A two-year battle in the courts concluded this week when the Department of Justice approved Georgia’s controversial voter verification system that was originally struck down in 2009 as inaccurate, unreliable, and worst of all, discriminatory against people of color and naturalized citizens. The decision leaves voting rights advocates dismayed as to why the DOJ would allow the state to implement this arguably overzealous and potentially disenfranchising procedure.
“At a time when the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is working to make it easier for Puerto Ricans to vote — considering bilingual ballots at the urging of the U.S. Justice Department — the state is making it harder for Puerto Ricans to identify themselves,” writes Cleveland Plain Dealer blogger, Robert L. Smith on a “little-known state policy” that could affect thousands of Ohio Latinos before the November election.
Hearings for important election bills are scheduled as follows:
Until recently, it was a “lonely fight” by voting rights groups to implement the National Voter Registration Act at public assistance offices. Now backed by the Justice Department, NVRA enforcement may be the answer to improved voter registration and participation among the nation’s once overlooked, new voters. Further, it may be the ticket to battling the Tea Party vote, says journalist Laura Flanders at The Nation.
Next week marks the 90th anniversary of the American woman’s right to vote. Since the passage of the 19th amendment, women have generally been more likely to turn out to vote than men. However there is one area of federal election law that some states undermine, which disproportionately disadvantages women, particularly low income citizens and minorities.
“Voter turnout rates for women have equaled or exceeded voter turnout rates for men,” the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network blogged Wednesday. Voter registration rates are similarly higher among women as well, with 73 percent of voting-eligible women registered to vote in 2008, two percentage points above the national average. But, access to voter registration (and thus, the ballot) may be more difficult for low-income women.
Hearings for important election bills are scheduled as follows:
Today, Project Vote released a new memo, What Happened to Hope and Change? How Fascination with the “Tea Party” Obscures the Significance of the 2008 Electorate.
Written by Project Vote’s director of research, election scholar Lorraine C. Minnite, What Happened to Hope and Change? examines how the voting population that determined the 2008 election better represents our country’s racial and socioeconomic diversity than any in recent memory. Young people, low-income Americans, and Americans of color all turned out in high–and perhaps decisive–numbers.
Access to voter registration—the basis of democratic participation—is still limited in the 21st century by overly restrictive, “horse-and-buggy” laws across the country. Despite advances in technology, states struggle with politically charged or neglected election systems when such systems can (and should) simply focus on building a truly representative electorate in modern day America.
Hearings for important election bills are scheduled as follows:
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Fifteen years ago, Congress enacted the National Voter Registration Act, also known as “Motor Voter” law, to help facilitate and improve voter registration across the country: “States were enthusiastic about the motor-vehicle section of the law, and millions of new voters got on the rolls while getting a driver’s license,” the New York Times editorialized yesterday. ”But registration at public assistance offices proved far less popular.”
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