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The battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote. The measure would allow far more rigorous demands than the voter ID requirement recently upheld by the Supreme Court, in which voters had to prove their identity with a government-issued card. Sponsors of the amendment — which requires the approval of voters to go into effect, possibly in an August referendum — say it is part of an effort to prevent illegal immigrants from affecting...

This election season has been full of stories about bowling scores, barroom boilermakers and basketball. But, recently, a little noticed U.S. Supreme Court ruling may have jeopardized Americans' precious right to vote. In Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the most restrictive voter identification law in the country and failed, I think, in its duty to protect the voting rights of all Americans. In its 6-3 decision, the court sanctioned the practice of requiring Indiana voters to present government-issued photo identification in order to vote. Poll taxes, which were used to disenfranchise Southern black...

Indiana's controversial photo identification rule may not have made a major dent in the state's high turnout, but it did frustrate a small group of voters more accustomed to divine law. About 12 elderly Roman Catholic nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph. Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow members of Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, even though they had been told earlier that they would need to get such an ID to vote.

Indiana nuns lacking ID denied at poll by fellow sister By DEBORAH HASTINGS, AP National Writer 8 minutes ago About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow bride of Christ because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph. Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow sisters at Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote. The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s,...

All Wisconsin boaters may be required to carry photo identification as federal officials consider tighter security of the nation's more than 17 million small vessels. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a report calling for stepped-up security of all boats, including the nearly 600,000 registered in Wisconsin, noting that terrorists have used small vessels elsewhere in the world for attacks.Homeland Security's effort to regulate boats represents one of its furthest-reaching security efforts that touch Americans' lives, perhaps only surpassed by airline passenger screening.Boating has long been a largely unregulated activity in some states. In Wisconsin, boaters must register...

Experts say Supreme Court ruling upholding law could disenfranchise minorities, youth and the elderly. Experts say African-American voters — a key constituency of Barack Obama in the primaries thus far — might be disproportionately affected in Tuesday’s Indiana primary by the Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold the state’s voter identification requirement. Studies show that African-Americans are especially likely not to have the identification necessary to vote on Tuesday. Several other groups, notably elderly voters, disabled voters and young voters, are also more likely than the general population not to have the necessary identification. “The research is pretty clear that...

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court -- in a shock 6-3 decision (shocking because Justice John Paul Stevens was on the side of the angels!) -- held that states could indeed require voters to show photo-ID before voting... causing Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY, 90%) to eructate, "This decision is a body blow to what America stands for -- equal access to the polls" (for senior citizens, minorities, and the poor... most of whom, apparently, carry no identification). The Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter-identification law on Monday, declaring that a requirement to produce photo identification is not unconstitutional and that the state...

Congressional Democrats and minority groups assailed Monday’s Supreme Court decision upholding Indiana’s photo-ID law as an affront to voting rights, but political realities in the states suggest that the ruling could have relatively limited impact nationwide. Only three states — Indiana, Florida and Georgia — currently require voters to show government-issued photo IDs before stepping into the voting booth. Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas are considering similar requirements, but it’s not clear whether they can adopt them before the November elections. Democratic insiders fear that a number of states, particularly in the Midwest and South, will copy the Indiana law now...

Showing ID to vote? The horror. Seattle Post-Intelligencer runs whiny AP writer's complaint about Indiana voter law What is it with Democrats and showing ID at the polls? This article from an AP national writer certainly doesn't fit any reasonable standard for a wire service. It's just short of a screed, with no balance...just a minor jeremiad against asking people to show ID at the polls: The Supreme Court's refusal to strike down an Indiana law requiring government-issued photo identification at the ballot box could disenfranchise minority and elderly voters at next week's primary and prompt other states to pass...

CRAWFORD v. MARION COUNTY ELECTION BD. (Nos. 07-21 and 07-25) Web-accessible at:     http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-21.ZS.html  Argued: January 9, 2008 -- Decided: April 28, 2008* Opinion author: Stevens ===============================================================   After Indiana enacted an election law (SEA 483) requiring citizens voting in person to present government-issued photo identification, petitioners filed separate suits challenging the law's constitutionality. Following discovery, the District Court granted respondents summary judgment, finding the evidence in the record insufficient to support a facial attack on the statute's validity. In affirming, the Seventh Circuit declined to judge the law by the strict standard set for poll taxes in Harper v....

