Changes to voting laws may complicate key races

A flurry of court decisions has altered the voting landscape for midterm elections, leading Democrats to fear some voters will be at best confused and at worst unable to vote in states with close races.

Recent court decisions have cut the hours of early voting and eliminated same-day registration in Ohio and in North Carolina, where Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan is trying to keep her seat against Republican Thom Tillis, and introduced strict new voter identification requirements in Texas.

"This is going to be the first election where we're seeing this new species of strict ID law,'' says Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. "Before the 2012 election virtually all the really strict laws were blocked'' by court decisions. This year, "the results are much more mixed.''

Democrats have made turning out voters a cornerstone of their strategy to hold on to control of the Senate. The party has vulnerable incumbents in the red-leaning states of Alaska, Arkansas and Louisiana and the swing state of North Carolina. More stringent identification requirements at polls, and limits to early voting – a legislative trend that began in 2011 – have been driven by Republican-controlled state legislatures and supported by the national party. In 2011, GOP chairman Reince Priebus called voter ID laws "common sense, widely supported" measures to combat voter fraud. "They uphold the constitutional values of equal protection and one person one vote,'' Priebus said. Studies have shown that cases of voter impersonation are extremely rare.

In the past month, the Supreme Court has ruled on voting laws in several states:

– In Ohio, the early voting period was cut and "Golden Week,'' a week in which voters could register and vote on the same day, was eliminated

– in North Carolina, early voting days were cut, same-day registration was eliminated, and voters may no longer cast ballots outside their home precincts.

– In Texas, the Supreme Court upheld the state's voter ID law requiring one of seven forms of government-issued photo ID in order to cast a ballot.

Texas Democrats opposed the ID law, citing an estimate that about 600,000 residents did not have the necessary form of identification. "This is a modern day poll tax. It is designed to disenfranchise minority voters,'' says party executive director Will Hailer. Nonetheless, he says, "We hope people still go and vote.''

– in Wisconsin, where GOP Gov. Scott Walker is neck and neck with Democrat Mary Burke, the court struck down a strict voter ID law on Oct. 9, after early voting had begun. Some robocalls urging voters to remember to bring ID continued even after the law was thrown out by the court, according to Milwaukee's WTMJ-TV.

The Arkansas Supreme Court also invalidated the state's strict voter ID law, saying it violated the state constitution. There, Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor is in a tight race against Rep. Tom Cotton. Democrats are still concerned that voters could be discouraged from voting. "Even though those voter ID laws aren't going to be enforced… the confusion damage, that our team is most concerned by, is already done,'' says Pratt Wiley, the Democratic National Committee's director of voter expansion.

"It's been a lot of confusion for voters so our job has been to educate and empower our citizens and let them know when it was the final day to register, what is the final day to early vote: polling places, hours, locations,'' says Gina Wright, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Democratic Party. "We have been telling people, you do not need an ID, When in doubt just show up to vote anyway.''

The scenario is different in Colorado, where Democrats are trying to hold on to the Senate seat of Mark Udall and reelect Gov. John Hickenlooper: Voting access has been expanded by allowing same-day registration and sending mail-in ballots to all voters.

In addition to new laws, voter registration controversies in two states could loom large if competitive governor and senate races there are decided by narrow margins:

-- In Kansas, a state law requiring residents to show proof of citizenship to register to vote in state elections has put more than 22,000 voters' eligibility in question. Those voters registered using a federal voter registration form, which does not require proof of citizenship. Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, is virtually tied in the polls with Democrat Paul Davis, and GOP Sen. Pat Roberts is also in a tight re-election race against independent candidate Greg Orman.

-- In Georgia, a voter registration group, the New Georgia Project, says that 56,000 new registrations it submitted have yet to appear on voter rolls. On Tuesday, a court denied the group's request to force Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp to confirm the voters' eligibility. Democrats are counting on the 30% of Georgia voters who are black to help Michelle Nunn in her race against David Perdue for the open Senate seat. The state's gubernatorial race is also considered a tossup between Republican incumbent Nathan Deal and Democratic challenger Jason Carter, grandson of former president Jimmy Carter.

Wiley says local Democratic officials were able to add Sunday early voting hours, for the first time, in 11 key counties for Nunn, including the two most populous counties, Fulton and DeKalb. That's important for "souls to the polls" voter drives at African-American churches.

"We understand that when more people vote it's good for us,'' Wiley says. "I'm not going to lie and say we're not keeping track of who our voters (are) and making sure voting is most convenient for them.''