As we celebrate National Voter Registration Day, Project Vote is pleased to release the latest policy paper in our Issues in Election Administration series, Restricting Voter Registration Drives.
Today, all across the country, volunteers, nonprofit organizations, and community groups are helping eligible Americans apply to become registered voters. The patriotic act of canvassing our nation’s neighborhoods to reach unregistered citizens has a long, proud history, and since the civil rights era it has become an essential component in our democratic process. Millions of Americans—particularly low-income, youth, and minority citizens—have become registered voters through such efforts.
For this reason, however, voter registration efforts have come under attack from partisan forces seeking to keep these groups out of the electorate. In recent years, exaggerated allegations of “voter fraud” have paved the way for a legislative backlash, resulting in policies that significantly restrict the rights of individuals and organizations to conduct voter registration drives. These policies have a deterring effect on voter registration efforts, and a detrimental impact on the American dream of a truly representative democracy.
In this new policy paper from Project Vote attorneys Stephen Mortellaro and Michelle Kanter Cohen, we look at the sorts of restrictions states have imposed on voter registration drives, and how they are designed to make such efforts riskier, more costly, and prohibitively difficult to conduct. Mortellaro and Kanter Cohen provide a comprehensive examination of the legal battles over these issues, and provide sensible, practical recommendations on how policy makers can work with civic organizations to improve the effectiveness of voter registration drives.
On this National Voter Registration Day, just six weeks before a national election, it is important that we understand, honor, and protect the integral role that drives play in registering citizens to vote. We hope this policy paper is useful to you in your work, and we join you in renewing our commitment to a democracy in which every citizen can register, vote, and have their ballot counted.
Photo by Project Vote.