Making absentee ballots available to all in PA

A Pennsylvania senator wants to amend the state constitution so that residents would not need an excuse to vote with an absentee ballot.

Currently, Pennsylvania is one of the 20 or so states that stipulates voters can only use absentee ballots if they are in the military, working, sick, or out of town.

But Senator Mike O’Pake of Reading, PA says that this system leaves many people out.

“Voting is a right. It’s not supposed to be a test of whether you can physically make it to the polling booth,” says O’Pake. Read more.

• To learn about early/absentee voting in your state, check out NVEN's state voter information lookup tool.

• For a full list of states that allow no-excuse absentee voting, visit the National Council of State Legislatures absentee and early voting page.

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Info from Yesterday's Webinar

Thanks to everyone who participated in yesterday’s webinar “Voter Participation Basics for Nonprofits,” with Bridgette Rongitsch and Julian Johannesen.

We appreciated all of your questions, and please don't hesitate to contact us with further questions:

Bridgette Rongitsch
National Director
e-mail: bridgette@mncn.org
phone: 651-757-3085

Robynne Curlee
State Outreach Coordinator
e-mail: rcurlee@nonprofitvote.org
phone: 651-757-3086

Julian Johannesen
Research and Technology Associate
e-mail: julian@nonprofitvote.org
phone: 617- 357-8683

You can download yesterday's PowerPoint presentation in addition to the audio portion of the presentation in MP3 format. The presentation and accompanying audio can also be viewed online here.

You can sign up for upcoming webinars and download our previous webinars by visiting our website's webinar page. Upcoming webinars appear at the top of the page and previous webinars appear at the bottom of the page.

All of our resources are available for download on our website. Visit our "Find Resources" page to learn more. Many of our publications are available to order, free of charge for 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

Starter Kit Orders
Fill out the order form if you would like to order our new, "Voter Participation Starter Kit for Nonprofits and Social Service Agencies."

Poster Orders
Order a Get Out the Vote Poster from our website by filling out this order form.

Web Badges
If you would like to link your page to ours, visit our web badge page.

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Indiana online voter registration going well

Indiana is six weeks and 2,500 new registrants into its new online voter registration program, which became effective July 1st and made Indiana the 8th state to offer the convenience system to its citizens. (See earlier post on the upward trend of states offering online voter registration options).

Although the program relies on its strict government-issued voter ID policy, requiring online registrants to enter in their driver's license or state ID number before proceeding to the registration page, election administrators believe that the program will lead to less processing delays for election offices and more voters on the rolls come November.

A study from Pew on online registration in the 2008 election further describes the benefits of online voter registration. Analysis of programs in Washington and Arizona showed that offering online voter registration not only increased registration among younger voters (who tend to be more web-oriented), but also increases the rate at which registrations lead to votes on Election Day.

In Washington, 85.3 percent of online registrants voted, compared with 82.4 percent turnout statewide.

In Arizona, 94 percent of online registrants voted, compared with 85 percent of traditional registrants in 2008.

The study also showed that online voter registration is:

• Popular - 95% of those who registered to vote online said they would recommend the program to others
• Saves time and money - Some Washington counties reported that online applications required 1/5 of the time to process compared to paper application. In Arizona’s Maricopa County, it costs an average of three cents to process an online application compared to an average of 83 cents per paper application.
• Reduces error - Online voter registration allows voters to electronically send their information directly to election officials, reducing the opportunity for human and data entry errors.
  

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Voting Rights of Ex-Offenders

The practice of disenfranchisement began in the United States at the end of the civil war in an effort to prevent anyone except white male landowners from voting. Now, however, after both women and African Americans have won their right to vote, another group remains segregated from voting rights.

Using information from the Brennan Center for Justice, Nonprofit Vote has developed a new page on our website that tracks each state’s felony disenfranchisement laws.

48 states do not permit felons to vote during their time in prison, the exceptions being Maine and Vermont. The majority of states have laws that prohibit ex-offenders from voting, even after they have completed their sentence. These laws vary, and in Kentucky and Virginia, ex-offenders are never again allowed to vote unless pardoned by the government. The United States is the only country that permits permanent disenfranchisement of felons even after sentences have been served.

