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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVoting Rights Advocates Used to Have an Ally in the Government. That's Changing.
Last edited Sun Aug 12, 2018, 09:27 PM - Edit history (1)
WASHINGTON A new voter ID law could shut out many Native Americans from the polls in North Dakota. A strict rule on the collection of absentee ballots in Arizona is being challenged as a form of voter suppression. And officials in Georgia are scrubbing voters from registration rolls if their details do not exactly match other records, a practice that voting rights groups say unfairly targets minority voters.
During the Obama administration, the Justice Department would often go to court to stop states from taking steps like those. But 18 months into President Trumps term, there are signs of change: The department has launched no new efforts to roll back state restrictions on the ability to vote, and instead often sides with them.
Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the department has filed legal briefs in support of states that are resisting court orders to rein in voter ID requirements, stop aggressive purges of voter rolls and redraw political boundaries that have unfairly diluted minority voting power all practices that were opposed under President Obamas attorneys general.
The Sessions departments most prominent voting-rights lawsuit so far forced Kentucky state officials last month to step up the culling from registration rolls of voters who have moved.
In the national battle over voting rights, the fighting is done in court, state by state, over rules that can seem arcane but have the potential to sway the outcome of elections. The Justice Departments recent actions point to a decided shift in policy at the federal level: toward an agenda embraced by conservatives who say they want to prevent voter fraud.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/voting-rights-advocates-used-to-have-an-ally-in-the-government-thats-changing/ar-BBLQIuN?li=BBnb7Kz
blm
(113,043 posts)You mean those folks were either ignorant or they were lying all along?
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)get a driver's license or sign up for health care. You have to chose to opt out rather than chose to opt in. It should be like this in every state.