US Supreme Court Upholds Voter ID Requirement

This morning the United States Supreme Court released its decision in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (pdf). This case sought to determine whether the State of Indiana's voter identification requirement violated the constitutional rights of voters.

In its plurality-decision today, the Court upheld the voter identification requirement in Indiana, ruling that states only need a rational justification for implementing new voting requirements.

Institute for Law and Politics Advisory Board Member Rick Hasen has a more detailed analysis on his Election Law Blog.

Do you think today's Court ruling will encourage additional states to pass stricter voting requirements?

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The Myth of Voter Fraud?

Institute for Law and Politics Senior Fellow David Schultz recently published a law review article titled, "Less Than Fundamental: The Myth of Voter Fraud and the Coming of the Second Great Disenfranchisement (PDF)"

In the article, Professor Schultz essentially makes two arguments. First, he argues that claims of widespread intentional voter fraud are exaggerated and that there is little evidence of it at all.

Professor Schultz further argues that policy reactions to these exaggerated claims of voter fraud, such as stricter voter registration laws, are likely to lead to the disenfranchisement of some voters, despite the lack of evidence that there is a problem with our elections in the first place.

Check out the article, then let us know what you think. Are claims of voter fraud overblown? Are stricter voting requirements appropriate?


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"The Trouble with Touch Screens"

Below is the complete hourlong report by Dan Rather exposing the problems with touch-screen voting systems.

It raises some important issues about security and verifiability that the public needs to make sure are present in all the voting systems around our country:

[Edit: the video has been removed from Google Video, I'll try to find a new source soon]

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Stephen Colbert covers the question of DC voting rights in Congress

Last night Stephen Colbert discussed the proposed addition of a voting seat for Washington DC in the US Congress:


We discussed the strong public approval for such a plan previously.

What do you think? Would this even be Constitutional if it were to pass?