True the Vote this week.

TRUE THE VOTE THIS WEEK...

Back to Court with the IRS

True the Vote attorneys were back at it this week, filing a new motion before the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. Thanks to a recent decision by the court allowing for another IRS target’s case to proceed to evidence discovery, TTV requested that it get similar treatment in a brief filed on Monday. Put plainly, the arguments for the case to return to the district court level are: recent precedent requires that the court accept that the IRS was engaging in viewpoint discrimination against TTV; and the district court selectively relied on facts not present in the case to justify dismissing TTV. You can read the full brief online here.

 

U.S. Government Accountability Office Deals a Blow to IRS

In a new report publicly circulated this week, the Government Accountability Office in Washington took the IRS to task on its assertions that the agency had turned over a new leaf, making politically charged targeting a thing of the past. The GAO has essentially found that existing mechanisms governing the selection process for auditing tax-exempt groups risk a new targeting scheme. Shocker. Simply put, TTV was put through the ringer during our 501(c) application phase – now we’re on notice that there is little protecting us from discriminatory audits. According to the report summary, “There are several areas where [IRS] controls were not well designed or implemented. The control deficiencies GAO found increase the risk that [the IRS] could select organizations for examination in an unfair manner—for example, based on an organization's religious, educational, political, or other views.” Two key examples of “deficiencies” are that IRS personnel could deviate from established procedures in selecting organizations for heightened scrutiny; and that management does not closely monitor proper documentation procedures when reviewing entities [*cough* missing emails]. You can read the summary and download the entire report here.

 

A Peek at New TTV Research

Remember when TTV sued Indiana and Ohio for harboring counties with more registered voters than residents over the age of 18? It’s that time in the electoral cycle again, and new counties are in our crosshairs. This year, TTV researchers have seen a shift in trends among counties crossing the 100% plus line for voter registration. Past surveys would typically find counties with low to middle population densities having problems. In 2015 there are record numbers of urban and suburban counties with bloated voter files. In California, seven counties have more registered voters than adult residents. San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco-area counties can expect to hear from True the Vote soon. Stay tuned…

 

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L.A. “Voteria” doesn’t pay out in increased turnout

North Carolina voting law has not prevented voting; it is curbing voter fraud

Texas election overturned due to voter fraud faces continuing delays to re-do

New Hampshire governor vetoes 30-day wait to vote

 

Legislation on the Move

United States

Omnibus election bill HRES 363 was referred to the House Committee on House Administration. This bill expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress has the power to prohibit voter suppression activities; require every state to maintain online voter registration systems and to automatically register eligible voters whose information is contained in the state’s motor vehicles database; and make Election Day a legal public holiday.