Month: October 2009

What “Liberal” Media? Study Shows How Press is Often Manipulated to Serve Right-Wing Agenda

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Media manipulation by the right-wing to influence public perception has been a decade-long tactic to undermine voter registration in America.... Read more

Gov. Schwarzenegger Approves Engaging Young CA Voters Early

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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

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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

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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

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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