WASHINGTON, D.C.— On Thursday, May 21, Minnesota’s Republican governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed the 21st Century Voter Registration Law (HF1053/SF 0660), which would have expanded the popular “motor voter” law to provide automatic voter registration for any eligible Minnesotans who apply for or renew their driver’s licenses, instruction permits, or identification cards. Today Michael Slater, executive director of the voting rights group Project Vote, issued the following statement in response:

 “At a time when many states and the United States Congress are considering ways to modernize America’s antiquated voter registration system, Governor Pawlenty’s veto is a disappointing step backwards for Minnesota voters. In rejecting this important election reform—despite overwhelming support for the bill from Minnesota’s house, senate, and secretary of state—Gov. Pawlenty has indicated that he is not interested in making it easier for eligible Minnesotans to register to vote.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: PRESS STATEMENT

Friday May 1, 2009

Republican National Committee has quietly filed a motion to dissolve consent decree prohibiting them from practicing voter caging and other voter suppression activities

WASHINGTON, DC – On the eve of the November election, while the focus of the nation and the media were on the next day’s voting, the Republican National Committee (RNC) was quietly moving to ensure that, in future elections, they could benefit from voter caging, voter intimidation, and other dirty practices. On November 3, 2008 the RNC filed a motion to dissolve an existing consent decree that restricts them from engaging in so-called “ballot-security” measures such as sending direct mail to voters for the purposes of compiling challenge lists: a practice known as “voter caging ” that has historically been used to deter thousands of Americans—largely low-income and minority citizens—from voting. A hearing is scheduled on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 9:00 A.M. in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey. Today Michael Slater, executive director of Project Vote, issued the following statement in response:

“The consent decree—originally entered in 1982 and modified in 1987—has helped constrain, if not wholly deter, partisan efforts to suppress the vote for almost thirty years. Now the RNC is asking to have its hands untied so they can openly resume these voter challenge and intimidation efforts, despite a continued pattern of attempts to suppress low-income and minority voters.

RNC is arguing they should be let out of consent decree prohibiting targeted “ballot security” efforts, but history argues differently.

May 1, 2009

On November 3, 2008, on the eve of an historic defeat for the GOP, the Republican National Committee (RNC) quietly filed a motion to dissolve an existing consent decree that prohibits them from engaging in so-called “ballot-security” measures, such as sending direct mail to voters for the purposes of compiling challenge lists—a practice known as “voter caging” that has historically been used to deter thousands of Americans (largely low-income and minority citizens) from voting. The RNC claims it is necessary to untie their hands so they can protect against “voter fraud,” but history has proven time and time again what the GOP really means by “ballot security”:

Today Project Vote has released a new research memo, Analysis of the 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS) Voter and Registration Supplement. This memo by research consultant Douglas R. Hess (author of the previous Project Vote report Representational Bias in the 2006 Election) analyzes newly released U.S. Census Bureau survey data and finds that the composition of the 2008 voting population was markedly different from 2004.

In addition to finding an increase in the diversity of the population eligible to vote, the analysis shows that African-American, Latino, and other minority groups experienced substantial gains in participation, as did Americans under the age of 30. The lack of an overall increase in the turnout rate appears to be due to a slight drop in the participation of the much larger communities of White and older voters. The largest turnout rate gains were among young minority Americans, who turned out to vote at approximately 5 to 10 percentage points higher, depending on the group, than in 2004. While the CPS does not ask about partisanship, or for whom Americans voted, it seems likely that this difference had a real and powerful impact during the past election cycle.  

Download this new research memo here.

Read the press release on this memo here.  

Today Project Vote joined 37 other national and Florida-based civil rights organizations--including the AARP, the Advancement Project, the ACLU of Florida, Common Cause, and the Lawyers' Committee on Civil Rights Under Law--in urging Florida Governor Charlie Crist to oppose (and, if necessary, veto) proposed legislation that would "needlessly infringe on the voting rights of Floridians."

The controversial bill, SB 956--and its companion bill HB 7149--would negatively impact voting rights in Florida through several "unjustified and harmful measures." The proposed legislation would impose draconian restrictions on voter registration and petition drives, bar several free forms of ID from being accepted at polls, restrict early voting, and ban election protection groups from providing legal advice to voters at the polls. The omnibus "reform" bills are being pushed through "at the eleventh hour of the session with minimal public consideration or legislative deliberation."

"Instead of fixing real problems," the letter states, the bills would "disenfranchise eligible Floridians, for no legitimate reason and at significant taxpayer expense."

Read the letter from voting rights groups to Governor Crist here.

Track these bills and other election related legislation at http://www.electionlegislation.org.