Welcome to the latest edition in our war on voting series. This is a joint project of Meteor Blades and Joan McCarter.
The ongoing story of this week in voter suppression is the ongoing refusal of a few states to abide by court orders regarding voting procedures. Meteor Blades:
In Texas, some election officials still haven't gotten it through their heads that they must comply with court orders regarding voting procedure. They are still posting or passing out bad information about what kind of identification is needed to be able to cast a ballot—and it's confusing many Texans. […]
Confusion is one of the most effective weapons in the suppressors' arsenal. One outcome: An unknown but possibly quite large number of citizens who believe they must have the mandated ID will simply choose not to vote at all.
In Wisconsin, which also has a very strict voter ID law, the federal courts ruled that the state's restrictions went too far and that it should quickly provide a for-voting-only ID. Quickly did not happen, and other obstacles arose.
Some would-be voters seeking one of the new IDs have been told by election officials that they would need an original copy of their birth certificate. But that's not true. Despite court orders, the officials continue to pass out bits of bad information.
In Texas, they're not just refusing to take down old signage with incorrect information. They're actively lying to voters:
But attorney Matt Williams says he saw something different when he went to vote in Dripping Springs, near Austin.
"Almost immediately upon arriving and getting in line," he says, "one of the poll workers started kind of intercepting the people walking out of the parking lot yelling, 'You have to have a valid photo ID to vote today.' And she continued, probably for the next half hour, her and one other lady would walk up and down the line, and they would yell that same information."
Williams says several people in line protested, calling attention to the recent court ruling. They even pointed out the language on posters in the polling station explaining the new rules. Williams says the poll workers ignored them. "If I hadn't had a valid ID, I would have walked away thinking I could not vote."
There are a few number you need to have with you when you're voting: the FBI Voter Intimidation Hotline at 202-514-1888; and Election Protection at 866-OUR-VOTE. This is going to be a thing this year, so be ready.
For more on this week in the war on voting, head below the fold.
Sign up as an Election Protection volunteer here and you'll be contacted with all the information you need to help on Election Day. If you are a lawyer, law student, or paralegal, you can also find a link on that page to sign up with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to provide your legal expertise to Election Day efforts.
- Oh, hey. Look. Voter fraud in Iowa. "Terri Lynn Rote […] a registered Republican, reportedly cast an early voting ballot at the Polk County Election Office, 120 Second Ave., and another ballot at a county satellite voting location in Des Moines, according to a Des Moines police report." Yep. A Trump supporter voting twice. Wonder where she got the idea to try that? By the way, she got caught. Because the system is not rigged.
- Another Trump supporter in Texas was arrested for electioneering in a polling place. He went their wearing his "Basket of Deplorables" T-shirt and Trump hat. Because that's what Trump voters do.
- Voter intimidation comes even to Idaho. You'd think that Republicans have such a lock on this state that it isn't necessary, but one Republican legislator—Rep. Heather Scott (who is also a big booster of the Bundy clan) has turned her goons out against her opponent. The Idaho Democratic Party has requested the U.S. Attorney investigate after local law enforcement blew off complaints.
- Pennsylvania Republicans have requested "an injunction ordering the state to allow poll watchers to work in counties other than where they live." A recipe for disaster in a state where Donald Trump has been trying to incite his followers to "poll watch" in Philadelphia, where "those" people vote. Secretary of State Pedro Cortes has urged a federal judge to reject that request, saying the GOP has not proven a lack of poll watchers.
- The DNC filed a motion this week calling on a federal judge to hold the Republican National Committee in contempt for violating a long-standing consent decree barring it from intimidating voters at the polls. See the bullet point directly above. The RNC has been under the decree since 1981, and just can't stop suppressing voters long enough to get out from under it.
- Nevada is still refusing to open polling sites on reservations, even after "federal district Judge Miranda Du ordered the state of Nevada to provide early voting and Election Day polling sites on the reservations of two of the state's Indian tribes." There are nine other tribes who have requested polling sites.
- Republicans in Wisconsin are once again making their suppression intention clear, this time in the form of an email in which a Green Bay clerk doesn't want to open up an early voting location at a university. Because "I have heard it said that students lean more toward the democrats." Sic.
- Still in Wisconsin, absentee voters take note—the state has quietly moved up the deadline for receiving ballots. They now have to be received by 8:00 pm on Election Day, not just post-marked before then. This means they have to be sent by Tuesday of next week.
- North Carolina Republicans are once again in the news, this week for voter caging—a tactic to force voters—predominantly people of color who vote for Democrats—off the rolls by sending mailers to bad addresses. When the mailer is returned as undeliverable, that voter's registration is challenged. They picked on 100-year-old Grace Bell Hardison this time around. Which was a mistake. She went to the local media and shamed the Republicans into dropping their complaint. North Carolina voters? If your registration is challenged, call the press.
- Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has until 10 AM Monday morning to file a response with the U.S. Supreme Court to a request for an emergency stay on two laws tightening the rules for absentee and provisional voters. These provisions require "Ohioans to accurately complete five fields of information on requests for absentee or provisional ballots. If a mistake is made, the ballot is thrown out even if elections officials can identify the voter."