Latest News: 500,000 Americans Could Struggle to Get Voter ID

July 24, 2012

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500,000 Americans Could Struggle to Get Voter ID

A new Brennan Center report, The Challenge of Obtaining Voter Identification, shows the potential effects of restrictive voter ID laws in 10 states. These states require voters show some form of government-issued ID at the polls. Yet some voters, often poor, minority and living in rural areas, do not have this ID (including a driver’s license), and must secure one from a state ID-issuing office. The Brennan Center found that about 500,000 eligible voters live in households without a car and live more than ten miles from a state ID-issuing office that is open more than two days a week. In Texas, for example, in 32 counties near the Mexico border (pictured right), there are 80,000 eligible Hispanic voters, but only two ID-issuing offices open more than two days a week. Perhaps even worse is the underlying documentation these citizens must produce to procure photo ID. To prove identity, eligible voters may have to show official copies of both their birth certificate and marriage license. The total cost for these records could be as much as $30. The report undercuts claims by voter ID supporters that photo ID is not burdensome. The reality is that, for some eligible Americans, voting is no longer a right of citizenship, but a fee-based privilege. See more at MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, the Washington Post, NPR, Reuters, USA Today, and CBS News.

Cuomo Could Make New York Campaign Finance Reform Leader

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced he will use his bully pulpit this summer to build support for campaign finance reform. Though a bill failed in the legislature this spring, there has been growing support for public financing. This time around may be different, since Cuomo has hinted that he may try to push a bill through in a special session in the fall. Earlier this year, Brennan Center Chief Counsel Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. joined with other prominent New Yorkers to form NY LEAD, a group that believes the state should adopt a small donor matching funds system similar to New York City. A study by the Brennan Center and the Campaign Finance Institute found that New York City Council candidates are more likely to solicit small donations in poor, black, Asian and Latino neighborhoods than State Assembly candidates, who do not have a matching funds system. Sundeep Iyer and Michael Malbin of the Campaign Finance Institute wrote an op-ed for The Journal News explaining why a public matching system similar to New York City’s is the best method for preventing a cadre of large donors from controlling campaigns. And Jonathan Backer wrote in The Huffington Post that “New York can show the country that public financing can amplify the voices of small donors and expand the ‘money election’ playing field so that the ‘voting election’ results in better representative, more responsive democracy.”

Florida Strikes Purge Deal with Department of Homeland Security

After months of negotiation, Florida has reached an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security for access to a database that lists citizens eligible for benefits. Officials want to use the database to eliminate non-citizens from the voter rolls. Last month, a U.S. District Court judge rejected an effort by the Justice Department to halt the purge, claiming it was in violation of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act. The Act prohibits systematic purges 90 days before a federal election. Florida’s primary is Aug. 14. But the judge said that Florida is only attempting to strike non-citizens from the rolls, and therefore, the Act does not apply. Previously, Florida had used DMV records, which proved to be inaccurate. Meanwhile other challenges to the purge are pending. The Brennan Center’s Diana Kasdan told The Washington Post using a more accurate database “doesn’t mean they can run a last-minute purge.” Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (a Republican-turned-independent) has also weighed in on the controversy. “Cynical efforts at voter suppression are driven by an un-American desire to exclude as many people and silence as many voices as possible,” he wrote in The Washington Post this week. For more on this issue, see the Center’s 2008 report, Voter Purges, one of the first systematic examinations of the subject.

Brennan Center Holds Annual Public Defenders Conference

Over 80 defenders from a dozen states across the country attended the Brennan Center’s Community-Oriented Defender Network Conference last week. More than 100 public defender offices and allies belong to the Network, which has a holistic approach to indigent defense. This approach includes doing things like working with social workers, and informing clients about mental health or addiction programs. In part, the purpose of the gathering was to enable public defender offices to swap success stories. Regina Kelly (right), whose wrongful arrest was the subject of the movie “American Violet,” was the keynote speaker. Kelly successfully fought charges of drug distribution after she was arrested based solely on the word of an unreliable informant. Ignoring the advice of her public defender, Kelly challenged the allegations, not only causing the charges to be dropped, but changing Texas law so cases cannot be prosecuted based solely on claims of a single confidential informant. Read our report on successful programs that public defenders have implemented over the past year. And click here to see pictures of the conference.

From the Brennan Center Blog

Justice Scalia’s Sense of Entitlement – Ian Vandewalker

Vandewalker points out that even Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia endorsed disclosure in the court’s Citizens United ruling. Despite the Court’s support, the DISCLOSE Act failed in Congress, allowing millions of untraceable dollars to be spent in this year's election.

GOP Credibility on Reform Down for the Count – Jonathan Backer

Money in politics is one of those issues where rhetoric does not often always match reality. Backer cites several examples of politicians saying one thing and doing another on campaign finance reform.

No Room – Jacqueline Cremos

Abysmal living conditions, mostly due to overcrowding, are becoming the norm in prisons across the country. Cremos examines some of the causes of prison overcrowding, and explains why doubling and tripling prison populations is not an effective money-saving solution.

Read more blog posts here. To have the blog in your RSS feed, click here.

Events

Upcoming Events

July 24 – Justice Program Director Inimai Chettiar moderates a panel on "Solutions to the Aging Prisoner Epidemic" at the American Correctional Association's 142^nd Conference of Correction in Denver.

Brennan Center in the News

In a recent column on voter ID in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Inquirer writer Karen Heller argued that requiring identification will cut voter turnout, and not voter fraud. Heller spoke to Keesha Gaskins about the partisan nature of the voter ID battle.
An Associated Press article used data from the Center’s new study, The Challenge of Obtaining Voter Identification, to show how Kansas’ voter ID law will affect voters. The story highlighted the fact that downtown Wichita has only one office to serve 160,700 eligible voters.
“Across the country, legal challenges are mounting to voter identification laws in several states, and the outcome of the November election could be hanging in the balance,” The Wall Street Journal's Sam Favate wrote. Favate also mentioned the true costs of getting “free IDs,” and cited the Brennan Center study showing that legal documents to obtain identification cards can cost between $8 and $25.
National Journal’s Rosa Ramirez wrote about the challenges of getting free identification cards in states that have adopted voter ID laws. She cited Brennan Center data to show how difficult it can be for voters to physically get to an office that issues identification cards.
The New York Times wrote about the voter ID battle across the country and examined claims that such laws benefit the Republican party. The story mentioned the Brennan Center’s data on the many challenges in different states for voters who need ID.
“For some voters, big dollars means big trouble for the electoral process,” CNN’s Halimah Abdullah wrote about 2012 campaign spending. Abdullah mentioned a Brennan Center poll showing that one in four Americans say they are less likely to vote because big donors to super PACs have much more influence.
WNYC spoke to Lee Rowland about voter registration modernization efforts across the country, including Washington State’s new facebook registration system. Rowland explained that New York currently does not have electronic registration, but added that a new bill that the Brennan Center supports would allow for online registration and automatically transfer registrations of New Yorkers who move within the state.
Sundeep Iyer wrote an op-ed with Michael Malbin of the Campaign Finance Institute for the The Journal News, explaining why New York City’s public matching fund system is the best way to reform New York State’s campaign financing laws.