Rock the Vote on Tumblr

Washington, DC – November 24, 2015

Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane released the following statement following the decision of Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear to sign an executive order on Tuesday that will, according to the Brennan Center, allow over 170,00 Kentuckians with non-violent convictions and who have fully completed their sentences (including probation and parole) the ability to restore their voting rights through a simple rights restoration process.

“We applaud Kentucky Gov. Beshear’s decision to make one of his last acts in office restoring the right to vote to 170,000 Kentucky citizens with past criminal convictions. Democracy works best when all eligible citizens participate and make their voices heard – including American citizens who live, work and raise families in our communities after serving their time. We hope Iowa and Florida follow Kentucky’s lead, as they are the only two states remaining where those with prior criminal convictions lose their voting rights permanently.”

Nearly 6 million American citizens are unable vote because of a past criminal conviction. As many as 4.4 million of these citizens live, work, and raise families in our communities. But because of a conviction in their past they are still denied this fundamental democratic right. These laws, deeply rooted in our troubled racial history, have a disproportionate impact on minorities. Across the country, 13 percent of African-American men have lost their right to vote, which is seven times the national average.

ABOUT ROCK THE VOTE

Rock the Vote is the largest non-partisan, non-profit organization in the country driving the youth vote to the polls. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has fused pop culture, music, art and technology to fulfill its mission of building long-term youth political power. During the past six Presidential elections, Rock the Vote ran the largest voter registration drives for young people and has partnered with more than 25,000 partners through its online, multi-lingual voter registration tool. Rock the Vote is dedicated to mobilizing the vote, protecting voting rights and advocating for an electoral process and voting system that works for the Millennial generation, America’s largest and most diverse population in its history.

Contacts:
Kiki Burger | media@rockthevote.com | 202-719-9910

Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane released the following statement about the call on presidential debate hosts to discuss voting rights:

“Rock the Vote is proud to stand alongside 40 civil and human rights groups that are calling on voting rights to become an issue in the presidential debates. We are urging tonight’s debate host, CNBC, to make the third Republican presidential debate the first that asks our country’s potential future leader what it would do to strengthen the Voting Rights Act. In addition, we co-signed a letter to MSNBC president Phil Griffin to do the same when the news network hosts the second Democratic debate in November. Voting rights are one of our country’s most critical issues, and following the Supreme Court’s decision in 2013 to strike down parts of the Voting Rights Act, voters need to know where the candidates stand in restoring those rights.”

About Rock the Vote

Rock the Vote is the largest non-profit and non-partisan organization in the United States building the political power of young people. Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity. Now, for almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.

Rock the Vote has run the largest voter registration drives for young people on record during the past six Presidential elections. In 2008 and 2012, our on-the-ground efforts, online organizing, and cutting-edge tools and technologies made us the largest non-partisan voter engagement campaign in the nation. All of these efforts have resulted in Rock the Vote processing nearly seven million voter registrations, bringing millions more to the polls, and becoming a trusted resource for young people, government agencies, and technological innovators passionate about political discourse and engagement.

Contacts:

Kiki Burger | kiki@rockthevote.com | 202.719.9910

Hey, Alabama! Can’t wait to flex your power and vote?

Well (record scratch sound effect) – the state just made things way harder for you.

This week, 31 DMV offices – you know, the places where you can get the most commonly used form of a photo ID: a driver’s license – were closed down across the state.

This is a huge problem, considering the fact that possessing a valid photo ID became a requirement to voting in Alabama last year.

With all the modern advancements being made everyday, voting should be getting easier. NOT more difficult.

Do not be discouraged from voting. We want to help empower you to show up on Election Day.

Here’s some helpful info on acceptable IDs and how you can get one:

First, if you can make your way to an open DMV, you can get a driver’s license, which you can vote with. Here’s the list of open DMVs here.

If you can’t get an Alabama driver’s license or don’t want one, you can use several other types of photo ID to vote, including:

·       a valid passport;

·       a valid state-issued ID (by Alabama or any other state);

·       a valid employee ID from the federal government or from the State of Alabama or any of its counties, municipalities, boards, or other entities of the state;

·       a valid federally issued ID; a valid military ID;

·       a valid Alabama non-driver ID; and a valid tribal ID;

·       a valid student (and campus employee) ID from a public or private college or university in the state of Alabama (including postgraduate technical or professional schools).

If you don’t have any of these IDs, you can apply for a free photo ID from your local county registrars. Important note - make sure you don’t have any of the accepted IDs before applying for a free voter ID! Alabama is very strict on this one – applying for a free ID when you possess another acceptable ID is against the law.

How to get a FREE Alabama Voter Identification Card:

Step 1: Make sure that your voter registration is up to date. In order to get a voter ID card, you must be registered to vote. You can do that through rtvote.com/alabama.

