Online Voting Registration is Growing

The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure equal justice for all through the rule of law, targeting in particular the inequities confronting African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities. The Lawyers’ Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to enlist the private bar’s leadership and resources in combating racial discrimination and the resulting inequality of opportunity – work that continues to be vital today.

Jennifer L. Patin, Researcher/Writer, Voting Rights Project, collaboration with Rose Clouston and Brendan Downes, have written a Research Paper, "Online Voter Registration: Accessible for All?".

As of January 2016, 29 states and the District of Columbia have online voter registration (OVR) systems. Two additional states are set to launch OVR in the near future. While OVR represents an important advancement in our democracy, its convenience and accessibility in most states benefit Americans who tend to be wealthier and whiter than the population at large. This is because the majority of states offering OVR require voters to provide a state-issued DMV ID number (most commonly from a driver’s license) in order to complete the process entirely online. Those who lack driver’s licenses, a population that is disproportionately Black, Latino, and low-income, must print, sign, and mail completed applications to local elections officials. These additional steps prevent traditionally disenfranchised communities from fully realizing the benefits of OVR.

Using a DMV ID number, a state can easily retrieve an applicant’s signature from the state DMV database, eliminating the need for the applicant to sign the OVR application. Yet a handful of states have developed OVR systems that provide for alternative methods of verifying an applicant’s identity and signature. This brief highlights the practices of those states with OVR systems that are fully accessible to all eligible voters, regardless of whether they possess a driver’s license, and encourages other states to adopt similar systems.

CLICK HERE to read the paper.

This is the system I would implement:

1. You go to the DMV and get or renew your license or non-driver ID card. At this time your picture is taken. Usually this is where you get a voter registration form.

2. When you are ready to register to vote, you should be able to do it online, as your picture and signature is already on file.

3. When you go to the poll, there is an electronic poll book that will bring up your information including your picture. You will sign using a signature pad like you do when you use your credit card at a store.

I think we are not ready for voting online, from a security issue and as voting absentee, there is no way to check you are the person voting that is the person registered.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker

Legal Fight Over Voter IDs in Wisconsin Continues

With two special elections looming next month and one to fill a vacancy in the State Senate coming later this year, opponents of Wisconsin's new voter identification law want a federal court to expand the number of IDs that voters can show at the polls.

The legal fight comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court last month rejecting a challenge to the law's constitutionality.

The issues raised by the American Civil Liberties Union in the challenge to the law, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker in 2011, remain unresolved.  Dale Ho, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights project, said Monday that it's unclear when the legal fight will end.

The ACLU wants the state to accept out-of-state driver's licenses and photo identification cards issued both to veterans and to students at two-year technical colleges.  It also wants voters without any of the required IDs to be allowed to sign an affidavit at the polls affirming their identity so they could vote immediately.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice objected in court filings Friday, saying the ACLU is asking the court to rewrite the law.  U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman is expected to rule sometime after the ACLU's deadline to respond on May 15.

Under the law, voters must show one of the following in order to vote: a Wisconsin driver's license or state ID card, a U.S. passport, military ID card, college IDs meeting certain requirements, naturalization certificates or IDs issued by a Wisconsin-based American Indian tribe.

The state elections board is in the process of drafting an emergency rule that would allow for IDs issued by two-year technical colleges to be accepted.  The voter ID law did not specify whether technical college IDs would be allowed.

The ACLU argues that since that rule is not yet in place and could be blocked either by the Legislature or governor, the court needs to act now to ensure that technical college IDs can be used.  The state Department of Justice responded that the issue will soon be moot because the emergency rule is expected to be in place before two special elections next month.

The next statewide general election where the voter ID law will be in place is the February 2016 spring primary.

Supporters of the voter ID law say it's needed to ensure there is no voter fraud at the polls.  But opponents say its true intent is to make it more difficult for older, poor and minority voters who tend to support Democrats and are more likely not to have the proper ID.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us