Lawyers’ Committee and Coalition Parnters Challenge Georgia Voter List Purge in Federal Lawsuit
10.15.08
by Jon Greenbaum
On October 9th, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the ACLU Voting Rights Project and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational fund filed a lawsuit in Georgia on behalf of Cherokee County resident Jose Morales against Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, asking a federal court in Atlanta to halt the use of database matching procedures that inaccurately flag United States citizens as non-citizens, jeopardizing their attempts to register and vote.
For more information:
- Click here to read the press release.
- Click here to read the Memorandum of Points and Authorities, a document summarizing our argument in this case.
- Click here to read my Declaration, which contains supporting evidence.
- Click here to read one of the letters being sent to Georgia residents.
New Website at 866OurVote.org
09.17.08
by Eric Marshall
Election Protection has just launched a brand-new website at www.866OurVote.org. The new site is an excellent resources for voters, volunteers and leaders. Please check out the new website. We will be continually updating and improving it, so please bookmark it and keep checking back.
Visit www.866OurVote.org now!
Election Protection Legal Leaders Participate in 2008 Leadership Institute
09.12.08
by Jonah Goldman
This past Monday and Tuesday, legal leaders from across the country visited Washington, DC for a two day Election Protection Leadership Institute co-hosted by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Arnold & Porter LLC. Leaders participated in informational sessions and simulations geared towards developing a comprehensive understanding of the Election Protection program and its components. With topics ranging from Pre-November strategies and assignments to Litigation to Election Day protocols, our leaders were exposed to the entire breadth of the Election Protection program. The National Campaign for Fair Elections, along with the Lawyers’ Committee, would like to thank everyone for attending - Election Protection will be able to assist hundreds of thousands of voters this season. It wouldn’t be possible without you!
Virginia Students at Risk for Disenfranchisement
09.11.08
by Carlean Ponder
An article by Tamar Lewin in Monday’s New York Times highlighted questionable guidelines on the Virginia State Board of Elections’ website relating to students registering to vote.
Lewin’s article states that:
In Virginia, the county registrar first issued an alarming release on Aug. 25, and two days later a slightly toned-down version using language taken directly from the state Board of Elections’ Web site.
That site says students can determine their legal residence, but advises them to consider certain questions. "Are you claimed as a dependent on your parents’ income tax return?" the site asks. "If you are, then their address is probably your legal residence."
The site also tells students to check whether their coverage under their parents’ health or automobile insurance, or their scholarship, will be affected by changing their residence.
Election Protection’s Jon Greenbaum was quoted as saying "What the state Board of Elections has on its Web site, to me, sounds like it is discouraging students from registering at their school address."
This issue is of particular concern to the National Campaign for Fair Elections. As a highly mobile demographic, students are at risk for disenfranchisement. All too often, states try to restrict students’ ability to vote at their campus address or by absentee ballot when away at school. We are currently working with student voter registration groups in states and on campuses across the country to ensure that young people have the right to vote.
Click here for more information about NCFFE’s work to protect student voters.
Promote the 1-866-OUR-VOTE Hotline!
08.29.08
by Eric Marshall
The Election Protection Hotline, 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683) is live and fully trained volunteers are waiting to answer any questions voters have - no question is too big or too small. YOU can help voters in your area by printing out these flyers and handing them out, including them in your voter registration drives, and by telling your friends and family.
Click here for a full page flyer.
Click here for two half page flyers.
NYT editorial calls polling place problems “unworthy of the world’s leading democracy”
08.28.08
by Whitney Norton
The New York Times published an editorial on Monday highlighting one of Election Protection’s main concerns: problems at polling places. Adam Cohen’s "No One Should Have to Stand in Line for 10 Hours to Vote" invites readers to "consider the experience of students at Kenyon College in Ohio in the 2004 election… Some students waited in line for 10 hours, and the last bleary-eyed voter did not cast a ballot until nearly 4 a.m." In this case, officials provided two machines for over a thousand voters. Election Protection saw these same issues across the country this primary season.
In an effort to help voters avoid these types of problems in November, Election Protection Legal Committees have been meeting with election officials in states across the country. These meetings are an effort to forestall some of the surprisingly simple (and solvable) situations mentioned in Cohen’s editorial:
Most of the logistical questions about voting are generally left up to local officials. Too often they don’t want to spend the money to provide enough machines, and fail to hire or properly train enough poll workers for a smooth process.
