National Press Club Newsmaker: Will New Court Rulings, State Election Laws and Voter ID Laws Suppress Voter Turnout for the Mid-Term Elections?

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Oct 13, 2014, 05:15 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two elections experts will discuss the likely impact of recent court rulings, new state election laws and voter ID laws on the upcoming mid-term elections at a National Press Club Newsmakers news conference on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 10 a.m. in the club's Murrow Room.

Arguing that recent actions could suppress voter turnout by making it more difficult for the poor, minority groups, the elderly and the physically challenged to go to the polls will be Ms. Sherrilyn Ifill, President of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who has served as an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, is a professor of Civil Procedure and Constitutional Law at the University of Maryland School of Law and is a renowned voting rights litigator, a civil rights strategist and author of the book On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century.

Ms. Ifill and the Legal Defense Fund, along with the ACLU, the League of Women Voters, the Brennan Center for Justice and other groups – are contesting what they see as objectionable state election laws and court rulings.

Arguing that states providing photo IDs for free are actually removing barriers to voting will be Hans von Spakovsky, Manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He has worked on tort reform and civil justice issues as counsel and senior corporate officer in the insurance industry, served as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and was a member of the Federal Election Commission for two years. He is co-author with John Fund of the book Who's Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk. He has testified before various state and congressional committees in favor of the constitutional right of states to establish procedures for the conduct of their elections.

Like all NPC Newsmaker events, this news conference is open to credentialed media and NCP club members, free of charge. No advance registration is required.

Contact:
Herb Perone, NPC Newsmakers Committee Chair
301-512-7636, [email protected]

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SOURCE National Press Club