Voting Policy

“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.

Voting-LinesThere 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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Voter Database Glitches Could Disenfranchise Thousands

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Electronic voting machines have been the focus of much controversy the last few years. But another election technology has received little scrutiny yet could create numerous problems and disenfranchise thousands of voters in November, election experts say. Read more

Ohio Republicans Sue Over Voting Rules

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The Ohio Republican Party spearheaded a lawsuit Friday over an initiative from the office of Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner that would allow some early voters to register and vote on the same day. Read more

To Avoid Long Lines, Ohio Officials Say Vote By Mail

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Voters are expected to turn out in droves for this year's election, and that has many people worried about long lines. Read more

Supreme Court Voter ID Decision Legalizes Voter Disenfranchisement

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On Monday, April 28, the Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to Indiana’s law (Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board) requiring voters to show a government-issued photo identification before they may cast a ballot. Read more

Project Vote Statement on Supreme Court Hearing of Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board

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On Wednesday, January 9, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board, about the constitutionality of Indiana’s voter ID law. Donna Massey, Project Vote Board Member and supporter of voting rights, issued this statement: Read more

Justice Department Continues Pattern of Disenfranchisement

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The Justice Department has again gone on record supporting strict documentary identification requirements for voters, despite the fact that such laws disenfranchise voters. Read more

New Report: Partisans Targeted More Than 500,000 Mostly Minority Voters in 2004 Caging Schemes

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In 2004, political operatives associated with the Republican party targeted more than half a million voters in “voter caging” campaigns in nine states, according to a report released today by Project Vote. Read more

Caging Democracy: A 50-Year History of Partisan Challenges to Minority Voters

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This report reviews Republican voter caging operations during the last 50 years, culminating with the unprecedented number of large voter caging operations conducted across the nation in the 2004 presidential election. Read more

Policy Brief: Your Ballot is in the Mail: Absentee Voting and Vote-by-Mail

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This 2007 policy brief examine the advantages and disadvantages of convenience voting in the form of no-excuse absentee voting, permanent no-excuse absentee voting, and Vote-By-Mail. Read more

Federal Election Agency Plays Politics with Voter ID Study

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A federal agency tasked with serving as a clearinghouse for election research played politics today when it released but declined to endorse a study documenting the impact of voter identification requirements on voting. Read more