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter identification law on Monday, concluding in a splintered decision that the challengers failed to prove that the law’s photo ID requirement placed an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote. The 6-to-3 ruling kept the door open to future lawsuits that provided more evidence. But this theoretical possibility was small comfort to the dissenters or to critics of voter ID laws, who predicted that a more likely outcome than successful lawsuits would be the spread of measures that would keep some legitimate would-be voters from the polls. Voting experts said the ruling...

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Monday to uphold a strict Indiana law requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls, handing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) a serious setback days before a pivotal primary battle. (snip) Obama, however, will face a significant disadvantage in Indiana because the high court failed to strike down a law that affects two major pillars of support: black voters and young voters. Indiana requires that voters present state or federal government-issued photo identification on Election Day. But a recent study conducted by the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity and Race found that 18...

Elections: The Supreme Court got it right Monday in ruling 6-3 (with even liberal John Paul Stevens agreeing) that states are free to require voters to produce photo identification at the polls.Everyone in the country should be pleased with the news. But, of course, not everyone is. It's almost as if some are disturbed that the ruling will make it harder to commit voter fraud. The American Civil Liberties Union, for instance. It was the ACLU's suit against the state of Indiana over its requirement that voters need to produce a photo ID at the polls that led to the...

The Supreme Court's refusal to strike down an Indiana law requiring government-issued photo identification at the ballot box could disenfranchise minority and elderly voters at next week's primary and prompt other states to pass similar laws, voting advocates said Monday. The court, in a splintered 6-3 ruling Monday, said Indiana's law, which took effect in 2006 and requires voters to present a state or federal photo ID card at the ballot box, does not violate the First or 14th amendments. The court said the law served as a justifiable protection to the electoral process. "It's especially worrisome that the court...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that states can require voters to produce photo identification without violating their constitutional rights. The decision validates Republican-inspired voter ID laws. The court vote 6-3 to uphold Indiana's strict photo ID requirement. Democrats and civil rights groups say the law would deter poor, older and minority voters from casting ballots.

Carded at polls: No photo ID, no vote By DEBORAH HASTINGS, AP National Writer1 hour, 40 minutes ago There's the poor, 32-year-old mother of seven who says it would cost her at least $50 to vote in person. There's also the 92-year-old woman who's voted for decades in the same polling place, but now can't vote there because she let her driver's license expire when her eyesight began to fail. These folks live in Indiana, home of the country's most restrictive photo-identification voter law. The U.S. Supreme Court is now scrutinizing whether that statute violates the first and 14th amendments,...

We're used to Democrats saying one thing and doing another, but the hypocrisy that will unfold at some local presidential caucus sites Saturday will surprise even hardened cynics. For decades, Democrats have stood against strengthening voter identification standards at polling sites. Modest identification reforms have been enacted in about half the states, with a handful of them requiring photo identification to prevent election fraud and uphold the integrity of balloting. Although Americans need photo ID to write checks, use credit cards, board airplanes and even collect welfare benefits, Democrats have argued that lower-income and minority citizens are less likely to...

When I was young, I lived in Chicago. As a college student, I lived in Evanston, Ill., which borders Chicago on the north, and later, as a law student, I lived in the heart of the city itself. Richard J. Daley was the mayor, the Democratic Party ran the city, and vote fraud was accepted as a fact of life. One Election Day, I went to my Chicago precinct voting station, and, while I was in line to vote, a car pulled up outside and parked illegally, and six men got out. There was an ordinary looking driver and five...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A conservative majority of the Supreme Court appeared ready Wednesday to support an Indiana law requiring voters to show photo identification, despite concerns that it could deprive thousands of people of their right to vote. The Supreme Court is reviewing an Indiana law that requires voters to show a photo ID. At issue is whether state laws designed to stem voter fraud would disenfranchise large numbers of Americans who might lack proper identification -- many of them elderly, poor or minority voters. In what has become a highly partisan legal and political fight, the justices wrestled with...

All eyes will be on New Hampshire Wednesday morning for the first true primary in the 2008 elections. But even as hardy New Englanders trudge to the polls, something at least as consequential will happening in Washington, D.C., where the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a major case on election law. In Crawford v. Marion County Election Board and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita, the court will tackle the issue of vote fraud. The arguments will revive the debate over voter disenfranchisement that raged after the contested presidential election of 2000.This time the controversy surrounds Indiana’s requirement that...

