Legal Battles on Voting May Prove a Critical Issue in Election

In the last few weeks, nearly a dozen decisions in federal and state courts on early voting, provisional ballots and voter identification requirements have driven the rules in conflicting directions, some favoring Republicans demanding that voters show more identification to guard against fraud and others backing Democrats who want to make voting as easy as possible.

The most closely watched cases — in the swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania — will see court arguments again this week, with the Ohio dispute possibly headed for a request for emergency review by the Supreme Court.

In Wisconsin, the home state of the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Representative Paul D. Ryan, the attorney general has just appealed to the State Supreme Court on an emergency basis to review two rulings barring its voter ID law. But even if all such cases are settled before Nov. 6 — there are others in Florida, Iowa and South Carolina — any truly tight race will most likely generate post-election litigation that could delay the final result.

“In any of these states there is the potential for disaster,” said Lawrence Norden of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. “You have close elections and the real possibility that people will say their votes were not counted when they should have been. That’s the nightmare scenario for the day after the election.”

In the 2000 presidential election, a deadlock over ballot design and tallying in parts of Florida led the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, to stop a recount of ballots, which led to George W. Bush defeating Al Gore. Since then, both parties have focused on voting procedures.

The Obama campaign, for example, brought suit in Ohio over its reduction of early voting weekends used more by blacks than other groups.

Republicans have expressed concern over what they call voter integrity. They say they fear that registration drives by liberal and community groups have bloated voter rolls with the dead and the undocumented and have created loose monitoring of who votes and low public confidence in the system. They have instituted voter identification rules, cut back on early voting and sought to purge voter lists by comparing them with others, including those of the Department of Homeland Security.

Judicial Watch, a conservative organization aimed at reducing voter fraud, says it has found that voter rolls last year in 12 states seemed to contain an ineligible number of voting-age residents when compared with 2010 census data. It is suing both Indiana and Ohio for failing to clean up their rolls in keeping with their obligations under the National Voter Registration Act.

Democrats worry about what they call voter suppression. They say that voter fraud is largely a myth and that the goal of the Republican-led laws and lawsuits is to reduce voting by minorities, the poor and the young, who tend to vote more for Democrats.

At the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina on Thursday, Representative John Lewis of Georgia expressed his party’s view on voter-related Republican-led laws when he compared them to poll taxes and literacy tests used to prevent blacks from voting in an earlier era.

“Today, it is unbelievable that there are Republican officials still trying to stop some people from voting,” he said. “They are changing the rules, cutting polling hours and imposing requirements intended to suppress the vote.”

Courts have taken a mixed view of the two sides’ claims. Voter ID laws have been both upheld as fair and struck down as discriminatory. In Pennsylvania, a state judge upheld the voter ID law, and the State Supreme Court will hear appeal arguments on Thursday.

Elsewhere recently, Democrats have won more than they have lost, but appeals are forthcoming. A federal court agreed with the Justice Department that Texas’ voter ID law was discriminatory and also struck down the state’s curtailment of voter registration; in Ohio, early voting has been restored and rules restricting voter registration drives have been struck down. The Ohio case is under appeal to the Federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit under expedited review. Texas will also appeal but not in time to affect this election. A Justice Department challenge to South Carolina’s voter ID law is in federal court.

In Florida, a federal court ruled last month that a year-old state law that reduced the number of early voting days to 8 from 12 could not be enforced in 5 of the 67 counties that are covered under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. But the court suggested that extending the hours of voting over the eight-day period in those five counties would satisfy the federal requirements. Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, was able to persuade election officials in four of the counties to extend their daily hours, but the supervisor of elections in Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys, refused, saying that the county would maintain an early voting period of 12 days.

One issue that is likely to lead to lawsuits after Election Day is that of provisional ballots. Under federal law, anyone whose identity or voting precinct is in doubt can ask for a provisional ballot at any polling station and then has a number of days to return with the required documentation to make that vote count.

Lizette Alvarez contributed reporting.

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Gingrich labors in bid to prove comeback in South

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — It was an ominous introduction for Republican Newt Gingrich, whose future as a presidential candidate rests in Mississippi and Alabama.

"I can tell you right now, he's tired. He needs your prayers," former state Sen. Lee Yancey told a half-full Jackson hotel ballroom before the former House speaker took the stage.

Gingrich's aides have said the candidate needs to win Alabama and Mississippi Tuesday to justify staying in the race. He scrapped weekend plans to campaign in Kansas ahead of the Saturday caucuses to stay in the South, his adopted home and the only place he's won in the 2012 campaign.

"I want your help next Tuesday so we can win the Republican nomination," Gingrich flatly told the group, his voice a little rough.

What few in the crowd of about 100 knew is that the night before, Gingrich took some time to enjoy himself. He shed his jacket and tie, sipped some wine and danced with his wife, Callista, in the bar, a carefree respite with staff that ran into the early hours of Thursday.

Gingrich was on time for his 9 a.m. appearance on his first day under Secret Service protection, adding dozens of new faces and a buzz of activity around his events. But the former college professor known for speeches resembling lectures drifted further afield from his usual contrast with President Barack Obama.

Gingrich seemed more focused on amusing his audience than pressing them for their votes.

He paused early in his remarks to comment on the thick accents of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, which drew laughs.

He took his routine mocking of Obama's support for exploring the energy possibilities of algae and limits on drilling — a regular laugh line for Gingrich — further than usual.

And, explaining his interpretation of the Declaration of Independence's "pursuit of happiness" passage, he went for laughs again.

"There's no provision for happiness stamps for the under-happy," Gingrich quipped.

Jackson Republican Bill Wolfson stood in line for a handshake and a picture, planning to vote for Gingrich Tuesday.

But Wolfson doubted Gingrich would win the nomination. "I'm afraid he won't," the retired architect said. "We might get Romney, but he's not going to do the job Newt could."

Despite his liberated air, Gingrich was keeping up a rigorous schedule on Thursday and Friday, with events planned from the far northwest corner of Mississippi to Gulfport on the Gulf Coast before plowing back into Alabama on Saturday.

And later Thursday, in Tupelo, the confidence of earlier in the week, when he predicted another comeback, was creeping back.

"This race has been a roller coaster, up and down. I believe with your help next Tuesday when we win here and we win in Alabama we'll be back up again."

Rival Rick Santorum, who won Tennessee, was also campaigning in the South. The former Pennsylvania senator drew twice the crowd in Jackson that Gingrich did the night before, and Santorum was an hour late.

The day brought another call from a top Santorum supporter for Gingrich to quit the race to help conservatives consolidate behind one candidate — Santorum.

Gary Bauer, a prominent social conservative who has endorsed Santorum, said Gingrich could best help the conservative cause by stepping aside.

"There is great admiration for Newt Gingrich's contributions to conservatism, as well as his debating abilities," Bauer said in a statement. "But the overwhelming sentiment was that he could most help the conservative cause by standing with Santorum so that voters have a clear choice in the remaining primaries."

Although Gingrich is airing television ads promoting his plan to push gas prices down to $2.50, his rivals are more heavily invested. A political action committee supporting Santorum announced Thursday it was spending $600,000 on television ads in Mississippi and Alabama.

Alabama polls show Gingrich trailing Santorum and Romney.

Romney planned to campaign in Mississippi Thursday evening.

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