May 2008
Lawsuit Filed Against Missouri Agencies for Failure to Offer Voter Registration
ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and a Missouri voter filed suit in federal court against Missouri's Department of Social Services (DSS) and several local boards of elections on April 23, 2008, alleging that public assistance clients and applicants were not being offered an opportunity to register to vote, as required by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA). DSS offices are obliged to distribute voter registration materials with each public assistance application, recertification, renewal, or change of address. Local boards of elections supervise the registration of voters within their jurisdictions. Plaintiffs are represented by Demos, Project Vote, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and private counsel. Click here to view the Complaint.
Recent data suggests a serious drop off in Missouri's compliance with the law. Although over 140,000 clients registered to vote in DSS offices in 1995-1996, after the NVRA went into effect, registrations there had fallen to 15,568 by 2005-2006. Such precipitous decline can not be explained by a drop in public assistance activity. While DSS received 238,699 food stamp applications in FY 1995, over 300,000 applications were processed in FY 2006.
The empirical evidence of non-compliance is buttressed by surveys at public assistance offices and client interviews conducted by ACORN. Plaintiffs found that almost no client had been offered voter registration in four of the state's largest cities and counties. Voter registration applications were not even available at three offices. The combined failure of DSS to offer voter registration and of Missouri elections boards to properly supervise voter registration activity resulted in 100,000 eligible, low-income citizens not being added to Missouri's voter rolls.
ACORN and the individual plaintiff seek declaratory relief and preliminary and permanent injunctions, directing that defendants take all necessary measures to remedy past harms, including proper reporting and monitoring.
Public Assistance Agency Registrations and Same Day Registration Could Be Decisive in North Carolina Primary
North Carolina's May 6th primary election is gearing up to be a pivotal contest in the 2008 presidential race. Two policy reforms that Demos helped enact have added tens of thousands of new voters to the rolls, many of them low-income citizens. These new voters could prove decisive in determining which candidates will be on the presidential ballot in November.
At the prompting of Demos and our partners in the NVRA Implementation Project, North Carolina's State Board of Elections began "re-implementing" voter registration opportunities at public assistance offices early last year, as required under Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. At least 34,400 voter registration applications were subsequently submitted at public assistance offices between February 2007 and February 2008--an average of 2,873 per month. In contrast, the state had logged only 11,607 voter registrations at public assistance offices during the entire preceding two years, an average of only 484 per month. The state's implementation of our recommended best practices has led to an almost six-fold increase in the number of clients registering to vote at public assistance offices.
Same Day Registration (SDR) is also expanding the North Carolina electorate. As of April 30, 2008, 25,000 North Carolinians had registered and voted at the state's in-person early voting sites, open from 19 to three days before each election, as provided for in SDR legislation enacted last year. Above-average turnout is expected among groups of voters who tend to vote at lower rates (i.e., 18-25 year olds, African Americans, the poor and those who have moved in the last six months). A new Demos report, How Same Day Registration Became Law in North Carolina, attributes enactment of SDR in 2007 to new political leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly; the support of influential election officials; and a strong, unified coalition of advocates and organizers.
Arriving at an electorate that is broadly representative of the country has been an enduring challenge for American democracy. Expanded voter registration opportunities at public assistance agencies and in-person early voting sites are broadening the base of North Carolina voters and amplifying their voices in the decisive presidential election this year.
Photo ID Ruling is Bad Law and Policy
The Supreme Court's decision this week to uphold one of the nation's most onerous voter identification laws in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board marked a sharp departure from the constitutional tradition of recognizing voting as a fundamental right. The ruling upholds a statute that will burden many of Indiana's eligible voters, especially people of color, the poor and elderly voters-those least likely to have access to photo ID. Plaintiffs' arguments of the dearth of evidence of voter impersonation at the polls--the only type of fraud affected by a photo ID requirement--were generally glossed over. And, as Justice Souter pointed out in his dissent, such impersonation is relatively easy to detect. The ability to uncover such fraud is underscored by the likelihood that it would be perpetrated by large and highly visible entities like political campaigns and parties--an observation for which Souter cited Securing the Vote, An Analysis of Election Fraud, a 2003 Demos report, as authority. Barnard College Professor and Demos Senior Fellow Lorraine Minnite updated her voter fraud study In November 2007.
Looking beyond Crawford's legal implications, the Court's decision clearly did not establish that restrictive photo ID requirements are good policy. Rushing to enact such restrictive new laws would lead to longer lines at the polls, a massive surge in provisional balloting, and greater costs for pollworker training. It would also invite prolonged litigation through as-applied challenges to voter ID laws, a legal avenue left open by the Court.
In response to the Court's opinion, Newsday's Opinion Staff weighed in, declaring that the "decision marks a disturbing about-face for an institution that in the past has been an important defender of voters' rights." Click here to read the entire post.
ABA Publication Explores Election Day Registration and Other Voting Issues
The American Bar Association's Section of State and Local Government Law has released America Votes! A Guide to Modern Election Law and Voting Rights. America Votes! provides a snapshot of voting and electoral practices, problems, and most current issues. Demos' Brenda Wright and Steven Carbó authored a chapter on Election Day Registration. Other issues of election law explored in America Votes! include the following:
- Lessons learned from the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections
- The Help America Vote Act of 2002
- Meeting the demand of a growing language-minority voting population
- How the government, poll workers, political parties, and nonpartisan advocates can work together to ensure smooth election administration
- Felon disenfranchisement
- Section 5 and the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006
- Assessing the constitutionality of the recently renewed Section 5 preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act
- Voting technology and the law
- Government-issued photo identification and proof of citizenship requirements for voters
- The growth of early and non-precinct place balloting
- Election challenges involving candidates for federal office
- Demographic and statistical experts in election litigation
America Votes! is an invaluable resource for lawyers as well as law school professors, election officials, state and local government personnel involved in election administration, election workers and poll workers.
A Better Deal Conference--Connecting Youth, Economic Challenges and Politics
Scholarships are still available for Demos' A Better Deal Conference, being held May 8-9 in Washington, D.C. Attendees will be offered tools to connect politics to the personal financial struggles of young voters and have an opportunity to design and participate in their own, user-generated workshops. A Better Deal: Reclaiming Economic Security for a New Generation is sponsored by Demos in partnership with nearly 30 youth and civic organizations. Hundreds of young activists will meet to learn about the economic crisis facing the young generation and start building a movement for a better deal. For more information and registration, visit: www.abetterdealconference.org. The conference is free.
EDR Update
Legislatures in both Massachusetts and Hawaii continue to weigh Election Day Registration measures. Demos continues to monitor and support these efforts. The Massachusetts bill would implement EDR for the 2008 and 2010 general elections, after which the Secretary of State would prepare a report recommending EDR's continuation or elimination. The Hawaii EDR bill carries a 2010 implementation date. Election Day Registration proposals have been introduced in 27 states this year--including legislation to limit or eliminate EDR in three states where it is currently offered (Maine, Wisconsin, and Iowa). As previously reported here, West Virginia passes a measure to study and makes recommendations on EDR in advance of the 2009 legislative session.
Meanwhile, Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MI), and Representative Keith Ellison (D-MI), have introduced legislation in Congress to require Election Day Registration for all federal elections. The bill's introduction comes days after the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana voter ID law that seriously impedes the ability of elderly and low-income Americans to vote. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Jon Tester (D-MT), who represent states that recently enacted Election Day Registration, are also cosponsors of the bill.
Read Demos' Statement in response to the introduction of the Federal EDR Bill.