Photo Identification

Almost three-quarters of all Americans support the idea that people should have to show photo identification to vote, even though they are nearly as concerned about voter suppression as they are about fraud in presidential elections, according to a new Washington Post poll . A controversy over voter ID laws is a prominent backdrop to this year's election, with courtroom showdowns in Pennsylvania, Texas and elsewhere over voting rights and...

florida Former state GOP chairman sentenced The former chairman of the Florida Republican Party was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison for money laundering and stealing party funds. Jim Greer, who resigned as state party chief shortly before his 2010 indictment, also was ordered to serve a year of probation. Greer, 50, pleaded guilty last month to five charges, averting a trial that threatened to reveal potentially embarrassing details about the state party organization.

The Obama administration on Monday blocked a new law in Texas that requires voters to show a photo ID, drawing fierce criticism from Republicans who say the move was aimed at boosting President Obama's reelection prospects. The Justice Department said that the law disproportionately harms Hispanic voters. "Even using the data most favorable to the state, Hispanics disproportionately lack either a driver's license or a personal identification card," Thomas Perez, head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, wrote in a...

RICHMOND — Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling broke with his party again Monday by supporting a Democratic effort to delay tightening voter identification rules. Bolling broke a 20-20 tie, on a preliminary vote, to amend a bill that would remove several forms of identification the state added last year to the list of IDs accepted at the polls. The measure returns to the floor Tuesday. Bolling said in an interview afterward that he does not actually oppose the substance of the measure.

A South Carolina voter-identification law does not discriminate against African Americans but must be delayed until next year because it would cause too much confusion at polling places so close to Election Day, a federal court ruled Wednesday. In a unanimous ruling , a special three-judge panel found the law, which requires voters to display one of five types of photo identification, would not harm African Americans and was not enacted with discrimination in mind. "South Carolina's new...

Americans went to the polls by the tens of millions Tuesday, and although most voted without incident, balloting in several states was hindered by long waits, legal disputes and lingering damage from Hurricane Sandy. Pennsylvania emerged as a hot spot for Election Day issues. In Philadelphia and outlying counties, voters reported that some election workers required photo identification, despite a judge's ruling last month that placed the state's tough new ID law on hold for 2012.

IT'S LIKELY that yesterday's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold Indiana's voter ID law will spur debate in other states about whether to adopt similar provisions. The short answer is, they should not. And if they do, they should not use the Indiana law as a template. While the justices split 6-3 over the constitutionality of the Indiana law requiring voters to present federally or state-issued photo identification at polling places, there was no dispute over the fact that in-person voter fraud is not a...

The first round of the 2012 presidential campaign is being waged in courtrooms nationwide, and one of the most important battles got underway Wednesday in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where challengers told a judge that a new voter-identification law violates the commonwealth's constitution. The plaintiffs in Pennsylvania and other states have skipped the traditional venue of the federal courthouse, where advocates often pursue civil rights cases, opting instead for what they think may be a more successful route in state...

In his July 13 op-ed column, "Why we need voter ID laws," Kansas Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach confirmed our conclusion that few people are charged with voter fraud, but he explained that must be because "most forms of voter fraud are extremely difficult to detect. " Perhaps. Or, as myriad studies show, because it rarely happens. He also derides as "questionable" our 2006 study showing that 11 percent of citizens simply lack current and valid photo identification. The survey was conducted by Opinion Research Corp., a...

RICHMOND — Voting rights advocates are expressing concerns about what they see as a renewed effort by Republicans this legislative session to make it harder for Virginians to cast a ballot. At a press conference held Thursday, Tram Nguyen, associate director of Virginia New Majority, said that pending legislation that would require voters to show proof of citizenship or state-issued photo identification would be expensive to implement and could disenfranchise elderly, poor and minority voters.

RICHMOND — Voting rights advocates are expressing concerns about what they see as a renewed effort by Republicans this legislative session to make it harder for Virginians to cast a ballot. At a press conference held Thursday, Tram Nguyen, associate director of Virginia New Majority, said that pending legislation that would require voters to show proof of citizenship or state-issued photo identification would be expensive to implement and could disenfranchise elderly, poor and minority voters.

RICHMOND — Gov. Robert F. McDonnell got his only standing ovation in last week's State of the Commonwealth speech with an unexpected announcement: He would support automatically restoring voting rights to nonviolent felons who had paid their debts to society. But the Republican governor didn't bring all audience members to their feet. "Most of the people standing were Democrats," said Del. Rosalyn R. Dance (D-Petersburg). A year after Republicans and Democrats fought bitterly...

Voters in the District, Virginia and Maryland inundated polling places Tuesday and spent hours inching forward to cast ballots in tightly contested national and local races as strong voter turnout caught election officials by surprise. Hundreds of people throughout Virginia were still in line nearly three hours after polls were scheduled to close, including in Prince William and Fairfax counties. Election officials said voting could continue for hours until everyone in line by 7 p.m. had voted,...

Americans went to the polls by the tens of millions Tuesday, and although most voted without incident, balloting in several states was hindered by long waits, legal disputes and lingering damage from Hurricane Sandy. Pennsylvania emerged as a hot spot for Election Day issues. In Philadelphia and outlying counties, voters reported that some election workers required photo identification, despite a judge's ruling last month that placed the state's tough new ID law on hold for 2012.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — There's no talking politics on the job. Try not to wear red or blue. No snooping through electronic records to see whether your neighbor is lying about her age. Bring plenty of food for a day that will run from 5 a.m. to as late as 9 p.m. Most important, assistant registrar Keith Heyward told volunteer poll workers in a recent training class, try to put voters at ease. Months of news reports about photo identification and other changes...

Despite an Oct. 2 ruling by a Pennsylvania judge putting the state's new voter ID law on hold, a series of misleading ads and announcements is sowing confusion and fear among residents with just two weeks until Election Day, civil rights and union leaders contend. Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson ruled that election officials can still ask voters for photo identification but cannot require it. Simpson called the photo ID requirement reasonable and non-discriminatory but said...

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that states may require voters to present photo identification before casting ballots, opening the way for wider adoption of a measure that Republicans say combats fraud and Democrats say discourages voting among the elderly and the poor. The court ruled 6 to 3 that the requirements enacted by Indiana's legislature were not enough of a burden to violate the Constitution. Because the law, which requires specific government-issued identification such as driver's licenses or passports, is generally...

florida Former state GOP chairman sentenced The former chairman of the Florida Republican Party was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison for money laundering and stealing party funds. Jim Greer, who resigned as state party chief shortly before his 2010 indictment, also was ordered to serve a year of probation. Greer, 50, pleaded guilty last month to five charges, averting a trial that threatened to reveal potentially embarrassing details about the state party organization.

A South Carolina voter-identification law does not discriminate against African Americans but must be delayed until next year because it would cause too much confusion at polling places so close to Election Day, a federal court ruled Wednesday. In a unanimous ruling , a special three-judge panel found the law, which requires voters to display one of five types of photo identification, would not harm African Americans and was not enacted with discrimination in mind. "South Carolina's new...

Closing arguments Monday over South Carolina's voter-identification law will cap an extraordinary case that has seen charges of racism directed at the law's author and federal judges' open frustration over state officials' changing stances on implementing it. Opponents of the embattled law, which U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. blocked last year under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, will challenge the credibility of its chief author, state...