What do the Secretaries of State from Colorado, Kansas, Maine and New Mexico have in common? They have all tried to make voting more difficult, says Robert M. Brandon, founder and president, of the Fair Elections Legal Network:
“The secretaries of state in Colorado, Kansas, Maine and New Mexico all used their office last year to throw doubt on their state’s election system. To support more restrictive voting laws, these officials called into question the eligibility of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of registered voters — though there is little evidence to support their claims of people illegally registering and voting.” For more, read Brandon’s opinion in today’s Politico.
As part of our work to expand the electorate and make sure that every American who wants to vote can register, vote, and have their vote counted, Project Vote monitors election officials across the country. For example, in 2008, we saw Florida’s Secretary of State make voter registration arduous for community-based voter registration drives. We sought to reverse this rule and worked with our coalition partners and the media to get the word out. We’ll be doing the same in 2012.