Election AdministrationOur Votes, Our Voices: Making Elections Work for EveryoneAmerican history is replete with intense campaigns, hotly contested elections, and disputed vote counts--and recounts. Recent elections typifies this history. With an evenly divided electorate, tight statehouse races, and controversial ballot initiatives in many states, 2000 and 2004 reminded us that every vote counts.
Yet in 2004 every vote was not counted, nor was every eligible citizen able to vote. In Ohio, party officials tried to have the state purge 37,000 voters from the rolls. In Pennsylvania, polling places ran out of provisional ballots before noon. In Michigan, ill-trained poll workers turned away voters with legal forms of ID. In Washington, officials refused to register applicants who failed to check just one box on the application.
Violations of this sort were not confined to one or two states and, collectively, they silenced the voices of thousands of Americans. Some violations were intentional, political moves to curb voter power, but many were the result of poorly-designed bureaucratic systems, insufficient resources, or inefficient practices. Intentions aside, these barriers were civil rights violations, and all were the product of election administration problems.
Through our Election Administration Program, Project Vote is working to bring down these barriers to voting. Election administration is every aspect of the implementation of elections, from the design of registration applications to vote counting procedures and everything in between. Over the past few years, Project Vote has emerged as a leading voice for low-income and minority voters throughout the election administration process.
Contact Michael Slater, Deputy Director, for more information.
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