The Supreme Court will open the new year with its most politically divisive case since Bush v. Gore decided the 2000 presidential election, and its decision could force a major reinterpretation of the rules of the 2008 contest. The case presents what seems to be a straightforward and even unremarkable question: Does a state requirement that voters show a specific kind of photo identification before casting a ballot violate the Constitution? The answer so far has depended greatly on whether you are a Democratic or Republican politician -- or even, some believe, judge. "It is exceedingly difficult to maneuver in...

Voter turnout among Democrats improved slightly last year in Indiana, despite a new law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, according to a new report that comes months before the Supreme Court hears a case challenging the law. Jeffrey D. Milyo, a professor at the University of Missouri, compared the 2006 midterm elections — the first since Indiana's law was enacted — to the 2002 elections and said voter turnout increased about two percentage points. He said the increase was consistent across counties with the highest percentage of Democrats. "A lot of the claims out there about...

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Anti-Photo ID Legislation Would Promote Election Fraud, Says Group For Release: November 5, 2007 Contact: David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or dalmasi@nationalcenter.org Washington, D.C. - Legislation introduced by Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) to prohibit photo ID requirements for voting in federal elections would promote election fraud, say members of the black leadership network Project 21. "Representative Ellison's proposal is fundamentally flawed and potentially harmful to the integrity of our democratic process," said Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie. "Why invite that which can only lead to unimaginable fraud and corruption?" Imposing existing Minnesota election law on a national scale, the...

In a challenge to the Bush administration, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., introduced legislation Wednesday that would ban photo identification as a requirement for voting in federal elections. By Kevin Diaz, Star Tribune Last update: November 01, 2007 – 9:37 AM WASHINGTON - In a challenge to the Bush administration, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., introduced legislation Wednesday that would ban photo identification as a requirement for voting in federal elections. Ellison's bill reflects the Minnesota practice, which does not require photo ID for the purpose of voter verification. Ellison has a companion bill that mirrors the state's law allowing eligible voters...

The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will rule on whether or not photo identification can be required to vote. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey conducted during Election 2006 found that 77% of likely voters across the country believe that displaying a photo ID should be required to cast a vote. A Georgia survey conducted last week found that 84% of the state’s voters agree. The Supreme Court will rule on an Indiana case and consider a state law that was upheld by the Appeals Court. The 2005 law has been challenged by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court said on Tuesday it would decide whether voters can be required to show photo identification, a move that can limit participation of the elderly and poor in elections. The justices, acting ahead of next year's national elections, said they would review Indiana's voting law, which is considered one of the most restrictive in the country. It requires voters to present photo ID like a driver's license or passport. The 2005 law has been challenged by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Indiana Democratic Party, who charge it unfairly limits the right...

STATE LAW UPHELD: Bring photo ID for voting Ruling takes effect in time for Sept. 18 local elections. Judge commends Georgia's efforts to spread the word. By Bill Rankin, Jim GallowayThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 09/07/07 Georgia's much-debated photo voter ID law survived a major court challenge Thursday when a federal judge found it did not impose a significant burden on the right to vote. The ruling upholds Georgia's law, said to be one of the most restrictive in the country, and clears the way for it to be enforced in the upcoming local elections on Sept. 18. Early voting begins...

Two Muslim women had the right to continue wearing their head scarves when sitting for a driver's license photo, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles said. Clerks at separate bureau offices in southwest Ohio were wrong to insist that the women remove the scarves, also known as hijabs, which are expressions of faith and modesty, said Tom Hunter, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the motor vehicles bureau. The bureau's offices in Loveland and Mason retook the photos for free. “It was just a misunderstanding on the part of BMV employees as to what the policy was,”...

NORTH COUNTY ---- U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, co-sponsored a bill introduced Wednesday that would block an effort by some banks to issue credit cards and open accounts for people who don't have Social Security numbers ---- most of whom are thought to be illegal immigrants. The bill, which would be called the Photo Identification Security Act, would name specific forms of documentation needed to open a bank account or get a credit card. Those forms of documentation listed in the bill are a Social Security card with a government-issued form of identification such as a state driver's license,...

