The latest from Campaign Legal Center.
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Latoya Slater with three of her children in front of her house in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo by Casey Atkins/Campaign Legal Center
** CLC Is Connecting Voters With Past Convictions to Resources to Restore Their Freedom to Vote on National Voter Registration Day ([link removed])
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As voter and Restore Your Vote advocate Latoya Slater ([link removed]) said, “Voting is very vital.” Today, up to 18 million Americans with past convictions may be eligible to vote but don’t realize it. On National Voter Registration Day, CLC is highlighting our Restore Your Vote project and the opportunities CLC’s team is creating to empower these voters as they confirm or seek to restore their freedom to vote. Our work comes at a crucial time, as the state of Florida adopts a strategy to criminalize people with felony convictions for voting ([link removed]) . Making it difficult for these voters to confirm their voting status will have the chilling effect of dissuading most if not all voters with felony convictions who have a legal right to vote from even attempting to cast a ballot. Across the United States, Black Americans of
voting age are more than 4 times likely to lose their voting rights due to the impact of mass incarceration.
Our vote is our voice, and no one deserves to have their voice silenced by a past conviction. That’s why CLC created the RestoreYourVote.org web tool ([link removed]) , to help these 18 million Americans confirm if they are eligible to vote right now and what they need to do to become eligible. Our web tool, which is also available in Spanish ([link removed]) , was referenced in a toolkit released earlier this summer by the Department of Justice (DOJ) ([link removed]) , and it was also the topic of a study published in the Vanderbilt Law Review ([link removed]) revealing that Restore Your Vote-related outreach did lead to increased voter participation.
National Voter Registration Day is a starting point. CLC’s Restore Your Vote project is here throughout the year to help bring 18 million eligible voters closer to becoming full, participating members of our democracy. You can help – share Restore Your Vote ([link removed]) on social media and with your community.
Learn more about CLC’s Restore Your Vote project. ([link removed])
** Legislation We're Watching This Fall
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As Congress returns from recess, we’re following multiple pieces of legislation aimed at safeguarding American elections and creating greater transparency in our democracy, including:
* The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022 ([link removed]) , a bill with strong bipartisan support that would update an outdated law from 1887 to combat the threat of election manipulation.
* The Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act (DISCLOSE Act) ([link removed]) , which would dramatically curtail secret spending in our elections (CLC’s Saurav Ghosh offers a 60-second explainer here ([link removed]) ).
* Though a bill has not yet been introduced and likely won’t until after the midterms, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers from the House of Representatives are calling for legislation to reform the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act ([link removed]) (here’s the updates we’re hoping to see included, via CLC’s Kedric Payne ([link removed]) ).
Note: The DISCLOSE Act is quickly moving toward a vote in the Senate, and a new House bill to update the Electoral Count Act has been introduced by Reps. Liz Cheney and Zoe Lofgren. We thank Reps. Cheney and Lofgren for developing this proposal, and we commend the House for such swift action on this issue. For the most up-to-date information and analysis on these pieces of legislation and more, visit the CLC website ([link removed]) .
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** SCOTUS Watch: What the Upcoming Supreme Court Term Means for Democracy ([link removed])
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Earlier this summer, CLC democracy advocates Aseem Mulji and Paul Smith sounded the alarm on the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts and what its troubling decisions mean for democracy. On September 28, on the eve of the start of a new Supreme Court term, Aseem and Paul are at it again. Hear from them about the upcoming cases that could dramatically alter the course of our democracy and the immediate and long-term impact of these decisions.
RSVP here. ([link removed])
** Why the FEC Is Ineffective ([link removed])
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To reduce political corruption, America needs a stronger Federal Election Commission to enforce campaign finance laws and hold political candidates and their donors accountable.
Read more. ([link removed])
Related:
* CLC Seeks to Fix Federal Election Commission Regulations on Refunding Illegal Contributions ([link removed])
* Straw Donor Schemes Recently Funneled Over $920,000 to Single-Candidate Super PACs ([link removed])
* CLC Explains: It's Time for the FEC to Start Doing Its Job ([link removed])
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** CLC Represents Missouri Civic Engagement Groups in Challenge to Anti-Voter Law ([link removed])
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Our laws should protect and expand the freedom to vote, not punish democracy advocates and make it more challenging for Missourians to register to vote or vote-by-mail.
Read more. ([link removed])
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** VIDEO: Removing Barriers to the Ballot Box: A Conversation with Author Gilda Daniels ([link removed])
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During this lively discussion, Gilda Daniels, CLC’s voting rights consultant and former deputy chief in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, discussed the tactics being deployed in the 21st century to prevent Americans from exercising their freedom to vote and how we can fight for comprehensive solutions that would protect the right of voters to participate in our democracy.
Watch now. ([link removed])
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** Case Update: Supporting Utah Voters’ Challenge to Gerrymandered Congressional Map ([link removed])
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The court should block the gerrymandered map for the 2024 elections and reinstate the anti-gerrymandering reforms Utahns voted to enact in 2018.
Read more. ([link removed])
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** ANALYSIS: Machine Tabulation, Not Hand Counting, Should Be Used to Count Ballots ([link removed])
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Replacing voting machines with hand counts, as some partisan actors have pushed for, would weaken the electoral system by introducing a greater degree of human error into the process.
Read more. ([link removed])
** CLC On Social
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What Our Staff Talked About On Twitter This Month
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Campaign Legal Center is advancing democracy through law.
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The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center is dedicated to advancing democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every American’s rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process.
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