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Voting in 2008: Lessons Learned
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Tova Andrea Wang,
The Century Foundation,
11/10/2008
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Much has been made of the fact that there was no catastrophic meltdown in the election system this year. The fact that problems were not as pervasive as they might have been is due to the hard work of the voting rights community and election administrators in the months and even years before the election and the enthusiasm and persistence of voters. At the same time, thousands and thousands of voters faced unacceptable barriers to voting this year, demonstrating that much more work remains to be done. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Welcome
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ReformElections.org is The Century Foundation's informational Web site
on election reform. Here you'll find:
Learn more about the Foundation's work on election reform here.
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This Election: Deceptive Practices 2.0?
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10/20/2008
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Washington – Amid daily reports of voter suppression and dirty tricks in the 2008 Presidential election, major civil rights organizations today released a report exposing a worrying new generation of online deceptive practices designed to mislead and intimidate voters. The report, released by Common Cause, The Century Foundation and The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is entitled Deceptive Practices 2.0: Legal And Policy Responses and describes potential online dirty tricks to disseminate false or misleading information over the Internet.
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Deceptive Practices 2.0: Legal And Policy Responses
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The Century Foundation,
The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law,
Common Cause,
10/20/2008
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The Century Foundation, The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Common Cause released a new report exposing potential online dirty tricks to disseminate false or misleading information over the Internet designed to mislead or intimidate voters. The report examines existing state and federal laws that might be used to stop these worrying scams, finding that while many laws are not adequate, some laws currently on the books in many states can be used to address online voter suppression.
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Read the Report (PDF).
View Press Release.
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Voting in 2008: A close look at voting preparedness in 10 swing states
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9/16/2008
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16 September’08, Washington, DC—As election officials brace for record-breaking voter turnout on Election Day, a close examination of voting preparedness in 10 swing states shows that significant problems in the basic functions of the American election administration system persist, and in a few cases have worsened over the last few years, a new report by Common Cause and The Century Foundation shows. &nbs;
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View in PDF.
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Voting in 2008: Ten Swing States
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Tova Andrea Wang,
Samuel Oliker-Friedland,
Melissa Reiss,
Kristen J. Oshyn,
The Century Foundation,
Common Cause,
9/16/2008
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As election officials brace for record-breaking voter turnout on Election Day, a close examination of voting preparedness in 10 swing states shows that significant problems in the basic functions of the American election administration system persist, and in a few cases have worsened over the last few years, a new report by Common Cause and The Century Foundation shows. The report, “Voting in 2008: 10 Swing States,” examined what, if any, progress has been made since 2006 in seven battleground states: Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In addition, Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia, whose new status as likely swing states, and the potential for election administration difficulties, have also been included.
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Download the report (PDF).
View the Press Release.
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Snapshot of Student Voting
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Kristen J. Oshyn,
Tova Andrea Wang,
The Century Foundation,
9/11/2008
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In an election cycle that witnessed an increase in young voter turnout across the country during the primaries, Rock the Vote (RTV) predicts that young voters will turn out in such high numbers in four states in November that their votes will impact the outcome of those states’ elections. The four states RTV predicts will feel the greatest impact of young voters are Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado and Ohio. As a forthcoming report by Common Cause and The Century Foundation, details, of the many young voters out there, a significant number of them are also student voters, who too often must confront unique obstacles to voting. Continue reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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The Incredible Youth Vote?
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Rachel Zaentz,
The Century Foundation,
8/6/2008
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More than 6.5 million Americans under the age of 30 voted in the 2008 presidential primaries. Time Magazine and other prominent publications dubbed 2008 "The Year of the Youth Vote." Political commentators and analysts have argued that the surge in the youth vote and its virtually unwavering support for Barack Obama was a key factor behind the Senator's ascent to prominence and his ultimate victory in securing his spot as the Democratic nominee for president. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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The "MyBarackObama" Experiment
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Michael Cornfield,
The Century Foundation,
7/1/2008
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Have you heard? The Obama campaign has set up a web site to empower its supporters to combat false information circulating about the candidate and his wife. This promises to shed light on the PR conundrum as to whether publicity douses misinformation or sends it rocketing onward.Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Opening Up the Primary Gates
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Tova Andrea Wang,
The Century Foundation,
3/17/2008
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In the midst of this microscopically scrutinized primary campaign, there have been lots of stories about the impact “independent voters” have had on contests in states that have “open primaries,” in which unaffiliated voters (and sometimes members of another party) are allowed to cast a ballot.
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Provisional Ballots May Be the Hanging Chad of ’08
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Tova Andrea Wang,
Edward Foley,
The Hill,
2/28/2008
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Although New Mexicans cast their vote on Super Tuesday, the race was not called until 10 days later. The contest between Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was painfully close, and there were an astonishing 17,000 provisional ballots cast that had to be counted by hand—about 12 percent of the total number of votes cast.
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New Media, New Voters: The Global Primary
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Tova Andrea Wang,
The Century Foundation,
2/27/2008
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Lost in all the hullabaloo about Super Tuesday, then the Potomac Primary, and now “Mini Tuesday” on March 4, is the extraordinary experiment in online voting conducted by Democrats Abroad. Although the voting took place from February 5 to February 12, the organization just recently reported the results, and they were impressive.
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New Media, New Voters: Online Small Donors and the Future of Democratic Politics
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Michael Cornfield,
The Century Foundation,
2/21/2008
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The financial disclosure reports of the presidential candidates for the year 2007 and January 2008 contain important news for the professional political community: online small donors have arrived in force. After a decade of brilliant flashes, including, most recently, the “money bomb,” millions sent to Ron Paul, internet fundraising has been turned into a steady flame. In 2008,Barack Obama’s campaign received more than one million dollars every day, from a network of givers about to welcome its one millionth member.
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The Democratic Superdelegate Mess
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Tova Andrea Wang,
The Century Foundation,
2/12/2008
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As has been widely fretted over in the press, it is possible that the Democratic nomination race is so close that it will be determined by 800 “superdelegates.” What makes this troubling beyond the principles of popular democracy at stake is that the whole superdelegate process is utterly lacking in transparency.
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Democracy and the Superdelegates
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Tova Andrea Wang,
The Century Foundation,
2/5/2008
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If the political prognosticators are right, after today’s big vote we could see a protracted battle in the Democratic race in which every last delegate will matter for a candidate to secure the nomination. If the delegate contest continues right up to the end, that could be a problem from a voting rights perspective.
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Super Tuesday…and Wednesday, and Thursday…
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Tova Andrea Wang,
The Century Foundation,
2/5/2008
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With voters in 24 states choosing candidates today there are bound to be some problems that arise at the polls. However, many of the biggest problems will not be revealed until well after the polls close tonight. Given the appetite of the press and the public to know as much as possible instantly and then move on to the next event, many of the issues that arise may get swept from public attention.
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