Arizona voters will have to present identification at the polls on Nov. 7 after all. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that Arizona can go ahead with requiring voters to present a photo ID, starting with next month's general election, as part of the Proposition 200 that voters passed in 2004. The ruling overturns an Oct. 5 decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which put the voter ID rules on hold this election cycle. The Supreme Court on Friday did not decide whether the new voter ID rules are constitutional. That decision is still pending in federal district...

With its hanging chads, butterfly ballots and Supreme Court intervention, the Florida recount fiasco of 2000 compelled Americans to confront an ugly reality: We have been making do with what noted political scientist Walter Dean Burnham has called “the modern world’s sloppiest election systems.” How sloppy? Chillingly so. At least eight of the 19 hijackers who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were actually able to register to vote in either Virginia or Florida while they made their deadly preparations for 9/11. Ironically, Mexico just held a national election that offered far more safeguards against ballot error and...

A federal appeals court blocked an Arizona state law requiring voters to present identification at polling stations and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an emergency motion by opponents of the law for an injunction to prevent the law's voter identification requirements from taking effect for the November 7 elections. Opponents of the Arizona law said it discriminated against minorities and the poor, who might not have funds to obtain the necessary proof of identification. “The law sets a burdensome requirement,” Victor Meiser, attorney for the plaintiffs. “To get a driver’s...

Missouri is the latest front in the Republican Party’s campaign to use photo ID requirements to suppress voting. The Republican legislators who pushed through Missouri’s ID law earlier this year said they wanted to deter fraud, but that claim falls apart on close inspection. Missouri’s new ID rules — and similar ones adopted last year in Indiana and Georgia — are intended to deter voting by blacks, poor people and other groups that are less likely to have driver’s licenses. Georgia’s law has been blocked by the courts, and the others should be too.

ATLANTA - With less than two weeks to go before the July 18 primary, a judge Friday issued a restraining order blocking Georgia's voter ID law, saying that requiring photos as proof of identity is an unconstitutional burden. Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland said in a sharply worded written ruling that the Legislature doesn't have the authority to enforce the law and an amendment to the state Constitution would be required instead. The law, he said, "unduly burdens the fundamental right to vote rather than regulate it." The law requires that every voter who casts a ballot in person provide...

Despite a policy allowing religious head coverings in driver's license photos, several Muslim women have complained that workers at the Motor Vehicle Commission required them to remove their head scarves or pull them back so that a substantial amount of hair is showing. The agency responded by writing letters of apology and promising to redouble its efforts to make sure that employees apply guidelines on head coverings equally. Sarah Elfayoumi, who went to have her photo taken at the Lodi office in October, said an employee had told her to take off her hijab, the head scarf that observant Muslim...

OVER THE TOP by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher First of Two Parts October 31, 2005 Once again, Democrat Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin (right) has gone over the top in his decision to veto - for the third time - legislation requiring photo ID for voting at the polls. Despite addressing past flaws in earlier versions of similar bills submitted by the Republican-controlled legislature that deservedly died a quick death over failure to have sufficient safeguards, the fact that Doyle was quick at the trigger to veto this latest version only serves to reinforce in the minds of many...

DANBURY — Wearing visible photo identification to school is kind of a hassle, said Kevin Vachhani. But the Danbury High School junior added the new policy could be useful. Chantal Rainville, a senior, said it would be all right. Kevin Vachhani, 15, a junior at Danbury High School, sits Thursday for his yearbook photo that also will be used as part of a school identification card. "It's meant to protect us. At least we don't have to wear uniforms," she said. "We can wear it around our neck or on our belt. I'll wear it on a belt so it's...

WASHINGTON --A commission seeking to restore confidence in the country's election system gave President Bush proposals on Monday calling for improved voter registration lists and requiring photo IDs that voters could get for free. Former President Carter noted that a commission he headed with former President Ford tried to resolve election problems after the 2000 election, but added "there are still some remaining problems to be solved." He said Bush "received it very well, though he can certainly speak for himself."

A Muslim woman who wanted to wear a veil in her driver’s license photo must follow a Florida law that requires a picture of her full face, according to a state appeals court. The Fifth District Court of Appeal on Sept. 2 upheld a 2003 ruling by an Orlando judge that Sultaana Freeman’s right to free exercise of religion would not be burdened by the photo requirement. "We recognized the tension created as a result of choosing between following the dictates of one’s religion and the mandates of secular law,” Appellate Judge Emerson R. Thompson Jr. wrote in the 15-page...

