“We have to fix that,” President Obama said on Election Night 2012, following widespread reports of long lines at polling stations. In the beginning of 2014, a report from the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration (PCEA) recommended a number of common sense reforms to improve voting, including increasing opportunities for early voting.
There is a growing, bipartisan consensus that reform is needed. However, pro-voting reforms like early voting continue to meet strong partisan resistance, and many states continue to pass voter ID laws and other restrictions that place hurdles between eligible Americans and the ballot box. Meanwhile, millions of citizens—disproportionately Americans of color—are prevented from voting at all due to strict felony disenfranchisement laws.
Project Vote believes our democracy works best when everyone participates, and we work to implement common-sense reforms that make it easier, not harder, for every eligible American to cast a ballot that counts.
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Legislative Threats and Opportunities Update
In 2016, the trend in voting bills has been towards modernizing the voter registration process to make voting more accessible. But the threat from lawmakers to pass laws that make it harder for citizens to vote remains, and this will be the first election cycle in fifty years without the protections of the Voting Rights Act. Read more
The Struggle to Protect Voting Rights Continues in 2016
Project Vote intern Julia Burzynski explores the repercussions of the first major election without voting protections that were once guaranteed by the Voting Rights Act. Read more
Federal Court Hears Pivotal Voting Rights Case
This week, a federal court heard a case "that will determine the outcome of one of the most unprecedented attacks against voting rights in history." Read more
Groups Tell Gov. Kasich to Veto Bill That Violates Voting Rights
Project Vote and Ohio advocacy groups urge Governor Kasich to veto a bill that would make it harder to keep polling places open in the event of an emergency. Read more
Legislative Threats and Opportunities Update
Voter registration is the first step to participating in democracy. In 2016, many states proposed new laws that, if passed, would affect a citizen’s access to voter registration and ultimately, the ballot box in November. Read more
Voting Restoration Proposals Don’t Go Far Enough
Although legislation is introduced every year, the fight to restore voting rights to citizens with a history of felony convictions is an uphill battle. Read more
The Ugly Climate in North Carolina
Continuing a pattern of discriminatory laws, North Carolina just passed a bill legalizing discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. Read more
Victory for Ohio’s 17-Year-Old Primary Voters
An Ohio state judge was right to stop Sec. of State Husted's attempt to prevent 17-year-olds from voting in primaries, but the decision came too late to help those who had early voted. Read more
Legislative Threats and Opportunities Update
The drumbeat for making voting more accessible continues as we head into what looks to be an extraordinary election in November. Read more
New Study Confirms Worst Fear About Voter ID Laws
Project Vote has monitored voter ID legislation since 2007. At the time, there was little information on the impact of voter... Read more