Voter ID laws wend through courts, with implications for November
WASHINGTON --" A cluster of federal court rulings in the waning days of August overturned several state efforts that might have limited who gets to vote this November.
"Each of those rulings was likely to be appealed, however, and laws or regulations in several other states related to voter identification and poll access remained alive in federal courts.
"Since the last presidential election, more than a dozen states have passed or tightened laws about the kind of identification required to vote or that reduce opportunities for early voting. Governors in five states have vetoed legislative attempts to tighten such laws.
"The efforts have been promoted with warnings that voter fraud is -- or could become -- rampant."
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"In 2011, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School published an analysis of 19 laws in 14 states and how they might affect the 2012 elections.
Among the nonpartisan center's conclusions:
-- "These new laws could make it significantly harder for more than 5 million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012."
-- "The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012, representing 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency."
For example, the Brennan center report said, if applied nationwide, the type of photo ID requirements being passed would affect 11 percent of American citizens -- more than 21 million people.
The report observed that proof of ID to vote is a long-standing requirement, particularly for voters who register by mail, but that the recent laws have excluded many common forms of ID, such as student IDs and Social Security cards. Before the 2006 elections, the report said, "no state required its voters to show government-issued photo ID at the polls (or elsewhere) in order to vote."
http://ncronline.org/news/politics/voter-id-laws-wend-through-courts-implications-november
