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Advocacy Blog
Friday, May 02, 2008
After Supreme Court Ruling, Some Efforts to Improve Voting Rights
A few days after the Supreme Court upheld the Indiana voter ID law, a press release announced that Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) introduced legislation to allow Election Day registration at polling places for all federal elections. "The Election Day Registration Act addresses chronic problems with the American electoral process — low voter turnout and archaic voter registration laws. Election Day registration is also seen as preferable to advance registration since voters are actually present when they register, reducing opportunities for fraud." On May 1, S.2959 was introduced in the Senate and HR 5946 in the House.
And meanwhile, after continuously denying third-party voter registration assistance on the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) property, the VA has issued a directive that creates a "voter assistance program." This includes offering assistance to all incoming patients, and for the first time, the directive also provides a process for allowing third-party voter registration drives. This news comes after an exchange between Senators Feinstein (D-CA) and Kerry (D-MA), and VA Secretary James B. Peake over whether VA facilities should be designated as "voter registration agencies" within the definition of the National Voter Registration Act. Senator Feinstein's press release calls that directive "a major step forward in providing voter registration access to veterans in the department's care."
"The directive stops short of designating VA facilities as voter registration agencies. However, the directive requires that VA facilities create comprehensive voter registration plans to assist veterans in registering to vote. It also requires the VA to publicly post voter registration information for veteran facility inpatients and requires that the VA facilities provide absentee voter applications if patients cannot leave the facility."
Unfortunately, the directive may be limited to patients, which may not include resident of homeless shelters on VA property or outpatients who come to VA facilities to receive services.
Read an AlterNet article on the VA's change of policy here.
Posted by Amanda Adams
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