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Talking Points Memo: Congressmen Propose The Mother Of All Voting Rights Protections
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-By Hunter Walker

May 27, 2013- A pair of Democratic congressmen is pushing an amendment that would place an affirmative right to vote in the U.S. Constitution. According to Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), who is sponsoring the legislation along with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the amendment would protect voters from what he described as a “systematic” push to “restrict voting access” through voter ID laws, shorter early voting deadlines, and other measures that are being proposed in many states.

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MSNBC: Obama launches panel to reduce long lines at polls
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-By Zachary Roth

May 21, 2013- More than six months after declaring on election night that “we’ve got to fix” long lines at the polls that forced some voters to wait up to eight hours, President Obama has announced the members of his commission on election administration. The list includes a mix of business executives, public officials, and election administrators, but no dedicated voting-rights advocates.

Obama had previously revealed that Washington super-lawyers Bob Bauer and Ben Ginsberg, a Democrat and Republican respectively, would chair the panel. Tuesday, he named the following eight commissioners:

– Brian Britton, Member–Vice President, Global Park Operations and Planning at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

– Joe Echevarria, Member–Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte LLP

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Legislative Gazette: ‘Fair Elections’ Act passes Assembly
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Public campaign finance bill touted as Senate hearing looks at abuses in the NYC system

-By TG Branfalt Jr

May 13, 2013- Dozens of protestors filled the hallway of the Capitol with chants of "let the people in" during a Senate hearing on public financing of elections after they were barred from entering the public hearing. The hearing examined the abuses within the New York City taxpayer funded system. Just hours before, the Assembly passed its "Fair Elections Act" (A.04980-c) 88-50, mostly across party lines.

The system proposed by the Assembly Democrats mirrors the New York City system that matches campaign donations with $6.00 of public money for every $1.00 raised by a candidate. If implemented the legislation would also create an independent oversight board to oversee the finance process.

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Huffington Post: Barbara Boxer Pushes Voting Reform With LINE Act
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February 13, 2013- President Barack Obama addressed the need for voting rights protection in Tuesday's State of the Union speech.

Listening closely was U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who joined HuffPost Live on Wednesday to discuss her own proposed voter reform legislation. Called the LINE Act, Boxer's election reform bill would require new national standards relating to the minimum number of voting machines, election workers, and other election resources to be in place by the end of 2013.

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Huffington Post: Obama Presidential Voting Commission To Be Announced
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-By Ryan J. Reilly

February 12, 2013- President Barack Obama will announce a bipartisan presidential voting commission to focus on improving the Election Day experience, The Huffington Post has learned from two sources outside the White House with knowledge of the plans.

The commission is one of a number of efforts the Obama administration is making to address the problems that plagued voting on Election Day 2012. The commission, which will focus specifically on Election Day issues and not broader voting reform, will likely be co-chaired by one Republican and one Democratic lawyer, according to one of the sources.

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