Groups Call for Senate to Quickly Pass "Veterans Voting Support Act"
Washington, DC — Hundreds of thousands of veterans would have widespread and direct access to voter registration services through Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offices under a landmark bill that was passed by the House of Representatives yesterday, the Veterans Voting Support Act (H.R. 6625), introduced by Rep. Robert Brady. A companion bill sponsored by Senators Diane Feinstein and John Kerry (S. 3308) may be acted on by the Senate in coming days.
Advocates Call for Passage of Feinstein and Kerry's "Veterans Voting Support Act"
New York — In response to the Department of Veterans Affairs' decision to modify its policy barring voter registration activity in VA facilities, today the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, Demos and the League of Women Voters submitted a letter to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein calling the VA's directive an important but still inadequate step towards protecting the voting rights of veterans.
New York, NY--Demos, a national public policy and research organization, is making a wide array of research and experts available to the media for interviews on issues central to Election 2008--from the mechanical challenges of the election process to economic and social issues driving voters' choices at the polls.
Election Day Registration (EDR), which allows eligible voters to register and cast a ballot on Election Day, is a reform that reduces the unnecessary disfranchisement of eligible voters that may be caused by arbitrary registration deadlines.
New York, NY — Today, Miles Rapoport, President of the national public policy center Demos, sent a letter of support to Senators Clinton, Feinstein, Leahy, Schumer, Kerry, Wyden, Reid, Murray and Obama for their sponsorship of S. 3308, introduced in the Senate on July 22, 2008. This legislation would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to permit facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to be designated as voter registration agencies, in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act.
Leading National Advocacy Organizations File Suit to Enforce Federal National Voter Registration Act
Kansas City, MO — The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and St. Louis resident Dionne O'Neal have filed a federal lawsuit today charging that the state of Missouri has failed to provide voter registration services to clients of state public assistance agencies, as required by the federal National Voter Registration Act ("NVRA"). The NVRA is a federal law enacted in 1993 to ensure all Americans have access to voter registration services.
Ninth Circuit Makes Final its Ruling that Vote-Swapping Websites Are Entitled to First Amendment Protection
New York — The Ninth Circuit has confirmed an important First Amendment victory for operators and users of political websites, denying California's petition for rehearing en banc in Porter v. Bowen. Today's order leaves standing an August 2007 ruling by a three-judge panel that the First Amendment protects so-called "vote-swapping" websites from threats of criminal prosecution by government officials.
Voting Rights Groups Demos and Project Vote Send Intent to Sue Notices to Arizona and Florida for Noncompliance with National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
Twelve years since the enactment of the NVRA, states across the country have regularly failed to comply with public assistance voter registration requirements.
The Supreme Court today turned back a constitutional challenge to spending limits for student government campaigns at the University of Montana, denying review of a June 2007 ruling by the Ninth Circuit that upheld the limits. The Supreme Court's action is a victory for the Associated Students of the University of Montana ("ASUM") and the University, which argued that the limits on campaign spending serve to assure all students, regardless of their financial circumstances, an equal opportunity to win election to student government.
New York — The United States Census practice of counting prisoners in their districts of incarceration rather than their home districts for the purpose of establishing electoral and Congressional representation is a violation of international treaty. This month, the non-partisan public policy and advocacy centers Demos and the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) submitted their analysis to the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva.
New York — Provisional ballots were a significant source of voter frustration and administrative problems at polling places during the 2006 election, according to a new report, A Fallible 'Fail-safe': An Analysis of Provisional Balloting Problems in the 2006 Election. The new study, published this week by the non-partisan public policy center Demos, underscores significant concern over provisional ballot implementation, a topic that has been the subject of recent hearings in the United States House of Representatives.
New York, NY — This week the Supreme Court agreed to hear Crawford v. Marion County Election Board and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita, a controversial lawsuit about the constitutionality of voter ID laws enacted since the disputed 2000 election. Though the debate has been defined by partisanship, Demos experts Brenda Wright and Lori Minnite can provide clear analysis of election law, the incidence of voter fraud, and the effectiveness of voter ID.
Missouri — Today, Demos and Project Vote, representing the community group ACORN, sent a letter of intent to sue the Missouri Department of Social Services if the state doesn't comply with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to provide voter registration opportunities in public assistance offices.
New York, NY — North Carolina is taking a number of steps to be in full compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, specifically its requirement that states offer voter registration opportunities in public assistance agencies, according to a new report published this week by Demos, a national election reform and voting rights policy center.