Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 06:09:01 EDT From: WEvans6368@aol.com Subject: Fwd: ACLU Online: Senate Committee Passes Comprehensive Election Reform Bill To: evansjt@seidata.com, snail@aztec.asu.edu
Subject: ACLU Online: Senate Committee Passes Comprehensive Election Reform Bill Message-Id: <20010809082535.546695F93C8@kehena.clickaction.net> Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 01:25:35 -0700 (PDT)
ACLU Online: August 9, 2001 The e-newsletter of the American Civil Liberties Union
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IN THIS ISSUE: -- With Strong ACLU Support, Senate Committee Passes Comprehensive Election Reform Bill -- News and Action: Internet Censorship; Fairness at our Borders; Washington Censors Hollywood -- The Tax Cut and Your Civil Liberties -- What YOU Can Do to Protect Our Freedoms
WITH STRONG ACLU SUPPORT, SENATE COMMITTEE PASSES COMPREHENSIVE ELECTION REFORM BILL
A Senate committee adopted last week the "Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act of 2001," comprehensive legislation that the ACLU said would best protect the constitutional right to have each and every vote counted fairly.
The "Equal Protection of Voting Right Act of 2001" is going to face a tough challenge in the Senate. To send a FREE Fax calling upon your Senators to support this long overdue legislation, please visit us at: <a href="http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a2">http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a2</a>
"Federal legislation mandating a healthy and just electoral system is the only way to guarantee the vitality of our democracy," said LaShawn Warren, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "The 2000 election debacle displayed the current cracks in the system in stark relief -- a ix is needed immediately."
Despite a boycott by the panel's Republican members, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee approved 10-to-0 the bill sponsored by Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), and by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).
The legislation would meet the three principal goals of election reform -- uniformity, accuracy and accessibility -- and provide the money to help state and local governments fund necessary improvements.
The bill represents the most comprehensive response to the widespread problem of voting inequality that went largely ignored prior to the November 2000 election. The Dodd/Daschle measure would:
-- set uniform performance standards for voting equipment;
-- promote accuracy by upgrading technology and allow voters to correct any balloting errors; and,
-- ensure accessibility for all voters, including language minorities and people with disabilities.
Having also filed election reform litigation in four states, the ACLU has already met with an early success: a state judge in Illinois ordered the use of improved voting technology in Cook County for municipal elections held two months ago.
"The federal government has a constitutional obligation to give every vote in America an equal say in deciding on the direction in which America will go," Warren said. "All other rights and liberties are moot without the right to choose one's representative in this representative democracy."
Click below to send a FREE fax to your Senators to protect the prnciple of "one person, one vote": <a href="http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a2">http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a2</a>
NEWS AND ACTION
NEWS: VICTORY! ACLU CHALLENGE TO CENSORSHIP LAW ALLOWED TO PROCEED A Philadelphia federal court has rejected the government's attempt to dismiss an ACLU challenge to the Children's Internet Protection Act -- a law that forces libraries to censor constitutionally protected speech online. The Cour's ruling allows the trial to go forward as planned on February 14, 2002.
"We are delighted that the court today agreed that the profoundly important question of whether the government can block free speech in public libraries should not be decided without a full trial," said Chris Hansen, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.
An ACLU web feature on the case, including links to the latest court documents, is online at: <a href="http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a8028567a6">http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a6</a>
TAKE ACTION: SUPPORT THE "REFUGEE PROTECTION ACT OF 2001!" The American Civil Liberties Union expressed strong support last week for new bipartisan legislation that would greatly limit the number of deportations, without a fair hearing and without review, of asylum-seekers with a valid need for refuge in the United States.
"The widespread use of what is known as 'expedited removal' by the INS has condemned many people who have fled persecution in their country of origin to an undeserved jail cell -- or worse -- back home," said Timothy Edgar, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Lady Liberty should be opening her arms to refugees, not turning her back on them."
The "Refugee Protection Act of 2001," introduced by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) would limit the unjust practice of expedited removal and end the mandatory detention of prospective immigrants and asylum seekers who arrive without proper documentation.
Click below now to send a FREE fax to your Senators, urging them to stop these gross miscarriages of justice by supporting the "Refugee Protection Act of 2001!": <a href="http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a0">http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a0</a>
NEWS: ACLU SAYS "RATING ENTERTAINMENT RATINGS" ISSUE FOR CONCERN Saying parents should have the ultimate control over what children are exposed to, the ACLU told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee recently that its "rating of entertainment ratings" raises serious constitutional and practical questions.
"For years now the government has been trying to coerce the entertainment industry into stifling its own speech," said Marvin Johnson, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Further government regulation would amount to nothing more than the creation of a Public Taste Patrol that would try and graft the sensibilities of the few onto everyone."
Click below to learn more about entertainment ratings and read the ACLU's previous testimony before Congress: <a href="http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a4">http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a4</a>
THE TAX CUT AND YOUR CIVIL LIBERTIES Thanks to a rare budget surplus, the Internal Revenue Service is currently sending out rebate checks to millions of American taxpayers. And there is certainly nothing wrong with giving back some of our hard-earned money.
But perhaps instead of returning tens of billions of dollars in tax rebate checks, the federal government should be spending some of the money to stop racial profiling, fight discrimination, safeguard religious liberty, and protect our other basic freedoms.
As we all know, however, when it comes to our civil liberties, what the government SHOULD do and what it actually does are often two very different things.
That's why the ACLU depends on donations from private contributors to uphold the principles in our Bill of Rights. The ACLU's constant vigilance is he greatest and most consistent protection against attacks on our civil liberties.
If you would like to use part of your tax rebate check to join the American Civil Liberties Union and help protect our most fundamental rights, please click below now: <a href="http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a3">http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a3</a>
YOU CAN HELP PROTECT OUR BASIC FREEDOMS by joining with nearly 300,000 card-carrying members of the ACLU. Our rights as individuals -- the very foundation of our great democracy -- depend on our willingness to defend them, and as an ACLU member, you'll be doing your part. Click below to safeguard our Bill of Rights by becoming an ACLU member: <a href="http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a3">http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15545a39608a80287567a3</a>
American Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, New York 10004-2400 www.aclu.org
Phil Gutis, Editor
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