Nonprofit Voter Engagement

New Posts

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

  UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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The Problem of Generalizing Nonprofits

Apr 8, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

Earlier, the suggestion was made that "nonprofits" as a whole are increasingly being mentioned in the press in connection to their increased spending for political activity during the current campaign. A perfect example is laid out in this blog, with the headline, "Nonprofits are the New 527s." Understandably, it is easier to use "nonprofit" as opposed to 501(c)(4). 501(c)(4) organizations can be involved in some political activity as long as it is not their primary purpose. The blog makes it clear that the discussion is about 501(c)(4)'s, yet the headline remains vague.

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Mark Up Legislation in the Home not the Hearing Room

Apr 4, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

The Sunlight Foundation has created an initiative that allows citizens to participate in marking up the Transparency in Government Act of 2008, (TGA) on its site PublicMarkup.org. "Sunlight decided that public input and scrutiny would refine the bill and improve its chances of garnering lawmakers' support.

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Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network Launched This Week

Apr 4, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

A highly valuable resources for 501(c)(3) nonprofits has launched this week, NonprofitVoter.org. The site has everything a nonprofit would need to become active in the vital work of nonpartisan voter registration. "Nonprofits have inherent assets making them strong civic intermediaries to encourage voter and citizen participation." The site has useful resources such as toolkits, training resources, guides, and links.

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"No Match, No Vote" Voter Registration Law Can Be Enforced

Apr 4, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

In Florida State Conference of the NAACP v. Browning, the 11th Circuit court of appeals has ruled that Florida can temporarily enforce a law that disqualifies any voter registration where the Social Security or driver license number on the application does not match with government databases, reversing a lower court's December injunction against the voter registration law.

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State Election Officials: New Funding Available from EAC to Improve Election Data

Apr 4, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

On Monday, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) announced that it will award $2 million in funding to five states to improve precinct-level election data. The EAC is now accepting applications. The deadline is April 28th. According to the press release, the objective of this new program is "to provide states with the resources needed to develop and implement election data collection administrative and procedural best practices that can be shared with and replicated by other states."

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Ask Your Lawmaker!

Apr 3, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

At a new website, Ask Your Lawmaker, anyone can ask lawmakers questions on issues they care about. The site was created by Capitol News Connection (CNCNews). Users of the site vote on the questions, and then CNCNews reporters track down lawmakers in Congress and on the campaign trail to get the questions answered. The answers are then posted back on www.askyourlawmaker.org. In addition, users can add a customizable widget to their own websites, allowing visitors to their websites to ask and rank questions.

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Photo ID requirement receives preliminary approval from Kansas House

Mar 28, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

Yesterday, the Kansas House of Representatives gave preliminary approval to a bill that would require Kansas voters to shower photo ID at the polls. The bill is expected to be voted on next Friday. If passed, the new legislation would come into effect by the 2010 election. The bill includes exemptions for voters 65 years old and over, those with disabilities, soldiers on active duty away from their district, and citizens living abroad. The Wichita Eagle offers more details on the bill.

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Election day registration in MA could boost turnout

Mar 28, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

A new report by Demos estimates that Election Day Registration (EDR) in Massachusetts would increase overall voter turnout by nearly 5% and would increase the youth vote by nearly 10%. EDR allows citizens to register and to vote on Election Day. The report was authored by R. Michael Alvarez of Cal Tech and Jonathan Nagler of NYU. In their report, Alvarez and Nagler, write "Moving to EDR would lower that hurdle for thousands of citizens in Massachusetts, and bring more participants into the democratic process."

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Whitehouse bill would stop voter caging

Mar 28, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is proposing new legislation that would put an end to voter caging, a practice in which the voter rolls are questioned. It can lead to unwarranted purges or challenges of eligible citizens. The Caging Prohibition Act (S. 2305) would outlaw voter caging, and was first introduced in November 2007, and is pending before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. Sheldon, testifying before the committee in February, said,

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Election law expert believes Roberts Court may be taking voting rights in wrong direction

Mar 28, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

In commentary posted on Wednesday, Rick L. Hasen -- a law professor at Loyola Law School-- argues that the Supreme Court's recent decision in Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party may be setting the groundwork for future decisions that could limit voting rights. By rejecting facial challenges to election law, Hasen believes,the Supreme Court, will allow increasing restrictions on voting, and will likely uphold the Indiana voter ID requirement law in the Crawford v. Marion County Election Board case pending before the court. Hasen writes,

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Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

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A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

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Blowing Smoke: Chemical Companies Say “Trust Us,” But Environmental and Workplace Safety Violations Belie Their Rhetoric

Large chemical companies a...

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Gasping for Support: Implementation of Tougher Air Quality Standards Will Require New Funds for State Agencies

New scientific research shows that the current levels of...

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