WASHINGTON, DC – The November 2008 election saw dramatic increases in participation by traditionally underrepresented groups, including Americans of color and young voters, according to a new research memo released today by Project Vote. The memorandum is available from Project Vote’s website at www.projectvote.org.

The memorandum is by researcher This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , author of the 2007 Project Vote report Representational Bias in the 2006 Election. The new memo analyses just-released data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s November 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS), the definitive source of demographic data on registration and voting in America. The analysis examines participation in the 2008 general election by race/ethnicity, age, and income status. The result is the first comprehensive picture of who voted in 2008 compared to 2004.

“The exciting story from 2008 is not that overall turnout increased, but that the electorate we heard from at the polls more closely resembled the true demographics and diversity of the American people,” says Michael Slater, executive director of Project Vote. 

January 08, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Citing clear evidence that hundreds of thousands of low-income Indiana residents have illegally been denied the opportunity to register to vote, today the voting rights groups Project Vote and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) sent a pre-litigation notice letter to Secretary of State Todd Rokita calling on him to bring Indiana into compliance with a federal law, the  National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), that requires  public assistance agencies offer voter registration services to their clients.

December 19, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC – Following an investigation that found evidence of widespread violations, the Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced an agreement to bring the State of Illinois into compliance with provisions of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which requires state-funded public assistance agencies to offer voter registration services to clients. Nicole Kovite, director of Project Vote’s NVRA Implementation Project, issued the following statement in response:

“Project Vote joins voting rights advocates across the country in commending the Justice Department and the state of Illinois for taking this first step to ensure that the Illinois Department of Human Security (DHS) is doing right by low-income Illinois voters.

November 25, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States saw dramatic increases in the number of ballots cast by traditionally underrepresented groups, including Americans of color and young voters, according to an analysis released today by Project Vote.