Misinformation about ex-offender voting rights abounds, as researchers found that nearly 30% of people with criminal convictions surveyed in New York in 2005 thought they would never be eligible to vote again. However, this summer the New York legislature passed a law requiring criminal justice agencies to provide voting rights information to people who are again eligible to vote after a felony conviction.

New York’s new law is the latest in a national trend. Twenty-four other states already require certain state and local agencies to inform people when their voting rights are restored following a criminal conviction. Supporters of these laws argue that they will correct years of misinformation, promote successful reintegration, and help protect public safety, while building civic participation among traditionally disenfranchised communities.

Last year a retired New York parole chief testified before the New York Senate Elections Committee, “having the right to vote and learning how to exercise that right gives one a voice and a stake in the community; it promotes positive behavior and serves as a powerful conduit for making the transition from criminal to becoming a law abiding member of the community.” Read his full testimony here.

Check out our website for up to date information about the laws in your state and stay tuned for our upcoming Disenfranchisement Fact Sheet!

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2010 Census Cuts Costs

As the 2010 Census nears completion, it will end the fiscal year 22 percent under budget and return $1.6 billion to the Treasury.

In part, saving money was made easier because 72 percent of households completed the mail-in form (analysts had predicted a 65% return rate). Commerce Secretary Gary Locke noted that “For every 1 percent additional mail-back response, we save some $85 million in paying people to go door-to-door.”

Additionally, about $800 million set aside for disaster contingency planning was fortunately not needed.

The official census report will be out later this year.

Read the Census Director’s Blog here.

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Which Election Reforms do Voters Support?

A new study, from R. Michael Alvarez and Thad E. Hall of Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project, looks at which types of "convenience voting" reforms are most supported by the American people.

The study gathered data from 10,000 voters, 200 people from each of the 50 states, to examine the strength of support for each of three election reform areas - voter registration, Election Day streamlining, and protecting the security of elections.

Data findings include:

• 75.6 % support requiring photo identification to vote
• 57.5% support making Election Day a holiday
  
• 48.3% support automatically registering citizens to vote
• 43.7% support Election Day Registration

(Click here to see more)

Along with finding occasionally strong regional biases for or against certain reforms, the study's qualitative findings include:

• Non-white voters are less supportive of voting by mail, but are more likely to support automatic registration or Election Day Registration
• Voters who have had a registration problem in the past are overwhelmingly in favor of both automatic and Election Day Registration
• Strong support for the idea that a voter's experience on Election Day at their polling place is associated with the election reforms they support

To read the report, click here.

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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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Maryland Allows Voters to Print Absentee Ballots

Starting with the September gubernatorial primary election, Maryland voters will no longer have to wait for the postal service to deliver their absentee ballots. Instead, voters will be able to print their official absentee ballot and mailing label from the internet.

The On Demand Ballot System was developed by the Maryland State Board of Elections and the Center for American Politics and Citizenship in an effort to potentially lower costs that some voters face and to increase the ease of voting for those far from home, particularly overseas voters, members of the armed forces, and college students. Read more here.

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Voting Behind Bars in the NYTimes

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times comments here on the imminent federal discussion of the racially disproportionate impact of felon disenfranchisement in the United States, and whether that impact creates a "result" (under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act - see bottom) of a race-based denial of voting rights.

From the Times...

It has been nearly three months since the court “invited” — that is to say, ordered — Solicitor General Elena Kagan to “express the views of the United States” on whether laws that take away the right to vote from people in prison or on parole can be challenged under the Voting Rights Act as racially discriminatory.

The order came in a case from Massachusetts, Simmons v. Galvin, an appeal by prison inmates challenging a 10-year-old state constitutional amendment that stripped them of the right to vote while incarcerated. They seek Supreme Court review of a ruling, issued a year ago by the federal appeals court in Boston, that Congress never intended the Voting Rights Act to apply in prison. The federal government was not involved in the case. Now the administration — presumably under the direction of whomever President Obama names to succeed Ms. Kagan as solicitor general — has to come up with a position.

