November Roundup: 6 Must-Read Articles
Want to make sure you don’t miss the month’s best opinion pieces, deep dives, and analysis? Here’s your monthly roundup of must-read articles on voting rights from around the web:
1. Will voting in the US be treated as a use-it-or-lose-it right? An upcoming Supreme Court case on removing registered voters from the rolls if they skip voting will have consequences for how aggressive voter list purges can be. A federal court ruled that one such purge violated the Voter Registration Act’s near-total ban on removing registrants who do not vote, but experts warn that the justices might be inclined to reverse the lower court ruling.
2. Advocates argue that the at-large voting scheme in East Ramapo Central School District in the Lower Hudson Valley violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Under that system, “candidates supporting the public schools and backed by minority voters have not won a contested election for a seat on the school board since 2007.”
3. Efforts are underway in several states to use ballot initiatives to reform the redistricting process. The ballot initiatives are intended to circumvent stalled legislatures, allowing voters to take action to make redistricting more fair.
4. A member of Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Commission has failed to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act requirements aimed at ensuring transparency and preventing bias. The Democratic member of the Commission says that he was invited “to afford the Commission and its prospective findings a veneer of legitimacy.”
5. After their voting rights were restored by the Governor last year, tens of thousands of people with felony convictions were able to vote in Virginia’s consequential and close election this past November. Even though the restoration faced Republican resistance, rooted in “self-interested politics and race,” this expanded access to the vote is “a win for everybody.”
6. A court order barring the Republican National Committee from engaging in “voter verification and other ‘ballot security’ measures” recently expired. While a federal judge left open the possibility of extension, voting rights advocates argue that the order is still needed to prevent voter intimidation.