Health Insurance Enrollment and Voter Registration

What does voter registration have to do with ACA enrollment? Find out during our next webinar:
 
Health Insurance Enrollment and Voter Registration for Health Centers and Other Nonprofits
Wednesday August 21st, 2:00-3:00pm Eastern

Starting October 1st millions of Americans will become eligible to enroll in Medicaid or a health exchange health insurance plan under the new Affordable Care Act. Join us to learn how requirements under the National Voter Registration Act will effect health centers and other nonprofit agencies involved in ACA enrollment. We'll cover how-tos and tips for conducting voter registration during enrollment and describe the support, materials, and other resources available to organizations like yours.

Featured Presenters: Robert M. Brandon, President and Co-Founder of the Fair Elections Legal Network, is a public interest attorney with more than 30 years of public policy, legal, legislative, media, and campaign experience at the federal, state, and local levels. He is also President of Robert M. Brandon and Associates, a public affairs firm that works to advance public interest and grassroots goals. Marc Wetherhorn is the Senior Director of Advocacy and Civic Engagement at the National Association of Community Health Centers where he directs their national grassroots campaign efforts. He provides training and technical assistance to primary care associations and health centers on grassroots strategy and state-based policy issues.

Voter Registration Proof of Citizenship Overturned in Arizona

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that Arizona may not require documentary proof of citizenship from people seeking to vote in federal elections. (Read the court opinion.)

During oral argument in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Justice Sotomayor's first question was about an amicus brief signed by Nonprofit VOTE and other community-based voter engagement groups. (See the transcript.) The brief urged the Court to strike down the portion of Arizona Proposition 200 that required proof of citizenship to accompany any voter registration application, even when applicants have attested to citizenship under oath.

While the National Voter Registration Act allows voters to check a box verifying that they are a U.S. citizen under penalty of perjury, Arizona's law required prospective voters to prove they were citizens by submitting documentation--like a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization paper.

Thus the ruling was critical to many community-based registration efforts that overwhelmingly rely on approaching individuals who did not plan in advance to register at that time or location and who are therefore unlikely to be carrying a birth certificate, passport, or other documentation.

In addition to this week's decision, the Supreme Court will soon be ruling on the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

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The Affordable Care Act and Voter Registration

On the 20th anniversary of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which requires departments of motor vehicles and agencies providing public assistance to offer voter registration, the Affordable Care Act provides another great opportunity to reach Americans about registering to vote.

An estimated 68 million people will be enrolling in the new health exchanges--16 million in 2014 alone. Like getting a driver's license or signing up for public assistance, people enrolling will be asked if they want to register to vote. The Department of Health and Human Services has included a question about registering to vote in the current version of the enrollment form. A new Demos report notes, "Because subsidized health insurance under the ACA – 'Insurance Affordability Programs' – constitutes public assistance, the NVRA’s requirement for providing voter registration services applies."

Health centers and nonprofits will be on the front lines of enrollment. Nonprofit VOTE is working with the National Association of Community Health Centers and other partners to create trainings and resources to help nonprofits take advantage of this historic opportunity. Through this new avenue, millions of Americans can be included in the political process.

For more, read the Demos report Building a Healthy Democracy: Registering 68 Million People to Vote through Health Benefit Exchanges.

Pushing for Registration at Indian Health Service Facilities

On Tuesday, Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), said that Indian Health Service facilities should be designated voter registration sites in the same way state-based public assistance agencies are under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

Keel noted that the facilities are ideal for voter registration because they're in many tribal communities and that "Not all Native Americans are registered." Earlier this week he told a gathering of tribal leaders that only two of every five eligible American Indians and Alaska Natives were registered in 2008, and that an estimated 1 million eligible Native voters are not registered. "This should be considered a civic emergency."

In some states, many public assistance agencies are not fully compliant with NVRA requirements, but when brought into compliance they have proved particularly effective:

• In 2010, Colorado agencies registered nearly 44,000 voters.  
• Missouri public assistance agencies are averaging 115,000 registrations per year.
• In the first 6 months of 2010, more than 100,000 Ohio residents registered through public assistance offices.

Most importantly, all of these registrations are conducted in the course of providing other routine services. This model is so effective because it utilizes an organization's location and standing in the community. This applies equally to your nonprofit: Although the NVRA may not require you to offer voter registration, you can still ensure your clients and community register and vote in 2012! Learn more about nonprofit voter registration.