Step 2: Request your Alabama Voter Identification Card by filling out this form (forms are also be available in-person). 

Step 3: Present the form in person, either by bringing it with you or by filling it out in person.

If you’re in the capital area, you can take the form right to the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office State Capitol Building located at: Suite S-105 600 Dexter Avenue Montgomery, Alabama 36103-5616.

If you’re not in Montgomery, head to your county registrar’s office (there’s one in every county). The addresses for the registrars are listed here.

If either of the options above don’t work for you, there will also be a van cruising around the state, issuing free IDs in the next few weeks. Check it out to see if it’s coming to a town near you!

Step 4: To get a free ID, you do need to bring some documentation along with you. You can bring any one of the following documents:

– A photo ID document or a non-photo identity document that contains your full legal name and date of birth; or

–Documentation showing that you are a registered voter (can be verified there onsite or you can bring the form with you and register at the same time); or 

–Documentation showing your name and address as reflected in the state’s voter registration record.

While we must work to make voter registration and casting a vote easier for every American, we cannot be discouraged from taking the steps necessary to participating on Election Day. 

Please let us know if you have any questions by emailing info@rockthevote.com or tweeting us at @RockTheVote

According to The Washington Post​, Millennials account for about 25% of the voting-age population, while owning about 65% of student loans.

In other words, student debt is a major problem for young people and in part because of our generation, presidential hopefuls are taking notice.

Now we need to take the next step - register and turn out to vote!

See the Washignton Post article as it originally appears here.

Washington, DC – Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane released the following statement after online voter registration legislation became law in Florida:

“Our democracy is strongest when more people exercise their right to vote, and as a principle, we ought to encourage everyone who is eligible to have their voice heard at the ballot box. Online voter registration has already proven to boost participation in other states, particularly with young people, and Florida’s move toward this system is a welcome one.”

About Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is the largest non-profit and non-partisan organization in the United States building the political power of young people. Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity. Now, for almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.

Rock the Vote has run the largest voter registration drives for young people on record during the past six Presidential elections. In 2008 and 2012, our on-the-ground efforts, online organizing, and cutting-edge tools and technologies made us the largest non-partisan voter engagement campaign in the nation. All of these efforts have resulted in Rock the Vote processing nearly seven million voter registrations, bringing millions more to the polls, and becoming a trusted resource for young people, government agencies, and technological innovators passionate about political discourse and engagement.  

For Immediate Release
April 15, 2015

Rock the Vote Statement on Rhode Island Online Voter Registration Legislation

Legislation Also Creates Four Week Early Voting Period

Washington, DC – Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane released the following statement after Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea yesterday unveiled a plan that would allow for online voter registration and a four week long early voting period:

“Our democracy is strongest when all eligible voters are empowered to participate. Implementing early voting and online registration policies should be a matter of commonsense; both are easy, effective ways to boost participation, especially when it comes to young people across Rhode Island.  We hope making registration and voting easier for young people in Rhode Island will be seriously considered.”

### 

About Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is the largest non-profit and non-partisan organization in the United States building the political power of young people. Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity. Now, for almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.

Rock the Vote has run the largest voter registration drives for young people on record during the past six Presidential elections. In 2008 and 2012, our on-the-ground efforts, online organizing, and cutting-edge tools and technologies made us the largest non-partisan voter engagement campaign in the nation. All of these efforts have resulted in Rock the Vote processing nearly seven million voter registrations, bringing millions more to the polls, and becoming a trusted resource for young people, government agencies, and technological innovators passionate about political discourse and engagement. See more information here. 

By Nathan Howard and Ashley Spillane

Oregon is a land of firsts: vote by mail, public beaches, the bottle bill. When there’s a problem, this state finds an answer and leads the way.

The Beaver State just did it again.

Oregon has passed New Motor Voter, becoming the first state in America to proclaim: If you are an eligible voter, it is our policy to get you a ballot.

From now on, when you go to the DMV, you’ll be registered to vote without any extra steps needed (unless you choose to opt out).

As leading nonprofits working to register, educate and mobilize young voters, Rock the Vote and the Bus Project applaud the work of Oregon lawmakers in updating the state’s registration system. The new bill will grant hundreds of thousands of Oregonians access to vote – not to mention that the state will save about $0.80 for every new registration that’s not the old paper way.

Rock the Vote and the Bus Project have registered hundreds of thousands of Oregonians to vote. But we have always known it shouldn’t be necessary, and we want to focus more on educating people about the elections. Don’t get us wrong - we love what we do. But America is a beacon of free and fair democratic elections and our current system falls short when any citizen trying to vote is turned away for having moved or missing a registration deadline.

Our organizations have a long history with making voter registration more accessible. Back in 1993, Rock the Vote sent thousands of letters to Congress to pass the National Voter Registration Act (the original Motor Voter bill). Twenty years later, it’s the most popular way to register to vote in America.

