Our ambitious legislative advocacy program works on both the national and state level to design effective strategies to ensure meaningful election reform and prevent disenfranchising legislation from moving through Congress and state legislatures. While we must continually fight efforts by our opponents, the Campaign is committed to creating positive change. From fighting voter identification requirements to outlawing deceptive practices to advocating for Election Day registration, the National Campaign for Fair Elections is at the forefront of the fight for election reform.
The Campaign also administers and leads the National Network for Election Reform, a diverse group of organizations working on election reform issues in the states and at the federal level. Working with advocates, policy makers and election administrators, we provide strategic legal, legislative, grassroots, and communications assistance to coalitions and organizations working on election reform issues.
An Agenda for Election Reform
Jonah Goldman, Director of the National Campaign for Fair Elections, and Wendy Weiser, Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, co-authored An Agenda for Election Reform, providing detailed solutions to the problems and deficiencies in the American electoral system.
Voter Caging
Voter caging involves a campaign, organization, or private party that sends mail marked "return to sender" or "do not forward." The mail returned as undeliverable is then used to compile caging lists. These lists form the basis for challenging votes cast by citizens who do not live at the address at which they are registered to vote. This politically motivated scheme has been artfully employed in an attempt to intimidate and challenge the eligibility of legally-registered voters, predominantly from low-income and minority communities.
Playing Politics with Voters’ Rights
The Bush Administration has engaged in a coordinated campaign to politicize the federal agencies whose job it is to protect the rights of voters.
Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation
Voter harassment and intimidation at the polls is not a thing of the past. Deceptive practices include things such as distributing incorrect information about voter eligibility and polling locations, as well as incidents involving voter intimidation and harassment at the polls. Deceptive practices often target minority and low-income communities, curbing the right to vote for millions of Americans around the country.
Photo Identification and Proof of Citizenship Requirements
Photo identification and proof of citizenship requirements are perhaps the most nefarious attack on voting rights since the poll tax. The National Campaign for Fair Elections has been fighting against photo identification and proof of citizenship requirements in states across the country with a combined strategy of policy, legislative advocacy, and litigation.
Implementation of the National Voter Registration Act
The National Voter Registration Act (also known as the “Motor Voter” bill) was passed by Congress in 1993. Building on the work of the Voting Rights Act, the NVRA requires states to affirmatively offer voter registration services.
Barriers to Third Party Voter Registration
The 2004 election cycle saw an unprecedented effort to register voters in traditionally disfranchised communities. This activity was perceived by many as a refreshing exercise of democratic enthusiasm; however, to those who were more concerned with preserving political successes than with honoring our constitutional republic, this new influx of voters threatened incumbency at all levels. Many states proposed or adopted legislation that strictly regulated the activities of third party organizations in the last two years. These legislative efforts not only created administrative obstacles for such organizations, but many of them also implemented criminal and civil penalties for individuals facilitating voter registration drives.
Election Fraud and Misconduct
All Americans are concerned about the veracity of our democratic results. Fraud and misconduct undermine that confidence and must be avoided.
Disenfranchisement of People with Felony Convictions
Laws in 48 states and the District of Columbia deny voting rights from some citizens who have been convicted of felonies. The variety of offenses that fits into this category is very broad and includes writing a bad check and injury to a racehorse. As a result of these policies, 4.7 million people with felony convictions are disfranchised.
Secure, Transparent, and Accurate Voting Machine Technology
In an election system riddled with problems, one of the key issues is whether Americans can be assured their vote will be counted as cast. The weaknesses of various voting technologies must be weighed against the standards of accessibility, accuracy, and accountability. Above all, the technology employed must merit the confidence of the voters.
Equitable Distribution of Election Resources
Numerous reports from the media, voters and election officials revealed that in Ohio, during the November 2004 elections, there was a disparity between the number of voting machines assigned to predominately minority and urban precincts in the state and the number made available in more suburban and exurban precincts, which resulted in longer lines in inner city precincts and undoubtedly disenfranchised voters who were unable or unwilling to wait in line for hours to vote. Activists and commentators have likened excessive lines at the polls to a new “poll tax” that disenfranchises poorer, working-class voters disproportionately.
Statewide Voter Registration Databases
The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires each state to replace its voter registration lists with a computerized statewide voter registration database that is coordinated with other state databases to ensure that voter registration lists are as complete and as accurate as possible and that citizens do not lose their right to vote as a result of administrative errors.
Erroneous Voter Purges
Many Americans first became aware of “list maintenance,” the process by which election officials remove voters’ names from the rolls because they have become ineligible to vote, have duplicate registrations, have moved from the jurisdiction where they registered to vote, or for other reasons as permitted by law, after the 2000 presidential election. Federal and state laws regulate the purging process and states must adopt safeguards to ensure that eligible voters are not removed from the rolls.
Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities
The promise of past legislation to secure voting rights for voters with disabilities remains, in many ways, unfulfilled and basic barriers to voting remain.
Voting Barriers for Citizens with Mental Disabilities
Voters with mental disabilities face particularly insidious barriers to equal participation in the electoral process—discriminatory rules and procedures applied only to them. Learn more about removing voting barriers for citizens with mental disabilities.
Election Day Registration
Election Day Registration (EDR), also known as “same-day voter registration,” permits eligible citizens to register and vote on Election Day. Election Day Registration has many advantages, including higher-than-average voter turnout, few reported problems with fraud, and enhanced citizen’s participation in our democratic process - all with insignificant changes in costs, or administrative difficulty.
Early Voting
Expanding voters’ options by allowing early voting, particularly if that includes “instant voter registration,” enables more citizens to participate in the political decision-making process, letting them fulfill the important civic responsibility of voting and strengthening our democracy.
Universal Absentee Voting
Early, universal absentee voting increases voter registration, improves election administration, and is a safe and convenient method of voting.
Protecting Student Voting Rights
The National Campaign for Fair Elections has been at the forefront in protecting the voting rights of students across the country. 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.