Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

New bipartisan group pushes for safe and secure voting of all kinds

Granholm and Ridge

Two prominent former governors, Democrat Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Republican Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania, are co-chairing the new VoteSafe.

Getty Images

With millions of voters scared of coronavirus exposure, a surge of absentee ballots is coming in November even if the rules are not relaxed and more federal help is not delivered — a reality obscured by the intensifying partisan rhetoric over vote-by-mail's virtues and flaws.

And so a new group, VoteSafe, has been launched in hopes of lowering the volume and magnifying the needs of election administrators of both parties preparing for the first Election Day in a century during a nationwide public health emergency.

The organization, unveiled last week, has an A-list bipartisan pedigree and the backing of many prominent good-government groups — an alliance made possible because the group is pushing remote voting and use of polling places with equal force.


"VoteSafe is committed to ensuring voters have options: expanded access to absentee ballots as well as safe, sanitary, and accessible in-person voting locations," the website says up front. "Our goal is to ensure the safety of all voters as they exercise their constitutional right. Doing so is not a partisan issue; it is an American issue. We are committed to ensuring that the right to vote safely transcends politics and partisanship."

The principles are at the core of VoteSafe's mission: States should ensure voters have access to both voting options, and Congress should provide states with the resources they need to do so.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

In March, Congress allocated $400 million for states to spend on safeguarding elections during the pandemic, but good-government groups and election administrators have said this is not nearly enough to cover the costs.

The Democratic House voted two weeks ago to give another $3.6 billion to states, but the money is in a $3 trillion pandemic economic recovery package that's dead on arrival in the Senate, and it's not clear when Republican leaders there will come up with a counteroffer and whether it will include any election funding.

Six top state election officials have endorsed VoteSafe's principles, including Republican Secretaries of State Brad Raffensburger of Georgia and Kim Wyman of Washington. The others are Democratic Secretaries of State Jocelyn Benson of Michigan, Jena Griswold of Colorado, Maggie Toulouse Oliver of New Mexico and Denise Merrill of Connecticut.

VoteSafe aims to encourage more election officials to sign on to these principles ahead of an election now just 23 weeks away. Its website includes an open letter to election administrators that urges them to join the campaign.

"This is not a partisan issue and not a time to play politics," the letter reads. "We can unite over protecting the sacred American right to vote."

Two prominent former governors, Republican Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Democrat Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, are serving as co-chairs of VoteSafe. Eleven good-government groups have also partnered with the campaign, including the League of Women Voters, the National Vote at Home Institute, RepresentUs and the R Street Institute.

"Let's remember that voting isn't a privilege, it's a responsibility of citizenship," Ridge said. "Responsibility also rests with government to make certain that every American has the right to vote safely during this public health crisis."

Read More

"Vote Here" sign
Grace Cary/Getty Images

The path forward for electoral reform

The National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers hosted its post-election gathering Dec. 2-4 in San Diego. More than 120 leaders from across the country convened to reflect on the November elections, where reform campaigns achieved mixed results with multiple state losses, and to chart a path forward for nonpartisan electoral reforms. As the Bridge Alliance Education Fund is a founding member of NANR and I currently serve on the board, I attended the gathering in hopes of getting some insight on how we can best serve the collective needs of the electoral reform community in the coming year.

Keep ReadingShow less
Peopel waiting in line near a sign that reads "Vote Here: Polling Place"

People wait to vote in the 2024 election at city hall in Anchorage, Alaska.

Hasan Akbas/Anadolu via Getty Images

How Alaska is making government work again

At the end of a bitter and closely divided election season, there’s a genuine bright spot for democracy from our 49th state: Alaskans decided to keep the state’s system of open primaries and ranked choice voting because it is working.

This is good news not only for Alaska, but for all of us ready for a government that works together to get things done for voters.

Keep ReadingShow less
people voting
Getty Images

How to reform the political system to fight polarization and extremism

On Dec. 19, at 6 p.m., Elections Reform Now will present a webinar on “How to Reform the Political System to Combat Polarization and Extremism.”

In 2021, a group of the leading academics in the United States formed a task force to study the polarization of the American electorate and arrive at solutions to the dysfunction of our electoral system. They have now written a book, "Electoral Reform in the United States: Proposals for Combating Polarization and Extremism," published just this month.

Keep ReadingShow less
a hand holding a red button that says i vote
Parker Johnson/Unsplash

Yes, elections have consequences – primary elections to be specific

Can you imagine a Republican winning in an electoral district in which Democrats make up 41 percent of the registered electorate? Seems farfetched in much of the country. As farfetched as a Democrat winning in a R+10 district.

It might be in most places in the U.S. – but not in California.

Republican Rep. David Valadao won re-election in California's 22nd congressional district, where registered Republicans make up just shy of 28 percent of the voting population. But how did he do it?

Keep ReadingShow less