Get Involved | Background

Take Action!

Register to vote. In less than a minute, you can become a registered voter. If you've already registered and have moved since the last election, you need to update your registration. You can do that online too. Click here and do it now.

Discuss Stealing Democracy with Spencer Overton. Have your democracy group or book club read Stealing Democracy, and invite Spencer Overton to join your group via speakerphone to discuss the book. Contact Spencer Overton at soverton AT law.gwu.edu to set up a date, and please include the number of members of the discussion group.

Know your state's laws. Each state law is different. Call Demos for the latest information about the ever-changing state laws.

Organize locally. Reach out to local chapters of the NAACP, ACLU, ACORN and other voting rights, low-income, criminal justice reform and social justice organizations. Faith-based community leaders can be influential allies. The National Council of Churches, the United Methodist Church, Women of Reform Judaism, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond, VA, among others, have called on lawmakers to restore voting rights to ex-felons. Transitional service providers, law enforcement officials, agencies that work with prisoners, parole and correctional officers' unions, and others working within the criminal justice and community re-entry system may also support re-enfranchisement. Disability advocates are also potential allies; many current and former prisoners suffer from a variety of disabilities.

Launch a campaign. Your group can initiate a number of projects to increase voter participation and restore voting rights. Contact Demos or other national organizations for information about successful models for action. You can:

• work with local civic leaders to sponsor a community forum on this issue;
• work with your local state legislators to expand the vote to all citizens, including those with criminal convictions;
• make sure that your local voter registration drives reach eligible, imprisoned citizens, such as pre-trial detainees;
• make sure that your state's corrections department and elections agency are providing accurate information to prisoners and ex-felons about their voting rights.

Toolkits:

• Tools for Democracy: Election Day Registration
  July 1, 2005
  View the document (pdf)
• Voting Rights Restoration and HAVA
  December 30, 2002
  View the document (pdf)

Other Groups Taking Action:

• Advancement Project
• American Civil Liberties Union
• Americans for Democratic Action
• Association of Community Organziations for Reform Now
• Black Leadership Forum
• Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
• Brookings Institution
• Center for Law and Social Policy
• Center for Policy Alternatives
• Center for Voting and Democracy
• Citizens United for Rehabilitation Errants
• Coalition for Free and Open Elections
• Common Cause
• Constitution Project
• Democracy South
• Drug Policy Alliance
• Election Reform Project
• Families Against Mandatory Minimums
• Human Rights Watch
• Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
• League of Women Voters
• Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• National Voting Rights Institute
• Northeast Action
• People for the American Way
• Physicians for Human Rights
• Prison Activist Resource Center
• Project Vote
• Project Vote Smart
• Public Campaign
• RighttoVote.org
• Rock the Vote
• TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime
• The Other Side of the Wall
• The Sentencing Project
• Southern Regional Council
• The Urban Institute
• The Virginia Organzing Project
• Youth Vote Coalition

---

Background on the Issue

Fact Sheets

The following fact sheets can also be found at Demos:

Help America Vote Act (HAVA)

• About HAVA
  An overview of the policy requirements of the Help America Vote Act.
• Disability and Language Access
• HAVA and Election Day Registration
• HAVA and Voting Rights for Citizens with Felony Convictions
• HAVA and Instant Runoff Voting
• HAVA Task Forces
• Federal HAVA Activities
  Actions taken by various groups to promote discourse and affect the implementation of the Help America Vote Act.
• Pollworker Training
• Provisional Balloting
• Statewide Computerized Voter Lists
• Voter Identification
• Voting Machines
• Supportive Organizations
  Other organizations taking action on specific issues of the Help America Vote Act
• HAVA Archives

National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)

• About NVRA
• Provisions of the National Voter Registration Act
• Language of the Act
• Department of Justice NVRA Synopsis

Election Day Registration

Election Day Registration (EDR), also known as "same-day voter registration," permits eligible citizens to register and vote on election day. Currently, six state have EDR. They boast voter turnout 8-15 percentage points higher than the national average, and report few problems with fraud, costs or administrative complexity. EDR significantly increases the opportunity to cast a vote and participate in American democracy.

• High 2004 Turnout for States with Election Day Registration
  (Demos: January 10, 2005)
• About Election Day Registration
  An overview of the promise and practice of Election Day Registration.
• Tools for State Advocates
• State by State Information
  News items, publications, information, and links to groups working at the state and local level to promote EDR.
• Other Resources
• EDR Archives

Voter Identification

• Voter Identification

Campaign Finance

• Results from a Nationwide Survey on Campaign Finance and Spending Limits

For other related Demos publications, please visit Demos.