And the Bus Project helped then-Secretary of State (now Gov.) Kate Brown chart a path to a barrier-free democracy in Oregon. Thanks to her leadership, Oregon was one of America’s first adopters of online voter registration. And Oregon will again make history as the first to launch New Motor Voter.

These provisions will eventually save Oregon millions of dollars: Maricopa County, Arizona, found that each New Motor Voter-type electronic registration costs an estimated $0.03, versus $0.83 per paper voter registration. It will also ensure voters are registered without typos that happen when transferring information from paper forms.

Efficiency, security and accuracy are reason enough to cheer the passage of New Motor Voter. But we are most excited by the citizens who lacked access to the system before and will finally be heard.

Rural Oregonians, who have never been reached by our nonpartisan voter registration drives. Disadvantaged young people who were never taught they needed to register. Working parents who too often moved houses and missed their ballots. And so many more citizens with experiences and opinions that deserve representation.

As these new voters enter our democracy, many will be hungry for information and education on the issues. Alongside the many great civic organization in Oregon, we are ready and excited to help.

Nathan Howard is interim executive director of the Oregon Bus Project, and Ashley Spillane is president of Rock the Vote.

Hey y'all,

We at Rock the Vote know how tough it is to pay for college these days, so any plan that could make it more affordable sounds like worth checking out in our book! Below is an awesome post written by our friends at Redeeming America’s Promise. Check it out:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By Morley Winograd, Redeeming America’s Promise

            We all hear the stories. There are hidden costs, manipulative loan companies, and miles and miles of red tape. Paying for a diploma with debt makes it hard for young adults to establish an independent life after graduating–from getting married to qualifying for a mortgage. People’s lives are ruined when all they were doing was seeking to better themselves.

Student loan debt and how to pay for college is the number one worry of parents across America.  What should be a time for parents to celebrate their child’s successful application for college is all too often dampened by the reality of the crushing debt that will become part of the student’s future.

Our current system for financing higher education is fundamentally broken. It cannot be sustained economically and cannot be justified as the right way to provide the economic mobility that is the key to our democratic society                   

However, there’s a new solution to this problem making headlines, and surprisingly, it could be implemented tomorrow if enough people demand it.  It’s called Redeeming America’s Promise [link to http://www.redeemingamericaspromise.org/], and it could save higher education, as well as the future of the United States of America.

            This groundbreaking plan comes from an intergenerational, bipartisan coalition who want Congress to create American Promise Scholarships to make public colleges tuition free:

“Students from families earning less than $180,000 per year who are accepted by a community college or other two year certificate program would be entitled to a scholarship worth, on average, $2,500 per year. Students from families earning less than $180,000 per year who earned a 2.75 GPA in High School and were accepted to a four year college program would be entitled to an APS-4 scholarship worth, on average, $8,500 per year. Public colleges would not be allowed to collect any other money for tuition from APS students’ families residing in their states. These scholarships would eliminate the need for tuition tax credits and in some cases, Pell Grants, which would provide approximately $50B to fund APS scholarships that should become an entitlement program in the federal budget.”

What makes this plan so practical is that federal income taxes don’t have to be raised a penny to implement it.

If you want to check out more, click here: http://www.redeemingamericaspromise.org/the_plan

By: Ashley Spillane, president of Rock the Vote

(As seen in the Washington Post)

Earlier this year, North Carolina lawmakers passed a bill aimed at stifling the newfound political muscle of their youngest eligible voters. The package of laws, known as HB 589, stripped away crucial policies that made it easier for young people to cast their ballot and participate in the political process. This week, lawyers have descended on Winston Salem to argue that eliminating these policies may have violated the 26th Amendment, which prohibits age-based voting discrimination.

The programs under attack have been proven to boost youth participation. In 2012, young people in the state were 2.6 times more likely to take advantage of same day registration.  And over a three-year period, 160,000 eligible young people were automatically registered to vote from pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds. Now these options are unavailable to the young residents of North Carolina.

Laws like HB 589 are part of a troubling pattern taking hold across the country, triggered by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, thus allowing Southern states to make changes to their voting laws without securing federal approval. A raft of voter ID laws—designed primarily to suppress turnout of minority voters—are also turning away young people, and often, both at the same time. Millennials are the largest, but also the country’s most diverse generation, with 43 percent identifying as people of color. In all, 22 states have new, restrictive voting laws that will go into effect before the 2014 midterms.

An undisguised attempt to block new immigrants and minority voters, new laws in Kansas and Arizona require voters to present proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in the first place. That means when you’re stopped on the street by a nice kid with a clipboard, you have to have your birth certificate, passport or naturalization documents just lying around in your purse or back pocket. Rock The Vote recently joined other community-registration arms including Voto Latino to sign an amicus brief, arguing that the laws unduly impair efforts to register new voters. It also launched an online petition to spread the word.

