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The Center for American Progress reports
As residents of Arizona's eighth congressional district cast ballots in a special election to replace former Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) in Congress, roughly 140,000 of them may be unaware they are eligible to vote because they did not receive the ID card the county is required to send them after they register.
According to the Arizona Republic, Maricopa County officials have not sent all voters the cards they can use to cast a ballot under Arizona's voter ID law because of an issue with the company used to print the materials. The paper reports that just 60,000 ID cards have been mailed to people who recently registered or changed their registration, while about 140,000 have not been sent.
[...] Arizona was one of the first states in the country to enact a non-photo voter ID law when a ballot measure was approved by voters[1] in November 2004. Under the law, the state must take steps to ensure that all eligible voters have an acceptable form of ID. According to the secretary of state's office[PDF], "a county recorder must issue a voter ID card to any new registrant or an existing registrant who updates his or her name, address, or political party preference".
But because of an error by the company used to print the ID cards, they have not been mailed out since December.
Although these citizens could provide other forms of ID at the polls, some voters told the Arizona Republic they're concerned that less informed voters may not realize they are registered without the card.
[...] During the presidential primary in March 2016, some Maricopa County voters waited in line for up to five hours to cast a ballot. The chaos led to an investigation by the Department of Justice and numerous lawsuits, including one filed by the Democratic National Committee.
Before the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Arizona was required to pre-clear any changes to its voting law with the DOJ.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 29 2018, @04:03PM (1 child)
If you actually understood the issue, you wouldn't be taking such a position.
The executive branch is generally what decides what is and isn't legal. The judicial branch is what decides what is and isn't constitutional. There is some degree of overlap in terms of _how_ laws are interpreted, not what they are, but for the most part, the executive branch is what determines legality of various things.
The law in question functioned relatively well for decades, the only reason that it's been under attack is that it turns out that the poor and people of color don't vote for the racist and classist policies that the Republican party has been running on over the last few decades. And rather than waiting for the Democrats to complete their conversion to becoming a second right wing party, the GOP keeps looking for ways of preserving their power by disenfranchising voters.
This current situation is a great example of that. These are people who are legally allowed to vote who mostly won't vote because we've been throwing people in prison due to misunderstanding eligibility. Meanwhile the much bigger issue of elections fraud remains and issue and uses those few situations of voter fraud as an excuse to make it harder for entire classes of voters to vote.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday April 30 2018, @11:46AM
Yes, I would and I do. Short of martial law, which I am also not in favor of, there is no possible situation that would make fucking up the separation of powers a good idea though. I know you regressive asshats want a God Emperor who never has to answer to anyone and will just mandate people think, speak, and act like you want them to but those of us who are sane do not.
Eligibility to vote is exceedingly uncomplicated. You must have an insanely low opinion of their intelligence if you believe they can't fully understand it. I suppose it's possible you're correct though, so let's find out. Show me someone legally eligible to vote who let genuine fear keep them from voting for Obama. Just one will do.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.