Voting Rights
News
New voter ID rules, other election changes could cause confusion
10/19/16 | Publication Date: Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - 10:15Publication Source: Excerpt: Fourteen states have election laws that are more restrictive than they were during the last presidential election in 2012. Most of them require voters to show a photo ID before casting their ballots.
Some of those ID laws have been scaled back or overturned by judges citing racial discrimination, but legal battles have continued in several states because voting rights advocates say state officials haven’t fully complied with court orders.
There is confusion stemming from other court cases as well. Kansas’ attempt to require proof of citizenship from voters is still tied up in court. In Ohio, the battle is over people the state purged from the voter rolls because they hadn’t voted in six years.
“One of the greatest impediments to voting is confusion,” said Lloyd Leonard with the League of Women Voters. “In some pretty important states the rules are still changing.”
Fourteen states have election laws that are more restrictive than they were during the last presidential election in 2012. Most of them require voters to show a photo ID before casting their ballots.
Some of those ID laws have been scaled back or overturned by judges citing racial discrimination, but legal battles have continued in several states because voting rights advocates say state officials haven’t fully complied with court orders.
There is confusion stemming from other court cases as well. Kansas’ attempt to require proof of citizenship from voters is still tied up in court. In Ohio, the battle is over people the state purged from the voter rolls because they hadn’t voted in six years.
“One of the greatest impediments to voting is confusion,” said Lloyd Leonard with the League of Women Voters. “In some pretty important states the rules are still changing.”
Voter fraud and dead people: How tech sets things right
10/20/16 | Publication Date: Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - 05:00Publication Source: Excerpt: After [a] study [four years ago], the Pew Charitable Trusts worked with several states to form the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, to clean up voter registration rolls, which get out of whack when we move, change names or die.
Today, 21 states and the District of Columbia work with ERIC to compare and analyze data across each other's voter and motor vehicle registrations, US Postal Service addresses and Social Security death records. States also apply sophisticated cybersecurity tools to fend off hackers. But the fixes take time.
"People expect the government is going to be more efficient than it is," said Becker, now executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. "They don't realize they have to tell many different state and federal agencies about something like a move."
Even with these registration issues, actual attempts to tamper with elections are almost nonexistent in the US, current suggestions to the contrary. "By any measure,voter fraud is extraordinarily rare," according to a 2007 report by the New York University School of Law. In 2014, the same researcher reported he'd found just 31 instances of voter fraud between 2000 and 2014.
That means deaths caused by lightning strikes in the US are about 15 times more common than cases of voter fraud.
After [a] study [four years ago], the Pew Charitable Trusts worked with several states to form the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, to clean up voter registration rolls, which get out of whack when we move, change names or die.
Today, 21 states and the District of Columbia work with ERIC to compare and analyze data across each other's voter and motor vehicle registrations, US Postal Service addresses and Social Security death records. States also apply sophisticated cybersecurity tools to fend off hackers. But the fixes take time.
"People expect the government is going to be more efficient than it is," said Becker, now executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. "They don't realize they have to tell many different state and federal agencies about something like a move."
Even with these registration issues, actual attempts to tamper with elections are almost nonexistent in the US, current suggestions to the contrary. "By any measure,voter fraud is extraordinarily rare," according to a 2007 report by the New York University School of Law. In 2014, the same researcher reported he'd found just 31 instances of voter fraud between 2000 and 2014.
That means deaths caused by lightning strikes in the US are about 15 times more common than cases of voter fraud.