In Texas, a handgun license qualifies as proper ID for voting, but state university ID cards do not. In Florida, student unions were rejected by the state as suitable locations for early voting sites. And in Tennessee, employees of public universities are allowed to use their employee IDs to vote; however, students of the same universities are not allowed to use their college IDs.

These developments leave young voters on the defensive, instead of the offensive in the fight to expand voting rights. Our country should be making it more convenient for eligible young people to vote, not less. That means supporting efforts to expand online registration and same-day registration, institute pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds, and broaden opportunities for early voting.

Every day, 12,000 Americans turn 18 years old. As country’s fastest growing generation, we comprise a pivotal voting bloc that is growing stronger every day, despite efforts to silence our voices. Efforts to suppress youth turnout aren’t just unconstitutional—they are un-American.

Engraved on the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. is the phrase “What’s Past Is Prologue,” lifted from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. While it is sometimes easier, and certainly more encouraging, to focus on the future of voting rights in the U.S., this engraving serves as a reminder that we must learn from the mistakes of the past to set the context for the present.

If you weren’t paying attention (and we can’t blame you—not everyone is as obsessed with this stuff as we are), today marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision on Shelby v. Holder – a landmark voting rights case that has had some serious implications over the past year.

Let’s take a step back. In 1964, civil rights activists launched a grassroots campaign to register minority voters in the south in what became known as Freedom Summer. When volunteers were met with violence, national outrage sparked a movement in Washington to protect voting rights for minorities, resulting in the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA).

The law basically prohibits states from passing discriminatory voting laws and keeps an eye on states with a history of discrimination. These states have to get preclearance from the Justice Department before they pass any new voting laws to ensure that there are no discriminatory effects. The law needs to be re-authorized every ten years, but has never faced any problems… until last year.

Shelby County, Alabama, wasn’t happy with the Department of Justice looking over its shoulder, and took its case to the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision last June, the Court struck down a portion of the VRA, a shining monument to the Civil Rights movement, which received support from a near unanimous Congress in 2006. As of today, no state, even those with a history of discriminatory election practices, must obtain preclearance before changing their election laws and policies.  

There has been a little bit of a tug of war since then. On one side, you have people like Congressmen Sensenbrenner, Conyers, and Leahy, who proposed the Voting Rights Amendment Act to fix the gaping hole in the Voting Rights Act after the Shelby case. On the other, you have states like Texas and North Carolina that jumped on the opportunity to pass new, restrictive voting laws in the absence of federal oversight.

But as Shakespeare says, what’s past is prologue. The messy history of discrimination and disenfranchisement in the U.S. has to come to an end at some point, and we have a pretty optimistic view of the future.

One of the strongest barriers to voting in the U.S. is registration. Most states require you to register to vote at least three weeks before the election, and each state has its own rules and deadlines. These rules are constantly changing and it’s a huge challenge to stay on top of these updates. Over the past 25 years, Rock the Vote has been making noise at music festivals and on TV, and we’ve registered more than 6 million voters. But there’s never an end: every year, 12% of people in the U.S. move to a new residence. Every day, nearly 12,000 people turn 18. We’ve been running full speed ahead just trying to keep up.

Fortunately, there are some people who are working to make voting easier. 

On Sunday, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York announced a new bill to require states to implement online voter registration. So far, 20 states use online voter registration, three have limited online registration in place, and four have online voter registration on the way. This bill would bring the remaining 23 online so that anyone in the United States could register to vote from a phone, tablet, or computer. 

Not bad.

At a press conference on Sunday, Sen Gillbrand said, “If a bank can figure out how to allow you to do your baking online, we can figure out how to register to vote online.” That sounds like reasonable logic to us. This is the kind of change that would have a lasting impact on voting in the U.S.—particularly for web-native Millennials. We can’t help but get excited.

On the other side of the aisle, Republican Senator Rand Paul announced this week that he is introducing a bill to restore voting rights to nonviolent felons in federal elections. It is old news that our prison population has a disproportionate number of minorities—many of whom are convicted for minor offenses. As Paul said, “Some of the leaders in the African-American community … can’t vote. It is something that is consistent with my religious beliefs as well as my lawmaking that you should get a second chance.”

We’ve come a long way since 1964, when civil rights workers were killed trying to register black voters, but we still have a lot to learn from the past. The Carnegie Foundation of New York just launched a campaign this summer called Freedom Now to commemorate the lives lost in the fight for voting rights 50 years ago.

While there is certainly cause for optimism in the fight for voting rights, we would be amiss to march forward without recognizing or appreciating the groundwork that thousands of activists laid before us. As Shakespeare said, “What’s Past Is Prologue.” It’s up to us to write the next chapter.

(Photo Credit)