Congratulations to America's Nonprofits! - from the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network

Congratulations to the entire nonprofit community! You engaged voters across the country at unprecedented levels this year- and America responded by setting turnout records at the local, state and national levels. Now, let’s build on our successes and look forward to the opportunities and challenges ahead!

-NVEN

Support for Jennifer Brunner - by Jocelyn Travis, OhioVOTES

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner worked diligently to prepare our state for the Nov. 4 presidential election by providing clear instructions to the boards of elections and addressing the concerns of citizens, advocate groups and organizations throughout Ohio. Whether fighting litigation that could disenfranchise citizens, educating voters on election processes and/or reaching out to a wide body of interested parties to incorporate ideas from all sources, she put in place the necessary elements for successful elections.

The Plain Dealer's Nov. 2 editorial, which compared Secretary Brunner to former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, is ridiculous. As firsthand witnesses of the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections and on the front lines of election integrity, I can state that there are vast differences between the two secretaries and their administrations. Blackwell chaired a presidential campaign for Ohio in addition to advocating for a ballot issue while serving as the chief election official in the state. Brunner held true to her campaign promise in 2006 not to support any candidate or issue and not to participate in any impropriety that could damage the reputation of an impartial administrator of Ohio elections. In addition, she put great resources into training county election officials, providing uniform instructions to our 88 boards and implementing the most comprehensive plan for standardized poll-worker training and development in the state's history.

The Plain Dealer suggests that a change in the structure of election operations is needed. It seems only logical that we should let the election be the arbiter of Brunner's work and not cast the office in a light that would seek to undermine voter confidence in the election.

Finally, Ohioans overwhelmingly voted in 2005 to keep the secretary of state an elected position that provides the necessary oversight for Ohio elections.

I feel strongly that Secretary Brunner did everything possible to ensure that our election ran smoothly on Nov. 4. Brunner, her staff and our local elections officials proved to the nation that we can have a presidential election that is fair, open and transparent. Confidence has been restored in the vote-counting process.

-Jocelyn Travis

Jocelyn Travis is the Director of OhioVOTES and a member of the Leadership Council for the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network.

Minnesota Senate Recount: You be the Judge!

Minnesota's close senate race, currently undergoing careful recount, is coming down to a few questionable ballots - view some of the sample challenged ballots on Minnesota Public Radio's website, and cast a vote on what you think the voter's intent was!

Election Day Exit Polls

Looking for exit polls? Visit CNN or the New York Times for national 2008 election results data.

North Carolina's One-Stop Voting Success

North Carolina’s voter turnout grew by 13.5% this year, which owes a large debt to the states new one-stop registration/voting program. The reform was responsible for 50%-75% of votes in participating counties. Read more in NVEN's turnout brief.

The Battle-Back of New Orleans

New Orleans - Despite its massive 50% population decrease in the aftermath Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana’s Orleans Parish managed to increase its relative number of ballots cast by 54% (NVEN's brief). Congratulations, New Orleans!

Urban Ohio Turns Out in 2008

Although statewide numbers are still rolling in, an unofficial victory for urban Ohio: Columbus, historically a lower-than-average turnout area, saw a nearly 5% increase in registered voter turnout in this year, up from 53% in 2004 to 58% in 2008!

17-Year-Olds Gain Primary Election Vote in Connecticut

Connecticut voters passed a ballot measure Nov. 4th allowing 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they will turn 18 by the general election date. The measure passed by a 2:1 margin, making Connecticut the 19th state to endorse such a proposal. Read more

New on NonprofitVOTE.org - America Goes to the Polls BRIEF

NVEN has released a brief on voter turnout in the 2008 General Election, a precursor to our biyearly “America Goes to the Polls” report. Download the America Goes to the Polls Brief (2008 General) here.

Election Day Turnout Among Latino and Youth

Increased youth and Latino voter participation on November 4th played an unprecedented large role in deciding the 2008 presidential election. For more on these groups’ influence this year, see updates from the Pew Hispanic Center and CIRCLE.

New York Times' Polling Place Photo Project

Visit the New York Times' Polling Place Photo Project to search for photos from polling places across the country on Election Day by state, city and type!

EAC Chair Endorses Universal Voter Registration

The chair of the Election Assistance Commission made a case for universal voter registration in the New York Times recently, calling its enaction “the single most important thing that Congress can do right now.” She also advocated the requiring of states to provide early voting. Read the article.

NYT - Election Officials Try to Ease Long Voting Lines

MIAMI -- Unprecedented numbers of early voters in Florida and other southern states are prompting election officials to add equipment, extend schedules and hand out water and chairs to make people comfortable as they wait for hours at polling places. Read more...

New Report: EDR in Nebraska

New Report: EDR in Nebraska (Demos)

This report from R. Michael Alvarez (Caltech) and Jonathan Nagler (NYU) from Demos analyzes likely effects of introducing Election Day Registration in Nebraska, and includes the following estimates of increases in turnout for specific groups of Nebraska citizens under EDR:

• Overall turnout could go up by 5.4 percent.
• Turnout among those aged 18 to 25 could increase by 10.6 percent.
• Turnout for those who have moved in the last six months could increase by 9.5 percent.
• Turnout for Latinos could increase by 9.0 percent.

