Long lines at the polls were again in the news with the release of Professor Charles Stewart III’s report, Waiting to Vote in 2012. This report discovered that patterns seen in 2008 continued for the 2012 general election, including that early voters waited in longer lines than Election Day voters, minority voters waited longer than white voters, and urban voters waited longer than rural voters.

The U.S. Supreme Court took up voting rights issues again this week as they heard arguments on Monday morning in the case of Arizona vs. The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. The Court will decide whether Arizona violates the National Voter Registration Act, which was designed to help more Americans participate in the political process, when it requires individuals to demonstrate proof of their American citizenship when registering to vote using the federal registration form.

We’re back with our first Voter Suppression Update of the New Year. There’s a lot to report on the voting rights front. Many legislatures are beginning their 2013 sessions with the topic of voter ID. While legislation which would require voter ID was voted down in Wyoming , repressive legislation was introduced in Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, and, yet again, Virginia.

We will continue to track these bills as they move through each state’s legislature and keep you informed on measures to block them.

In a report released last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) cannot document any in-person voter fraud over the past 10 years. They did document a substantial increase in voting requirements over the past 10 years, including stricter voter ID requirements.