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Gov. Schwarzenegger Approves Engaging Young CA Voters Early
The future of voter registration and civic engagement may just stand a chance. California (a populous state of many voters-to-be) will soon allow all 17-year-old citizens to preregister to vote so that they will be automatically enrolled as legal voters once they turn 18. This newer trend in legislation, which boasts bipartisan support, has recently passed in North Carolina and has been successfully implemented in five other states, including Florida. Read more
How to Make Voter Registration Accessible to All Citizens
After the 2008 election, voter registration has become a focal point for legislators and advocates from all ends of the spectrum. Whichever way it is sliced, the number of registered eligible voters has still declined since 2004. As multiple problems have been cited as the cause for lowered registration rates (including mobility issues, unequal access to registration opportunities, voter caging, and even so-called apathy), voting rights advocates as well as legislators have been vocal about their solutions. Read more
Arizona City Tries New “Voting Center” Model for City Elections
Here's an interesting way one Arizona city is dealing with early voting and provisional ballot problems, at least in their city elections. The city council of Phoenix has approved an election plan that would essentially eliminate the need to designate polling places during local elections. The plan is currently being reviewed by the Department of Justice and is expected to go into effect with the next mayoral election in 2011. Read more
All Voters are Unequal: Voter ID Law Exposed as Unfair, States Still Follow Suit
When an appellate court shut down Indiana’s unequal mandate for polling-place voter ID, it sent a clear signal that—partisan politics aside—election laws should be assessed on whether or not all voters are given equal access to the democratic process. Yet, despite violations of law and the fact that absentee voting is more susceptible to voter fraud activity than in-person voting, other states continue to emulate what was one of the country’s toughest voter ID laws. Read more
Indiana Voter ID Law Found Unconstitutional and Disenfranchising
One of the country’s most contentious voting rights issues came back into the spotlight last Thursday when an Indiana court struck down the state’s strict photo voter ID law as unconstitutional. The law, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008, was found be in violation of the Indiana Constitution because it treated voters unequally. Read more
CA Measure to Improve Youth Voter Engagement Goes to Governor
The California Legislature approved a bill last week to extend voter registration privileges to 17-year-olds. If signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bill would help put California youth on the road to a lifetime of democratic participation. Read more
El Paso County, Colo. Exemplifies Voter Reg. Turnaround for Low Income Citizens
More than fifteen years after the passage of the National Voter Registration Act, few states are complying with the law’s requirement that voter registration services are provided to those who apply for public assistance. Though highly successful in the first two years the NVRA was implemented, in 1995-1996, registrations through public assistance agencies have steadily declined, and had fallen by 79 percent nationwide in 2007-2008. Project Vote and other voting rights organizations have been working to bring several states into compliance with this key provision of the NVRA, and—as a last resort—have been forced to bring lawsuits in several states to ensure that low-income public assistance clients have access to voter registration services as required by law. Read more
Ga. Secretary of State Asks DOJ to OK Discriminatory Voter Verification Procedure
A Georgia voter list maintenance procedure that the Department of Justice shut down as “discriminatory” in May is being brought... Read more
Legislative Efforts to Engage High School Students Move Quietly Forward
With an estimated 23 million 18-29 year old citizens turning out to vote in the 2008 presidential election, it is easy to assume that young people today have overcome the stereotypical image of "apathetic youth." Yet, while the last few election cycles show an ever-growing interest in political engagement, young people are still underrepresented in the U.S. electorate--a problem that seems to have more to do with lack of access than lack of interest. Read more