FYI - Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act:
"No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting shall be imposed" that "results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color."

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Massachusetts Passes National Popular Vote Law

On Wednesday August 4, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed the national popular vote bill. The new law is part of a nationwide effort to award the presidency to the winner of the national popular vote, bypassing the Electoral College. Massachusetts is now the 6th state to sign on, joining Illinois, New Jersey, Hawaii, Maryland, and Washington.

However, the new law will take effect only when it has been approved by enough other states to guarantee that the majority of Electoral College votes would go the winner of the national popular vote. Massachusetts has 12 electoral votes, bringing the combined total of the six states to 73, 27% of the 270 needed to activate the law.

To learn more about the National Popular Vote, click here.

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Trick or Vote: Returning Halloween 2010

It’s never too early to plan your costume, design a haunted house, or buy candy in anticipation of the spookiest night of the year. This year you can add something else to your list of Halloween activities – get out the vote!

Alongside a swarm of trick-or-treaters, Trick or Vote volunteers hit the streets on October 31, 2008, knocking on over 100,000 doors in 35 cities to distribute nonpartisan voter guides and to remind people to vote.

They’re back for this year’s midterm election and will expand to 50 locations, aiming to make over 200,000 voter contacts.

To learn more about Trick or Vote or to find an event near you, visit their website.

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EAC Issues Voter Guides in Native American and Alaska Native Languages

EAC - Citizens who speak Cherokee, Dakota, Navajo and Yup'ik, the most commonly spoken Native American and Alaska Native languages in the U.S., will now have access to federal election voter guides in their native languages.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Language Assistance Program translated the guides to improve voting accessibility for Americans who speak these languages and have limited English proficiency.

The guide explains the basics of ballot casting as well as special voting procedures, such as early voting, absentee voting, and military and overseas voting. Read more.

View the guides.

(Photo source - PBS)

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New Poll: The Latino Vote in 2010

National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund released the findings of a comprehensive survey of 1,600 Latino registered voters in four states with open or competitive gubernatorial or senatorial contests this November – California, Colorado, Florida and Texas. With three out of five potential Latino voters residing in these four states, the survey offers the most current insight into Latino voter opinions on a variety of issues.

Key findings include:

• An overwhelming majority (61%) of Latino registered voters surveyed say they will “definitely” vote in the November midterm elections; this despite the historically low voter participation in “off-year” elections.
  
  
• The current debate around the issue of immigration is playing a significant role in the political decisions of registered Latino voters, including increasing the likelihood of voting, and influencing their selection of candidate.
  
  
• Immigration has emerged as the top policy issue for Latino registered voters in these four states, overtaking economic issues, education and healthcare.

For more.

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Follow up info from yesterday's webinar!

Thank you to all of you who attended yesterday's webinar "Voter Registration Basics for Nonprofits," with Bridgette Rongitsch and Julian Johannesen.

We appreciated all of your questions. Please don't hesitate to contact any of us with further questions. Our contact information is as follows:

Bridgette Rongitsch

National Director

Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network

e-mail: bridgette@mncn.org

phone: 651-757-3085

Robynne Curlee

State Outreach Coordinator
e-mail: rcurlee@nonprofitvote.org

phone: 651-757-3086

Julian Johannesen

Research and Technology Associate

e-mail: julian@nonprofitvote.org

phone: 617- 357-8683

You can download yesterday's PowerPoint presentation here. You can also download the audio portion of the presentation in MP3 format. In addition, you can view the presentation and listen to the audio online here.

You can also sign up for upcoming webinar and download our previous webinars by visiting our website's webinar page. Upcoming webinars appear at the top of the page and previous webinars appear at the bottom of the page.

All of our resources are available for download on our website. Visit our "Find Resources" page to learn more. Many of our publications are available to order, free of charge to 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Fill out the order form if you would like to order our upcoming, "Voter Participation Starter Kit for Nonprofits and Social Service Agencies."

To learn about voting in your state, visit your state page at NonprofitVote.org.

If you would like to link your page to ours, visit our web badge page.

