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The US supreme court has upheld two Arizona voting restrictions in a ruling that dealt a major blow to the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 civil rights law designed to prevent voting discrimination.

In a 6-3 ruling, the justices upheld Arizona statutes that prohibit anyone other than a close family member or caregiver from collecting mail-in ballots, which are widely used in the state.

The Biden administration is set to on Tuesday announce a fourth round of judicial nominations, including a New York appeals court nominee with an expertise in voting rights — an issue likely to occupy the courts in coming months.

The five nominations to the federal courts, part of a White House effort to set a fast pace on judicial confirmations, come after the Senate on Monday confirmed President Biden’s first circuit court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The new nominees, who also include two candidates for local courts in the District of Columbia, again reflect the push by the White House for judicial picks with diverse personal and professional backgrounds.

Seven U.S. civil rights leaders met with Senator Joe Manchin to urge the Democrat to drop his opposition to a sweeping election reform bill backed by his party, but the West Virginian emerged from the virtual meeting unmoved.

The bill is a Democratic response to a slew of measures making their way through Republican-controlled state legislatures, which voting-rights activists say would limit the ability of some voters to go to the polls.

The Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law released a report on Friday stating that in 2021, 14 states have enacted 22 laws that restrict voting access, making it more difficult for Americans to vote. According to the report, “the United States is on track to far exceed its most recent period of significant voter suppression,” which was in 2011 when 14 states enacted 19 restrictive voting laws.

Jennette Williams has resigned from the Board of the League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area to pursue political office in Essex County. This notice is required under the terms of the League’s statement on our non-partisan nature. Jennette will continue to be active in the League on education and other issues.

Gov. Phil Murphy proposed a host of new gun policies Thursday, including only giving permits to residents who pass gun safety classes and raising the purchasing age from 18 to 21.

As New Jersey’s economy begins reawakening and adds jobs, new unemployment filings dipped for the first time in three weeks.

Historic audit of N.J. mail-in election is complete. The results are promising, officials say.

The 2020 election underscored the need for comprehensive, structural democracy reform.

More than 66,000 ballots were rejected in New Jersey in November’s general election, a 1.4% rejection rate that represents a sharp decrease from July’s primary.

The Township of Cedar Grove presented Kathy Keegan, of the League of Women Voters, with a Proclamation celebrating the League's 100 year anniversary and the passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote.

Do You Have the Courage to Get Into Good Trouble?

Montclair and 100 Years of Suffrage - Montclair Local - 8/26/20

Signed, Sealed, Undelivered: Thousands of Mail-In Ballots Rejected For Tardiness - NPR - 7/13/20

Montclair Gets New Mayor, But Rally Over Uncounted Ballots Precedes Swearing In - Montclair Times - 7/1/20

League, NAACP Plan to Get Rejected Votes Counted - Montclair Local - 6/27/20

Town Square: A Primer on Montclair Government - Montclair Local - 4/1/20

Elections: Candidates Discuss Montclair Issues at League, Local, AIM Forum - Montclair Local - 4/30/20

Tune Into Candidates Forum on Wednesday, April 22 - Montclair Local - 4/18/20

Local Montclair High School student creates a video about Mail-in-Ballots.

We believe in the power of women to create a more perfect democracy.
That's been our vision since 1920, when the League of Women Voters was founded by leaders of the
women’s suffrage movement. For 100 years, we have been a nonpartisan, activist, grassroots organization
that believes voters should play a critical role in democracy.

SWEEPING DEMOCRACY REFORM BILL WILL MAKE ELECTIONS FAIRER AND PUT POWER BACK IN THE HANDS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

Opportunities to advance voting rights and democracy in Biden Administration.

As a rule, steps to the LWV’s adopting a position on an issue include a nonpartisan, comprehensive study, debate and review, and the participation of all Leagues within the hierarchy of the LWV. And it was through that process that the League came to the conclusion that the Electoral College needs to be abolished.

‘DO YOU HAVE THE COURAGE TO GET INTO GOOD TROUBLE FOR THE RIGHT TO VOTE?’

The League of Women Voters partners with the NJ Library Association.

Essex County Clerk, Chris Durkin answers questions about the 2020 voting process.

LWVNJ 100th Anniversary Virtual Gala

Town Square: League of Women Voters Celebrate 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage - 2/10/20

Baristanet article in response to OP ED piece by Eric D'Amato

The mandate requires the integration of the history and contributions of African-Americans and the descendants of the African Diaspora.

The LWV Supports the Essex-Hudson Greenway.

Letter by League President describing the work the League has done to educate and register voters and encouraging people to vote.

