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Convened by the American Association
for the Advancement of Science
Main | Participants
In a recent Supreme Court decision,
Purcell v. Gonzalez, concerning an Arizona law requiring proof
of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification at the polls,
Justice Stevens identified two factual issues for resolution:
The scope of the disenfranchisement that the novel identification
requirements will produce, and the prevalence and character of the fraudulent
practices that allegedly justify those requirements.
Although the Court’s opinion
has little value as legal precedent, Justice Stevens’s analysis identifies
two of the most important issues that face voting rights advocates. Unless
we are able to persuade courts and policy makers based purely on the law—which
is unlikely-- we will need empirical evidence to document (1) the effects
of restrictive voter registration requirements and requirements at the
polls on prospective registrants’ and voters’ access to the franchise;
and (2) whether the specter of fraud often used to justify these restrictions
has any factual support. Academic research on these topics would assist
advocates in persuading policy makers to eliminate barriers to voter registration
and voting and if necessary, in challenging such barriers through litigation.
Advancement Project hopes to
gather data to document the impact, particularly the demographic impact
by race and ethnicity, of barriers to voter registration and at the polls,
as well as the extent to which rules that expand access to the franchise
result in an increase in fraudulent voter registration or voting. Advancement
Project also hopes to gather data related to the use of provisional ballots,
distribution of resources at the polls, and the impact of efforts to depress
the vote. Here are some questions that we think it important to ask:
- Of those voter registration
applications rejected or deemed incomplete, why were they rejected or
deemed incomplete?
- What are the effects of new
registration requirements -- e.g. identification number required by
the Help America Vote Act, documentary proof of citizenship (AZ) --
on voter registration, particularly on historically disenfranchised
communities?
- What is the impact of requirements
that voters show identification at the polls on Election Day? Do ID
requirements disproportionately impact historically disenfranchised
communities? Do such restrictions decrease the incidence of fraud or
have any other measurable salutary effects?
- What is the incidence of fraud in voter registration and at the polls?
How do we measure it? What types of fraud affect the electoral process?
- Of those provisional ballots that
are not counted, why were they not counted and should they have been
counted (e.g. should the voter have been on the voter rolls)? What
are the demographic characteristics of voters who cast provisional ballots
and voters whose provisional ballots are not counted?
- How should election officials allocate
resources at the polls, such as voting machines and poll workers, to
reduce long lines for voters?
- What is the impact of efforts to
suppress the vote, or misleading or inaccurate notices from election
officials, on voter participation?
Advancement Project
Advancement Project
is a non-profit advocacy organization in Washington, DC that works in
partnership with Project Vote, other voter registration groups, and local
voter protection coalitions to eliminate legal and structural barriers
to voting for potential voters in minority and low-income communities.
With its legal and communications
expertise, Advancement Project supports and leverages local capacity to
improve election administration and expand voter enfranchisement. By
monitoring new registration activity and facilitating effective communication
between local coalitions and election administrators, we work to identify
and prevent potential Election Day problems. We are building a framework
for effective voter protection efforts in targeted states and counties
and plan to replicate those efforts in other communities in upcoming election
cycles.
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