Brennan Center for Justice

*Cross-posted from The Huffington Post 

As progressives prepare for the political season, we might rue the "one
that got away." There's a rare chance to reform voting laws to expand
the electorate and strengthen democracy, not just next year but for the
next decade. But election reform in 2008 must start in 2007 -- and time
is slipping by.

Voting is the heart of democracy. Yet millions of Americans face
huge obstacles when they try to register, cast their ballot, or have it
counted. We now know that last year partisans waged a frenetic effort
to disenfranchise voters -- orchestrated, remarkably, by the Justice
Department itself. Happily, a growing grassroots voter protection
movement pushed back. (The Brennan Center for Justice, to cite just one
example, stopped the disenfranchisement of some 300-700,000 voters,
with lawsuits and advocacy.) That was needed, and right, but ultimately
defensive.

Now we can go on the offense: to change voting laws and reform
election administration, in states across the country. Why the
opportunity? The new Congress, of course, but even more, twelve new
secretaries of state elected on voter protection platforms; sixteen
states with potentially sympathetic Democratic governors and
legislatures (up from eight); in some places, competition among both
parties to be "pro reform." Rarely do the stars align as now. Key
goals:

* Keeping eligible citizens on the voter list. State officials
routinely purge voters from the rolls -- a secret process prone to
partisan manipulation. A purge list of "potential felons" in Florida in
2004 included 22,000 African-Americans and only 63 Hispanics, in the
one state where those blocs vote for different parties. (What a
coincidence!) Now we can end the system of secret and partisan purges
of the voter rolls. Several Secretaries of State are preparing to
reform their own systems. And the Brennan Center plans lawsuits in
other states to force standards and accountability.

* Ending felony disenfranchisement, an ugly relic of Jim Crow.
Florida's new Republican governor, Charlie Crist, with a stroke of a
pen created the chance to restore the vote for about 500,000.
Virginia's laws disenfranchise for life one out of three black men. The
Democratic governor, Tim Kaine, could -- and should -- do what
Florida's conservative Republican governor did, and change the state
forever.

* Allowing Election Day Registration. States with EDR have 5-7%
higher voter turnout. That's an astounding jump, far higher than even
the best voter registration or GOTV drive could muster. Recently Iowa
and Montana joined six other states with EDR, and North Carolina is
poised to be the ninth. Drives are underway in a half dozen other
states.

* Fixing electronic voting. A Brennan Center task force of the
nation's top computer scientists concluded emphatically that every one
of the nation's electronic voting systems is insecure. Next week, the
U.S. House of Representatives votes on the bill introduced by Reps.
Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Tom Davis (R-VA), a strong measure that would ban
touchscreen machines that lack an audit record, require random
auditing, and prohibit wireless components in voting machines. Numerous
states can be pushed to require paper trails and audits.

* Stopping onerous ID requirements. An individual is more likely to
be killed by lightening than to commit voter fraud. The U.S. Attorney
scandal has revealed the "voter fraud" scare for the political witch
hunt that it is. But it has proven a highly convenient way for
partisans to push for proof of citizenship and other ID requirements
that are end up preventing voting, not fraud. (The necessary paperwork
can cost up to $200. By contrast, the notorious poll tax was $8.97 in
current dollars when it was declared unconstitutional in 1966.) For the
first time in years, civil rights proponents are able to push back --
which helps clear the field for pro-enfranchisement reform.

It all adds up to a rare opportunity for lasting change. But
progressives must be truly strategic. In 2004 they spent hundreds of
millions of dollars to register and mobilize voters. Activists plan
similar, even larger efforts next year. Voter mobilization is vital.
But this time there's a difference: a fraction of that significant
investment, sharply targeted, can help sweep away barriers to civic
participation. Soon it will be too late. Most state legislatures will
finish their work just a few months into next year, and the polarized
political season looms. For needed changes to have a chance to empower
voters in November 2008, the activism must start now.

Stakes are achingly high. Voting rights should be a nonpartisan
issue, but not everyone got the memo. In a moment of candor about just
one obstacle to voting, the former Political Director of the Texas
Republican Party told the Houston Chronicle "that requiring
photo IDs could cause enough of a dropoff in legitimate Democratic
voting to add 3 percent to the Republican vote." That's an affront not
to a party, but to democracy.