 2011, 5:34AM

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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South Carolina

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

Ryan J. Reilly | December 23, 2011, 4:03PM

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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South Carolina

Justice Department Facing Deadline On Voter ID Decision

Ryan J. Reilly | December 22, 2011, 6:00AM

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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voter fraud

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

Ryan J. Reilly | December 15, 2011, 1:32PM

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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Eric Holder

Obama Administration Backs Bill Combating Voter Intimidation, Deception

Ryan J. Reilly | December 13, 2011, 6:05PM

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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John Boehner

Emails Suggest Ohio's New Republican-Friendly Maps Save the GOP 'Millions'

December 13, 2011, 3:05PM

by Lois Beckett ProPublica

As we've been documenting in our ongoing series, political parties and other powerful players use the once-a-decade redistricting process to advance their own goals--often at the expense of voters.

A recently released trove of e-mails from Ohio offers a rare inside glimpse into how it works.

The e-mails, sent from June to September, show collaboration between the national GOP and state Republicans to re-draw Ohio's map and thus cement control of both the statehouse and a majority of congressional districts.

In one of the emails, a Republican consultant working on redistricting for the state suggested that the new political maps could save the GOP "millions" of dollars in campaign funds by making districts safer for Republican candidates.

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Eric Holder

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

Ryan J. Reilly | December 13, 2011, 6:00AM

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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Rick Perry

Election Lawyer: Supreme Court Hearing Texas Redistricting Case Shows Their Partisanship

Ryan J. Reilly | December 12, 2011, 1:20PM

Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate Rick Perry (R)

The nine (or is it eight?) members of the Supreme Court are set to decide whether redistricting maps drawn by a federal court (after separate maps signed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry were found to be discriminatory) can go into effect.

The Supreme Court's one paragraph order on Friday placed a stay on the implementation of the maps, tossing Texas's congressional and state legislature elections into chaos. Political observers and participants in the case are still trying to figure out exactly what it means for the election timeline. A hearing is set for Jan. 9.

Gerry Hebert, an election lawyer in D.C. who is working for intervenors in the redistricting case, told TPM that the Supreme Court's decision shows that they're "just another governmental institution in Washington that's highly partisan."

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Robert L. Ehrlich

Aide To Former Maryland GOP Governor Found Guilty Of Election Fraud

Ryan J. Reilly | December 6, 2011, 2:45PM

Maryland gubernatorial candidate Rep. Robert Ehrlich (R), left, listens to Paul Schurick.

A chief of staff to former Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich (R) was found guilty on Tuesday on four counts, including election fraud, for his role in setting up robocalls intended to surpress minority voting turnout in the final hours of Election Day last year.

Paul Schurick's trial took place in Baltimore Circuit Court, where he was brought up on charges of conspiracy, election fraud and a charge relating to his failure to include a disclosure on the robocall that it was authorized by the campaign. He had been indicted by state prosecutors alongside Julius Henson in June.

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Voter Identification

NAACP Claims Voter Restrictions A 'Direct Response' To Increased Minority Participation

Ryan J. Reilly | December 5, 2011, 11:00AM

California Voters Wait To Cast Their Ballots On November 2, 2010

The efforts of various state legislatures to make it more difficult for people to vote are a direct response to the high levels of political participation by African-American voters in the 2008 election and the growth of communities of color shown in the U.S. Census, the NAACP claimed in a report released on Monday.

The "burgeoning political power" of minority voters, "has engendered a backlash," according to the report.

"In the face of far-reaching demographic and electoral trends revealing unprecedented minority political mobilization in America, an assault on voting rights accelerated in 2011," the report states. "In this year alone, over a dozen states imposed obstacles to voting at each key stage of the democratic process."

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Artur Davis

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

Ryan J. Reilly | November 22, 2011, 5:30PM

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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voter fraud

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

Ryan J. Reilly | November 18, 2011, 4:22PM

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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Matthew Vadum

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

Ryan J. Reilly | November 15, 2011, 11:48AM

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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voter fraud

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

Ryan J. Reilly | November 14, 2011, 2:35PM

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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Voting

Maine Approves Same-Day Voter Registration, After State GOP Suggested Initiative Was Pro-Gay

Ryan J. Reilly | November 9, 2011, 11:35AM

Despite a warning from Maine's Republican party that a gay rights group supported same day registration, state voters restored the option by a three-to-two margin Tuesday night.

"Maine has long prided itself on high voter participation, sparked by its long-standing practice of Same Day Registration (SDR)," Miles Rapoport, president of Demos and former Connecticut Secretary of State, said in a statement. "Now Maine's citizens have spoken loud and clear: They will not allow people who want to discourage real participation to diminish Maine's commitment to democracy."

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Eric Holder

Holder: Voting Restriction Efforts 'Inconsistent' With American Values

Ryan J. Reilly | November 8, 2011, 2:14PM

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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Maine

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

Ryan J. Reilly | November 8, 2011, 10:00AM

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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Voting Rights Act

The E-Mails The Feds Say Show Texas Lawmakers Trying To Limit Voting Power Of Hispanics

Ryan J. Reilly | October 28, 2011, 12:00PM

The feds say there's "ample circumstantial evidence" that the redistricting maps signed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry had the effect and intent of limiting the voting power of Hispanic voters. But what's the evidence exactly? Let's take a look.

