voting rights

  • Gonzalez v. Arizona Rests upon a False Premise

    ByP.A. Madison
    7 Comments

    The recent Ninth Circuit en banc decision in Gonzalez v. Arizona illustrates current erroneous understanding of the Elections Clause under Section 4 of Article I. At issue in this case was Arizona’s Proposition 200 that required prospective voters in Arizona to provide proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote in both State and Federal elections, along with the requirement of registered voters to show identification to cast a ballot. Additionally, Proposition 200 required the County Recorder to “reject any…

  • Georgia vs. U.S. Department of Injustice

    ByP.A. Madison
    2 Comments

    Voting rights groups in Georgia were successful in stopping State election officials from using Social Security numbers and driver’s license data to check voters’ immigration status. Advocacy groups had told a federal three-judge panel that using the data to verify whether voters are citizens amounts to a “systematic purging” of voting rolls that must be approved by the Justice Department. Why does the State of Georgia need approval by the Justice Department? The answer, according to the Department of Justice, is because…

  • Does Indiana’s Photo ID Law Violate the Constitution?

    ByP.A. Madison
    5 Comments

    Following the steps of other third parties, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), with Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) have recently filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court over Indiana’s photo-identification requirements for federal elections. The brief asserts Indiana State law is inconsistent with, and preempted by, the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. The Federal statute mandates certain identification requirements only for first-time voters who register to vote by mail. The Federal identification requirements can be satisfied…

  • Revisiting the Fifteenth Amendment

    ByP.A. Madison
    5 Comments

    Summary: The Fifteenth Amendments sole purpose was to remove “white” from former rebel State statutes so black citizens could have equal footing as whites in voter qualification laws. This had no effect on stringent State voter laws that could easily disqualify most blacks on conditions other than race because there was no likelihood such an amendment would be ratified by more than 3 States. Today when one speaks of the Fifteenth Amendment they usually do under the belief the Amendment provides an…