LAT: Little noticed, nationwide melee breaks out over new voter ID laws

[DeepModem Mom]

Parties Battle Over New Voter ID Laws
GOP-backed tighter rules are under court challenge. Democrats say they are unfair.
By Peter Wallsten, Times Staff Writer
September 12, 2006

PHOENIX — Little noticed by voters, a nationwide melee has broken out pitting liberal and conservative groups in a duel over new laws that could determine who wins close elections in November and beyond.

The dispute, which is being fought in disparate and often half-empty courtrooms in as many as nine states, concerns new state laws and rules backed primarily by Republicans that require people to show photo identification in order to vote and, in some cases, proof of citizenship and identification when registering to vote.

One measure prompted the League of Women Voters to halt its voter registration drives in Florida out of fear of facing criminal penalties. That law, and a similar provision in Ohio that threatened voter registration drives by other groups, was blocked in recent weeks by federal courts.

The legal battle reflects a deep partisan divide, with Republicans arguing that the new requirements are needed to prevent voting fraud and boost confidence in election results, and Democrats charging that they disenfranchise seniors, minorities, students and others who tend to vote Democratic.

Hundreds of thousands of votes are potentially at stake in some of the most contested congressional races this year and the 2008 race for the White House, making the court cases the latest battle in a broader war over election policies that has been raging since the 2000 Florida recount....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-voting12sep12,0,2159643,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines