Increasing voter awareness, ensuring protection from voter intimidation, and changing abusive gerrymandering laws are crucial to putting power back into the hands of voters. This list is a work-in-progress, but issues we are concerned about are below.
The 2016 election was the first time since the Voting Rights Act was gutted in 2015. This made a great impact on the election, and was designed specifically to target African-American voters.
— Conjecture on the Future of Voting Rights
— Voting Problems Present in 2016, But Further Study Needed to Determine Impact
– Unlocking the Power of the “Sista” Vote is More Complex Than You Think
– How States Moved Toward Stricter Voter ID Laws
SEE VOTING RESTRICTIONS MAPS VIA:
BRENNAN CENTER OR ACLU
FOCUS ON VOTER-ORIENTED SOLUTIONS
>>> such as: 2017 North Carolina redistricting in the fall = GROUND GAMEEEEEEZZZZ to get voters to vote in the fall election to choose a new legislature
>>> governors of Virginia and New Jersey
(2) research and focus on districts that are particularly flippable;
(3) network with local organizations and collate across-the-board best practices;
(4) use those to combat and/or work around discriminatory laws which are unlikely to change soon;
—–> (eventually) gain progressive footholds;
———-> (even longer-term) overturn crappy voting rights policies;
—————> (forever and ever) repeat!
- VOTER REGISTRATION
— Learn effective ways to conduct voter registration drives
— Work with existing organizations to register: LGBTQ, youth voters, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans
— Pledge to take others to the DMV to attain their Voter IDs
- GOOD PRACTICES
— Early voting
— Engage voters to call their constituents, make demands, keep a constant dialogue going
- VOTER INTIMIDATION: Where and who is trying to combat it already?
— Asian-American groups
— Black Panthers
— More groups
— Various civil rights and lawyers groups
- VOTER GUIDES: How to encourage development and promotion?
— Tech-friendly, issue-by-issue simplifications, like ballot.fyi (CA)
— Philosophically-vetted, like The Progressive Voters Guide of Washington State
— Politically transparent, like California League of Conservation Voters’ legislative scorecards
— National Election Protection Coalition (!!! !!! !!!)
— Search more via the term, “Election Protection”
PUSH LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
- PAST LAWS & PRECEDENTS: What’s negative or positive about them?
— Project Vote v. Blackwell (Ohio)
— Help America Vote Act (HAVA)
- BILLS THAT DIDN’T PASS: Why not?
— Voter Empowerment Act
- LAWS IN POTENTIAL DANGER: How can they be defended?
— National Voter Registration Act or voter registration drives
- DISTRICT-BY-DISTRICT BREAKDOWNS: What’re the demographics of flippable districts?
— Sister District
- GOOD PRACTICES: How likely are they, state-by-state?
— Ranked voting in Maine
— Paper ballots
— Early voting
- GERRYMANDERING: What can combat it?
— California Citizens Redistricting Commission
- VOTER INTIMIDATION: What are the laws against it?
— Snopes re: Breitbart claims about the DoJ
— ACLU breakdown of laws
- LESSER-KNOWN DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES
— Interstate Crosscheck Program
— “Exact match” voter registration processing systems
— List maintenance tricks like wrongful purges, voter caging, “no match, no vote” programs
SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS THAT PROMOTE VOTER’S RIGHTS
|National||Black Youth Vote!
Black Youth Vote! identifies youth-focused organizations in communities and on campuses, and engages their youth leaders on the effects of the political and civic process. BYV! develops tactics to increase civic engagement among young adults, including: civic education, issue education, voter registration, message development, voter mobilization, voter protection and accountability. (BLACK VOTERS)
|National||Election Protection Coalition
The national, nonpartisan Election Protection coalition was formed to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. Made up of more than 100 local, state and national partners, Election Protection works year-round to advance and defend the right to vote.
FairVote is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3)h non-profit organization that seeks to make democracy fair, functional, and more representative. Operating since 1992 and with a staff of more than 20 people in 2016, they work with scholars, civic leaders, policymakers, journalists and national, state, and local reform partners to advance fairer elections. In this section, you can read more about our story, our staff, upcoming employment opportunities and opportunities to support our work.
|National||League of Women Voters (Various)
The League of Women Voters is a citizens’ organization that has fought since 1920 to improve our government and engage all citizens in the decisions that impact their lives. We operate at national, state and local levels through more than 800 state and local Leagues, in all 50 states as well in DC, the Virgin Islands and Hong Kong. Find a local league.
|National||Mi Familia Vota (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Texas)
Mi Familia Vota has integrated local organizing, leadership development, advocacy and building broad community partnerships with their voter engagement work; focusing on local, state and federal elections. Comprehensive immigration reform, education, healthcare, workers’ rights, climate change and the environment, and voter rights have been the core issues at the heart of their work, locally and nationally. (HISPANIC VOTERS)
|National||National Coalition on Black Civic Participation
The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (The National Coalition) is a 501©3, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to increasing civic engagement and voter participation in Black and underserved communities. The National Coalition strives to create an enlightened community by engaging people in all aspects of public life through service/volunteerism, advocacy, leadership development and voting. (BLACK VOTERS)
|National||Project Vote (Washington DC)
Project Vote is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded on the belief that an organized, diverse electorate is the key to a better America. Project Vote’s mission is to build an electorate that accurately represents the diversity of this nation’s citizenry, and to ensure that every eligible citizen can register, vote, and cast a ballot that counts.
|National||Verified Voting (California)
A non-partisan non-profit organization that advocates for legislation and regulation that promotes accuracy, transparency and verifiability of elections.
VoteRiders is making sure that no eligible citizen is denied his or her right to vote for lack of ID. VoteRiders focuses on states with government-issued voter ID laws or that require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. Our current priority state is Wisconsin, and we are also supporting efforts in AL, AZ, FL, GA, IN, KS, MS, NC, ND, NH, RI, SC, TN, TX, and VA.
|National||The Voter Participation Center (Washington DC)
The Voter Participation Center’s mission is to increase civic engagement among the Rising American Electorate: unmarried women, people of color, and millennials. The Rising American Electorate is responsible for over 80% of the growth in the U.S. population since 2000, and now comprises the majority of voting-eligible Americans. But because RAE members are statistically less likely to be registered to vote or engaged in the political process, they’re underrepresented in the voting booth.
|National||Voto Latino (Washington DC)
To date, Voto Latino has registered more than 300,000 young voters, innovated the use of text messaging by launching the first text-to-register voter registration campaign, co-founded National Voter Registration Day and informed our audience of restrictive voting laws in their area via social media. (HISPANIC VOTERS)
ACCE Institute has worked up and down the state door knocking and phone banking voters and connecting the issues that matter most to them with the importance of voting. ACCE Institute’s reach during elections includes 66,000 voters in their geographies from San Diego to Sacramento.
|California||ArtsVote (Los Angeles)
The ArtsVote Campaign is a multi-strategy campaign designed to engage residents, provide opportunities for public discourse, bolster volunteerism, and provide avenues for arts organizations to show their #ArtsVote power.
|California||Building Bridges Not Walls
Building Bridges, Not Walls works to empower Californians to engage in the electoral process and vote for candidates and policies that will move America forward. They encourage Californians to register and turn out to vote, and want to engage them to become activists who will in turn encourage people in swing states to engage in the electoral process.
|California||California League of Conservation Voters
The California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) is the non-partisan political action arm of California’s environmental movement through voter education and electoral campaigns.
|California||LA Youth Vote (NOT ACTIVE)
Student Leaders registered over 3,000 of their peers across LAUSD for the May 19th, 2015 general election. (YOUTH VOTERS)
|Georgia||New Georgia Project
A nonpartisan effort to register and civically engage Georgia’s population, which is growing and becoming increasingly diverse. In 2014, NGP launched an ambitious voter registration program resulting in roughly 69,000 new voters making the polls. They meet new voters in their communities and advocate for voting rights reforms.
|Georgia||The People’s Agenda
Citizen Education program for students and adults, designed to empower the electorate.
|Kentucky||Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
KFTC members understand the importance of voting, and we also know that a healthy democracy requires so much more. They work to strengthen democracy in Kentucky by empowering voters, making their voices heard in the Kentucky General Assembly and the Congress, working to restore voting rights, and encouraging people to participate in KFTC’s own democratic process and that of other local institutions.
|Minnesota||Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota
Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota (CEIMN) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for verifiable, transparent, and accurate elections in Minnesota and across the country. CEIMN was formed shortly after the 2004 election after learning of reports in Ohio of electronic voting problems, the disenfranchisement of minority voters, discarded ballots, and other voting irregularities.
|North Carolina||Democracy North Carolina
Democracy North Carolina is a nonpartisan organization that uses research, organizing, and advocacy to increase voter participation, reduce the influence of big money in politics and achieve a government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people. Democracy NC grew out of Democracy South which began as a project of the Institute for Southern Studies.
|Wisconsin||Dane County Voter ID Coalition
The League of Women Voters Dane County has joined with the Dane County NAACP to form the Dane County Voter ID Coalition. The mission of the Coalition is to educate voters about the requirement to show a voter photo ID to receive a ballot on Election Day or when voting absentee. A specific goal is to identify voters who may not have an acceptable voter photo ID, and to arrange for direct assistance to those voters who may need help obtaining one.
|Wisconsin||League of Women Voters of Dane County
The League is a non-profit, non-partisan, national organization whose purpose is to promote informed and active participation of citizens in government at all levels. The League came into being in 1920.