Skip to content
Project 2025
Donate to support
diverse voices
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
How do you solve a problem like Candace Owens?

How do you solve a problem like Candace Owens?

As Pressures Mount, Trump Faces the Most Precarious Moment of His Presidency

As Pressures Mount, Trump Faces the Most Precarious Moment of His Presidency

Congress Shouldn’t Let Federal Tort Claims Become Political Gifts

Congress Shouldn’t Let Federal Tort Claims Become Political Gifts

The Minneapolis Shooting Is Not an Aberration — It’s a Warning of What Comes Next

The Minneapolis Shooting Is Not an Aberration — It’s a Warning of What Comes Next

People voting at voting booths.

The Quiet Campaign That Could Rewrite the 2028 Election

One in six Ohio youth are left out of voter registration drive

Young voters

Youth voters who don't have driver licenses or state IDs are left out of Ohio's youth voter registration drive.

Joshua Lott/Getty Images
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumSep 10, 2019
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
See More Writings by author

Ohio's campaign to boost youth voter registration, by mailing how-to postcards in August to 120,000 unregistered young adults with driver licenses or state IDs, is getting praise from voting rights activists.

But some of those advocates say the campaign has a serious flaw: Increasing numbers of young people, especially the poor and minorities, aren't getting their licenses or signing up for the IDs. At least 17 percent of Ohio's 18-year-olds don't have either, the Cleveland Plain Dealer calculated based on state records and census estimates.

The potential communications gap between the state and its young people extends to another issue involving voting: The easiest ways to update a registration is with an online form, but it's only available to people with a license or ID.

Several states offer voters online options that don't require such documents. Minnesota uses Social Security numbers to confirm IDs, for example, while Delaware and Missouri accept signatures from touch-screen devices.


Latest news

Retired Federal Judge Warns of Rising Threats to Judicial Independence
Justice

Retired Federal Judge Warns of Rising Threats to Judicial Independence

U.S. and Puerto Rico flags
Governance & Legislation

Puerto Rico’s New Transparency Law Attacks a Right Forged in Struggle

The SHAPE Act and the Fight to Protect State Department Workers
Governance & Legislation

The SHAPE Act and the Fight to Protect State Department Workers

Read More

An illustration of a paper that says "Ranked-Choice" with options listed below.
Image generated by IVN staff.

Why Mathematicians Love Ranked Choice Voting

The Institute for Mathematics and Democracy (IMD) has released what may be the most comprehensive empirical study of ranked choice voting ever conducted. The 66-page report analyzes nearly 4,000 real-world ranked ballot elections, including some 2,000 political elections, and more than 60 million simulated ones to test how different voting methods perform.

The study’s conclusion is clear. Ranked choice voting methods outperform traditional first-past-the-post elections on nearly every measure of democratic fairness.

Keep ReadingShow less
Three people looking at a gerrymandered map, with an hourglass in the foreground.
Image generated by IVN staff.

Missouri’s Gerrymander Faces a Citizen Veto, but State Officials Aren't Taking 'No' for an Answer

People Not Politicians (PNP) submitted over 305,000 signatures last week to freeze a congressional gerrymander passed by the Missouri Legislature in September. However, state officials are doing everything they can to pretend this citizen revolt isn’t happening.

“The citizens of Missouri have spoken loudly and clearly: they deserve fair maps, not partisan manipulation,” said PNP Executive Director Richard von Glahn.

Keep ReadingShow less
Let's End Felony Disenfranchisement. Virginia May Lead the Way

Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger promises major reforms to the state’s felony disenfranchisement system.

Getty Images, beast01

Let's End Felony Disenfranchisement. Virginia May Lead the Way

When Virginia’s Governor-Elect, Abigail Spanberger, takes office next month, she will have the chance to make good on her promise to do something about her state’s outdated system of felony disenfranchisement. Virginia is one of just three states where only the governor has the power to restore voting rights to felons who have completed their prison terms.

It is the only state that also permanently strips a person’s rights to be a public notary or run for public office for a felony conviction unless the governor restores them.

Keep ReadingShow less
​Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation highlights the Primary Problem—tiny slivers of voters deciding elections. Here’s why primary reform and open primaries matter.

Getty Images, Anna Moneymaker

Marjorie Taylor Greene Resigns: The Primary Problem Exposes America’s Broken Election System

The Primary Problem strikes again. In announcing her intention to resign from Congress in January, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) became the latest politician to quit rather than face a primary challenge from her own party.

It’s ironic that Rep. Greene has become a victim of what we at Unite America call the "Primary Problem," given that we often point to her as an example of the kind of elected official our broken primary system produces. As we wrote about her and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, “only a tiny sliver of voters cast meaningful votes that elected AOC and MTG to Congress – 7% and 20%, respectively.”

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026