There were more people than time at last night's hearing on voting rights at the Portland Public Library. Speaker after speaker urged the Elections Commissions not to change Maine voting laws without a very good reason. So many people testified against controversial voter ID requirements that Chairman John Atwood requested an end to testimony against voter ID, looking for perspectives on other issues. Proponents of early voting and absentee voting talked about ways to make it easier, not harder, for people to vote. Kennebunk Deputy Town Clerk Merton Brown urged the Commission to reinstate no-excuse absentee voting for Mainers during the weekend before elections. He also testified that allowing early voting as an option for municipalities all across the state would ease Election Day burdens on clerks and make it easier for Mainers, especially those working two or three jobs to make ends meet, to exercise their right to vote.
These hearings come amidst a flurry of legal decisions about voting restrictions in other states. Yesterday, a federal court struck down the Texas voter ID law on the grounds that it was discriminatory. That means all Texas citizens will be able to vote in the 2012 election. In Florida on Wednesday, a judge struck down parts of a law that prevented non-partisan groups like the League of Women Voters from doing voter registration.
These court decisions are good news for voters in Texas and Florida, but voters in other states like Pennsylvania and South Carolina have not yet won back their voting rights. The South Carolina Voter ID is on trial before a Washington, DC court this week. Meanwhile, yesterday, the ACLU filed an appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, urging them to block Pennsylvania's controversial voter ID law. Our clients in that case break my heart. For example, Wilola Lee, an African American woman who has worked as a poll worker in Philadelphia, has been unable to get a voter ID because she was born in Georgia, and the state of Georgia says they have no record of her birth. Thus, after voting in nearly every election for thirty years, she will not be able to vote in November unless this law is struck down.
Ms. Lee's case demonstrates why it's so important that Mainers speak up now for our voting rights. The next hearing will be in Bangor on Thursday, September 13 at 5:30 pm at City Hall. The full hearing schedule is:
Farmington 9/27 at 5:45 at the University Maine of Farmington, Olsen Student Center, Dining Hall C
Lewiston 10/4 at 5:30 pm at Lewiston High School
Wells 10/25 at 5:30 pm at York Community College in the Mid-Cafe
Presque Isle TBD
Machias TBD
We'll see you there!
