News & Commentary

June marks the end of the legislative session in Maine, and there are still several bills that the ACLU of Maine lobby team is actively working to defeat.  Here are some of our top priorities for defeat:Attacks on Legal Abortion:  There are three anti-abortion bills pending in the legislature, and the Judiciary Committee votes against the bills were very close, meaning we have work to do to defeat the bills on the House and Senate floor.LD 760 -- This biased scripting bill would replace Maine's informed consent law with a specific script for doctors to read to women, the purpose being to shame a woman into thinking twice about having an abortion.LD 1339 -- This bill would replace Maine's adult involvement law, which is working well, with a strict parental consent requirement.  The only way to bypass parental consent in the bill would be for the teen to report one of her parents as an abuser in a signed statement or going to court.LD 1193 -- This bill seeks to create separate legal status for the fetus, giving the fetus rights of "heirs and an estate."  Maine already has laws on the books that allow a woman and her family to sue if the woman suffers harm to her pregnancy, but this law would provide legal rights to the fetus, independent from the mother.Attack on Voting:LD 573 -- This bill would amend the Maine Constitution to take away voting rights for certain felons.  Maine's Constitution protects the right to vote for all people in Maine, and it's concerning that some in the legislature seek to amend the Constitution to take away rights.  LD 573 targets people who are in prison in Maine for ten years or more and seeks to prohibit them from voting during their incarceration.  Restricting voting rights does nothing to prevent crime or compensate victims.  Rather, disenfranchisement is harmful to the successful integration of prisoners back into society over the long-term.  Moreover, felon disenfranchisement policies across the country have had a disproportionate impact on people of color.Constituent contact can make or break a vote, and we've seen issues come down to a single Senate vote in the past.  So take time now, and contact your legislators.  Here's a link where you can find your legislator.  Let them know that you support the Constitution and that means supporting a woman's right to choose and voting rights for all people.  And thank you!

June marks the end of the legislative session in Maine, and there are still several bills that the ACLU of Maine lobby team is actively working to defeat.  Here are some of our top priorities for defeat: Attacks on Legal Abortion:  There are three anti-abortion bills pending in the legislature, and the Judiciary Committee votes against the bills were very close, meaning we have work to do to defeat the bills on the House and Senate floor. LD 760 -- This biased scripting bill would replace Maine's informed consent law with a specific script for doctors to read to women, the purpose being to shame a woman into thinking twice about having an abortion. LD 1339 -- This bill would replace Maine's adult involvement law, which is working well, with a strict parental consent requirement.  The only way to bypass parental consent in the bill would be for the teen to report one of her parents as an abuser in a signed statement or going to court. LD 1193 -- This bill seeks to create separate legal status for the fetus, giving the fetus rights of "heirs and an estate."  Maine already has laws on the books that allow a woman and her family to sue if the woman suffers harm to her pregnancy, but this law would provide legal rights to the fetus, independent from the mother. Attack on Voting: LD 573 -- This bill would amend the Maine Constitution to take away voting rights for certain felons.  Maine's Constitution protects the right to vote for all people in Maine, and it's concerning that some in the legislature seek to amend the Constitution to take away rights.  LD 573 targets people who are in prison in Maine for ten years or more and seeks to prohibit them from voting during their incarceration.  Restricting voting rights does nothing to prevent crime or compensate victims.  Rather, disenfranchisement is harmful to the successful integration of prisoners back into society over the long-term.  Moreover, felon disenfranchisement policies across the country have had a disproportionate impact on people of color. Constituent contact can make or break a vote, and we've seen issues come down to a single Senate vote in the past.  So take time now, and contact your legislators.  Here's a link where you can find your legislator.  Let them know that you support the Constitution and that means supporting a woman's right to choose and voting rights for all people.  And thank you!

LD 165, a bill that would make it easier for more Maine citizens to vote, seeks to amend the Maine Constitution to allow for early voting. The bill does not mandate towns to adopt early voting, but would create an option. Representative Shaw of Standish sponsored the bill and the ACLU has been working hard to get it passed through the House and Senate. Because it would change our state's constitution, it requires 2/3rds of the House to pass. An initial vote today passed the House - but it's not over yet!