Georgia to Comply with the NVRA

Georgia recently settled a lawsuit brought by a coalition of voting rights groups to force compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and ensure that anyone applying for state public assistance or disability support is offered the opportunity to register to vote.

In Georgia, it's clear there's plenty of room for improvement. A recent report by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found that between 2009 and 2010, Georgia had an estimated 6.7 million eligible voters, of which 5.7 million (86%) were registered. Of those registrations, 279 were done at state public assistance agencies, 19 at disability service agencies, and 569 at other state agencies.

We've written about similar victories and the enormous impact they've had in driving up the number or registrations. Registrations from Missouri public assistance agencies rose from fewer than 8,000 a year to an average of 115,000 per year after a 2008 settlement, and more than 380,000 low-income Ohioans have filled out registration forms since a suit was settled in 2009.

The results of these cases show that when people are offered the chance to register or re-register to vote, they take it! Let's make sure the nonprofit sector does our part to ensure that all eligible Americans are registered to vote this year! Visit our voter registration resources section, or sign up to be part of National Voter Registration Day on September 25, 2012 to learn how. 

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New and Updated Factsheets

To help you prepare for this year's election, we've updated and expanded our factsheet series! In addition to information on 501(c)(3) permissible activities and working with candidates, we have new factsheets on:

• Election Day Registration, explaining what it is, which states have it, and how it helps voters keep their registration current.
• Expanding Voter Registration Opportunities, discussing advances in online voter registration and pre-registration that streamline the registration process and make it more accessible.
• The National Voter Registration Act, describing the role of public assistance agencies that are required to offer voter registration to clients.

Visit our full factsheet library to learn more about these and other topics, including state voting laws for ex-offenders, ballot measure advocacy, and what nonprofit staff can do on and off the clock.

Lax NVRA Compliance Leaves Void for Nonprofits to Fill

Last month, Project Vote and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a complaint to force Louisiana into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), and ensure that low-income residents have the opportunity to register to vote. The suit follows in the wake of other successful complaints in both Ohio and Missouri where the number of voters registering at public agencies has ballooned. In Ohio in the first six months of 2010 more than 100,000 low-income residents registered to vote at public assistance offices. That number (17,000 applications per month) is almost a ten-fold increase in the number of registration applications public assistance offices collected before the lawsuit (1,775 per month).

Lawsuits are not always necessary to force compliance, however. Colorado officials worked proactively to bring the state into compliance with the NVRA and as a result, public agency registrations in Colorado increased from just over 3,300 in 2007 to nearly 44,000 in 2010.

While it is critical that public agencies fulfill their obligation to register voters, this alone is not enough. There is still a crucial role for nonprofits to play. Many nonprofit clients receive public assistance and when state agencies do not actively register these potential voters, nonprofits must ensure that their clients nevertheless have an opportunity to register to vote. Even in states that are fully compliant with the NVRA, many eligible voters will still be missed, including individuals served by your organization. Nonprofits can help close this gap by ensuring that your clients have the opportunity to register, participate, and make their voices heard. Get started today!

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Enforcing the Motor-Voter Law

The 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) was designed to increase participation in federal elections. As a provision, state motor vehicle offices began offering clients the opportunity to register to vote, and the law became widely known as the motor-voter law.

However, the law also requires public assistance offices to proactively register voters. Although many potential voters can be reached through DMV offices, agencies that administer food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, disability assistance and child health programs are able to target historically underrepresented populations, such as low-income individuals, people with disabilities, minority populations, and new military recruits. Unfortunately, enforcement among public assistance offices (until recently) has been lax.

That began to change last year with the settlement of a 2006 lawsuit--backed by voting rights groups--aimed at bringing Ohio into compliance with the NVRA.

The result of the case has been overwhelming: in the first six months of 2010, more than 100,000 low-income Ohio residents applied to register to vote at public assistance offices. That number (17,000 applications per month) is almost a ten-fold increase in the number of registration applications public assistance offices collected before the lawsuit (1,775 per month).

A similar lawsuit against Missouri was settled in July 2008 and since then, nearly 250,000 voter applications have been submitted through public assistance agencies in the state over the past two years.

On the national level, the Justice Department will also begin enforcing the public assistance section of the law. In April, the Justice Department sent states a set of guidelines, marking the first time in 15 years that the Justice Department has explained what kinds of offices are covered and what procedures are to be used.

This national push will hopefully register hundreds of thousands of additional, hard to reach voters; voting rights groups estimate that 2-3 million low-income Americans could be registered each year if all states complied with the NVRA.

Read more about the Ohio lawsuit here.

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