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Judge Blocks Washington Voting Law
by Michael Martinez
A federal judge in Washington on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction to block the state from enforcing a ballot law. That statute would prevent citizens from voting if their registration information does not match records in other government databases.
In a nine-page order, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez ruled that a law requiring election officials to match the names of voters with information in the databases of the Social Security Administration or the state's Department of Licensing is not in the public interest. A coalition of several groups, including the Washington Association of Churches, had sued over the law. The coalition said it violated provisions of a federal statute passed after the 2000 presidential election.
"Given Washington's most recent governor's election, where the winner was decided by just hundreds of votes, the court finds that the public interest weighs strongly in favor of letting every eligible resident of Washington register and cast a vote," Martinez said.
The plaintiffs charged that the law would disenfranchise large portions of voters whose records maintained by other agencies might contain minor errors. The state argued that law was simply designed to curtail voter fraud.
But Martinez said the state failed to demonstrate how recording errors should determine whether a person is eligible to vote. He also questioned the enforceability and practicality of the statute.
"Discovery has revealed that many counties are hesitant to comply with the strict matching requirements, and this had led to absurd results around the state," Martinez said. "It appears that no county is approaching the statute in the same way."
Martinez also agreed with the assessment of the plaintiffs that the law would pre-empt federal provisions that outline requirements for states to establish electronic voter-registration databases. He said the statute specifically would render moot sections of federal law that allow citizens whose names do not appear on rosters to vote by provisional ballot.
This week's ruling could prompt action in other states, according to civil-liberties experts at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University law school.
The "ruling, along with cases pending in other states, may be the start of a new trend where courts will be carefully examining whether voters have been disenfranchised by the administrative decisions of election officials," Wendy Weiser, the director of the center's democracy program, said in a release.
After the disclosure this week that one in four voter-registration files in Indiana might be inaccurate, election officials in the Hoosier State said new strategies would be necessary to ensure fairness and accuracy.
The Indiana Elections Division announced on Tuesday that more than a million inaccurate voter records were identified during the past month.
"Hoosier voters deserve a voter file that is accurate and protects the integrity of our electoral process," Secretary of State Todd Rokita said. "We have an obligation to the taxpayer to reduce the funds used to purchase voting equipment and pay poll workers, all of which have been based on what we now see are vastly exaggerated numbers."
Justice Orders Release of Terrorism Records
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Wednesday ordered the full disclosure of court records related to a terrorism investigation in Connecticut.
Ginsburg has asked a federal appellate court in New York to unseal materials pertaining to the attempts of the FBI during the past year to use a special subpoena known as a "national security letter" to obtain information from computers in state public libraries. Such letters allow the government to obtain data in terrorism probes without the approval of a judge or a grand-jury subpoena.
The FBI earlier this summer dropped its attempt to enforce the letter after Library Connection, a consortium of Connecticut libraries, challenged the constitutionality of its demands in a federal court. A gag order on the case was lifted this past May.
Prosecutors have argued that the consortium is effectively an Internet service and that records kept on its computers are fair game for security probes. Library Connection officials, with the support of the American Civil Liberties Union, have maintained that the bureau's demands violate privacy laws.
North Carolina Does Not Act On Videogames
Lawmakers in North Carolina ended their legislative session this year without passing a measure to prohibit the sale of violent or obscene videogames to minors.
The measure, S.B. 2, cleared several key legislative hurdles last year but failed to gain traction during this summer's session. The proposal would make it illegal for retailers to disseminate graphically violent or sexually explicit games to children younger than 18.
The videogame industry thus far is undefeated in court cases challenging similar statutes. Videogame laws in California, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan and Minnesota have been blocked by courts on constitutional grounds.
Jack Thompson, a Miami-based lawyer who has helped to craft videogame bills in several states, told Technology Daily earlier this year that he believed the North Carolina proposal stood a better chance of withstanding constitutional scrutiny because it included a three-pronged obscenity test based on the one outlined by the Supreme Court in the 1973 case Miller v. California.
A staff member for state Sen. Julia Boseman, the author of the bill, told the site GamePolitics.com that she intends to introduce the bill again next year if she retains her seat.
Grant Funds To Modernize Texas Workforce
Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday announced the direction of $3 million in grant funds to modernize his state's workforce.
The lion's share of the funds will go to the University of Houston to develop a biotechnology training program. Other benefactors of the investment will include: the Greater Austin Area Workforce Board, which will receive roughly $400,000 to promote science education in public schools; and the San Jacinto College District, which will receive more than $500,000 to train engineers, information technology specialists and laboratory technologists.
"Texas has been recognized as the best state in the nation to do business, and when corporate leaders are asked why they chose to build or expand their business here, the answer is often that we have a highly skilled workforce that can meet the unique demands of their business," Perry said in a release.
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