Overseas Voters Receive Attention, Help in 2008

The recent launch of several overseas voting organizations (such as Long Distance Voter and Young Voters Overseas) has combined with this year's constant search for the newest untapped voting bloc to sharpen the focus on voters abroad as of late.

Overseas Vote Foundation

During and after its second annual Overseas Voting Summit in Munich this past April, The Overseas Vote Foundation launched both "Military Voter Services" and "Youth Voter Overseas" in order to zero in on specific overseas constituencies. It also partnered with Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to create a as well as forged a partnership with FedEx to ship overseas ballots at low or no cost in 2008. Read

Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes summed up the issues facing military voters this week in a three-part series on the the difficulty faced by military personnel voting overseas, dealing with the rules and procedures surrounding overseas voting, the struggles voting assistance officers often have in convincing members of the service to take the time to vote, and some of the efforts being made by the smaller public and private entities to make voting easier for military voters overseas.

Federal Voting Assistance Program

The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) recently revamped its overseas voter help website, www.fvap.org, based on user feedback and focus group studies. The new site has state-specific instructions for voting absentee and features an automated Voter Registration/Ballot Delivery tool. However, following the website's re-launch, a group of 35 Republican congressmen lately called for even more attention to be paid to military voters overseas. The group wrote a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey in a letter to investigate whether FVAP is fulfilling the entirety of its legal obligation to provide adequate assistance to service members abroad. (Government Computing News)

Long Distance Voter

Examining recent deluge of attention to engaging voters abroad, Debra Cleaver recognized that one important absentee voter population was being passed over- absentee voters in the United States. In response, she launched Long Distance Voter, an online clearinghouse of absentee voter information for all 50 states and DC. Long Distance Voter is the most comprehensive resource available for college students, long-distance commuters and folks simply unsure of where they'll be on November 4th. The site hosts voter registration and verification tools, deadline charts, and ballot applications in an easy-to-navigate format that's perfect for students and first-time voters.

VA No Longer to Ban Voter Registration Drives

After months of back-and-forth, the Veteran’s Administration announced this week that it would no longer ban voter registration drives at VA facilities. According to an article published in The New York Times, the reversal came after months of pressure from state election officials, voting rights groups and federal lawmakers who said that such drives made it easier for veterans to take part in the political process. “V.A. has always been committed to helping veterans exercise their constitutional right to vote, which they defended for all Americans while serving their nation,” Dr. James B. Peake, secretary of veteran’s affairs told the paper. “We’ve now established a uniform approach to helping those of our patients who need assistance to register and to vote.”

Oregon introduces unique accessible voting system

Electionline reports on Oregon's new Alternative Format Ballot, which allows voters with visual or manual disabilities to cast votes at home...

For the majority of her adult life, Angel Hale was denied a right many Americans take for granted.

In 1986, Hale lost her sight and since then has been unable to cast a ballot without assistance.

All of that changed this May however, when Hale and thousands of other Oregonians with a wide range of disabilities were able to cast their ballots autonomously for the first time thanks to the implementation of Oregon’s unique Alternative Format Ballot (AFB).

“It was liberating,” Hale said by phone from her home in Oregon, the same place where she cast her independent ballot as part of the state’s vote-by-mail system.

Hale, along with other voters with visual and/or manual dexterity impairments in the state now have the ability to cast ballots at home using a computer program that requires Web access and a printer to cast and verify ballots.

The program works in conjunction with alternative devices which assist disabled voters to understand and fill out ballots. Because of this feature the AFB can work with devices like screen readers, sip-puff devices, screen enlargers, Braille displays, switches, joysticks and other assistive technologies.

The user receives the AFB as an electronic document either through e-mail or a CD. Once completed, the voter prints out the AFB and sends it through the mail using the envelopes provided. Like the rest of the state’s absentee ballots, it is placed in a secrecy envelope which is then placed inside the signature envelope, both of which provide security and identification of the voter to officials.

“AFBs are essentially a ballot in a different form which replaces paper. The ballot is processed in the same way as everyone else once sent by mail," said Gene Newton of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Program office in Oregon.

Newton likened the process to voting with a pen or pencil.

For Hale, voting with the new system has been anything but typical.

“The process has been incredible,” Hale said. “Besides working on the pilot for the AFB this is my first time voting independently in my life.

Civil Rights Lawyer Registers Ex-Offenders

The Washington Post has this story on Reggie Mitchell, a leader of a disparate group of grass-roots Democrats and civil rights activists who are trying to register tens of thousands of newly eligible felons.

Californians May Soon Be Able to Register Online

Californians may soon be able to use their computers to register to vote and they can thank the state Department of Motor Vehicles for the chance. The San Francisco Chronicle has this story...

How Design Can Save Democracy

Check out this fun and informative interactive feature from AIGA, as profiled in the New York Times, which helps identify common ballot design problems and offer suggestions for improvements. Read the supporting NYT Opinion piece from AIGA's Richard Grefé and Jessica Friedman Hewitt.