The EAC relases new findings on voter registration

Every other year, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) submits a report to Congress “assessing the impacts of [the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)] on the administration of elections.” The NVRA aims to increase voter registration and participation and to ensure the accuracy of elections. The data released in the newest report, collected through surveys submitted to the 55 states and territories, reveals interesting findings about the elections taking place from 2006-2008, including:

• 81.6% of the nation’s voting-age population was registered to vote for the 2008 election
• Four states (Georgia, Illinois, Utah, and West Virginia) indicated an increase of over 20% in the number of active registrants
• 23.5 million registrants are on the list of inactive voters
• 60.3 million voter registration forms were received between the 2006 and 2008 elections. Of these, 1.7 million were invalid ore rejected applications and 3.6 million were duplicate applications. 24.6 million were new, valid registrations, and 20.8 million requested a change in name, address, or party registration
• 18.3 million notices of removal from the registration list were sent out
• 12.7 million voters were removed from registration rolls. Reasons for removal include a failure to vote in two Federal general election cycles, a felony conviction, requests by voters, and mental incompetence
• 3.6 million registration applications were filed on election days in 2008 in the 17 states that reported this data.

Click here to view the full report.

Washington Post endorses Election Day Registration in voting bill for District of Columbia. The Post reports the bill introduced by D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) would also allow 16-year-olds to pre-register and 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they would be 18 by the general election. All these boost youth voting and have worked well in other states.

Online voter registration takes hold in Louisiana, Kansas

Image- City of Kirkland, WA
Along with Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Utah, both Louisiana and Kansas will soon be allowing eligible citizens register to vote online.

Louisiana's newly-signed House Bill 520 will allow state residents with state IDs to access online voter registration. Kansas SOS Ron Thornburgh formally announced the state's new online voter registration initiative this week - already about 100-150 Kansans have signed up online.

To read more, click here.

Registering college students to vote: most and least effective methods

(Photo- EGP)
Classroom registration is both the most effective and cost-efficient way to register college students to vote, demonstrates a new study recently featured by the Voting Technology Project.

The study (“I Will Register, if You Teach Me How”) employed randomized field experiments on voter registration techniques at 37 college campuses, its results debunking the idea that email, mail campaigns and mailbox-stuffers are best practices in getting college students on campus to register to vote.

Only classroom mobilization initiatives- led either by professors or students- ended up leading significantly more students to sign up to vote.

Click here to view a PDF.

Dramatic increase in minority vote confirmed

Chart - Charles Blow, NYT

About 131 million people reported voting in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, an increase of 5 million over 2004. Of that increase, almost all were ethnic minorities, according to a new table package released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The increase included about 2 million more black voters, 2 million more Hispanic voters and about 600,000 more Asian voters.

These figures are in line with electorate trends over the past quarter century, during which white share of the electorate has fallen 15 points, while the rate of voting among minorities has doubled since 1992. (NYT) According to the Census Bureau, voter turnout among blacks, Asians and Hispanics each increased by about 4 percentage points over the 2004 election. Conversely, the voting rate for non-Hispanic whites decreased by 1 percentage point over 2004. (See chart).

New report shows effect of EDR on youth voter turnout in 2008

With a record youth voter turnout in the 2008 election, allowing voters to register at the polls on Election Day was the most effective way to boost youth voter turnout according to a new report from CIRCLE analyzing the impact of state election law reforms on young people in the 2008 election.

Read more.

Twin Civic Summits in the Twin Cities

This week two civic participation summits head to the land of lakes and high voter participation, Minnesota. Check out the agendas for the National Civic Summit July 15-17 and annual meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State. Lots of civic and voter participation leaders gathering. The Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network and its Nonprofits Count! campaign is co-leading a workshop with the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights on the key role for nonprofit participation in the 2010 Census. The NASS convening could tell us a great deal about future directions for universal voter registration and other election reforms.

MN Sec. of State Mark Ritchie comments on Coleman/Franken recount

From MPR News.

"Minnesota has led the way in demonstrating that you can have a contentious race and a close election and still be able to conduct a recount in a way that keeps the public informed and encourages trust in the outcome," Ritchie praised in a recent commentary to Minnesota Public Radio News. The recount, he said, ultimately came down to 14 contested ballots, and could not have been conducted so successfully and with such transparency had the state's election system and recount procedures not been crafted so well.

