In first half of 2010, Voter Applications Skyrocket at State Public Assistance Offices

AUGUST 5, 2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- More than 100,000 low-income Ohio residents have applied to register to vote at state Department of Job and Family Service (ODJFS) offices in the first six months of 2010, following a federal court settlement to bring the state agency into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

Statewide, 101,604 voter registration applications--roughly two-thirds of them from women--were submitted by ODJFS clients between January 1, 2010 and June 30, 2010, according to agency records. This surge in applications followed the settlement of a 2006 lawsuit brought by voting rights groups--including Project Vote, Demos, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law--to bring the state into compliance with the NVRA, which requires public assistance offices to provide voter registration services.

The lawsuit was settled in November 2009. During the first six months of 2010, ODJFS offices averaged 17,000 registration applications per month. The volume of voter applications is nearly a ten-fold increase compared to the applications collected prior to the lawsuit, when Ohio agencies were registering only 1,775 per month.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner praised ODJFS's efforts for low-income voters.

Voter Registration will be offered at MVD Offices following settlement of lawsuit by coalition of voting rights groups

JULY 7, 2010

ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- Tens of thousands of New Mexico residents who visit state motor vehicle offices will be able to register to vote or update their voter registration information, thanks to a settlement agreement reached last week in a lawsuit to bring the state’s Motor Vehicle Division into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993. The agreement resolves a lawsuit brought against state officials by voting rights groups Project Vote, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Dēmos, as well as by the law firms of Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg & Ives, DLA Piper LLP (US), and Advocates for Justice and Reform Now, PC.

Filed in July 2009, the lawsuit charged that New Mexico was failing to comply with the NVRA, a federal civil rights law that requires motor vehicle offices and public assistance agencies to offer voter registration services to their clients. Defendants named in the suit include New Mexico’s Secretary of State, Mary Herrera, and officials from the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, and the New Mexico Human Services Department.

“The NVRA was enacted to ensure that all citizens have an equal opportunity to register to vote,” said Nicole Kovite, director of the Public Agency Voter Registration Project at Project Vote. “By ignoring this vital law, New Mexico was denying this right to thousands of its residents every year.”

WASHINGTON, DC - Today the Sierra Club, America's oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization, and Voting for America, an affiliate of the voting rights nonprofit Project Vote, announced a new nonpartisan initiative to help over 50,000 students of community and four-year colleges in seven states register to vote for the 2010 election.

This summer and fall, Sierra Club staff and volunteers will conduct nonpartisan voter registration and mobilization drives on college campuses in Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas in order to gather over 50,000 voter registration applications from younger Americans.  

"We know that Sierra Club's core environmental and energy issues motivate young people," said Cathy Duvall, Sierra Club Political and Public Advocacy Director. "We're eager to work with Voting for America and build on our track record of successful youth organizing to turn out young voters on Election Day."

April 7, 2010 - ORLANDO, FLA - Project Vote, one of the nation's leading voter engagement organizations, has teamed up with Orlando-based advertising agency Echo Interaction Group to revolutionize how community organizations conduct voter registration drives. Using cutting-edge technology, Echo's team is developing a user-friendly, mobile-based application that provides an ideal electronic alternative to what was previously a tedious and archaic paper-based process. The application is slated to make its official debut this May.