News Releases and Announcements

Supreme Court Voter ID Decision Legalizes Voter Disenfranchisement

April 28, 2008 - Project Vote Statement on Supreme Court Ruling in Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board On Monday, April 28, the Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to Indiana’s law (Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board) requiring voters to show a government-issued photo identification before they may cast a ballot. Crawford plaintiffs argued that Indiana’s strict photo ID requirements disproportionately disenfranchise minority voters. Donna Massey, Project Vote Board Member and a supporter of voting rights, issued this statement: "The Supreme Court ruling is disappointing fo... Read more here...

Lawsuit Filed to Compel Missouri Public Assistance Agencies to Offer Voter Registration Services

April 23, 2008 - Kansas City, MO—The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and St. Louis resident Dionne O’Neal have filed a federal lawsuit today charging that the state of Missouri has failed to provide voter registration services to clients of state public assistance agencies, as required by the federal National Voter Registration Act ("NVRA"). The NVRA is a federal law enacted in 1993 to ensure all Americans have access to voter registration services. The lawsuit alleges the Missouri Department of Social Services (D... Read more here...

Statement Regarding Appellate Court Ruling that Florida's "No Match, No Vote" Statute Does Not Violate Federal Law

April 06, 2008 - Advancement Project, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and Project Vote are disappointed with a ruling in a Florida voting case issued yesterday from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, but made clear their determination to press forward with the lawsuit. The ruling, in part, reversed a Florida federal trial court’s decision that blocked a Florida state law prohibiting applicants from registering to vote if the state cannot match or otherwise validate the driver’s license or Social Security number on a registration form. In September 2007, Plaintiffs, the Florida Sta... Read more here...

Congress Examines States’ Failure to Follow National Voter Registration Act

March 31, 2008 - (Washington, D.C.) The House Committee on Administration’s Subcommittee on Elections will hold a hearing to examine state compliance with a federal law—the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)—that requires states to provide voter registration services to public assistance clients at 2 pm on April 1 in Room 1320 of the Longworth Building. The hearing responds to recent reports by advocates that many states are failing to comply with the NVRA and that the Justice Department is failing to enforce the law. Acc... Read more here...

Project Vote Announces Historic Voter Participation Program for 2008

March 25, 2008 - Project Vote is engaged in a 2008 Voter Participation Program of historic proportions. Designed to address the disproportionately low voting rates among African-Americans Latinos, the poor and young people, the program will help a record-setting 1.2 million people register to vote in underrepresented communities. Click Read more here...

 

Mississippi Voters Threatened by Illegal Purge, if New Bill Passes Legislature

February 26, 2008 - A new bill working its way through the Mississippi State Legislature threatens the hard-won voting rights of elderly, minority, and disabled voters throughout the state. Senate Bill 2910 was proposed as an election reform cure-all, but one of its provisions would likely result in thousands of voters being purged from the voting rolls in violation of federal law. Filed by State Senator Terry C. Burton and supported by Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, SB 2910 would cancel the registration of any voter if he or she did not “appear to vote” in a single election between Nov. 3, 2008, and Dec.... Read more here...

 

Low-Income Americans Denied Voter Registration Opportunities, New Report Shows

February 11, 2008 - (Washington, DC) As the nation prepares for the 2008 election, a new study reveals that many states are routinely failing to offer low-income Americans an opportunity to register to vote as required by the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Unequal Access: Neglecting the National Voter Registration Act, 1995-2007, published this week by the non-partisan voting rights groups Demos and Project Vote, shows that 12 years after the NVRA’s requirements went into effect, voter registrations from public agencies that provide services to low-income American... Read more here...