In this year’s election, Americans across the country voted to strengthen our democracy through ballot initiatives. Some of the ballot measures passed by communities included implementing early voting (which gives voters the opportunity to vote before Election Day) and ranked choice voting, which means more choice at the ballot box. Voters in Arizona also overwhelmingly passed the Voters’ Right to Know Act, to increase transparency and shed light on the sources of secret money that are trying to influence the state’s electoral process.
As promising as these results are, we need to maintain this momentum as we head into the 2024 presidential election. Voters have a right to be informed and heard as they participate in American democracy.
As of this publication, legislation is making its way through the Senate that will update confusing language and clarify ambiguities in the Electoral Count Act and ensure the will of voters is protected in the next presidential election. Look for an update on this important issue later this week from CLC founder and president Trevor Potter in his From the Desk of Trevor Potter email, which you cansubscribe to here.
In the season finale of our award-winning podcast, host Simone Leeper examines the future of voting in America with CLC’s Gilda Daniels, Aseem Mulji and Trevor Potter, plus Derek Perkinson of the National Action Network (NAN). One idea that’s catching on in a big way – the rise of state voting rights acts.
Democracy Decoded is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.
This year, CLC mourned the passing of Gaylon Tootle, a disability rights advocate from Georgia who condemned his state’s push to place restrictions on the freedom to vote, and Danny Jones, a fair maps advocate in Michigan who worked tirelessly to ban the insidious, undemocratic practice of prison gerrymandering. Our thoughts are with the staff and volunteers of The National Federation of the Blind of Georgia and the Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration (MI-CEMI) who worked with Gaylon and Danny respectively. We are grateful for the attention and energy they both brought to the cause of ensuring that every voter’s voice is heard in our democracy.
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.
