Legislative Updates
New Hampshire: Gov. Chris Sununu (R) Vetoed House Bills 105 and 106. House Bill 105 would have Repealed Senate Bill 3 from 2018 that Requires People who Register to Vote within 30 days of an Election or On Election Day to Provide Documentation showing they are Domiciled in the State. House Bill 106 Repealed House Bill 1264 from 2018 which had Aligned the Formal Definitions of Residence, Inhabitant, and Domicile. Neither Bill was Approved with a Veto-Proof Margin.
Ohio: The Yellow Springs Council has Voted to put an Initiative on the Next Ballot that will allow Voters to decide if 16- and 17-year-olds should have the Right to Vote in Local Elections. “Part of what we are looking at is the foundation of who contributes to our community, and 16- and 17-year-olds certainly do. They can drive, work in our community and pay taxes. Therefore, they should have a say in the community and definitely how they want their education to go,” Brian Housh, Village Council President said.
Legal Updates
Georgia: In Court Proceedings last week, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg appeared Reluctant to Throw Out the State’s Voting Machines this Close to the November Election even though Georgian could be “sitting ducks” because of Hacking Vulnerabilities. She said “it might be extra challenging” to change to hand-marked paper ballots, then go through another transition to the state’s new voting system before the presidential primary election March 24. “These are very difficult issues,” Totenberg said at the Close of Friday’s Hearing. “I’ll wrestle with them the best that I can, but these are not simple issues.” So George will use them in 2019. CLICK HERE to read about the New Voting System for 2020.
Massachusetts: The Town of Amherst is considering Lowering the Voting Age to 16, but a recent Legal Opinion may Slow that Process. Town Manager Paul Bockelman solicited the Opinion of Lauren Goldberg of KP Law. “In my opinion, without a state constitutional amendment, no person under the age of 18 or who is not a citizen will be eligible to vote for the election of governor, lieutenant governor, senators or representatives,” Goldberg wrote.
New Hampshire: U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Laplante Refused to Dismiss a Lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), on behalf of Two Dartmouth Students who Argue that the State’s Law Distinguishing between Domicile and Residency for Voting Purposes Burdens their Right to Vote. “I’m not saying this is a particularly strong challenge, but the plaintiffs have standing.” Laplante said.
New York: Civil Rights Organizations have Sued the Rensselaer County Elections Commission after the Commission announced Plans to turn Voter Data Over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Lawsuit argues that Rensselaer County is Discouraging Lawful Voters from Registering to Vote at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Sharing Data with ICE, the Suit says, will Intimidate Voters, particularly Families with Mixed Immigration Status. That kind of Voter Intimidation, the Suit says, violates the Voting Rights Act (VRA).
North Carolina: Lanisha Bratcher-Bain, Richard Daniels Jr., Tullous Burrow, and Treqwon Covington, have each been Charged with Voting Illegally in the 2016 Election. The Four were All Serving an Active Felony Sentence or Felony Probation when they Allegedly Cast Ballots.
McCrae Dowless and Six Others were Indicted on Allegations of Election Fraud stemming from the 2018 General Election. The Indictment Alleges that Dowless “with deceit and intent to defraud, obstruct(ed) public and legal justice by submitting or causing to be submitted by mail absentee ballots and container-return envelopes for those ballots to the Bladen County Board of Elections in such a manner so as to make it appear that those ballots had been voted.”
A Swain County Superior Court judge has Ruled that the County must Fund the Retirement Benefits for County Elections Director Joan Weeks. At Issue was whether or Not weeks was a Full-Time Employee and Entitled to the Benefits.
North Dakota: The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals this week Ruled that the North Dakota Law Requiring Voter ID is Constitutional.
The Ruling Vacates a Lower Court Order that Imposed a Statewide Injunction on the Rule after Native American Voters argued that the ID Law caused Voter Suppression.
Despite Showing that One of the Plaintiffs could have been Affected by the ID Law, the Eighth Circuit found that Plaintiffs Did not present Sufficient Evidence that the Residential Street Requirement placed a Substantial Burden on Most North Dakota Voters. “Even assuming that some communities do not have residential street addresses, that fact does not justify a statewide injunction that prevents the Secretary from requiring a form of identification with a residential street address from the vast majority of residents who have them,” the Opinion states.
Utah: The San Juan County Commission Voted Unanimously Not to Pursue further Appeals in a Voting Rights Case that on July 16th the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Lower Court’s finding that the County had Violated the Voting Rights Act (VRA) when it Drew its Commission Districts along Racial Lines.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
