Michigan is not exempt from voter "fraud" legislation; a Republican-passed amendment requires ID at the polls, but voters can avoid the ID if they swear and sign an affidavit there affirming their identity. The Republican legislature also passed two bills to require photo ID's to pick up absentee ballots, cast an Election Day ballot and force citizens to sign paperwork affirming they are American citizens before getting a ballot. Even Republican Governor Rick Snyder considered the additional legislation "confusing" for voters (and knew it would backfire on him politically), resulting in him vetoing the latest bills. Republican legislators will attempt to push through voter "fraud" legislation in the future.
On October 9th, a U.S. Federal Court ruled against Texas, stating that the legislation created "an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote, has an impermissible discriminatory effect against Hispanics5 and African-Americans, and was imposed with an unconstitutional discriminatory purpose."
The ruling was a victory for the Justice Department, who had filed the lawsuit against Texas law because they considered it "stringent and burdensome" for requiring ID's to vote, and said it was "motivated by discriminatory intent" and "anti-immigrant rhetoric." Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez had called into question the law's disproportional effect on Latino voters, noting that "a Hispanic registered voter is at least 46.5 percent more likely than a non-Hispanic registered voter to lack this identification." The law also prevented college students from using their student ID at the polls. Texas did allow citizens to vote using their gun license -- obvious pandering to the right-wing NRA. Since this decision, the New Orleans Fifth Circuit of Appeals reversed the action, and it is now appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ohio's Republican legislature eliminated early week voting known as Golden Week. The legislation also ended early voting two Sundays before the election, used heavily by minority voters and church turnout drives like "Souls for Polls." Following a September 29 court decision, voting on the last two Sundays before Election Day was eliminated and the early voting period reduced from 35 days to 28.
1
1
1
