Commentary: The recent national elections provided greater awareness of election processes, including a variety of changes implemented to facilitate voting during the pandemic. Differences in voting processes among the states and counties provided opportunities to see how well different approaches worked.
The proposed For the People Act (HR 1 and S1) currently before the Congress would take advantage of some of those state level experiences to improve the safety and security of voting processes and to strengthen our democracy by engaging more citizens and allowing more voices to be heard. The League of Women Voters has supported this Act since it was introduced in 2019.
Many elements of the legislation are designed to give currently eligible voters greater access to voting, recognizing that the traditional approach where we all vote on a single election day is not well suited to life in the 21st century. These elements include automatic voter registration available at specified government agencies, such as motor vehicle departments. This would involve an “opt out” approach where names are added to the voter rolls, unless the person explicitly chose not to be registered. It would give constraints on the ability of states to purge voter registration for federal elections, the purpose being to minimize errors that cause people to be incorrectly eliminated. For example, purges would have to be completed at least six months prior to an election, giving voters an opportunity to seek correction of errors.
Early in-person voting would be available in all states at least two weeks prior to the official election date and voter-verified paper ballots would be required to facilitate recounts. There would also be more uniform rules relating to mail-in ballots, including prohibition of the practice of some states requiring that signatures on mailed ballots be notarized. It would also end political and racial gerrymandering and require “dark money” political groups to disclose anonymous donors.
A group still facing challenges are those who have been convicted of a felony and may have lost their right to vote (although this does not happen in all states). Variations among states in eligibility to vote contribute to confusion about who is eligible from this group. The For the People Act restores voting rights in federal elections to any citizen living in the community and requires states to notify (in writing) those leaving incarceration that their rights have been restored. Former prisoners are encouraged to take more interest in their communities. Laws limiting voting rights of those convicted of crimes have had a racial discriminatory impact. A variety of states, including Florida, Louisiana, and New Jersey, have recently acted to provide greater voting access to people who have returned to a community after completing a term of incarceration.
H.R. 1 would provide needed democracy reform with fairer elections. Let’s unite in living Lincoln’s vision of a government by, for, and of the people and encourage passage of the For the People Act.