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How North Dakota tribes countered a restrictive voting law

Art Hughes

March 07, 2019 |

Native America Calling |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, North Dakota

Native American tribes, community groups, and nonprofits quickly responded to a North Dakota law requiring voter IDs with physical street addresses by holding information sessions, setting up stations to create instant tribal IDs, and placing volunteers at polling stations to assist those who wanted to vote actually be able to do so. Many tribal members rely on post office boxes and do not have an official address on their reservation. Despite some voters being turned away because of their ID, overall there was a record turnout in precincts that include reservations.

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Denver will allow smartphone voting for thousands of people (but probably not you)

Andrew Kenney

March 07, 2019 |

The Denver Post |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

In the hopes of making voting more accessible, the city of Denver, Colorado will allow their international voters, a population of about 4,000, to vote electronically on an app called Voatz. Already used by about 144 voters in West Virginia during the 2018 election, Voatz uses blockchain technology, which stores user votes across encrypted servers. Though some have cited security concerns, many hope the voting app will replace the current more insecure digital method.

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Mail-in votes helped make Florida's election a nightmare. A solution? More mail-in votes

David Smiley

February 28, 2019 |

Miami Herald |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Florida

Over the past two decades, Florida has notoriously been plagued with voting complications, which have called into question the integrity of many state and national elections. In an attempt to simplify voting, Florida is now opting for three parallel systems: Election Day precincts, early voting centers, and by mail.

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It's become much harder to rig elections in Nigeria thanks to technology

Yomi Kazeem

February 20, 2019 |

Quartz Africa |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Nigeria

Using two-step authentication helps to increase the security of elections. Nigeria has addressed several of the problems that marred its 2007 elections by introducing card readers and permanent voter cards (PVCs) to replace paperwork that could be more easily forged. Nigeria’s electoral commission has also worked with cyber-security experts to implement the upgrades to its election systems. What remains is to ensure compliance with new regulations.

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Native American Rights Groups Are Targeting Six States to Fight Voter Suppression in 2020

Massoud Hayoun

February 14, 2019 |

Pacific Standard |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, North Dakota

Native American voters are disproportionately impacted by restrictive voter ID laws, particularly those that require proof of address because many Native Nations do not use formal street addresses. In response, the voting rights group Four Directions helped create and implement a system that allowed tribal officials to set up at polling places and immediately generate an ID on tribal letterhead with an address based on a location that a voter pointed to on a map. The group also supported lawsuits to expand polling places, lessening the financial and travel burdens for Native American voters.

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Can a Nonreligious Church Save Politics?

Adrienne Day

December 05, 2018 |

NationSwell |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Modeled after faith-based services, Civic Saturday encourages civic participation by creating a space for people to discuss social change, organize to vote, and engage in other democracy and community-building activities. The concept has been replicated in cities across the United States.

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Make Voting Easy

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

November 07, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Oregon

Voter turnout is higher where voting is made easy. Consider one innovation: vote-by mail. States that allowed mail-in ballots had an average of 10 percent more voting in the 2016 election than other states. More innovations include pre-registering young voters, automatically updating a voter’s address when they move, automatically registering citizens unless they opt out, and same-day voter registration.

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An evidence-based way to help fix our broken politics

Jeff Grabmeier

November 05, 2018 |

Ohio State News |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States

If elected representatives have a few hours to speak with their constituents, where’s what they should do: discuss policy issues online with a small group of randomly selected constituents. Participants appreciate the opportunity to speak with their representatives, rate them more highly, and are more likely to vote for them – even months later. The evidence supporting this method of engaging constituents is so compelling that researchers will present their work to all new members of Congress this year.

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The Seattle Experiment

Kenny Malone

November 02, 2018 |

NPR |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Seattle’s “Democracy Vouchers,” funded by a ballot measure to increase property taxes, provide money for residents to make campaign contributions, which increases civic participation and helps people running for office without political connections fund their campaigns. Every city resident receives four 25$ vouchers that they can sign over to the candidate of their choice and mail back in a pre-stamped envelope. Even though only 3% of vouchers were actually used, the number of people contributing to campaigns tripled and several non-establishment candidates were able to run campaigns and get elected.

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Hospitals help patients get out the vote while stuck in bed

Kristen de Groot

November 02, 2018 |

Associated Press |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Some hospitals are finding ways to help their patients vote. Penn Votes Project is an initiative between hospitals and the Penn Law School that helps patients fill out and notarize their absentee ballots. Then there’s Patientvoting.com where patients can find information on medical absentee voting by state. “Every citizen of the United States has the right to vote and we think getting ill shouldn’t impair that process.”

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