It aims to increase accessibility, accountability and integrity in the electoral process. The bill would modernize voter registration:
The nation’s broken voter registration system is a chief cause of long lines and Election Day chaos. Many states rely on a blizzard of paper records that are rife with error while leaving out eligible voters. The proposal to modernize voting would harness proven technology to ensure that every eligible voter is permanently registered. The move would add 50 million to the rolls, cost less, and curb the potential for fraud. Already 39 states have implemented important elements of the plan.
by facilitating secure ways to take advantage of existing technology. This includes automatic, online or same day voter registration, as well as simplifying the registration process for members of the military serving overseas.
The bill would also improve the electoral process by decreasing barriers to voting. By increasing access for voters with disabilities and prohibiting voter caging:
Voter caging is a tactic that jeopardizes eligible citizens' ability to vote. The process involves efforts to identify and disenfranchise improperly registered voters solely on the basis of an undeliverable mailing. The most common method involves three steps: send mail to addresses on the voter rolls, compile a list of the mail that is returned undelivered, and use that list to purge or challenge voters’ registrations on the grounds that the voters on the list do not legally reside at their registered addresses. Supporters of voter caging defend the practice as a means of preventing votes cast by ineligible voters. Voter caging, however, is notoriously unreliable. If it is treated as the sole basis for determining that a voter is ineligible or does not live at the address at which he or she registered, it can lead to the unwarranted purge or challenge of eligible voters.
and deceptive practices, the Voter Empowerment Act will help to remove practices that interfere with a person’s right to cast a ballot. In addition, the bill will require better training of poll staff and promote a nonpartisan approach to election administration. The bill also restores voting rights to people with criminal convictions in federal elections, incorporating the provisions of the Democracy Restoration Act.
To ensure the accountability of the procedures we use in our process, the Voter Empowerment Act calls for the establishment of a national voter hotline available for people to call with voting problems and increased standards for voting machines.
CLICK HERE to view a Fact Sheet about the bill.
CLICK HERE to view a section-by-section review of the bill.
Forty-eight years ago, Rep. John Lewis marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to demand voting rights for African Americans. The Civil Rights Movement has come a long way since 1965 – but sadly, too often we find ourselves fighting discriminatory laws to keep people from exercising their constitutional right to vote.
It is time for Congress to pass the Voter Empowerment Act that Rep. Lewis introduced in the House and en. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced in the Senate. This bill will modernize our outdated registration system, decrease new and old barriers to voting and standardize our voting procedures to restore voter accountability and integrity.
We must move Congress to action.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!
Michael H. Drucker
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