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation. Militarization of the Police Earlier this week, we participated in a nationwide coordinated public records requests with other ACLU affiliates to learn more about the increasing militarization of the police. Click here to read about disturbing examples of police use of military training and equipment. Zach’s blog summarizes our concerns. Voting Rights Act Before the Supreme Court Last Week the supreme court heard the case of Shelby County V. Holder--a challenge to Section V of the Voting Rights Act. Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office, has her thoughts on that day here. Stephen Colbert hilariously weighs in with his take here. DOMA We hope the Supreme Court will rule in our favor on the upcoming DOMA case. Bill Clinton, the president who signed DOMA into law, concludes in this Op-Ed that DOMA is unconstitutional. We’re optimistic that Edie Winsor will find success and justice before the Supreme Court.    Reproductive Freedom This week, Arkansas passed the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, banning abortions after 12 weeks. The ACLU of Arkansas has vowed to fight the new laws in court. Read more here.   Compromise A bill proposed to address teacher concerns would have gutted recently passed Maine laws designed to protect students from unnecessary physical restraint.  However, the updated version assuages teacher concerns while leaving student protections intact. The ACLU of Maine was pleased to find solutions that protect both safety and civil liberties. Read more here.

Yesterday, I joined our partners at the NAACP and the League of Women Voters in testifying against LD 573, a proposed constitutional amendment that would strip some felons of the right to vote while incarcerated.  In Maine, as in Vermont, the right to vote is not lost upon incarceration.  LD 573 would take away that right and in so doing would erode the fabric of our democracy by decreasing voter participation and discouraging people with certain criminal convictions from maintaining a stake in their constructive reintegration into society.   Proponents argued that this bill was written narrowly to restrict the voting rights only of the worst of the worst.  Some of the testimony we heard yesterday was truly heartbreaking.  But elimination of a constitutional right is not an appropriate punishment.  Restricting voting rights does not provide due compensation to victims or to the victims’ families. Nor will restricting voting rights prevent crime. Instead, disfranchising people following their criminal conviction accomplishes exactly the opposite of what we should be doing to promote re-entry.  In fact, removing the right to vote can only diminish an inmate’s stake in society and lessen their motivation to maintain their social ties. In this way, disfranchisement of citizens with criminal convictions is actually harmful to the long-term prospects for sustainable reintegration of ex-offenders into society.  In fact, some evidence suggests that ex-offenders who vote are less likely to re-offend.   Overall, criminal disenfranchisement also has a disproportionate impact on minority communities. Across the country approximately 5.85 million Americans are denied the right to vote under felon disenfranchisement laws like LD 573, and almost 1 in 6 (2.23 million) are African American. Many call felony disenfranchisement laws “the new Jim Crow” because of the disproportionate impact on voting rights of people of color.  The racial disparities created by these policies are stark.    As the U.S. Supreme Court stated long ago in Yick Wo v. Hopkins,  "the political franchise of voting" is a "fundamental political right, because  [it is] preservative of all rights."   It is no accident that the goal of LD 573 cannot be achieved simply through the passage of legislation, but would require an amendment to the Maine Constitution.   Here in Maine we should be exceptionally proud that our State Constitution is not as restrictive as those of some other states that burden the right to vote with various requirements that have the effect of limiting civic participation.   And it is exactly because the right to vote is as unburdened as it is by virtue of our State Constitution that we should proceed with the utmost care and caution lest we do anything to restrict it.   Finally, it should be noted that over the past few decades, there has been a broad national trend of adopting less restrictive disenfranchising provisions.  Since 1997, at least 23 states have implemented progressive reforms to their felon disenfranchisement policies to expand voting opportunities and release restrictions.    Maine has always been a leader on voting rights, and there is no reason to change course. In 2011, Maine voters overwhelming supported restoration of same day voter registration at the polls. Legislation similar to LD 573 has been proposed several times since 1999, and it’s been rejected because it’s the wrong thing to do.  The Legislature should not amend the Constitution to restrict voting rights. 