He cautioned, however, that there is more work to do in ensuring the most effective and inclusive electoral process possible. "The 2008 U.S. Senate election has now reached its conclusion, but the most important part of this experience is still to come," Ritchie states. "We need to take the lessons learned as a result of this process, and use them to further improve our already strong elections system"

Read the complete commentary.

Creative campaigns: Making Census 2010 education fun

Cast of Telemundo's Mas Sabe el Diablo, a new Spanish telenovela which will feature a Census worker as a character in upcoming Fall 2009 episodes. "She will be interacting with people who are confused by the process," Telemundo President Don Browne says. "This character will help people understand why the system works ... to try to really make it clear that this is something positive and constructive." (USA Today)

A recent piece from USAToday featured some fun and interactive tactics that Census offices and their local outreach partners are using to get out the word and increase trust around the 2010 Census among traditionally undercounted constituencies, including Latinos and American Indians.

• Telemundo will be including a new character on its show Mas Sabe el Diablo - a single mother that takes a job as a Census taker (see left).

• In South Florida, Census partners are considering distributing Chinese fortune cookies with "Make Yourself Count" fortunes in Chinese.

• In Los Angeles, CA, American Indian youths in a summer training program at Fox Entertainment will write, shoot and produce public service announcements about the Census.

• In the Chicago region, the Census Bureau has recruited 10 former NFL stars to visit classrooms. They will give out autographed photos that carry a Census message on the back.

• In Webb County, TX, local Census partners are developing Bingo cards with a 2010 Census logo and slogans in Spanish.
  

• The Children's Museum of Houston, TX features a new "Kidtropolis, USA" exhibit, where kids become citizens of this fictitious city. Activities include voting and filling out mock Census forms.
  

In addition, Local Census offices are setting up social networking accounts on pages like Facebook and Twitter.

Read more.

The word on The Colbert Report: "Non-Census"

"Counting is a known associate of vampires." -Stephen Colbert

Hilarious.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Noncensus
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum

Fill out your Census form.

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R, MN) has been garnering some attention of late for her bizarre announcement on Fox News that she intends to only fill out part of her US Census form in April of 2010. The Minnesota Star Tribune has a terrific response to her statement:

"...The two-term congresswoman from Minnesota's Sixth District bluntly said she will not fully fill out the census form, a misdemeanor punishable by up to $5,000. Her census fear-mongering clearly could push others to do the same. What Bachmann is doing -- on national television, no less -- is encouraging people to break the law. That's not right-wing. That's not conservative. That's just wrong." (MN Star Tribune)

To be clear on the legalities:

• Title 13 of the U.S. Code prohibits anyone from accessing Census data (even the President of the United States). Doing so is a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 under the Sentencing Reform Act (U.S. Census Bureau).
• The same Title XIII requires participation in the US Census by anyone asked to fill out the census form. Neglecting to answer a question on the form, or giving a false answer, is against the law. (Title XIII.7.221)

On top of this, consider:

• Each person not counted loses accurately in their current location loses their community over $1,000 per year for the next decade.

• Redistricting and apportionment is done based on the Census count, and every person counted or not counted makes a big difference. In Bachmann's home state of MN, for example, missing just one person in every township would mean losing a Congressional seat in 2010.
  

• The Census snaps a picture of our entire community- young and old, rich and poor, black and white, citizen and non-citizen. It's important that every face is included in that shot, so that we can have the best possible view of what our country looks like.

Get familiar with your 2010 Census form- download a sample here!

MN Supreme Court declares Al Franken the winner

Huffington Post- The Minnesota Supreme Court has ordered that Democrat Al Franken be certified as the winner of the state's long-running Senate race.

The high court rejected a legal challenge from Republican Norm Coleman, whose options for regaining the Senate seat are dwindling. Read more here.

Top 100 nonprofit brands identified in new report

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- The YMCA of the USA's brand is worth almost $6.4 billion, making it the nation's most valuable nonprofit brand, according to The Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100.

This first-of-its-kind research explores the unique relationship between nonprofit brand image and financial performance, taking into account brand image rank, brand value in $, and revenue rank to measure national domestic service organizations, education nonprofits, health 501(c)(3)s and others against one another.

The Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100 - Top Ten

1. YMCA of the USA
   
2. The Salvation Army
   
3. United Way of America
   
4. American Red Cross
   
5. Goodwill Industries International
   
6. Catholic Charities USA
   
7. Habitat for Humanity International
   
8. American Cancer Society
9. The Arc of the United States
10. Boys & Girls Clubs of America
    

Read more here, or visit coneinc.com for the complete list and report.

A 50 State Standard for Election Reform

The Supreme Court left standing a key provision of the Voting Rights Act requiring some states to get "pre-clearance" for any election changes. (Read more).

Isn't it time not to wait for the next court decision but act now to come up with solutions that apply to all 50 states? At the top of the list for the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network is a national standard for voter registration, the number one problem for voters in elections. The 9 states that already have some kind of Election Day registration are good models.

Check out the excellent universal registration ideas put forward by Obama for America chief counsel Robert Bauer and McCain 2008 chief counsel Trevor Potter - "A New Page for Voting". For more information on this approach to a new national standard for voter registration - visit the Brennan Center for Justice or Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.

National Civic Summit on July 15th

The National Civic Summit, July 15-17 in Minneapolis, MN, will convene 100+ civic organizations, live and virtually, to explore new approaches and tools for non-partisan civic engagement.

In advance of this event, the summit is hosting a collection of free online training sessions during which social media experts will introduce participants to the basics of using social media tools in preparation for the National Tweetup on Wednesday, July 15.

Register today at www.civictraining.com!

Supreme Court votes not to strike down Section 5 of VRA

(Photo- racewire.com): The Supreme Court on June 22nd voted nearly unanimously not to strike down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act at this time. The provision requires certain Southern states with a history of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval before making changes to local election laws or voting districts.

The Supreme Courts ruling still allows districts within those states with a clean record to apply for exemption from the requirement.

Read more.

Census to recognize same-sex marriages in 2010 count

(Photo- NY Times) - The U.S. Census Bureau officials said Friday that married same-sex couples will be counted as such in the 2010 national tally, reversing an earlier decision made under the Bush administration.

Steve Jost, a spokesman for the Census Bureau, said officials already were identifying the technical changes needed to ensure the reliability of the information, but remained committed to providing an accurate tally of gay spouses.

"They will be counted, and they ought to report the way they see themselves," Jost said. "In the normal process of reports coming out after the census of 2010, I think the country will have a good data set on which to discuss this phenomenon that is evolving in this country."

-AP - 6.21.2009

Ohio Sec. of State Jennifer Brunner releases new fact sheet for 501(c)(3)s

OHIO- Ohio Sec. of State Jennifer Brunner's office has released a great fact sheet on what staff and volunteers of 501(c)(3) organizations can do to increase voter participation on a nonpartisan basis. Suggestions include registering and educating voters, conducting get out the vote activities, helping out on election day and using a point person within the organization for election-related work.

A great template for Sec. of States looking to create materials for helping their local nonprofits help increase civic engagement. Click to download!

Paper trail wins in Tennessee by one vote

The Tennessee legislature was ready to delay or scuttle a mandate for the state to go to paper ballots. It had passed the House and moved to the Senate. Lynn Williams, Field representative for the National Association of Community Health Clinics and NVEN voter participation partner, called her state senator. Her senator who was ready to vote with the House switched his vote. The attempt to delay or scuttle Tennessee moving to a paper ballot failed in the Senate by one vote. Tennessee is on track to join the close to 40 other states in now mandating a paper audit trail to ensure the possibility of a recount if necessary. Lynn worked with health clinics in the southeast on NACHC's Community Health Vote campaign in 2008.

$750,000 in grants available for 501(c)(3)s and schools for programs to increase student poll workers

The EAC is awarding a total of $750,000 in grants for programs that encourage college students to serve as poll workers. The program will award roughly 15 to 25 grants of at least $40,000 for new grantess and $10,000 for recompeting grantees.

How and When to Apply
Grant applications must be mailed or hand delivered to the EAC. Applications are due before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, July 16, 2009. For additional application information and instructions, read the official federal grant notice.

Contact Information
Questions regarding the grants can be directed to Mark Abbott or Julie Ruder by calling (866) 747-1471 toll-free or sending an e-mail to HAVACollegeProgram@eac.gov.

Eligibility Requirements
Private and public postsecondary institutions, community colleges, nonpartisan student organizations, and nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply.

For ideas and more information about recruitment activities, see the EAC’s Guidebook for Recruiting College Poll Workers.