Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

December 4, 2008 10:54:41 AM CST

Learn about Newser Points »

voting rights

voting rights news stories

12 Stories

Voting Could
Get Ugly, Warn Watchdogs

Ballot denial, long
lines likely in battleground states

Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Oct 30, 08 9:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - With record-shattering turnout anticipated, voter-rights groups predict contentious voting in battleground states, where Republicans are accused of disenfranchising new voters—who are overwhelmingly Democrat. In Florida, a “no match, no vote” standard denies ballots to people whose registration info clashes with government records, an obstacle not unique to that state, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »

More about:  Election 2008 • voting • voters • voting rights • voter fraud • Florida voting • voting process • new voters


You Can Vote Even if This Is 
Your  Address: Ohio Judge 

Ohio ordered to count homeless ballots

Cleveland Plain Dealer Cleveland Plain Dealer Oct 29, 08 2:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - A federal judge has ruled that the homeless in Ohio can vote even if their place of residence is a bench or a street grate, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer . The US District Court has ordered Ohio authorities to count the votes of homeless people whether or not their ballots list a physical address. The ruling also protects ballots from being invalidated due to clerical errors made by poll workers. More »

More about:  homeless • voting rights

 State Databases Drop 
 Thousands of Voters 

Centralized registration information was intended to clear up discrepancies, but propagated them instead

Washington Post Washington Post Oct 18, 08 3:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - Thousands of Americans nationwide are facing reams of red tape after new state registration systems booted them from voter rolls, the Washington Post reports. Yesterday the Supreme Court rejected a challenge of 200,000 Ohio voters whose data conflicted with state records, but states such as Montana, Colorado, and Wisconsin also face conflicts. It's "this season's big issue," one analyst said. More »

More about:  Election 2008 • US Supreme Court • Ohio • voter registration • voting rights • database • records • Help America Vote Act

Swing States
Are Illegally Blocking Voters

NYT finds thousands wrongly removed from rolls, mostly Dems

New York Times New York Times Oct 9, 08 6:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - Tens of thousands of voters in at least six battleground states have been illegally removed from the rolls or blocked from voting, a New York Times investigation has discovered. The actions appear to stem from errors in complying with a 2002 federal law rather than from partisan bias, but it is likely to be Democrats who lose votes. More »

More about:  Election 2008 • swing states • voter registration • voting rights • voting process

OPINION

After 43 Years, LBJ's Dream Is Realized Tonight

Voting Rights Act paved the way for Obama's candidacy, writes Caro

New York Times New York Times Aug 28, 08 10:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - As Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination tonight, author Robert A. Caro will be remembering another speech: Lyndon Johnson's 1965 address to Congress urging the passage of the Voting Rights Act. In that speech, which reduced Martin Luther King to tears, LBJ "adopted the great anthem of the civil rights movement," calling on legislators to give blacks full enfranchisement and insisting, "We shall overcome." More »

Advocates Work to Get Ex-Cons in Voting Booths

New laws make
tens of thousands eligible to vote again

Washington Post Washington Post Aug 11, 08 1:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - Grass-roots activists in states across the country are working to register an unusual bloc of potential voters: former felons. While nearly all states limit the right of convicted criminals to vote, most offer avenues back to the voting booth in varying degrees, the Washington Post reports. In the potential swing state of Florida, for instance, a law change last year has made 115,000 former convicts eligible. More »

More about:  prison • civil rights • voting • voter registration • voting rights • felon

Ind. Nuns
Don't Have a Prayer at Polls

South Bend sisters
run afoul of strict voter-ID laws

Associated Press Associated Press May 7, 08 5:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - A dozen nuns who lacked proper photo ID were turned away from an Indiana voting booth yesterday—by a fellow nun. None of the nuns, all over 80, had a driver's license because they don't drive, and some presented outdated passports, the AP reports. Their convent has launched a major push to arrange for proper ID in time for November's election. More »

More about:  Indiana • voting • Indiana primary • voting rights • nuns • photo ID

Supreme Court OKs Photo ID Requirement for Voters

Ruling upholds Indiana law critics charge will keep minorities from casting ballots

Reuters Reuters Apr 28, 08 10:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court today upheld photo ID requirements for Indiana voters, the Justices’ most significant election-law ruling since Bush v. Gore—and one critics say could keep minorities and poor voters from voting in November. The 6-3 decision validated the country’s most arduous voting rules, though 20 states have ID laws; Reuters notes that the groups most disadvantaged tend to skew Democratic. More »

More about:  US Supreme Court • Indiana • voting rights • photo ID

Paper Ballots, High Turnout May Delay
Calif. Returns

One-third of state abandons machines

CNN CNN Feb 5, 08 2:30 PM CST
(Newser) - Super Tuesday's biggest prize may take the longest to award, CNN reports. One-third of California's counties have reverted to paper balloting for today’s primary, and the ballots may not be counted by tomorrow. Electronic machines were stashed over reliability concerns, and excitement over the race has generated some 700,000 more registered voters than in 2004. More »

More about:  California • voting rights • absentee balloting • paper ballots • touch-screen voting

Obama Wants Voter-Rights Official Sacked

Said voter ID laws don't hurt minorities; they 'don't become elderly'

Associated Press Associated Press Oct 20, 07 7:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama wrote to the Justice Department asking for the dismissal of John Tanner, the head of its voting rights division, in the wake of Tanner's assertions that voter ID laws primarily hurt old white people, because "minorities don't become elderly the way white people do. They die first." Obama called the comments "erroneous, offensive and dangerous," but Justice is standing behind Tanner, reports the AP. More »

More about:  Barack Obama • Department of Justice • voting rights • minorities • voter ID laws

Supreme Court Will Take Up Lethal Injection

Constitutionality at issue; docket also includes voting rights

Associated Press Associated Press Sep 25, 07 2:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court will take up the constitutionality of lethal injections in what a public defender called one of the most critical death penalty cases “in decades.” The challenge stems from a 2004 suit by two Kentucky inmates on death row who charged that the method constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, the AP reports. More »

More about:  US Supreme Court • death penalty • Indiana • Kentucky • lethal injection • death row • constitutionality • voting rights • photo ID • anesthetic

Senate Derails DC's Bid for
a House Seat

GOP blocks bill to give capital city voting rights in Congress

Washington Post Washington Post Sep 19, 07 8:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - Residents of the nation's capital will remain without a Congressional representative after a measure that would have given them a House seat stalled in the Senate. Supporters fell three votes short on the most promising effort in 30 years, the Washington Post reports, and the bill is unlikely to come up again this session. "We have not given up," said one backer. More »

More about:  Congress • Senate • Democrats • GOP • House of Representatives • Utah • Mitch McConnell • voting rights • Washington, D.C.

12 Stories

Today's Most Popular

Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser a team of editors and writers culls the most important stories from hundreds of U.S. and international sources and reduces them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. It's the Newser guarantee: we can take any report or column or video and pack what you need to know into 120 words or less. Newser's short-form aggregation, visual format, and unique information tools help you get more of the kind of news you want, in a quicker and more entertaining way. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »