Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona went before the Supreme Court Monday. Arizona passed a law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in 2004 which conflicts with the National Voter Registration Act passed in 1993 that does not require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Just to pick up on what happened in my neck of the woods out here in California. It turned out to be a great night.

The tax revolt is dead, or at least not a binding religious totem, the way it was described here for the last 35 years. Prop 30, which temporarily raises income taxes on wealthy earners and 1/4 cent sales taxes on everyone, passed with 54% of the vote. Schools will not be shut down an additional 20 days. Public safety budgets will swell. Most polls had this topping out at 48% support leading up to the vote, so it defied expectations. In addition, Prop 39, which repeals a corporate tax break worth $1 billion, passed easily. Three strikes was reformed with Prop 36, which will save money.

I’ve written previously about the Texas-based Tea Party group “True the Vote” involving themselves in voter suppression efforts in swing states. Some state laws allow any individual to challenge another’s voting status, and this has been put to use by True the Vote’s spinoff organizations in Ohio and at least three other states, to a disproportionate degree against minorities, students and other traditional Democratic constituencies. True the Vote claims they are merely trying to clean up voter rolls and prevent voter fraud.

Unions have changed their strategy from a television-based model to more of an organizing model. They put a lot of money into elements like canvassing and membership in their Working America grassroots organization. That may have paid off, with the announcement of 450,000 new registered union household voters.

With marijuana legalization initiatives on the ballot in an unprecedented 3 states, this November could be a turning point that begins a national wave of reform. To get there, we need to raise at least $5,000 over the next week to set up our phone bank, identify supporters, register voters, promote these initiatives and get folks to the polls on Election Day.

When we last left the early voting tussle in Ohio, a federal judge ordered the state to open the polls on the weekend before the election. The Secretary of State, Jon Husted, planned to file an appeal. But he went further than that. He said that he would not institute the court order until after the outcome of that appeal, and make no preparations for the early voting sites to open that weekend before the election.

Viviette Applewhite, the 93 year-old who was one of the plaintiffs in the Pennsylvania voter ID case, received her ID card this week. Despite voting in practically every election since she became eligible, she didn’t have a driver’s license or Social Security card, and her birth certificate features a different name than the one on her other documents. But the state waived these impediments, which should have made her ineligible for a photo ID card, and provided her one anyway.

We’re supposed to believe that this is proof that Pennsylvania will make whatever effort necessary to get eligible voters the ID they need. But of course, this is just one high-profile case, out of as many as 750,000.

Amid the fallout from a Pennsylvania judge allowing the state’s voter ID law to advance, the Philadelphia Inquirer, um, inquires as to whether the law could affect the outcome of the Presidential election: Political strategists and experts in election law caution that it is difficult to predict the electoral impact of such laws in Pennsylvania [...]

Governor Rick Scott filed a lawsuit against the Obama Administration over access to a database that the Florida Secretary of State believes will provide more accurate information on the citizenship status of Florida voters, though the DHS says the looking at the database isn’t gonna help him in his cockamamie hunt for ee–lee-gull voters. Here’s what Florida’s governor is spewing to justify his suing–and even Fox’s Neil Cavuto seemed awestruck by the insanity.

Last week the Department of Justice sent a letter to Florida officials warning that the voter purge violated at least two federal voting laws. It appeared at this point that Florida’s Governor and Secretary of State had little recourse than to quietly pull back. But today they announced a lawsuit demanding DHS immigrant lists, to win the right to purge people from the state voter rolls, despite the barely veiled intent to use this to disenfranchise Democratic and Hispanic legal voters.