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Project Vote is the leading technical assistance and direct service provider to the civic participation community. Since its founding in 1982, Project Vote has provided professional training, management, evaluation and technical services on a broad continuum of key issues related to voter engagement and participation in low-income and minority communities.
SHARE Sunday, February 1, 2009 Equal Voting Rights Still In Question in 2009
After the voters spoke last November by turning out in record numbers, we enter a new year with a new president and multiple new agendas for election administration in the states that bring both excitement and concern from voting rights advocates.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, December 20, 2008 Record Voter Turnout Indicates Closing of Electoral Gaps With the Help of Early Vote
Final election results from the 2008 presidential election reveal that voter turnout was at the "highest level in 40 years." However, the biggest gain cannot just be seen in overall turnout. As Project Vote assessed in a recent report on 2008 voter demographics - now confirmed by other sources - the biggest gain was among minority and young voters. This success signifies a shift towards a more balanced electorate, and may hera
SHARE Friday, December 5, 2008 Lawmakers Target Individual Voters, While Failing to Address Systemic Problems
Recent analyses of the 2008 general election find that overall participation increased on November 4, with a significant surge in voter participation among historically underrepresented Americans. Yet, while some lawmakers have been inspired by the recent voter turnout to propose election reforms that expand access to voting rights, others continue to focus on creating additional barriers to voting.
SHARE Wednesday, November 26, 2008 Exit Poll Analysis Finds Surge in Youth and Minority Voting
The United States saw dramatic increases in voting from traditionally underrepresented groups, including minorities and young voters, according to a new analysis released this week by Project Vote. If borne out by systematic analysis of the voter rolls, this change in the electorate is evidence of the power of successful voter registration drives and an indication of the strong inclination of voters to participate in the proce
SHARE Thursday, November 20, 2008 After 2008 Election, Some States Want to Make Voting Easier; Others Determined to Make it Harder
Following an historic turnout in the 2008 election comes a flurry of election reform agendas from both sides of the battle over voting rights. Since November 4, some state lawmakers have seized on the success of early voting and Election Day Registration (EDR) as models for facilitating voter registration, while others appear to have been threatened by the heightened turnout and inspired to introduce restrictive voter ID and p
SHARE Friday, November 14, 2008 Calling for Election Reform: Universal Registration and Early Voting Take Lead in Voting Rights Discussions
Following one of the most momentous elections in the nation's history, officials and advocates across the country are already turning their attention to the future of American democracy. After a grueling battle over voter registration, voter roll maintenance, and ballot access for the ever growing electorate, leaders and advocates are evaluating what worked this year and considering major administrative and legislative overhau
SHARE Tuesday, November 4, 2008 UPDATE: Project Vote Lawsuit in Indiana puts 200 Voters Back on the Rolls
In a victory for voting rights and common sense, Marion County, Indiana has agreed that 200 Indiana residents will not be blocked from the polls just because they registered using a slightly-different registration form from previous election cycles.
SHARE Monday, November 3, 2008 Project Vote Files Suit on Behalf of Indiana Woman who Correctly Registered, but on Wrong Form
Drametra Brown grew up in Indianapolis, attended Broad Ripple High School, and spent most of her life in the city. Now 37 and a certified nursing assistant, Drametra works with senior citizens at Alpha Home, an Indianapolis nursing home. Drametra had never voted before, but this year was different, and when a fellow staff member and good Samaritan Lisa Hamilton, Alpha Home's Admissions Director, handed out blank registration f
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, October 24, 2008 New Voters Under Siege: Ohio Exemplifies National Voting Rights Issues
For those of us who believe that democracy works best when all eligible citizens participate, the influx of new voters makes for an exciting presidential election year. Of course, with the excitement and high expectations of turnout comes controversy and partisan resistance to the new crop of voters.
SHARE Thursday, October 9, 2008 Changing the Game: Voter Registration Drives Reshape the American Electorate
Monday marked the last day to register to vote before November's presidential election in many states and the conclusion to one of the nation's largest nonpartisan voter registration drives in history. Helping more than 1.3 million of the America's underrepresented young, low-income and minority citizens register to vote, Project Vote and its voter registration drive partner, the Association of Community Organizations for Refo
SHARE Wednesday, October 1, 2008 TIMELINE: Mich. Vote Caging Scheme Exemplifies Mounting Dirty Tricks Operations
On Sept. 10, reporter Eartha Jane Melzer of online publication, the Michigan Messenger broke the story that the GOP of Macomb County, Mich. was planning to use public lists of foreclosures to challenge the eligibility of potentially thousands of low-income and minority voters in that hard-hit region. Since that time (and at least party through Project Vote's efforts to catalyze action to stop the illegal disenfranchisement), t
SHARE Friday, September 19, 2008 Veterans Advocates Skeptical of New V.A. Registration Policies
We recently wrote about the Department of Veterans Affairs decision to open its facilities to voter registration drives after months of urging by voting rights groups and elected officials. This week, however, "VA voter suppression continues," as AlterNet's Steven Rosenfeld wrote Tuesday, with voter registration efforts being blocked in California and the VA general counsel criticizing the pending Veterans Voting Support Act
SHARE Friday, September 12, 2008 Mich. GOP Targets Foreclosure Victims for Election Day Dirty Tricks
Partisan political operatives in Michigan are taking voter caging operations to depths that would surprise even the most cynical observers of American elections. If their plans are put into action, thousands of Michigan foreclosure victims may find that they will not only have lost their homes this year, but also their vote.
SHARE Monday, September 8, 2008 Ohio Secretary of State Brunner Does Right By Voters
For a while now we've been keeping you informed of Project Vote's efforts to prevent a repeat of massive voter caging operations that plagued Ohio in the 2004 elections.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, August 29, 2008 Electoral Dirty Tricks Coming Soon To An In-Box Near You
Election experts have already worried that the surge of newly registered voters may cause unintentional chaos through long lines and ballot shortages on Election Day. Now there is increased concern that intentional chaos, thru disinformation, may be caused by partisan forces using something that millions of Americans access every day - the Internet.
SHARE Thursday, August 21, 2008 How Voter ID Laws Unfairly Burden Voters And Skew The Electorate
With little more than two months left before Election Day, prospective voters are rushing to get registered. And like the way that slugs thrive in moist weather, voter suppression attacks spring up around large-scale voter registration drives. Partisan attempts to shape the electorate, in effect choosing the voters rather than voters choosing their own representatives, seek to impose barriers to voter participation by eligible