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This Election Day, brush up on your voter restrictions!

Do You Know Your Voting Rights?

All of the above states tried to implement voter ID laws this year, but Texas is the only one where it is currently in effect. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on October 9 that Wisconsin voter ID law must be put on hold for this election. On October 15, the Arkansas Supreme Court unanimously struck down the voter ID requirement. In North Carolina, a trial set for the summer will decide if voter ID can be implemented in 2015.

Texas

In which of these states do you need to show a photo ID to vote?

In January 2014, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Voting Rights Amendment Act to repair the damage done by the Supreme Court in Shelby vs. Holder - a decision striking down one of the most important parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Congress can pass a new, flexible and forward-looking set of protections that work together to guarantee our right to vote. However, Congress failed to make this bill a priority before leaving for the elections, making this the first time in 50 years that voters will not be fully protected at the polls.

Voting Rights Amendment Act

In many places around the country Americans could face the most discriminatory election landscape in decades because Congress failed to act upon the following legislation:

Last year, North Carolina passed the most sweeping voting restrictions since the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Key provisions of that law—cutting early voting by a week, eliminating same-day registration during the early voting period, prohibiting the counting of provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct—are now in effect. This means that you can’t register to vote on Election Day in North Carolina.

North Carolina

Same-day registration was cut in which state this year?

In September, the ACLU, along with other member of the VRA for Today Coalition, went to Speaker of the House John Boehner's door in the Longworth House Office Building "during normal business hours" to deliver a petition, but we were met with a locked door.

Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio)

Which Congress Member met voting rights advocates with locked doors while they attempt to deliver petitions from over 500,000 voters seeking to restore and strengthen protections under the Voting Rights Act (VRA)?

According to the Brennan Center, 15 states, has new restrictions in place before the 2014 midterm elections.

How many states have instituted new voting restrictions in 2014?

Despite the seeming gridlock in Congress today, America have a long history of our elected leaders' commitment to voting rights transcending party politics. Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan, and George W. Bush all signed extensions to the VRA during their presidencies.

Presidents Gerald Ford (R), Ronald Reagan (R), and George W. Bush (R)

Which of the following presidents signed the last three extensions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), ensuring continuous protection in voting for all Americans?

The GAO study found, turnout dropped at least 1.9 % in Kansas and 2.2 % n Tennessee after voter ID laws were implemented in that state. According to Washington Post calculations, that's 122,000 fewer votes.

122,000

According to research from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, approximately how many people didn’t vote because of voter ID laws put into place in Tennessee and Kansas?

Despite the fact that voter ID purports to stop in-person voter fraud a federal court found ZERO instances of in-person voter fraud in Wisconsin.

ZERO

How many cases of in-person voter fraud did a judge find in Wisconsin?

Watch Lewis Black’s whole rant here: https://www.aclu.org/secure/what-the-eff

"...who gets to choose elected officials."

In an ACLU video, how did comedian Lewis Black finish this statement: "We shouldn’t have voter suppression because elected officials shouldn’t get to choose…?"

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Do You Know Your Voting Rights?

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