The most telling evidence Justice Department lawyers cite in terms of the state redistricting maps is a comment from state Rep. Beverly Woolley, who led the redistricting process in Harris County (an effort which excluded any minority members of the Harris County delegation). "[Y]ou all are protected by the Voting Rights Act and we are not," Woolley told a number of minority representatives. "We don't want to lose these people due to population growth in the county, or we won't have any districts left."

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Rick Perry

Feds: Rick Perry-Signed Texas Redistricting Plan Reduces Voting Power Of 479,704 Hispanics

Ryan J. Reilly | October 26, 2011, 6:00AM

Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate Rick Perry (R)

There is "ample circumstantial evidence" that the congressional and state representative redistricting maps signed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry had not only the effect but the intent of limiting the voting power of Hispanic voters, Justice Department lawyers said in a court filing late Tuesday.

DOJ is seeking to block the maps, filing to deny Texas' request for summary judgement in a case involving allegations that state officials tried to limit the voter power of Hispanic voters in violation of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

Federal lawyers contended in the newest filing that there is "ample circumstantial evidence of a discriminatory purpose with regard to both the State House and Congressional plans" and that in the new maps nearly half a million fewer Hispanics would live in districts where they would have the ability to elect a candidate of their choosing.

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Voter Identification

S.C. GOP Operative: AP Story Showing Impact Of Voter ID On Blacks 'Proves EXACTLY' Why Law Is Needed

Ryan J. Reilly | October 20, 2011, 1:50PM

Updated: Oct. 20, 3:15PM

The Associated Press put out a story this week showing that South Carolina's voter I.D. law "appears to be hitting black precincts in the state the hardest."

One person who really loved the story was Wesley Donehue, the CEO of Donehue Direct and a political strategist for the South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus, who took to Twitter to write that the story "proves EXACTLY why we need Voter ID in SC."

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Voter Identification

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

Ryan J. Reilly | October 4, 2011, 10:45AM

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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Voting

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

Ryan J. Reilly | October 3, 2011, 10:05AM

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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Nikki Haley

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

Ryan J. Reilly | September 27, 2011, 4:15PM

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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DOJ

DOJ Has More Questions On Rick Perry's Voter ID Law

Ryan J. Reilly | September 23, 2011, 5:55PM

Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry during the Lincoln Day Dinner hosted by the Black Hawk County Republican Party in Waterloo, Iowa on August 14, 2011.

Updated: Sept. 23, 2011, 6:54PM

The Justice Department hasn't yet precleared a voter ID law signed by Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R). In a Friday letter officials wrote that they need to know more about how the state would alert voters to the changes to the law.

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Justice Department

DOJ: Rick Perry's Texas Redistricting Plan Purposefully Discriminated Against Minorities

Ryan J. Reilly | September 23, 2011, 5:40PM

The Justice Department said late Friday that based on their preliminary investigation, a congressional redistricting map signed into law by Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry appears to have been "adopted, at least in part, for the purpose of diminishing the ability of citizens of the United States, on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group, to elect their preferred candidates of choice to Congress."

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Voting Rights Act

Judge Upholds Constitutionality Of Section Five Of Voting Rights Act

Ryan J. Reilly | September 21, 2011, 10:30AM

Image From VIPDesignUSA / Shutterstock

Updated: Sept. 21, 2011 1:03PM

A federal judge nominated by President George W. Bush has upheld the constitutionality of a part of the Voting Rights Act that requires certain parts of the country to have their election laws precleared by the federal government to prevent unlawful discrimination, shooting down a challenge from Shelby County, Alabama.

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Rick Perry

What DOJ Tossing Texas' Redistricting Plan Means For Rick Perry

Ryan J. Reilly | September 20, 2011, 6:30AM

As if Rick Perry needed another reason to dislike the federal government.

The Justice Department's decision to oppose the redistricting plan Perry signed as Governor of Texas is raising questions over whether he and state Republicans tried to dilute the voter power of Latinos by gerrymandering them into particular districts.

DOJ's opening serve sets the scene for a major court battle over how the lines will be drawn in the Lone Star state. Federal attorneys are expected to offer more details of their objections in a filing Tuesday and in federal court in D.C. on Wednesday.

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Rick Perry

DOJ: Rick Perry's Texas Congressional Redistricting Map Violates Voting Rights Act

Ryan J. Reilly | September 19, 2011, 2:57PM

Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate Rick Perry (R)

Updated: September 19, 2011, 4:27PM

The Justice Department said Monday that Texas' state House and congressional redistricting plans didn't comply with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), indicating they thought the maps approved by Gov. Rick Perry (R) gave too little voting power to the growing Latino population in the state.

Officials with DOJ's Civil Rights Division said the proposed redistricting plan for the State Board of Education (SBOE) and the state Senate complied with the Voting Rights Act, but indicated they had concerns with the state House plan and the plan for congressional redistricting.

The federal government "[denied] that the proposed Congressional plan, as compared with the benchmark, maintains or increases the ability of minority voters to elect their candidate of choice in each district protected by Section 5," DOJ lawyers write in a filing. "Defendants deny that the proposed Congressional plan complies with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act."

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Rick Perry

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

Ryan J. Reilly | September 13, 2011, 5:15PM

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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Todd Rokita

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

Ryan J. Reilly | September 13, 2011, 10:35AM

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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Lindsey Graham

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

Ryan J. Reilly | September 8, 2011, 2:47PM

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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Hans von Spakovsky

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

Ryan J. Reilly | September 8, 2011, 12:45PM

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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