Some poll workers reportedly attempting to enforce GOP voting restriction found unconstitutional by state Supreme Court...
By Brad Friedman on 11/4/2014, 5:38pm PT  

Arkansas Times' Max Brantley reports tonight there are "Voter suppression reports from all over," including a "steady stream of complaints...from voters who say election officials around Arkansas demanded a photo ID before they could vote today."

"The law requires election officials to ask your identity --- name, age address. But they may NOT require a photo ID. That's unconstitutional," he writes.

In fact, the Arkansas GOP's Photo ID voting restriction law was struck down by the state Supreme Court after it was found in violation of the state constitution's right to vote provisions in October.

Brantley writes that, nonetheless, "reports come in that high-handed officials are requiring the photo ID and performing checks of driver licenses against voter books, which also is not allowed. This is not universal at all polls. Some have gotten the word"...

But particularly unsettling was a report from Saline County of a voter denied a ballot when an ID wasn't produced and an election worker who reportedly said that poll was acting on advice from the secretary of state's office that it was up to counties if they wanted to demand an ID. That is NOT the law.

He goes on to report that AR Sec. of State Mark Martin, who defended the law against the failed constitutional challenge, has "been a supporter of suppression all along" and that "his office won't answer questions about the erroneous rule it has enforced that requires counties to demand ID from voters who've transferred residency from one county to another."

The paper's blog recommends voters contact the ACLU via the national 866-OUR-VOTE hotline to report similar problems they may have had at Arkansas polls today.

Add those problems at the polls today with the reports of votes flipping on touch-screen voting systems across the state and you've got a recipe for disaster if there are any very close race or election contests after polls close tonight.

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Article Categories: Arkansas, Election Reform, Rights And Freedoms, Photo ID Laws, Republicans, Election 2014