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BLOG for ADVOCATES
We created this blog to share interesting advocacy related items that cross our desks. It can be anything from new research on funding for advocacy to examples of unusual advocacy strategies. If you have an item to share please send it to npaction@npaction.org.
Friday, May 09, 2008 New Government Transparency & Accountability Blog
Voterwatch’s Transparency Recap summarizes key updates on government transparency and accountability, from nearly twenty blogs. With regular updates on the most interesting and informative developments in these issue areas, this new resource can help you stay more informed and gain a better understanding of conflicting perspectives. To view the Transparency Recap , click here.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 EAC Announces New College Poll Worker ProgramThe Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is awarding a total of $750,000 in grants for programs that encourage college students to serve as poll workers as part of it’s HAVA College Poll Worker Program. The program will award up to 50 grants of no less than $10,000 each. The College Program grants are authorized under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to encourage student participation as poll workers or assistants, to foster student interest in the elections process, and to encourage state and local governments to use students as poll workers. The grants also aim to relieve poll worker shortages. To fulfill is mandate of serving as a national clearinghouse of information about election administration, the EAC has issued several best practices guidebooks to help election officials recruit, train, and retain poll workers. The guidebooks include:
Read NPAction’s Poll Worker's Notes on Elections, Democracy, and Nonprofits to learn more about the experience of working the polls on Election Day, as described by an OMB Watch staffer. Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Online Voter Engagement Library
Nonprofit Vote's online voter engagement library streams together several different sources of useful information that can help your nonprofit design a strategic voter engagement plan. With increased access to information on voter turnout trends, voter registration, voter mobilization efforts and several other voter engagement topics, this library can heavily impact nonprofits and voters alike. To visit the library, click here.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 League of Women Voters Challenges Florida Election LawOn Apr. 28, 2008, the League of Women Voters of Florida and several voting rights advocates filed a new lawsuit challenging a Florida voter registration law that imposes prohibitive fines on voter registration groups and risks preventing eligible Florida citizens from registering and voting in the 2008 elections. Under Florida law, fines are levied against charities for each voter registration not submitted within ten days of its completion. For each late registration, a nonprofit conducting a voter registration drive would be fined $50, posing a tremendous financial burden on nonprofits seeking to legally conduct voter registration drives. As quoted in a press release by her organization, Dianne Wheatley-Giliotti, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida and a plaintiff in the suit, said, “This law makes it extremely risky for our volunteers and for our organization to conduct voter registration drives in Florida… The escalating fines make voter registration drives prohibitively expensive, even for individuals who just want to help once a month. The threat of paying costly fees will chill registration efforts and keep eligible voters from the voter rolls.” To learn more, read the League of Women Voter’s press release on the suit here and check out OMB Watch’s Sept. 2007 article on the Florida voter registration rules Nonprofits Challenge Two Florida Laws Regulating Voter Registration. Monday, April 28, 2008 New report draws attention to 2008 primary election problemsThe National Campaign for Fair Elections, The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, and Election Protection 2008 -- the nation's largest non-partisan voter protection coalition — released a report last week on the problems at the polls during the 2008 primary election season. The report — Election Protection 2008 Primary Report: Looking Ahead to November hopes to spur action to address issues that occurred during the primary season so as to prevent repeat problems during the November general election. The report emphasizes four problems as the most pressing (quoted from the report): 1 - Under Trained and Not Enough Poll Workers: In each primary covered by Election Protection, the dedicated cadre of poll workers misapplied many election rules — from what ballot to give which voter, to what to do when election equipment broke down — causing voters to unnecessarily cast provisional ballots or, worse, to leave the polling place without voting. Friday, April 25, 2008 Philly Nonprofit Helps Homeless Vote, Assert Political PowerProject H.O.M.E — a Philadelphia nonprofit that has been showcased on NPAction — was profiled in a story this week by the Philadelphia City Paper. The story reports on Project H.O.M.E’s continued efforts to register and to mobilize homeless Philadelphians to vote. Project H.O.M.E is the leader of the Vote for Homes Coalition (VFH). As reported in the recent article, The idea is to make the homeless a political constituency to which politicians have to cater, and VFH has succeeded in registering more than 12,000 current and formerly homeless and ex-offenders. They estimate that about 3,000 of them have voted in each of the past two elections. Read NPAction’s profile of Project H.O.M.E. Thursday, April 24, 2008 Nonprofit Voter Engagement Training
Does your nonprofit have a voter engagement plan? If not, a new webinar hosted by Nonprofitvote.org may help. The webinar, hosted on May 15, seeks to help nonprofits develop tailored plans for fitting voter engagement into daily activities. Guidance on permissable nonpartisan voter engagement activities will also be presented. To register, click here.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 The Progressive Academy OnlineTough to Vote,Tough to Get By is a free online course offering from Demos and YP4 (Young People For) that will allow you to learn more about:
While the course has already begun, registration will be accepted until April 28th. The course will be available from April 21 through May 30th. To register, click
here. Wednesday, April 16, 2008 Northern Virginia Training Sessions for ProgressivesCamp Wellstone will be offering training in northern Virginia, for those interested in learning how to integrate grassroots organizing, electoral organizing, progressive public policy and ethical leadership. From May 9 to May 11, three separate sessions will be offered: To register for any of these sessions, please click on the links listed above. The 2.5 day training sessions are scheduled to take place during the following times:
Posted by Andrea Wilson Thursday, April 10, 2008 Nonprofits Strive to Ensure Fair ElectionOn April 9th, the Washington Post reported on the extensive efforts of nonprofit groups to ensure this year’s elections are executed in a fair and efficient manner. According to the article — “Groups Step Up Efforts to Avert Voting Mishaps” — two African-American nonprofit organizations — the NAACP National Voter Fund and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation — are leading the effort to register voters, to prevent voter suppression, and to monitor and record unfair occurrences as the polls. The NAACP’s National Voter Fund — in partnership with the Tom Joyner Morning Show — launched a toll-free voter hotline — 1-866-MYVOTE1. Using the hotline, citizens can
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