Federal Elections Commission, which allowed unlimited campaign spending by individuals and unions, and Shelby County v. Holder, which ended the Department of Justice's supervision of Southern voting laws under the Voting Rights Act and inspired a wave of new laws restricting ballot access.
But Democrats claim that actual fraud is rare, and they say the real purpose of ID laws is to restrict ballot access for such groups of voters as the elderly, college students and immigrants who are less likely to hold a government ID — and more likely to vote for Democrats.
Republican lawmakers in Georgia have passed legislation in recent years that they say is intended to curtail voter fraud but that critics say restricts ballot access — particularly for voters of color, students and people with lower incomes, who tend to vote Democratic.
The disquiet is clear in the eight states that have recently approved so-called "anti-Bronco" laws, which restrict ballot access for independents.
Cuts to basic voting services are melding the right's enthusiasm for spending cuts with its more insidious support for restricting ballot access.
Laws restricting ballot access and helping perpetuate the two-party system can pose a formidable challenge, albeit one that Schultz, who is worth an estimated $3.4 billion, could presumably overcome with enough legal firepower and on-the-ground organization.
After the G.O.P. won the governor's office in 2012, they launched a wave of legislation to limit ballot access, restrict abortion rights, and open the state to fracking.
Republicans are also busily passing laws which restrict registration efforts, restrict early voting, restrict poll locations, and restrict ballot-box access in many other ways.
WASHINGTON -- A number of state legislatures are adjourning, and supporters of expanded access to the ballot box may be sighing in relief as they see some of the major efforts to restrict voting access were stymied during this legislative session.
Efforts To Restrict Voting Access.
Attorneys for the state argued the changes in dispute apply equally to all races and said challengers had presented only speculation that some voters would see their ballot access unreasonably restricted or denied.
