FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy Presents:

1
FairVote The Center for Voting and Democracy
Presents

• Guaranteeing the Municipal
• Right To Vote

2
Mission Statement

• For years FairVote has promoted the right to vote
  initiative, which advocates major changes in the
  current system of voting in America. In the past
  our right to vote project has been tailored
  towards passing a constitutional amendment
  guaranteeing the right to vote. Yet, it has
  become clear that this will be a very difficult
  task taking a number of years and a great deal of
  support and activism. The best way to earn this
  support is by enacting the ideals of the
  constitutional amendment at the local level. Our
  right to vote can be stripped from us at anytime,
  it is our civic duty to make sure that this type
  of crime is no longer allowed to occur within our
  community.

3
Key Issues

• Short term
• Get municipal reform project off the ground in a
  few key states
• Implement the 100 Registration Project
• Long term
• A Constitutional Right to Vote
• Implementing the Eight Steps for Voting Rights
  Reform
• What regions to focus our efforts on

4
Current Status

• HJ Res 28 - Proposing an amendment to the
  Constitution of the United States regarding the
  right to vote.Sponsor Rep Jackson, Jesse L.,
  Jr. IL-2 (introduced 3/2/2005)     
• Cosponsors (58)
  Committees House Judiciary Latest Major Action
  3/2/2005 Referred to House committee.
  Status Referred to the House Committee on the
  judiciary.
• VRA renewal and need to shift to local level
• Recently voting rights advocates at the national
  level have shifted their focus towards the
  renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 2007
• FairVote has changed gears and is attempting to
  reform municipalities to fall more into line with
  the ideals of the Right to Vote key states to
  focus on are Ohio, Maryland, Florida and Georgia

5
Action Plan

• Research the region
• Comprehend Right to Vote material
• Cooperate with advocate groups in the region
• Decide upon course of reform action
• Get voting rights material out to local activists
• Utilize local media to draw attention to upcoming
  action
• Attend municipal/state government meetings and
  propose ideas

6
Legality

• Municipalities can set local election laws so
  long as they are not in direct interference with
  state laws.
• When something is stated in the state
  constitution in the negative, only then can a law
  produced by the municipality be overturned.

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Case Study East Cleveland, Ohio

• Election held in June 6th, 1916 allows women to
  vote
• Womens right to vote upheld in The State, Ex
  Rel. Taylor, v. French Et Al. April 3,1917
• 19th amendment guarantees the right to vote for
  all women in the U.S.
• 19th amendment is passed on Aug. 18, 1920

8
Opportunities for Reform

• Draft Resolution
• Allow for the organization of local member groups
  to aid in the pursuit of major goals
• Task Force
• A legislative commission approved by government
  authority to conduct an enquiry on a particular
  subject.
• City Charter Review
• Public forums held once or twice a year wherein
  reforms to the charter can be proposed and
  enforced
• Amendment to the Charter
• The best method for applying our reforms, but may
  be limited by particular city charters

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Draft Resolution

• Draft resolution for secular/government
  organizations
• Sample Template
• Draft resolution for religious organizations
• Sample Template
• Draft resolution for municipal/state government
• Actually uses charter language, and can be
  inserted directly into the section of the charter
  concerning elections and nominations.

10
Task Force

• Most task forces require a piece of legislation
  to be proposed by a council member
• Citizens can petition the attorney general to
  look into the legality of the proposal
• In some cases citizens can even petition the
  legislature as a whole to assign a task force to
  the topic
• The Election Reform task force would look at the
  feasibility, practicality, and the benefits of
  reviewing the charter and adding a universal
  right to vote

11
City Charter Review

• Every city/state has a charter review commission
  which meets to discuss these types of issues
• These meetings are public, and citizens must
  bring the right to vote issue before the
  commission and press them for immediate action.
• These meetings must be attended consistently so
  that when the charter review commission goes
  before the county/state government, they will be
  thoroughly convinced of the validity of our
  project.

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Amendment to the Charter

• Though each state has a unique process for
  amending their charter, they are generally
  similar in their bottom-up approach
• A petition must be signed by a certain proportion
  of registered voters
• This petition is sent to the charter review
  commission which submits it too vote by the
  council, and if it is passed then it becomes
  charter law

13
Case Study Takoma Park, Maryland

• Voting rights reformed
• 1992 Allow non-citizens the right to vote
• Use of voter verified paper ballots in November
  2005 elections
• Instant Runoff Voting(IRV) advisory referendum
  won on Nov 9th 2005
• Nearly 84 of Tuesday's voters chose IRV
• Yet still issues remain
• Voter ID laws
• No foreign language ballots
• No guaranteed Right to Vote

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Key Concepts

• Eight Steps for Reform
• Uniform Standards/Ballots and Real Accountability
• Universal Voter Registration
• Early Voting/Election Holiday
• Fair Provisional Ballot and Voter ID laws
• Public Interest Voting Machines
• Voting Rights for All US citizens
• Non Partisan Election Administration
• A Constitutional Right To Vote
• 100 Registration Project

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100 Registration Project

• Full and accurate voter rolls
• Improve motor voter campaign
• High school voter registration
• Proper education provided for voters
• Constitution day
• High school classes
• Night classes
• Mock voting

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Goals Objectives

• Immediate goals
• Begin to implement program within states
• Organize NGOs on this topic
• Procure funding for local projects
• 100 Registration Project
• Long-Term goals
• Have ideals of the amendment passed in various
  regions around the country.
• Secure constitutional amendment that guarantees
  every citizen the right to vote.

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Resources

• All provided at Fairvote.org
• Op-Eds, editorials, and scholarly articles
• Historical documents
• FAQs
• Fact sheets
• Huge list of advocate organizations and
  individuals

18
Conclusions

• HAVA as a minimum
• HAVA has basic standards that are currently not
  being upheld in state/municipal election
• A Municipal Right To Vote
• Implement the tactics mentioned above to
  guarantee the right to vote in municipalities
• A Constitutional Right To Vote
• Using the strength of the Municipal Right to Vote
  campaign to foster the growth of the
  Constitutional Right To Vote campaign