The first day of the Florida legislative session in early March, saw the passage of a major election reform bill in the Florida House of Representatives. Despite the early promise of prompt reform, it took until the last day of session, this past Friday, for both chambers of the legislature agree on one comprehensive reform bill. The final product, HB 7013, offers some reforms to undo damage caused by 2011’s HB 1355. Unfortunately, the solutions are far from perfect and more work needs to be done.
Monday, May 20 is the 20th Anniversary of the signing on the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Let’s celebrate! Join us Monday, May 20 at 1 PM ET for a Twitter chat on #NVRAat20.
At a recent concert at DC’s 930 Club, fans threw their hands up in the air displaying wrists alight with glow bracelets scattered throughout the crowd. While you may not believe it, those bracelets had as much to do with music as they did with voting.
As Election Day approaches, two of the most common questions voters ask are: Am I registered to vote? And, where is my polling place?
These are very important questions to know the answers to as they are an integral part of planning a trip to the polling place or determining if you will need to vote early or by absentee ballot. Fortunately, the creation of statewide voter registration databases, following the passage of the Help America Vote Act, has made it much easier for states to provide this information to voters through on-line tools.
At 3 PM on Wednesday, September 26, Campus Vote Project, an initiative of the Fair Elections Legal Network, will be hosting a virtual town hall for college students and campus administrators to discuss student voting in the upcoming election.
Earlier this year, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) partnered with the Fair Elections Legal Network (FELN) to launch Community Health Vote 2012, a national non-partisan voter engagement campaign designed to establish voter engagement as an ongoing effort at Federally Qualified Health Centers around the country.
Late last week, a Texas judge issued an injunction striking down five provisions of Texas’ voter registration laws, in what many are calling a victory for voter registration organizations. Numerous provisions of the law were in question, with many of the more onerous provisions being halted by a temporary injunction pending trial.
Today, the Voting Rights Act turns 47 years old. The 1965 law was passed to put an end to Jim Crow-era laws that, along with intimidation and violence, disenfranchised black Americans in the South. Even when black southerners were able to register to vote, they were often required to pass literacy tests, recite the preamble of the Constitution from memory, and pay poll taxes. The Voting Rights Act gave the federal government the tools to prevent discriminatory voting practices passed by the states and guarantee the right to vote for all eligible voters.