A nationally known fundraiser for WISH list, known for promoting pro-choice Republican women, Candace “Candy” Straight has died. A financial consultant from Bloomfield, Ms. Straight also served as an unpaid vice chairwoman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. She worked for numerous corporations including, Merck & Co. Inc, headquartered in Whitehouse Station, and Bankers Trust Company. In addition, Ms. Straight has recently served as an advisory director of Securitas Capital, LLC, a global private equity investment firm specializing in insurance and financial services related industries. She also a director of Providence Washington, a property and casualty insurance company, Summit Global Partners, an insurance brokerage firm.

Reflecting on the women’s suffrage movement, Alice Paul remarked: “the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end." This lecture examines the long history of women’s activism over the course of the nineteenth century in order to highlight the multi-faceted mosaic of paths that led to the women’s suffrage movement.

MONTCLAIR VOTERS HOLD RALLY AT WATCHUNG PLAZA TO ENSURE EVERY VOTE COUNTS

November 6 Watchung Plaza rally will take place if problems with election

An invitation to think globally, and act locally!

President Joe Biden announced Vice President Kamala Harris will lead his administration's efforts on voting rights in a speech Tuesday on the Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma.

The new role comes as the Biden administration condemns efforts by Republican-led state legislatures to pass restrictive laws the White House says make it harder for Americans to vote. Calling the state bills an "unprecedented assault on our democracy," Biden recognized that he was handing Harris a tough job.

https://www.njspotlight.com/video/judges-says-murphys-two-primary-challengers-must-be-removed-from-ballot/

Two experts on NJ government, Marc Pfeiffer and Richard Keevey, will explain where our sales, income and property taxes go in relation to NJ state, county and local municipal budgets and services.

Now more than ever, young people must be taught how to be engaged citizens. Engaged citizenship requires understanding American history, institutions, and cultures, and informed participation in the democratic processes that continue to shape our republic into a “more perfect union".

The music of the women’s suffrage movement reflects the culture of change that activists inspired, and that inspired activism. Songs sung by and about suffragists reveal their persuasive arguments for political equality, and helped link their cause to the other activist movements of their time. Notably, the lyrics of pre-Nineteenth Amendment songs foreshadow the feminist message of later suffragists, who sought to advance the cause of women’s equality in their own times.

The Montclair History Center interviews members of the LWV of the Montclair Area and learns about their years of advocacy.

Welcome to our new members! Join us for an overiview of the Leagues activities and learn how you can become involved.

Hear how the LWV has advocated for women and children at the United Nations.

Learn how Elaeanor Roosevelt acknowledged the work done by the LWV in their advocacy for the right to vote.

The League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area and the NAACP interviewed Dr. Jonathan Ponds, Superintendent of Montclair Schools. See the Video of the Zoom call here.

Among civil rights advocates, there’s a growing consensus that the filibuster needs to be changed or else voting rights protections are toast. And that poses a potential challenge for the president: on the one side are the Black voters and political leaders who were so instrumental in electing him to the White House, and on the other are the institutionalists who (like Biden himself) love Senate tradition and are loath to change it.

Texans from across the ideological spectrum flocked to testify in person at public hearings convened by governor Greg Abbott.

On the final day of its term, the Supreme Court issued major decisions that put the court's 6-3 conservative majority in the spotlight, especially given the national debate on voting rights. John Yang reports with Marcia Coyle, chief Washington correspondent of The National Law Journal, and Tammy Patrick of the non-partisan Democracy Fund, who also is a former Arizona elections official.

Senate Republicans block signature Democratic election bill in key test vote

Democrats were dealt a blow last week in the fight over voting rights when West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced he'd vote against the For The People Act.

The bill promised to expand voting rights and combat the onslaught of restrictive voting laws being passed in Republican-held states. Republicans in 48 states have introduced nearly 400 restrictive voting bills since January.

Few believed the For the People Act would pass in the Senate with such a narrow Democratic majority, but what does its failure mean for voting rights?

Here are the unofficial results of the county and municipal primary elections in Essex County, held on June 8, 2021.

Vote totals will only appear for contested primary races. Winning candidates are designated with a checkmark.

Please continue to refresh the page. The list will be updated as results come in.

Seven U.S. civil rights leaders met with Senator Joe Manchin to urge the Democrat to drop his opposition to a sweeping election reform bill backed by his party, but the West Virginian emerged from the virtual meeting unmoved.

The bill is a Democratic response to a slew of measures making their way through Republican-controlled state legislatures, which voting-rights activists say would limit the ability of some voters to go to the polls.

Currently, a bill sits in the New Jersey Assembly to establish a pilot program to provide same-day voter registration to any eligible voter in N.J. The same-day voter registration bill (A4827) should seem like a no-brainer to elected officials who want to expand voting rights like they did earlier this year with the passing of early voting legislation. We shouldn’t just stop here, instead, we should take further steps to make voting easier.

President Joe Biden used the 100th anniversary of Tulsa's race massacre to make a plea for sweeping legislation in Congress to protect the right to vote as Republican-led governments in Texas and other states pass new restrictions making it tougher to cast ballots.

