National Voter Corps
Every voter counts and every vote is counted!
Could This Actually End Citizens United? Montana — yes, deep red Montana — has a plan to effectively neuter Citizens United. No Supreme Court ruling or constitutional amendment needed. Here’s how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1fPbGHe3xE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1fPbGHe3xE
The Congress will vote soon on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. It requires in-person proof of citizenship at every application to register or re-register to vote, even though voting by non-citizens has always been illegal and rare. What is valid proof? Typically, your birth certificate, naturalization document, passport or REAL ID driver’s license is valid and sufficient. However, if your name has changed since those were issued, which many women do at marriage, you will have to produce a marriage license, adoption papers or name change documentation. What’s the problem? “More than 21 million American citizens don’t have these documents readily ” People who
Image Source: Ballotpedia On January 6, 2021 protestors, who believed the November 2020 election had been stolen from their candidate, stormed the Capitol to prevent the Electoral College from electing the next President and Vice President. This shocking event resulted in the Electoral Reform Act of 2023 which clarifies how Electors are chosen and to address “vulnerabilities exposed by the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.” How Electoral Votes are Counted for the Presidential Election. Media coverage of January 6th also provoked interest in the formerly often ignored Electoral College, raising questions such as “What is it?”, “Why do we need an Electoral College
Why it was Created Our Founding Fathers, gathered in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention, worried that selecting the President and Vice President by popular vote could be dangerous. Most citizens had little education and might be swayed by unscrupulous demagogues. On the other hand, having Congress make the decision would give the Federal government too much power. (Having just fought the Revolutionary War to break from the English King, the members were leery of centralized power.) Their solution was instead to let State Legislatures choose Electors who would convene in the Capital to decide the election. But how many Electors would each state get? The
In June 2023, the Brennan Center published States Have Added Nearly 100 Restrictive Laws Since SCOTUS Gutted the Voting Rights Act 10 Years Ago. By the following May they wrote “Counting the latest additions from this year, at least 31 states have passed 103 restrictive voting laws since the Supreme Court gutted a key portion of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013.” (Brennan Center Voting Laws Roundup May 2024.)
Voter Restrictions Turn to Students What do You Need to Know? Today’s Obstacles to Voting: 12 States now restrict use of student IDs as voter IDs according to the Campus Vote Project. You might get caught up in mass voter purges designed to disenfranchise “unwelcome” voters. See Mass Purges Are the New Voter Suppression. You forget to re-register to vote after every move (unless you want to vote at your old address). What you need to know: Find the voter ID rules for your state. See Campus Vote Project, Vote Riders and many others. Check your registration each time you change addresses and before each
VOTER PURGING ON THE RISE AGAIN. Political campaigns are now in high gear competing for money and votes — some by wooing voters, others by removing them. In Mass Purges Are the New Voter Suppression, the Brennan Center gives examples of pernicious requests for registration lists verification. They also recommend a solution for database maintenance — Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) — where 25 states (plus D.C.) exchange address changes collected by the post office, motor vehicle departments, registrars of voters and Social Security Administration. Purges are effective, according to the Brennan Center report People of Color Are Being Deterred from Voting, But purges are
Hint: Food, Friends & Saturday off. At a recent college reunion, one of the attendees described visiting her son and grandchildren in Australia at the time an election was held. As election day approached, her family enthusiastically called friends to meet at a polling place which offered their favorite foods. What!? Choose your own polling place? Food? To paraphrase Dorothy, “I guess I’m not in Georgia anymore.”
The Brennan Center argues in The Myth of Voter Fraud and 7 Facts about Voter Fraud and Myths being spread about them that individual voter fraud is insignificant and “Voter fraud is unacceptable, but we must find solutions that address actual problems instead of imposing policies that make it harder for millions of eligible Americans to participate in our democracy.”
Why a New System? Our current system encourages candidates to appeal to the largest block of voters in their own party during the primary election. Then candidates usually (not always!) moderate their messaging to gain enough votes from independents and members of the opposing party to win the general election. The results often are not pretty, especially if a third-party “spoiler” candidate takes enough votes away from the most popular candidate to tip the election in favor of the leading rival. The difficulty for minority and third-party candidates (actually any candidate not extremely well-funded) to get serious attention also adds to the search for a
Does reading your ballot feel like taking a multiple-choice test? So many candidates and complicated propositions with misleading names! Do you study the all details, vote simply by party, or just wing it? There is an easier way…Endorsements, Donations and Snopes!
