Election Law

“The League of Women Voters of New Hampshire has produced two flyers explaining what voters will need to know to vote. ... ‘We’re concerned that people will believe that they can’t vote if they don’t have a photo ID. That is not the case, even with the new law,’ said Liz Tentarelli, co-president of the league’s state chapter.”

“With four lawsuits and more than 180,000 names of potentially ineligible voters, the situation in the Sunshine State is getting messier by the day. ... A letter to the newspaper from the director of the state chapter of the League of Women Voters and a lawyer from the Brennan Center for Justice (both groups that submitted friend-of-court briefs supporting the DOJ) argues for continuing vigilance.”

“... Turns out the Division of Elections, working with outdated information from the DHSMV, has been demanding that county elections supervisors purge a number of legal citizens, both natural-born and naturalized, from the voter lists. On Thursday, the Division of Elections announced it was giving up on the use of outdated driver license records.”

“Ohio’s march toward what’s expected to be a nationally watched 2012 election took an apparently unprecedented step Tuesday, one that could put election officials into court before a ballot is cast. ... ‘If the legislature had truly wanted to return the clock to where it was...it would have eliminated that last-three-day restriction,’ said Carrie Davis, executive director of the League of Woman Voters of Ohio.”

“A contentious new election law was on track to being repealed in...Ohio after a bill to rescind the law cleared the Legislature on Tuesday, amid Democratic accusations that Republicans were thwarting the chance for voters to weigh in on the issue this fall. GOP Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign the repeal bill. Voter advocates, including the League of Women Voters in Ohio, have urged state lawmakers not to make any changes to Ohio's election law before November...”

“Voter advocates have urged state lawmakers not to make any changes to Ohio's election law before November, including repealing the new law. "Why rush to repeal a bill that is not in effect?" Peg Rosenfield of Ohio's League of Women Voters asked the committee.”

 “‘They're reducing the number of precincts and increasing the number of (voters) per precinct. And they're relying on the fact that people are relying on early voting, and at the same time they're reducing the number of hours. So voters are going to be caught in a Catch-22,’ said Jeanette Senecal of the non-partisan League of Women Voters, which has filed suit to block the law.”
 

“Voter identification laws and other changes to polling are not expected to happen overnight, but before the changes are made, town clerks would like to have a say. ... State Rep. Anne M. Gobi...has filed legislation seeking to create a task force of representatives from the state House of Representatives and Senate, the Town and City Clerks Associations, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, the League of Women’s Voters of Massachusetts,...to look at proposed election changes and make a report to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Election Laws.”

 “‘It's enough already,’ said Carrie Davis, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. ‘This constant round of election changes in the midst of a presidential election cycle causes too much confusion. They need to stop.’”
 

Every four years, the Electoral College, a little-known feature of our Constitution, enjoys a fleeting movement of fame. About six weeks after the long grind of the presidential election is over, the 538 college members meet in their respective states to perform their sole constitutional function: to elect the President and Vice-President of the United States.

But the impact of the college on presidential elections is far greater — and more controversial —than its brief life indicates.