Texas Democrats pulled off a dramatic, last-ditch walkout in the state House of Representatives on Sunday night to block passage of one of the most restrictive voting bills in the U.S., leaving Republicans with no choice but to abandon a midnight deadline and declare the legislative session essentially over.

Democrats and voting rights activists have branded Georgia’s new election law “Jim Crow 2.0,” the modern equivalent of voter suppression tactics that disenfranchised Black Americans for nearly a century after the Civil War.

Less than a week after the May 11 election, South Orange Trustee Karen Hartshorn Hilton was sworn into her second term on the board on May 17, alongside her running mates and newcomer Trustees Bill Haskins and Braynard “Bobby” Brown.

Two U.S. senators, a Republican and a Democrat, asked Congress on Monday to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, as Republican-controlled state legislatures pass measures imposing new curbs on voting.

The missive to congressional leaders in the House and Senate seeks to break through the impasse on voting rights legislation as Republican-led states around the country erect new barriers to the ballot box.

Last year, for the first time in more than a quarter-century, Democrats in Virginia took control of the statehouse and the governor's mansion. Since then, one priority has become clear: expanding voting rights.

Republican senators in Washington are attempting to block Kristen Clarke, a prominent voting rights advocate, from a top Justice Department position. The Senate Judiciary Committee has deadlocked on an 11-11 vote on whether to move Clarke’s nomination for assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to the Senate floor for a full vote. If she wins the vote, Clarke, who has served as the head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and is a longtime champion of voting rights, a defender against hate and violent extremism, would be the first Black woman to hold the position. Ben Jealous, president of People for the American Way and former president of the NAACP, says the campaign against Clarke’s nomination is based on falsehoods, including baseless claims of anti-Semitism. “The way that they’ve lied about her really is a new low,” Jealous says, who links Republican obstruction to the party’s larger assault on voting rights.

Two incumbents and one newcomer will spend the next four years on the Cedar Grove Township Council after running unopposed in Tuesday's nonpartisan municipal election.

With only unofficial results available, it is expected that Karen Hartshorn Hilton has won reelection to the Board of Trustees, bringing her slate mates along with her — Braynard “Bobby” Brown and William Haskins look to have earned their first term on the BOT. Their slate was named “Devoted, Dependable, and Diverse.”

Incumbent Mayor Jack McEvoy has been projected as one of the three winners in the election for three open Township Council seats on Tuesday night.

With the June 8 primary election just one month away, the Bloomfield Civil Rights Commission hosted their third informative voter registration information session on Wednesday virtually over Zoom.

Hundreds of people rallied Saturday morning on the steps of the Capitol to protest voter suppression and oppose a pair of bills that would make it more difficult for residents to vote.

Big corporations continue to push back against proposed voting laws being considered in the Texas legislature.

Like similar bills that Republicans are pushing in dozens of state legislatures nationwide, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed broad legislation that adds hurdles to voting by mail, restricts the use of drop boxes and prohibits nonpartisan groups from offering food or water to voters as they wait standing in line to vote, in the hot Florida sun.

Republican lawmakers are marching ahead to overhaul voting systems in states where they control the government, frustrating Democrats and even some G.O.P. election officials. Next up: Texas.

Republican state lawmakers look to empower partisan poll watchers, setting off alarms about potential voter intimidation

Administrative law judges ruled that two potential primary challengers to Gov. Phil Murphy be removed from the Democratic ballot because their petitions were invalid.

The unusually large number of legislative retirements this year has brought an outsize number of contested primary races in both parties for seats in New Jersey’s Senate and Assembly.

Forty-three states are trying to enact legislation that could make it harder to vote. The Senate can stop voter suppression by passing the For the People Act, which recently passed the House.

As a bitter debate over voting rights takes place on a national stage, Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday signed a law that will expand voting in New Jersey by allowing residents to cast their ballots in person up to 10 days before Election Day.

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — New Jersey's recently passed early voting law is a tribute to the value of persistence, according to Sen. Nia Gill (District 34).

Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia cleared the way for a landmark voting rights bill to become law in his state on Thursday, announcing his approval of a sweeping proposal that recreates one of the core components of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 that has since been hollowed out by the Supreme Court.

“I plan to take action to ensure that early voting becomes the law of the land in New Jersey,” Gov. Philip D. Murphy said on Friday.

Legislation to permanently expand vote by mail and prevent states from making it harder to cast ballots will go before the U.S. Senate for the first time, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday.

A new executive order from President Joe Biden directs federal agencies to take a series of steps to promote voting access, a move that comes as congressional Democrats press for a sweeping voting and elections bill to counter efforts to restrict voting access.

“Passing the For the People Act in the House of Representatives is an important step toward protecting our elections and building a more inclusive democracy. The League of Women Voters is proud to support this bill that will end partisan and racial gerrymandering, remove dark money from our elections, and restore transparency in our government.