94 restrictive voting laws passed in 29 states since 2013 Shelby County decision – and more to come Source: : States Have Added Nearly 100 Restrictive Laws Since SCOTUS Gutted the Voting Rights Act 10 Years Ago Brennan Center, June 23, 2023 Voting Battle Resumes in HouseCall to Action! WHO? You tell your Representative in Congress WHAT? To SUPPORT the Freedom to Vote Act (FTV) and OPPOSE the American Confidences in Elections Act (ACE) WHERE? House of Representatives. Phone 202-224-3121 or email at Find Your Representative
Take the quiz and read the answers Choose one or more, or supply the correct answer: When do 41 Senators’ votes count more than 59? When the smaller group is louder than the bigger in a voice vote. Only when the filibuster is in effect. Where does the name “filibuster” come from? Racetrack slang for training a female horse Dutch word for Pirate Old English for “thwart Is the filibuster in the Constitution and in what year was it adopted? Yes, in 1788 No, year not applicable Why does the Senate but not the House employ the filibuster? Which is/are true? The Senate has a
What is Gerrymandering? Drawing voting districts to favor the politicians who determine on the boundaries. The term is named for the “Gerrymander” cartoon published by the Boston Gazette in 1812 after Massachusetts Gov. Gerry drew voting districts vaguely shaped like a salamander. After the National Census every 10 years, every State looks for population changes that create opportunities to redraw the boundaries of voting districts. When State Legislatures redistrict (other States employ different decision-makers, as explained below) some gerrymander to help the party in power keep or gain more seats. This is one of many reasons why State-level elections are so important. Both Democrats and
Are potholes on your street becoming a hazard? Is your park clean and safe? Can you get to work on public transport? Do you like the books available to (or being banned from) students in the schools and libraries? Is the city paying attention to your neighborhood? This is what local city elections are all about. Cities are grouped into Counties (called “parishes” in Louisiana). County elections decide who will be on the Board of Supervisors (who manage the budget among other things), the Sheriffs, District Attorney, Tax Collector and other important jobs.
Photos on March 7, 1965 from the Pettus Bridge in Selma showed brave nonviolent marchers being beaten viciously. See Heather Cox Richardson’s dramatic story of that day and the issues of then and now. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-5-2023-sunday
Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life by the President. John Paul Stevens served for 34 years when he retired at the age of 90. Steven Breyer retired in 2022 after serving 27 years on the Court; he was 83 years old. Ruth Bader Ginsberg had also served 27 years when she died in office at 87 just two months before the 2020 election. The current Justices’ tenures range from one year (Ketanji Brown Jackson) to 31 years (Clarence Thomas). Ages range from 51 (Amy Coney Barrett) to 74 (Clarence Thomas). While some people believe that a court where every judge is over 50 does
The Official Voter Information Guide for the California Primary Election on June 7, 2022 begins with the Voter Bill of Rights. It’s visually striking, consuming a whole page. Plus impressive details such as 3 ways to get a new ballot and another 3 ways to report illegal or fraudulent activity. The Secretary of State really wants to make it easy for eligible citizens to vote. In a democracy, why wouldn’t you?
Jerry Weinberger was a founding member of the National Voter Corps, a tireless defender of voter rights, a dedicated father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and a dear friend. He passed away peacefully on June 4, 2021 after a brief illness. Jerry was born on February 12, 1942 in San Francisco, CA and was raised in Wildwood, NJ. A graduate of the Wildwood High School Class of 1959, he served in the US Army, and went on to work 40+ years as an aerospace engineer for GE/Lockheed Martin.
An OpEd from Jerry Weinberger First, let me preface this by saying that – as a founding member of the National Voter Corps (an exclusively NONpartisan organization) – I am dedicated to the concept of One Person, One Vote, Every Vote Counted. For me, voting is not – and should never be – a partisan issue; it is a (small d) democratic issue, and every American citizen should have the absolute right to vote, no matter the ultimate outcome of an election. That is the American way – a government OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people.
One aspect of the “Voter Fraud” debate really irks me. Why do dead voters get ballots or mail urging them to vote? Why do we hear some politicians blame the families for attempted fraud? And when called, upset relatives naturally ask voting rights organizations to remove people who have died or moved away, from their mailing lists.
Ever see articles on voting rights that make you go “Wow!?” I’ve saved my favorites to share with people who care about voting rights and preserving our democracy. The list will be updated as I find articles worthy of your interest, so please check back regularly. (The list is no longer being updated – rest in peace, Jerry, our friend.) I welcome comments – that are thoughtful and free of trash talk. As it has been said, “When they go low, we go high.” Let’s go!