Voting Rights Act To Face Supreme Court

The 1965 Voting Rights Act will go before the Supreme Court this week. “Over a century after the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act,” said Chris Hayes on “Up” this morning. “Which finally ended decades of routine exclusion of people of color from exercising their right to vote.” Section 5 of the act, which requires Federal scrutiny on voting law changes in southern states, is the specific language being challenged. The argument against Section 5 is that it diminishes the sovereignty of southern states and that the south has changed since the era of Jim Crow.

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Judge Orders A Halt To Pennsylvania Voter ID Enforcement Before Election

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson ruled Tuesday that Pennsylvania cannot enforce it’s voter ID law before the election. The ruling can be appealed to the state Supreme Court but that appears to be unlikely since it was the highest court in PA that sent the law back to the lower court with instructions to do what it has now done. This is a big win for voting rights in Pennsylvania and the country. However, the law still exists and could be enforced at a later date. So there is still work to be done.

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Voter Fraud: Republicans Still Haven’t Found What They Are Looking For

When it comes to voter fraud, Republicans are singing the U2 song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” But that won’t stop them. They will continue to waste time, money and resources going after a non-existent problem. After all, they need to prove their voter restrictions (i.e., voter suppression efforts) are sound, whether it be voter ID laws or voter registration purges.

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