Welcome to the March edition of The Lever. This month, we explore the largely unexamined impact that alarming efforts to interfere in election administration have taken on women election workers.
We are also pleased to share the findings from our second annual listening tour, where we offer recommendations for building a more powerful and intersectional movement for democracy. Lastly, we have news from Arizona and examples of election administrators fighting back to defend our elections across the country. Thanks for being a part of this work, and let’s get right to it.
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From threatening election administrators with criminal penalties to limiting the power that election officials have to carry out their jobs, our team at the Voting Rights Lab has been closely tracking alarming efforts to interfere in election administration.
One unexamined outcome is the disproportionate toll these attacks take on women. Nearly 80% of election administrators in the United States are women, leaving women to bear the brunt of efforts from legislators to undermine the authority of election administrators as well as threats of violence from extremists.
In this month’s Hot Policy Take, we take a deeper look at three types of threats that election administrators – who are overwhelmingly women – are facing around the country.
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BY THE NUMBERS
70+ partners
In April 2021, we embarked on our second deep listening tour, with more than 70 organizations across 19 states contributing their time, expertise, and wisdom.
We are proud to share our newest report, Voices From Democracy’s Front Lines: Report From Our Second Community Listening Tour, which analyzes these 70+ hour-long interviews and identifies trends, opportunities, needs, and solutions across the voting rights movement at this pivotal point in history.
From Georgia to North Carolina, Mississippi to Michigan, the conversations we had throughout this listening tour helped us reach a core set of takeaways.
We hope these learnings can serve as a guide to building a more powerful and intersectional movement for democracy.
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WHAT WE'RE READING
A recent op-ed in the Arizona Republic digs into the details of an onerous Arizona election bill that just passed both chambers and is heading to Governor Doug Ducey’s desk. Penned by Campaign Legal Center president and former Republican lawyer Trevor Potter, the piece walks through the dangers of H.B. 2492, a bill that could purge tens of thousands of eligible voters from Arizona's voter rolls – including voters who may have participated in the state's elections for decades. For a state where election subversion efforts have dominated the year's legislative session, the quote below tells you all you need to know about a bill that's dangerously close to becoming law:
“The bill makes disruptive changes to Arizona’s voting and registration systems and needlessly creates more barriers for voters. It requires documentary proof of citizenship and a voter’s place of birth before registering to vote – targeting naturalized American citizens, complicating voter registration and going beyond what federal courts have said is allowable under the law.
Signing this bill into law will almost certainly mean another costly lawsuit and, once again, Arizona voters and taxpayers will pay the price.”
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FROM OUR PARTNERS
Election clerks across the country are rising up to defend our elections. County election office directors in Georgia are fighting back against a proposed elections omnibus. Michigan’s municipal and county clerks wrote a powerful appeal to the state’s leaders, urging them to step up their commitment to ensure fair elections in 2022. And Wisconsin clerks are featured in a powerful new ad campaign emphasizing the trusted role they play in our communities.
Show your support for our nation’s dedicated elections administrators by lifting up their voices and sharing on social media.
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THE MARKUP
The Markup is VRL’s weekly legislative update for voting rights insiders. Here’s a snippet from yesterday’s edition – a sample of what you can expect each week:
Missouri House committee hears bill requiring hand tabulation and video surveillance. The Missouri House Elections and Elected Officials Committee heard H.B. 2633, a bill requiring all ballots to be counted by hand with video surveillance. This bill would prohibit the use of electronic voting systems, including electronic tabulators, and would require paper ballots and hand tabulation in all races beginning in January 2023. All testimony provided was opposed to the bill. The committee did not vote on the bill following the hearing. Prohibiting electronic tabulators is a trend we’ve seen emerge this year with 12 bills introduced in six states in January and February of 2022.
If you’d like to get insights like this straight to your inbox each Monday, head here to sign up.
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