Who Votes in 2008: Four Voting Rights Issues to Watch

by: project vote

Thu Mar 27, 2008 at 14:16

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

The debates surrounding the issue of expanding or restricting access to the right to vote are in high gear this legislative session at both state and Congressional levels. Bills filed range from proposals to lower the voting age to voter ID requirements. Project Vote's Election Legislation monitoring project has identified a surge of contentious election bills this year, but whether this is simply the result of the standard impact of a presidential election year or the byproduct of increasingly fractious partisan politics, the future of the foundational right of American democracy is being set right now.

This week Project Vote examines the progress of four hot-button voting rights issues through legislatures and the media. Youth voting in primary elections, voter identification (and its harbinger; accusations of voter fraud), felon disenfranchisement, and vote caging were all in play.

Advocates concerned with any of these issues as well as the entire spectrum of voting rights and election administration legislation can follow the progress of these types of bills through 21 state legislatures at Project Vote's ElectionLegislation.org tool (registration required).  

Hundreds of Thousands Of Voters Unregistered in Violation of Federal Law

by: project vote

Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 09:59

By Erin Ferns

Despite the intense media spotlight on the presidential primaries and Indiana's voter ID case in the Supreme Court, the issues of voter participation and voting rights are still grossly underreported. This week, Project Vote cited Colorado for failure to follow the federal National Voter Registration Act - a 1993 law created to increase the number of eligible citizens registered to vote - in a report released on Monday.  Project Vote found the state was in poor compliance with a section of the law requiring voter registration applications to be offered at public assistance agencies - an effort to reduce disparities in voting population based on race and income.