Public Assistance Agencies

Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act

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The plaintiffs and attorneys in Project Vote and the NAACP’s public assistance agency lawsuit in Louisiana.

Though most people know the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) as the “motor voter” law, fewer people know that it also mandates that voter registration be offered at other government agencies besides DMVs. State agencies offering SNAP (food stamps), TANF, Medicaid, and other government benefits are also legally required to assist their clients in registering to vote under the NVRA.

Congress included this provision, Section 7, exactly to reach the citizens who are less likely to register through other means: low-income people, minorities, the elderly, and the disabled.

However, too many states have been ignoring this part of the NVRA, meaning that millions of our most vulnerable citizens are missing out on the change to make their voices heard. That’s why Project Vote and our partners are working to fix that. We investigate compliance. We document violations of the NVRA. And, where we find problems, we work—through advocacy, assistance, and litigation—to ensure that states are following the law and doing right by their citizens.

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Agency violates voter registration law

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A federal judge has ruled New Mexico's Human Services Department is violating the National Voter Registration Act by not offering a voter registration application with every application for public assistance benefits. Read more

Judge sides with low-income voters:State must hand out forms regardless of whether person requests them

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New Mexico must make voter registration easier for thousands of individuals seeking low-income health care benefits, a federal judge said Tuesday. Read more

Court Rules that New Mexico Is In Violation of Federal Voter Registration Law

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A coalition of voting rights groups scored a major victory yesterday in their lawsuit against New Mexico’s Human Services Division (HSD) and Secretary of State Mary Herrera, with a ruling by a U.S. District Judge that the State of New Mexico is in violation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Read more

Valdez v. Duran: Memorandum Opinion and Order

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Order denying defendants' motions for summary judgment and granting plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. Read more

Valdez v. Duran: Amended Complaint

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Fight Tea Party Voters with Fresh Voters

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Project Vote, Demos, The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the local civil rights groups who sued these states and won (forcing turnarounds at state public assistance agencies) have been waging a lonely fight to implement the National Voter Registration Act. Read more

More Richland County low-income residents registering to vote

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Job and Family Services offices in Ohio were taken to task in a 2006 lawsuit contending they failed to go far enough to register low-income voters, but voter registration at those locations skyrocketed after a court settlement went into effect in January. Read more

A Welfare Check and a Voting Card

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After years of deliberate neglect, the Justice Department is finally beginning to enforce the federal law requiring states to provide voter registration at welfare and food stamp offices. Read more

More than One Hundred Thousand Low-Income Ohioans Register to Vote

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More than 100,000 low-income Ohio residents have applied to register to vote at state Department of Job and Family Service (ODJFS) offices in the first six months of 2010, following a federal court settlement to bring the state agency into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA). Read more

Voter registration surge reported: Agencies were ordered to help low-income applicants

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Ten times as many poor people are filling out voter registration applications at public assistance offices in Ohio now than had been doing so before a voting rights advocacy group won a legal settlement. Read more