We mentioned several quick facts and resources during the webinar. Here's a review:

Many states now allow you to check the status of your registration online, find out if your state does by visiting your state's page on our site:
http://www.nonprofitvote.org/voting-in-your-state.html

States with ONLINE Voter Reg:
Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Oregon, Utah, Washington

States with SAME DAY Voter Reg:
Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Wyoming and D.C. (North Dakota does not require voter registration)

States with Pre-Registration for 16 or17 years olds (depending on state):

California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island

Visit our site to download our Guide to Voter Registration
http://www.nonprofitvote.org/guides-and-toolkits.html

Visit Project Vote to download their state by state guides to voter registration
http://www.projectvote.org/voter-registration-guidance.html

Visit Rock the Vote to learn about their voter registration tool and partnership program
http://www.rockthevote.com/partner/

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"There Oughta Be a Law"? Governor agrees, signs CA bill mandating polling places

A bill that guarantees California voters have a place in which to vote on Election Day has been signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Proposed by Palo Alto resident Lynn Silton and presented by State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), SB 1342 addresses the recent trend of mail-in voting, which has affected the availability of polling stations.

The idea was first developed by Redwood City resident Dennis McBride, who won Simitian's annual "There Oughta Be a Law" contest in 2007. Though Simitian later turned McBride's idea into a proposal that passed through the state legislature, the bill was vetoed by Schwarzenegger.

This year, Silton co-proposed the bill with McBride for the "There Oughta Be a Law" contest and was one of three winners.

"My concern was that I wasn't getting a choice," Silton said in a March 29 Palo Alto Weekly article. "I don't doubt the honesty of our current registrar, but whenever possible, citizens should be involved in the process."

Keep reading.

To read more about the problems with mail-in voting, see this earlier blog post

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Don't Miss Tomorrow's Webinar

Please join us for a special web training event tomorrow:

"Voter Registration for Nonprofits"
Thursday, July 22nd
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET

The webinar will review best practices for conducting voter registration at your agency or in your community. It will help you decide where and when to do voter registration and where to find voter registration resources.

There will be opportunities for question and answers throughout the training. The webinar will also highlight sources for voter participation materials and resources.

Registration is still open, so RSVP Now!

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Rock The Vote Launches New Tool

In an effort to engage more young voters, Rock the Vote is enlisting the help of partner organizations and ordinary citizens to put the word out to their respective online communities.

The voter registration tool can be easily embedded on websites, blogs, Facebook pages, and MySpace profiles, allowing almost anyone to spread the word and help register voters. You can even track statistics on your voter registrations!

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Non-Citizen Voting in Portland, ME May Be on November Ballot

A proposal to allow non-U.S. citizens who are in this country legally the right to vote in the city of Portland, Maine is one step closer to reality.

On Wednesday, the League of Young Voters turned in more than 5,000 signatures for its legal resident voting petitions to the Portland city clerk. If the clerk validates more than 4,400 of the signatures, the issue will end up on the ballot in Portland in November.

The proposed charter amendment will allow immigrants to register to vote and cast ballots in municipal elections. However, they would not be allowed to vote on state and national issues.

The city's charter commission narrowly voted to reject the idea back in March. Upon the decision, immigrants vowed to start collecting petition signatures for the November ballot. "I guarantee you, we're coming back," said one of the leaders of the measure's movement.

Read more.

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8 States with Online Voter Registration

8 states now let voters with a state driver's license or state id register to vote online. They are Arizona, Washington, Kansas, Oregon, Louisiana, Colorado, Utah and Indiana. Along with the spread of Election Day registration, online registration will let more voters get registered at a lower cost for 2010.

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Lost Voters, Lost Votes

From the New Organizing Institute, June 2010 via electionline.org:

This report describes how in the November 2008 election an estimated 1.9 million voters did not cast a ballot because they did not know where to go, with the young and racial and ethnic minorities disproportionately likely to have difficulty locating their polling place. A comprehensive solution is suggested, including not only widespread internet access points and tools, but also mail, phone, and in-person outreach.

Lost Voters, Lost Votes: When Citizens Don’t Know Where to Vote, Democracy Loses

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