Voting rights

FILE - In this April 15, 2019, file photo, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, left, attends a House session, in Nashville, Tenn. Hargett, who had previously argued the original 2019 voter registration law would bolster election security, is submitting a separate bill in 2020 that will criminalize “intentional dissemination of misinformation” surrounding the qualifications to vote, voter registration requirements, voter eligibility and polling dates, times and locations. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Judge: Tennessee must allow vote by mail for all amid virus

Jun. 4, 2020 11:09 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee must give all of its 4.1 million registered voters the option to cast ballots by mail during the coronavirus pandemic, a judge ruled Thursday. Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled that the state's limits on absentee voting during the pandemic constitute...

FILE - In this July 21, 2015, file photo, Carolyn Yazzie fills in her ballot at the Shiprock Chapter House in Shiprock, N.M., during the Navajo Nation's referendum election. Native American voting rights advocates are cautioning against states moving to mail-in ballots without opportunities for tribal members to vote safely in person. The Native American Rights Fund released a wide-ranging report on voting rights Thursday, June 4, 2020. In it, the group outlined the challenges that could arise as states move to rely more heavily on mail-in ballots. (Jon Austria/The Daily Times via AP, File)

Report highlights voting inequities in tribal communities

Jun. 4, 2020 1:04 AM EDT

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Native American voting rights advocates are cautioning against states moving to mail-in ballots without opportunities for tribal members to vote safely in person. In a wide-ranging report released Thursday, the Native American Rights Fund outlined the challenges that could arise:...

Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks in Philadelphia, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

With wins in 7 states and DC, Biden closes in on nomination

Jun. 3, 2020 10:38 AM EDT

Joe Biden is on the cusp of formally securing the Democratic presidential nomination after winning hundreds more delegates in primary contests that tested the nation's ability to run elections while balancing a pandemic and sweeping social unrest. Biden could lock down the nomination within the next week as West...

Biden moves closer to formally winning Democratic nomination

Jun. 3, 2020 1:14 AM EDT

Joe Biden is on the cusp of formally securing the Democratic presidential nomination after winning hundreds more delegates in primary contests Tuesday that tested the nation's ability to run elections while balancing a pandemic and sweeping social unrest. Biden could lock down the nomination within the next week...

Democratic congressional candidate Teresa Leger Fernandez, in the blue mask, cheers on supporters at a polling station on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in Santa Fe, N.M. Behind her are her three sons, from left, Dario, Abelino and Alisandro. The sign she holds,

Fernandez defeats Valerie Plame in New Mexico House primary

Jun. 3, 2020 1:12 AM EDT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Attorney Teresa Leger Fernandez defeated former CIA operative Valerie Plame to win the Democratic nomination in New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District in Tuesday’s primary. Leger Fernandez overcame six competitors including Plame to win her party’s nomination to...

FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2019 file photo, Fiona Whelan Prine, left, and John Prine arrive at the 61st annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The wife of the late celebrated singer-songwriter John Prine, who died from complications of COVID-19, is urging lawmakers to expand absentee voting so Tennesseans would not have to put their health at risk exercising their right to vote. Fiona Whelan Prine told a Senate panel Tuesday that allowing more people to cast an absentee ballot was critical in ensuring that people would remain safe and healthy during the 2020 election. Whelan Prine also contracted the coronavirus, but she has since recovered. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

John Prine's wife urges Tennessee to expand absentee voting

Jun. 2, 2020 11:29 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The wife of singer-songwriter John Prine, who died from complications of COVID-19, urged lawmakers Tuesday to expand absentee voting so Tennesseans would not have to put their health at risk to exercise their right to vote. Fiona Whelan Prine, who also contracted the coronavirus and...

People wearing protective gear disinfect as a precaution against the new coronavirus at a wedding hall in Suwon, South Korea, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. (Kim Jong-taik/Newsis via AP)

The Latest: UN body calls for action on debt amid pandemic

Jun. 2, 2020 10:33 PM EDT

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. ___ UNITED NATIONS — The president of the U.N. Economic and Social Council is calling...

FILE - In this March 10, 2020, file photo, a man votes in the presidential primary election at the the Summit View Church of the Nazarene in Kansas City, Mo. Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Tuesday, June 2, 2020, that he will appeal a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in April that said the state could not enforce a proof-of-citizenship law. An appeals-court panel said the law violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal legal protection as well as a federal voter registration law. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

Kansas to ask Supreme Court to save voter citizenship law

Jun. 2, 2020 6:19 PM EDT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' Republican attorney general plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to require new voters to provide papers documenting their citizenship when registering. Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Tuesday that he will appeal a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...

FILE - In this Feb. 19, 2020 file photo Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear speaks to the press at the Capitol in Frankfort, Ky. Beshear says protesters who hung an effigy of him were trying to use “fear and terror

Kentucky election laws draw court challenge amid virus

May. 27, 2020 4:45 PM EDT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's new law requiring people to show a government-issued photo ID to vote drew a court challenge Wednesday from groups seeking widespread use of mail-in absentee ballots for the fall election, eager to protect voters fearful of coronavirus spread. The groups argued in a...

FILE - March 10, 2020, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to members of the press at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee. But the process of making it official is anything but settled. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Biden campaign names national director for voter protection

May. 26, 2020 8:58 PM EDT

DETROIT (AP) — Joe Biden has hired a national director for voter protection, a role his campaign says will focus broadly on voter rights, including the disenfranchisement of people of color amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign said Rachana Desai Martin will join its legal team, serving also as senior...

Latest Voting rights News