Maine's same-day voter registration ban signed, challenged (GOP/LePage voter suppresion)

[jpak]

http://www.pressherald.com/news/same-day-registration-ban-signed-challenged_2011-06-22.html

AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage signed a bill Tuesday to repeal Maine's 38-year-old law allowing same-day voter registration. Before the end of the day, a coalition led by the League of Women Voters of Maine filed paperwork with the Secretary of State's Office to launch a people's veto campaign.

"We feel that we want to preserve voting rights in Maine," said Barbara McDade, president of the league. "For 38 years, people have been able to register to vote on the day that they vote. This puts up a barrier to people, and so we want to repeal that."

Joining McDade was Bob Talbot, representing the Maine Civil Liberties Union and the Maine NAACP, and Evert Fowle III of the MCLU.

In the Legislature, votes on the bill this month fell mostly along party lines. Just one House Republican, Meredith Strang Burgess of Cumberland, and two Senate Republicans, Brian Langley of Ellsworth and Chris Rector of Thomaston, voted with minority Democrats to oppose it.

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People's Veto

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