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How Bears Ears Activists Advanced Navajo Voting Rights in Utah

Ross Coyle

July 10, 2020 |

Bitterroot |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Navajo Nation, United States, Utah

In 2016, court ordered redistricting gave Navajo nation residents in San Juan County fairer representation and required in-person polling locations and translation assistance. Shortly after, the Bear Ears National Monument was reduced by 85% by the Trump administration, which motivated a huge get-out-the-vote campaign among Navajo people. With the help of nonprofits, 1,600 Navajo nation members updated their voter information or registered for the first time. This helped elect the first Navajo-majority commission in the county in 2018, which gave Native Americans a political voice they haven't had before.

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The problem with Facebook's plan to sign up 4 million voters

Alex Pasternack

July 03, 2020 |

FastCompany |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

In the past decade, Facebook's US voter engagement campaigns included registration and election-day reminders for its 61 million 18+ users and sharing friends’ voting behavior. One study attributes hundreds of thousands of more votes to these election campaigns, with friends’ voting behavior the strongest influencer. The California Secretary of State credits the 4th highest voter registration daily total to Facebook’s same day reminder. Criticisms include not releasing data for independent review and negative aspects of its influence like potential liberal biases and the 2016 Russian disinformation campaign.

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Texas's High School Voter Registration Law Fails to Live Up to Ideals

James Russell

July 02, 2020 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

A Texas law requiring high school principals to register eligible student voters has failed because it is unequally carried out, not enforceable or tracked, and other obstacles to vote prevent students from casting ballots. While the law was an impressive attempt to increase the civic participation of young people, many high schools have not participated. A 2019 report shows that only 38% of schools with at least 20 seniors requested voter registration forms. A confounding obstacle is a 2013 voter ID law that requires voters to show one of seven forms of photo identification, but student IDs are not eligible

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Voting justice group Common Power turns to tech in time of COVID to reimagine outreach

Lisa Stiffler

July 01, 2020 |

GeekWire |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Common Power has over 2,000 volunteers, mostly white retirees, who reach out to voters and lobby elected officials for things like widespread mail-in ballots. The small, racially diverse paid staff run many traditional voter engagement programs, such as phone banks and voter-registration drives. The organization also focuses on partnering with local organizations and provides extra capacity in the form of trained volunteers for campaigns in 20 states. All programming has become virtual due to the Covid-19 pandemic and substantial time has been spent training volunteers on the new technologies.

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Voter Turnout in New York City Was Cratering; Then Came 2018

Victoria Merlino

June 20, 2020 |

Gotham Gazette |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Record high voter turnout in New York's 2018 primaries was due in part to grassroots groups effectively harnessing voters’ anger towards the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of State Senate Democrats who caucused with Republicans. A coalition of over 45 organizations held protests, ran phone banks, and sent out materials to encourage voters to turn out against the IDC, and it worked. Challengers beat incumbent IDC candidates in several primaries, eventually winning seats in Congress. Despite record-high turnout, it still only averaged 29% in districts where IDC candidates were challenged.

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PA should follow California's lead and mail ballots to every registered voter in the state

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

May 15, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Pennsylvania

Governor Gavin Newsome in California ordered vote-from-home ballots be sent to all registered voters for the November 2020 election due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While some states allow people to vote by mail for any reason, a ballot is usually obtained only by request, which evidence shows does not lead to the same increased voter turnout as automatically receiving a ballot. Absentee voters do tend to be white and upper-middle class, but some voter-rights organizations such as Committee of Seventy have shifted priorities to getting everyone who is eligible to request a vote-from-home ballot.

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Stifled Progress

Hannah O. Brown Becca Burton

May 11, 2020 |

The Marjorie |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Florida

Less than two years after Florida voters abolished the state’s lifetime ban on voting by anyone with a felony criminal record – a law that disenfranchised more than 10% of the state's voting-age people – an estimated 50,000 affected people had registered to vote and organizers were working to register the balance of the 1.4 million newly eligible voters. Amendment 4, the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative, won widespread voter approval and initially survived an attempt by legislators to undermine it thanks to a grassroots movement organized by formerly incarcerated people.

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An Army of Equality Voters

Chris Rudisill

May 01, 2020 |

QNotes Carolinas |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) identified 57 million voters who identify as LGBTQ or allies and used digital and print ads, direct mail, and text and phone outreaches to turnout these “equality voters” in the 2018 mid-term elections. The campaign registered 30,000 new voters and trained 1,600 local volunteers who logged more than 20,000 hours for HRC-endorsed candidates. The campaign effectively increased turnout in the group from 36% in 2016 to 56% in 2018. While there are many more LGBTQ and ally voters not included, the group worked with Catalist to identify voters who are motivated by LGBTQ equality.

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How voting by mail could save the US election

Madeline Marshall

May 01, 2020 |

Vox |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Washington

As one of the most consequential presidential elections in the United States approaches in the midst of a pandemic, many Americans are worried about voter turnout, and other logistical concerns. But a simple answer exists: voting by mail. With tens of millions of people in the United States already routinely voting by mail, proponents tout the additional time for research voters can take and the potential for higher voter turnout as added benefits.

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How to Save Elections From a Pandemic

Eric Cortellessa

March 16, 2020 |

Washington Monthly |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Salt Lake City, Utah

The coronavirus pandemic swept the nation at a time when many would be going to polling stations to cast their votes in primary elections, but vote-at-home practices are providing a solution for this civic inconvenience. Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and now Utah have all implemented statewide all-mail election campaigns that not only improve voter turnout, but also cost less to taxpayers than only relying on in-person polling booths.

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