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation. This week, we bring you highlights from around the country, courtesy of the nationwide ACLU. “Today is March 1st – the start of Women’s History Month, which is dedicated to honoring women throughout history who have taken part in the movement to advance women’s rights. Over the years, women have fought tirelessly against discrimination to break down the social and economic barriers to gender equality.” Read more. “More than 45 briefs from religious leaders, members of Congress, retired military generals, children's advocacy groups, civil rights groups and others will be filed today in support of Edith "Edie" Windsor's challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).” Read more. “The use of surveillance drones is growing rapidly in the United States, but we know little about how the federal government employs this new technology. Now, new information obtained by the ACLU shows for the first time that the U.S. Marshals Service has experimented with using drones for domestic surveillance.” Read more. “During the signing ceremony of the Voting Rights Act, President Lyndon B. Johnson characterized the law as "one of the most monumental laws in the entire history of American freedom." Since that day, this landmark civil rights law has steadily and surely defeated and deterred countless discriminatory and varied barriers to the ballot.” Read more.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an extremely important case, Shelby County v. Holder, that focuses on the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act. Passed in 1965, the act is one of the most effective and enduring pieces of civil rights legislation in American history. The ACLU intervened in the case on behalf of the Alabama NAACP and several African-American residents whose voting rights are directly impacted by the challenge. At issue is Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which serves as a “discrimination checkpoint” of sorts. It says that state and local governments with a history of racial discrimination in voting must obtain federal clearance before making changes that affect voting. The Department of Justice has repeatedly used Section 5 to block discriminatory voting laws, including in Texas as recently as August of last year. The provisions of Section 5 have been extended by Congress on four separate occasions, most recently in 2006. Without it, the right to vote for people of color becomes considerably more difficult to protect. Check out our interactive timeline to see how the Voting Rights Act has protected the right to vote since 1965, and continues to do so in light of ongoing restrictive voting laws that target communities of color. It will likely be several months before we know how the justices will rule, but Wednesday’s oral arguments should provide the first clues. We’ll be watching very closely and we’ll keep you informed when the decision is ultimately handed down.

This morning at 10 am at the State House, Secretary of State Matt Dunlap will deliver a report by the Commission to Study the Conduct of Elections in Maine.  On balance, the report, which you can read here, is very exciting! The Commission rejects voter ID and endorses same day voter registration and early voting!  Today's Portland Press Herald captures our jubilance.  We are indeed thrilled. This outcome is a testament to the power of grassroots action.  The Commission held eight public hearings across the state from August through November.  ACLU members attended every single one of those hearings.  Thank you, all of you who gave up a summer or fall evening in Maine to witness hours of testimony and share your own stories! Our voting rights organizer, Diane Gilman, worked tirelessly to publicize the hearings in local communities, so that people could participate in this critical conversation about voting rights.  Over and over again, Maine voters testified in opposition to voter ID and in support of same day voter registration and early voting.      The very creation of the Commission was controversial, as it was the creature of compromise reached last legislative session when it was clear that a voter ID bill had failed to win enough votes for passage.  Some feared that the Commission would rubber stamp the voter ID proposal. Those fears were allayed when the Commission report was leaked to the Huffington Post yesterday.   We do not agree with everything in the report.  The Commission recommends some changes to statute to potentially tighten residency requirements for voting, a change that could have the impact of discouraging young people, particularly college students who move to Maine to attend school, from voting.  We think such changes undermine the fundamental constitutional right to vote and should be viewed with skepticism given the lack of any evidence that there's a problem in Maine.  We also think the recommendation runs counter to heartfelt testimony by some students at the public hearings that they already felt chilled and discouraged from voting in the 2011 elections.  We also feel the Commission did not adequately heed the concerns raised multiple times about the negative impact that eliminating in-person absentee voting on the Friday, Saturday, and Monday before an election had on Maine voters during the 2012 elections. Nevertheless, Mainers will have an opportunity to put grassroots pressure into action on these issues this legislative session.  Rep. Mike Shaw (D-Standish) is sponsoring a constitutional amendment to allow early voting, LD 156.  LD 53 and LD 54 sponsored by Rep. Henry Beck (D-Waterville) and Representative Nathan Libby (D-Lewiston) would increase access to in-person absentee voting.  The ACLU of Maine will vigorously support these bills, which would make it easier for Maine citizens to participate in elections.  Democracy depends on it.