Young Voter

Archive for November

Op-ed: Partisan tactic could suppress voting

DEAN ROHRER / HC

By Judith Browne Dianis (co-director of Advancement Project) and Christina Sanders (Texas State Director of the League of Young Voters). Originally published in the Houston Chronicle. 

In less than a year, Texans will be going to the polls to exercise one of the most cherished rights of our democracy: the right to vote. It is the fundamental pillar of our democracy that in the voting booth we are all equal - black or white, young or old, rich or poor. When we cast our ballot, we all raise an equal voice to determine the shape of our government.

It was not always that way in the Lone Star State. In the post-Reconstruction era, blacks were violently denied their right to vote. Jim Crow laws and poll taxes made voting impossible for many of Texas’ African-American citizens. Read more…

Election Wrap-Up

Tuesday was a good day for the League. After months of effort, we succeeded in getting out the youth vote on a massive scale! The numbers are still rolling in, but we wanted to give you a sneak peek of what we pulled off this year. No time to rest - #2012StartsNow!

  • In Maine, we educated 16,000 voters on Ranked Choice Voting prior to the first mayoral election in 88 years.
  • In Wisconsin, our Voter ID campaign enabled 2,000 young people (and counting) to get IDs to vote.
  • In Texas, we helped keep Voter ID out of the election and debuted our Life-Long Voters campaign to train 25 young Houston leaders on grassroots organizing.
  • In Ohio, 1,900 young people pledged to vote.

Voter ID Law Attacks Democracy

By Judith Browne Dianis (co-director of Advancement Project) and Jayme Montgomery (Wisconsin director of the League of Young Voters). Originally published in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

A year from now, the people of Wisconsin will be going to the polls to exercise one of the most cherished rights of our democracy: the right to vote. It is the fundamental pillar of our democracy that in the voting booth we are all equal - black or white, young or old, rich or poor. When we cast our ballot, we all raise an equal voice to determine the shape of our government.

Wisconsin legislators would deny that right. Strict new voter identification laws were proposed in 34 states, including our own. Wisconsin’s new voter identification restrictions, which passed the Legislature this year, are now the strictest in the country.

Read more…