News Clips

“A board member of the League of Women Voters of the Calumet Area [IN] said she’s concerned about voter suppression in the coming November presidential election. ... Barbara Schilling, of Hammond, said far too many Hoosiers are unaware they could be denied the right to vote if they have changed their name (usually through marriage) or moved and changed addresses since registering to vote.”

  “In the upcoming primaries on Sept. 13 voters will see some changes at the polling sites. According to Brian Abram, Republican commissioner, translators will be on site at the polling sites. The state Attorney General's office has called on 10 counties, including Chautauqua County, to help Spanish-speaking voters. ... Abram also said the Board of Elections is working on contracting with AT&T to have translation capabilities on phone lines as well as working with the League of Women Voters to recruit more bilingual translators.”

“How South Carolina election officials accommodate voters unable to get required photo identification before going to the polls is playing a key role in the legal fight over whether the state’s strict voter ID law discriminates against minorities. ... Closing arguments are scheduled for Sept. 24, six weeks before the Nov. 6 election. ...the law, if approved by the panel, would go into effect immediately. If it’s struck down, the state could appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.”

"Eugene Sim is living a Catch 22. More than one month ago Sim, 62, applied to renew his Indiana identification card."

“A little rain did not dampen the spirits of The League of Women Voters (LWV) of Oxford [OH], who registered Miami University students to vote... The League registered 110 students to vote at the registration event, which is more than triple the students who registered last year...  LWV invited College Democrats and College Republicans to assist in the registration.”

“New Mexico has about 1.2 million registered voters. More than 616,000 others are eligible to vote but are not registered. ... Representatives of three nonpartisan groups today outlined their strategy to register more people before the November election. ... Common Cause, the League of Women Voters and the Voter Participation Center said registration efforts in 15 targeted counties have the potential to reach 82 percent of the unregistered people.”

“The League of Women Voters of the Midland Area [MI] and Midland Community Television are gearing up to produce a second season of “Making Democracy Work,” a public affairs television program promoting voter education. ... ‘It’s a no pundits, no partisanship, no spin program from primary sources of information,’ said Karen Sherwood, president of the League of Women Voters of the Midland Area.”

“Fortunately, federal courts are seeing these efforts for what they are: a variation on the racist laws that disenfranchised millions before those tactics were outlawed by the Voting Rights Act. … These federal courts were careful to respect state sovereignty. But they were also mindful that state laws that suppress minority votes cannot be allowed to stand.”

“A federal judge has overturned a recent Ohio state law and restored in-person, early voting for the final three days leading up to Election Day.”

“Wisconsin students and young voters got a big boost on Tuesday when the state board overseeing elections adopted a policy allowing people registering to vote on Election Day in November to present identifying documents from a laptop or portable digital device.”