In addition to problems that occur due to poor planning and a lack of resources, Election Protection is working to educate voters about other more malicious issues pointed out by Cohen: "there have long been reports of elections administrators in college towns trying to suppress the ‘‘out of town’’ student vote. There is a long, painful history of obstacles to black voting."
Concluding, Cohen discusses these issues on a national scale:
For the sake of the legitimacy of our elections, more voting disasters—long lines, confusing ballots or unreliable electronic voting machines—must be avoided. Congress should take the lead, but it has failed even to set standards for numbers of voting machines. This year, it failed to pass a good bill that would have made funds available to states to buy backup paper ballots.
... too little is being done to make sure that polling places can accommodate all of the voters who show up. That is a mistake. An election in which people have to wait 10 hours to vote, or in which black voters wait in the rain for hours, while white voters zip through polling places, is unworthy of the world’s leading democracy.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
Click here to read Adam Cohen’s editorial.
The Clock is Ticking
08.19.08
by Jonah Goldman
Last week, the Washington Post published my Letter to the Editor expressing approval for the August 4th editorial "Fear Mongers" which condemned the false allegations of widespread election fraud in Virginia. In addition to pointing out the detrimental effects of investigating unsubstantiated allegations, I warned that "without immediate action, the performance of our election system may fall short of voters’ expectations," and suggested that procedures "should be streamlined so that no one wishing to vote is turned away in November." Together, we can provide fair and secure elections, but the clock is ticking.
Click here to read my Letter to the Editor.
New York Times “Endorses” Election Protection
08.14.08
by Jonah Goldman
The New York Times called Election Protection "an effort that anyone who cares about democracy should get behind" in an editorial on August 9th.
After covering the meltdown of our election system in 2000 and highlighting the necessary work done by Election Protection in 2004, the Times called Election Protection "a powerful advocate for voters when it counted the most - while the polls were still open."
Discussing Election Protection’s work this year, I was quoted, saying "if there were the investment in voting infrastructure that there should be, we would be totally unnecessary." Unfortunately, that is not the case. According to the Times, "Until that happens - and until elections are run entirely by people who want every eligible voter to be able to cast a ballot - smart, well-coordinated volunteer efforts are crucial."
Click here to read the New York Times editorial.
NCFFE Director Offers Advice for Voters in Black Enterprise Article
08.06.08
by Eric Marshall
In the upcoming election, large turnout is expected across the nation. In a Black Enterprise article titled “Going to the Polls,” Tamara E. Holmes discusses solutions to some anticipated problems. The National Campaign for Fair Elections’ own Jonah Goldman was quoted saying:
"There is a huge concern that election officials who are responsible for getting everyone onto the rolls won’t have the resources or the systems to be able to put that into place…It could lead to really long lines and it can lead to confusion at the polling places,"
With the influx of new technology used in the voting process, groups are informing voters of expected procedures and practices previous to the arrival of Election Day. The article went on to highlight some invaluable resources such as the Election Protection Coalition’s www.866OurVote.org. Jonah offered this suggestion on being proactive:
"Call your local election official and say, ‘Am I on the rolls?’ If you’re on the rolls, great. Then find out where your polling place is so you can be prepared to vote on Election Day. If you’re not on the rolls, they have to tell you why you’re not."
Click here to read Holmes’s article.
Washington Post Lambastes Virginia Party Chair’s “Rhetorical Hand Grenade”
08.05.08
by Whitney Norton
The Washington Post published an editorial yesterday in response to the unfounded accusations of "voter fraud" made by the Virginia Republican Party chairman. According to the editorial, Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick claims that Virginia is experiencing "coordinated and widespread voter fraud," a charge unsubstantiated by election officials. Rather, the editorial claims that Frederick’s goal is simply "to frighten prospective voters" in a "classic attempt to suppress votes."
We at the National Campaign for Fair Elections applaud the Post’s response to this distracting politicization of a non-problem. As our Director, Jonah Goldman, said in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee [link to testimony blog], "Our election system needs an overhaul and not with political solutions to non-existent problems - like requiring discriminatory photo ID requirements, but with common sense solutions to the real problems voters face."
Click here to read the Post’s editorial.
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