All legal citizens should have the right to vote.
Fact:
There was no widespread voter fraud in the 2020 elections.
More info here. http://shovegov.org/voter-fraud/
The For the People Act would create a national baseline for voting access that every American can rely on, and it would foil state efforts to manipulate voting rules to exclude eligible voters or create discriminatory outcomes. Our new resource outlines each of the major elements of the pending state voter suppression bills and explains how the For the People Act would address them.
While Republican lawmakers in 43 states are trying to keep people from voting, Congress has the opportunity to not just fight to uphold democracy, but to expand it. It’s not a moment for hand-wringing. The Senate must act quickly to pass the For the People Act.
Source: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/congress-can-stop-assault-voting-rights
From USA Today… “American democracy is at a crossroads. Legislators in 43 states have introduced voter suppression bills that, if enacted, would amount to the most far-reaching setbacks for voter participation in well over a century, all based upon the Big Lie that the 2020 election was infected by fraud. Nationwide, states are debating more than 250 voting restriction bills that all pursue the same fundamental strategy: giving one party an advantage in elections by making it harder for communities of color to cast their ballots. And they have made no bones about their intent. Take it from Senator Lindsey Graham, who declared that he was going to investigate mail-in voting because “if we don’t do something about voting by mail, we’re going to lose the ability to elect a Republican in this country.” HR 1 offers a stark alternative to this regression to Jim Crow, building on the best and most effective practices from states around the country — red and blue — to strengthen our multiracial, inclusive democracy. It offers automatic voter registration, equal access to mail-in balloting, and same-day voter registration. It requires states to provide voters with access to drop boxes on a per capita basis, starting 45 days before elections. It also would mandate early voting periods, including weekend voting, while prohibiting witness signature requirements and making it harder to purge voters from voter rolls.”
Annotated Guide to the For the People Act of 2021
An in-depth guide to HR 1.
SUMMARY: The For the People Act would transform our democracy by making it fairer, stronger, and more inclusive. The Brennan Center explains the key provisions of this historic bill.
H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2021, passed the House of Representatives on March 3, 2021. footnote1_m9x2h7f1The Senate version of the bill, which has been designated S.1, is set to be introduced soon. A previous version of the bill passed the House of Representatives in the 116th Congress on March 8, 2019, by a vote of 234 to 193 (the previous Senate version, S. 949, was cosponsored by all 45 Senate Democrats and both Independents). Across 10 titles, this historic legislation would make it easier to vote in federal elections, end congressional gerrymandering, overhaul federal campaign finance laws, increase safeguards against foreign interference, strengthen government ethics rules, and more. Most of these reforms would be implemented for the November 2022 general election, with the exception of some redistricting and public financing changes that would go into effect later.
Part 1 — Promoting Internet Registration
This part would provide for online voter registration in federal elections nationwide. Traditionally, voters register using paper forms. State officials then manually transfer each qualified voter’s information from the paper form into the state registration system. This process is both costly and prone to error, which is why a majority of states have moved to offer online registration. As of October 2020, online registration had been implemented in 40 states and the District of Columbia.
Part 2 — Automatic Voter Registration
This part would, among other things:
- require each state (including U.S. territories) to implement a process whereby eligible voters who provide information to certain state agencies (such as the DMV, social service providers, and public universities) will be automatically registered to vote unless the voter declines registration at the point of service (a so-called “front-end” opt-out);
- require state agencies to inform prospective voters that they will be automatically registered unless they decline, and inform them of voter eligibility requirements and the consequences of false registration;
- require agencies to transfer voter registration information to election officials electronically, eliminating paper registration forms;
- order a one-time transfer of existing records for those eligible for registration, effectively applying AVR retroactively;
- require states to allow registered voters to update their address information at the polls;
- authorize the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to monitor states’ election practices and provide additional funds to assist them with implementing new AVR requirements; and
- require states to ensure that AVR processes remain nonpartisan, nondiscriminatory, and accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Part 3 — Same Day Voter Registration
This part would require states to offer same-day registration (SDR) for federal elections. Traditionally, eligible voters have been required to register in advance of an election in order to cast a ballot. In many states, the voter registration deadline falls more than four weeks before a given election. SDR allows eligible residents to register to vote and cast a ballot on the same day. By ensuring that all eligible voters who go to the polls can participate in an election, SDR helps safeguard against registration system errors, cyber-attacks, and wrongful purges. As of 2020, 21 states and the District of Columbia had enacted SDR.
This part would amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) to allow all eligible voters nationally to register and vote on the same day in federal elections, both on Election Day and during early voting periods.
Part 4 — Conditions on Removal on Basis of Interstate Cross-checks
This part places limits on states’ use of data compiled through interstate cross-checks to purge eligible voters from the rolls. Cross-check programs are shared databases that collect voter registration records from multiple states to identify duplicate registrations. When poorly designed, their use can result in eligible voters being purged from the rolls. One program, created by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, was shown in a recent study to have a greater than 99 percent error rate.
Part 5 — Other Initiatives to Promote Voter Registration
This part would create additional mechanisms to facilitate voter registration. Among other things, it would:
- amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) to ensure that pre-election registration deadlines are consistent with the timing of public holidays;
- require states to create voter privacy programs that allow victims of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault, among others, to have their personally identifiable information kept confidential, and to notify residents of how and to whom state and local officials share or sell voter registration information;
- require the Postal Service to include a reminder to update voter registration on its hard copy change of address form; and
- empower the EAC to make grants to states to help boost youth involvement in state election activities.
Full Bernnan Center Report here
State Voting Bills Tracker 2021
State lawmakers continue to introduce voting and election bills at a furious pace.
In conjunction with the Brennan Center’s report on state voting proposals, below is a list of the restrictive and expansive bills that we are tracking to date. As of February 19, 2021, state lawmakers have carried over, prefiled, or introduced 253 bills with provisions that restrict voting access in 43 states, and 704 bills with provisions that expand voting access in a different set of 43 states. Note that, in some cases, a single bill can have provisions with both restrictive and expansive effects.
More Here https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/state-voting-bills-tracker-2021
Hundreds of U.S. corporations and executives signed on to a new statement calling for a defense of Americans’ voting rights, the latest united backlash against Republican-led state efforts that threaten access to the polls.
Voting is the “most basic and fundamental right,” the signatories wrote in a double-page ad that ran Wednesday in the New York Times. Among them were some of the biggest names in technology and finance, such as Amazon.com Inc., BlackRock Inc., Facebook Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Warren Buffett.
Measures to change how citizens vote are being pushed by Republicans at the state level across the U.S. following Trump’s unfounded accusations of voter fraud last year. A new law in Georgia last month requires voters to provide a state-issued identification card when requesting an absentee ballot and limits drop boxes, among other restrictions, with Texas, Arizona and Florida discussing their own restrictions.
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