Court upholds ruling on license photo By JAY STAPLETON Staff Writer Last update: September 07, 2005 DAYTONA BEACH -- A local appeals court says the constitutional rights of a Muslim woman who wanted to wear a veil in her driver's license photo were not violated and she must follow the state law requiring full face photos. The opinion reached Friday by the 5th District Court of Appeal affirmed a 2003 order from a trial court in Orlando, which shot down the civil lawsuit filed by Sultaana Freeman of Winter Park, denying her the right to have her license picture taken...

There’s a Klansman in your pocket. Now, before you panic, please know that I do not refer to the hooded secret member that many of you no doubt immediately feared, but I refer to an insidious intimidator nonetheless. Obviously, I’m talking about your photo ID -- the most intimidating thing any American will ever have to face on Election Day -- at least according to the ACLU. After a recent Justice Department approval of Georgia’s new anti-fraud law, requiring voters to show one of six reliable forms of photo ID before voting in upcoming elections, the ACLU’s Daniel Levitas claimed...

We want to congratulate the leadership of the House and Representative Mary Denny on a job well done! The photo ID bill in the House has now been attached as an amendment to Senate Bill 89! The Senate will now vote on SB 89 with the House amendments tomorrow, May 26, or Friday at the latest. You have one more opportunity to make your voice heard! Call your State Senator TODAY at 512-463-4630 and tell them to vote to concur on the House amendments to SB 89! Tell them that you believe a person should provide a photo ID in...

Inquiry finds evidence of fraud in election Cast ballots outnumber voters by 4,609 By GREG J. BOROWSKIgborowski@journalsentinel.com Posted: May 10, 2005 Investigators said Tuesday they found clear evidence of fraud in the Nov. 2 election in Milwaukee, including more than 200 cases of felons voting illegally and more than 100 people who voted twice, used fake names or false addresses or voted in the name of a dead person. Election Investigation Photo/Karen SherlockU.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic (left), with Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann, delivers the preliminary findings of a task force examining possible election fraud at the...

House foes say additional proofs meant to keep some groups away from ballots AUSTIN - The Texas House in a highly partisan 83-63 vote Monday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would require voters to present as many as three forms of identification before casting a ballot.Republicans argued the legislation would reduce voter fraud in Texas, but Democrats said the bill is meant to deter minorities and elderly people from voting.The bill's sponsor, Elections Chair Mary Denny, R-Aubrey, said it is not too much to ask people to prove their identity before voting to preserve the integrity of the...

The ugly truth is that Democrats habitually treat voters like children. It's the basis of their philosophy. DAVID GELERNTER, David Gelernter is professor of computer science at Yale University and a senior fellow in Jewish thought at the Shalem Center, Jerusalem. Who could possibly be against cutting voter fraud on election day? You'd have to be some sort of fruitcake. But when Georgia's Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue recently signed a bill to reduce voter fraud, under which voters must show a photo ID before casting their ballots, many of Georgia's black legislators stormed out in protest. They even threatened to...

On Thursday, the Texas Board of Health gave final approval to rules for the state's new informed consent abortion law. The rules include a requirement that a woman provide identification -- which would be kept on file. Abortion rights activists have criticized the proposal amid privacy concerns and questions about whether it's an attempt to intimidate women. A law that took effect Jan. 1 requires women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion in Texas. The law also requires women be offered printed materials regarding fetal development and the risks of having an abortion. The rules apply to abortions...

Texas women will soon have to provide identification with proof of their age before getting abortions, under rules adopted Thursday by the State Board of Health. Abortion rights advocates decried the new regulation, saying it will intimidate women seeking the procedure anonymously. Anti-abortion activists said doctors need the IDs to protect their patients and to prove that the women are not minors subject to the state's parental notification law. "There are reasons for a doctor to know who the patient is. ... What if there are [medical] complications?" said Allan Parker, chief executive officer of the Texas Justice Foundation, which...

Some Muslim women in Alabama are upset because state driver's license officials are requiring them to remove their head scarves if they want to get a license. "I wear this for religious reasons. I'm not taking it off," La Tonya Floyd of Mobile said Thursday. Floyd said she left a driver's license office in Mobile on Dec. 19 after being told state rules require her hair to be visible in her license photograph. She appealed to the state Department of Public Safety in Montgomery for an exemption for religious reasons, but was turned down, she said. She is one of...