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How to fix America's voter registration system so more people can vote

Jen Kirby

October 06, 2020 |

Vox |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oregon

Over a dozen states have adopted some variation of automatic voter registration, which is common in many European democracies. Voters in Oregon are mailed a notification when they are enrolled, which they can send back to opt out if they want. Prior to the 2016 election, 225,000 Oregonians were registered that way and 100,000 of those voted, a turnout rate of 43%. Some believe it is a more accurate way to maintain and update voter rolls. For voter data, states can use DMV and state tax records or join the over 30 states who are members of the nonprofit Electronic Registration Information Center.

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Minnesota nonprofits boost voter outreach for 2020 election

Kelly Smith

October 05, 2020 |

Minnesota Star Tribune |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Minnesota

Nonprofits increased voter engagement in communities that face barriers to voting. Deaf Equity posted videos on social media in ASL to educate voters on how to register to vote and track mail-in ballots. The Native American Community Development Institute is engaging with voters in rural Minnesota, religious leaders at mosques, churches, and temples are encouraging members to vote, and volunteers at food shelves are handing out voter registration forms. Several groups have received funding to conduct voter outreach with Black and Muslim communities as well as neighborhoods where people have lower incomes.

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Empowering the survivor voting block

Angela K. Evans

October 01, 2020 |

Boulder Weekly |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Colorado’s Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) helps survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse keep their physical addresses private. Registering to vote requires an address, which is part of the public record. The ACP program can also be used to enroll children in schools, on their driver’s licenses, and in court. ACP works with the postal service to create ghost addresses for survivors and it serves as the only place where the addresses are known. Four thousand people are currently using the service and up to 9,000 have used it since it began.

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Wyoming Voter Turnout Lags Averages; Could Access Reforms Help?

Dustin Bleizeffer

September 30, 2020 |

WyoFile |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Colorado’s election reforms have increased voter participation in local, state, and national races. Voters can register to vote online or in-person, even on election day, and eligibility is cross-checked with existing state agencies. State voter registration rolls track address changes, rather than automatically purging voter-roll. Every registered voter is mailed a ballot that can be returned by mail or dropped off at official sites. Turnout increased from 66% in 2008 to 72% in 2016 and was the second highest in the nation's 2018 midterm elections. Several other states have implemented Colorado’s reforms.

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Voting from Jail Is a Right, and Now a Reality in Chicago

Pamela Kirkland

September 21, 2020 |

70 Million |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago's Cook County Jail became the first jail in the nation in March to open a polling place behind bars, resulting in about 1,800 voters casting ballots, a sharp increase in voting by eligible voters in the jail. The polling place, combined with expanded voter-registration efforts, resulted from a new Illinois law requiring all counties to expand voting access. Outside of Chicago that means voting by mail. The Chicago experience provides a window into efforts nationwide to expand voting access to people incarcerated in jails and prisons, or with criminal records.

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Hi, There. Want to Triple Voter Turnout?

Tina Rosenberg

September 19, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Vote Tripling is a get-out-the-vote strategy where volunteers set up outside of polling places, a safer pandemic option, and ask voters to text three friends with a reminder to vote. A randomized trial showed turnout was nearly 8 percentage points higher among people receiving texts. The message to vote holds more weight coming from a friend and it empowers those doing the texting, who also receive an election day reminder to send the texts. To be most effective, the technique requires a busy polling place where proximity to the polling place is legally allowed.

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Wisconsin voters should request ballots now for mail-in voting

Max Witynski

September 02, 2020 |

Wisconsin Watch |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wisconsin

In the 2020 Wisconsin primary, increased mail-in voting overwhelmed the system and last-minute decisions to vote by mail led to voter confusion. This increased ballot rejections, which can systematically disenfranchise some populations. Learning from these failures, officials will send absentee voting guidelines and applications to 2.6 million voters and use barcodes to track ballots. Due to mail delivery issues, officials also publicly urged voters to request and submit ballots well before the deadline. Critics believe the state could do much more to make voting safe and easy during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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More People With Felony Convictions Can Vote, but Roadblocks Remain

Lindsey Van Ness

August 31, 2020 |

Stateline |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

A longstanding campaign to restore voting rights to people with felony convictions led nine states since the 2016 presidential election to create or expand such rights, benefiting hundreds of thousands of potential voters. As of 2016, an estimated 6.1 million people were unable to vote because of a felony conviction. As that number has dropped, advocates have faced another obstacle: getting newly enfranchised people to register and vote. Nationwide, a number of advocacy and public-interest groups are racing to register the formerly incarcerated as the 2020 election approaches.

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Why doctors are handing out voter registration kits

Philip Marcelo

August 10, 2020 |

Associated Press |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States

Thousands of physicians and 60 hospital systems are participating in Civic Health Month, a nationwide effort to encourage voter participation. VotER has over 15,000 orders for “Healthy Democracy Kits,” which compile voter registration resources for medical professionals. Med Out the Vote is another effort focused on registering medical students to vote and dozens of universities have expressed interest in hosting head-to-head voter registration competitions with rival schools. Some don't think doctors should be involved with civic education, but others believe it is one part of treating the whole individual.

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'An awakening': the George Floyd protests spur surge in Black voter registration

Megan Botel Isaiah Murtaugh

August 07, 2020 |

The Guardian |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Advocacy organizations conducted voter outreach and registered new voters at Black Lives Matters protests on a scale not seen since the civil rights era. HeadCount, a voter-registration organization, created QR codes that anyone with a printer could put on protest signs. Other attendees could scan the codes with their smartphones to immediately register to vote. The group registered 14,898 new voters in June 2020, compared with 1,204 in June 2016. Political organizing at the summer’s protest events contributed to higher turnout in local and national elections, particularly among Black and Latino voters.

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