| Subject: Electionlawblog news and commentary 5/30/06 |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 5/30/2006, 6:30 AM |
| To: election-law |
I have written this
Findlaw column.
It begins: "Important provisions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) expire
next year, unless renewed by Congress. The good news is that a vigorous
debate is taking place over whether, and how, the relevant VRA
provisions should be amended before they are renewed. The bad news is
that this debate is taking place among academics, not among Members of
Congress."
The NY Times offers this
editorial,
which begins: "In a country that spends so much time extolling the
glories of democracy, it's amazing how many elected officials go out of
their way to discourage voting. States are adopting rules that make it
hard, and financially perilous, for nonpartisan groups to register new
voters. They have adopted new rules for maintaining voter rolls that
are likely to throw off many eligible voters, and they are imposing
unnecessarily tough ID requirements."
The Nashville Tennesseean offers this
editorial.
Eliza Newlin Carney offers this Rules of the Game
column (free access) at National Journal.
The Washington Post offers this
report.
Sen. John Cornyn has this letter to the editor in the Dallas Morning News responding to this editorial. A snippet: "This editorial ignores Congress' obligation to pass legislation that will survive Supreme Court scrutiny. The court likely will require any Voting Rights Act legislation be 'congruent and proportional.' Is it not reasonable to ensure this standard has been met?"
-- Rick Hasen William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law Loyola Law School 919 Albany Street Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211 (213)736-1466 (213)380-3769 - fax rick.hasen@lls.edu http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html http://electionlawblog.org