Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) in 1993 to increase the number of citizens registered to vote in Federal elections.
One of the most important ways the NVRA was designed to increase registration was by ensuring that citizens are offered the opportunity to register to vote at places where they interact with the government: at motor vehicle offices and public assistance offices (such as those that provide Food Stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid).
However, since the implementation of the NVRA in 1995–1996, many states have been neglecting the voter registration provisions of the law. Project Vote works to enforce the NVRA’s requirements, and ensure that all citizens are provided with the voter registration assistance they are guaranteed under the law.
The Government Agency Registration Program assists states, social service agencies, motor vehicle offices, and election officials with implementation of the NVRA’s requirements. In addition to technical assistance, the Program conducts research, documents noncompliance and, when necessary, initiates litigation to enforce the NVRA.
Additionally, the Government Agency Registration Program works to expand voter registration opportunities at other places where eligible citizens interact with their government, such as immigration offices and health benefits providers.
Voter registration drives will always have an essential role to play in our democracy, but the responsibility to register eligible Americans to vote must rest first and foremost on the government.
Most Recent / Relevant Items
- (252)
- (31)
- (10)
- (22)
- (52)
- (68)
- (76)
Advanced Filters and Sorting
Court Rules that New Mexico Is In Violation of Federal Voter Registration Law
A coalition of voting rights groups scored a major victory yesterday in their lawsuit against New Mexico’s Human Services Division (HSD) and Secretary of State Mary Herrera, with a ruling by a U.S. District Judge that the State of New Mexico is in violation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Read more
Judge sides with low-income voters:State must hand out forms regardless of whether person requests them
New Mexico must make voter registration easier for thousands of individuals seeking low-income health care benefits, a federal judge said Tuesday. Read more
Valdez v. Duran: Memorandum Opinion and Order
Order denying defendants' motions for summary judgment and granting plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. Read more
Valdez v. Duran: Amended Complaint
Amended Complaint Read more
Fight Tea Party Voters with Fresh Voters
Project Vote, Demos, The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the local civil rights groups who sued these states and won (forcing turnarounds at state public assistance agencies) have been waging a lonely fight to implement the National Voter Registration Act. Read more
More Richland County low-income residents registering to vote
Job and Family Services offices in Ohio were taken to task in a 2006 lawsuit contending they failed to go far enough to register low-income voters, but voter registration at those locations skyrocketed after a court settlement went into effect in January. Read more
A Welfare Check and a Voting Card
After years of deliberate neglect, the Justice Department is finally beginning to enforce the federal law requiring states to provide voter registration at welfare and food stamp offices. Read more
Voter registration surge reported: Agencies were ordered to help low-income applicants
Ten times as many poor people are filling out voter registration applications at public assistance offices in Ohio now than had been doing so before a voting rights advocacy group won a legal settlement. Read more
Low-Income Ohio Voters Registering In Droves: Registration Now Permitted At Public Assistance Offices
Voter right advocates said more than 100,000 low-income Ohio residents have applied to register to vote at public-assistance offices in the months after a federal court settlement on the issue. Read more
More than One Hundred Thousand Low-Income Ohioans Register to Vote
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). Read more