The landscape of American voter registration is undergoing a significant shift as hundreds of thousands of new voters are being registered in response to increasing efforts by Republican legislators to restrict ballot access. Vote.org, a leading get-out-the-vote technology platform, announced on Friday that it has registered over 100,000 new U.S. voters since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race. This surge comes amid mounting Republican efforts to make it harder to register and vote.
Vote.org’s recent success is noteworthy, with 84% of the new registrants being under the age of 35, and nearly one in five being 18 years old. Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org, proudly stated, “Since 2020, we have led the largest voter registration drive in U.S. history,” boasting more than 7.8 million people registered. This achievement is set against the backdrop of escalating Republican initiatives aimed at imposing stricter voting regulations.
President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris has energized voter registration efforts. Harris, now the presumptive Democratic candidate, has garnered endorsements from numerous Democrats in Congress and advocacy groups focusing on issues such as climate, labor, and reproductive rights. Her candidacy against former Republican President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) in the upcoming November election has added urgency to the voter registration drives.
However, as these efforts gain momentum, they face formidable opposition from Republican legislators. At the federal level, Republicans are introducing and passing legislation that creates significant obstacles to voting. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas). This bill mandates proof of American citizenship to vote in federal elections, a measure Republicans claim is necessary to address the largely non-existent problem of noncitizen voter fraud.
Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) criticized the SAVE Act as a “xenophobic attack” designed to silence marginalized voices, including Black, brown, LGBTQIA+, and young voters. Lee emphasized the need for her newly introduced Right to Vote Act, which seeks to establish the first-ever affirmative federal voting rights guarantee, ensuring every citizen’s fundamental right to cast a ballot.
There is not a state in this country where the margin of victory is less than 3%, and where poor and low-wage voters don’t make up 35 to 40% of the electorate.
— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) July 26, 2024
We are the swing vote.
cc: @votedotorghttps://t.co/eIiV3s6g1K
Parallel efforts are also evident at the state level, where Republican-controlled legislatures and governors are enacting laws that impose stringent restrictions on voter registration. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation last year that limits voter registration drives and imposes fines of up to $250,000 for violations. Cecile Scoon, president of the Florida chapter of the League of Women Voters, described these laws as “draconian,” likening them to “taking a sledgehammer to hit a flea.”
Kansas has seen similar challenges following the passage of a law three years ago that criminalizes the “false representation” of an election official. Davis Hammet, president of Loud Light, a youth voter mobilization group, highlighted the adverse impact of this law, stating that it has become exceedingly difficult to register new voters. “In 2020, even with the pandemic, we had registered nearly 10,000 Kansans to vote. Now, we haven’t been able to register anyone,” Hammet lamented.
Louisiana’s Republican state lawmakers have also enacted measures that make it easier for election officials to discard absentee ballots with missing details, restrict how people can mail in other voters’ ballots, and limit assistance to voters with disabilities. Jared Evans, senior policy counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, noted that these measures disproportionately affect voters with disabilities, both Black and white. “It’s clear that their goal is to make it harder to vote, harder for specific communities to vote especially,” Evans stated, adding that these laws inadvertently harm white voters as well.
In Nebraska, Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen recently ordered county election offices to stop registering voters with past felony convictions who have not received official pardons. This move came despite the state legislature passing a bill granting voting eligibility to felons immediately after they have completed their sentences, instead of waiting two years. Jane Seu, legal and policy fellow at the ACLU of Nebraska, condemned this decision, asserting, “We refuse to accept thousands of Nebraskans having their voting rights stripped away. We are confident in the constitutionality of these laws, and we are exploring every option to ensure that Nebraskans who have done their time can vote.”
Since 2020, we have led the largest voter registration drive in US history (7.8M+ registered!) and this year the train has left the station. Since Sunday, @votedotorg has registered more than 100K voters. Join the moment & find everything you need at https://t.co/ZNJINfoVeQ 🗳️ pic.twitter.com/8jqn6m0DuG
— Andrea Hailey (@AndreaEHailey) July 26, 2024
In response to these restrictive measures, Democratic legislators are advocating for robust voting rights protections. Senate Democrats have reintroduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which aims to update and restore the critical safeguards of the original Voting Rights Act. This legislative effort is crucial to counteract the restrictive measures being implemented across the country.
Reflecting on the current climate of voter registration and restrictions, Andrea Hailey remarked, “Our democracy is strongest when every eligible voter has the opportunity to cast their ballot. We must continue to fight against efforts to silence our voices and ensure that every citizen can participate in our democratic process.”
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