The League of Women Voters (LWV) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and advocating for voting rights. In addition, the LWV works with partners that share its positions and supports a variety of progressive public policy positions, including campaign finance reform, women's rights, health care reform, gun control.
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford University political scientists Adam Bonica and Michael McFaul, there is a consensus among political scientists that "democracies perform better when more people vote."
Rock the Vote is a nonpartisan non-profit organization in the United States. Through registering new young voters, the group aims to "channel the energy among young people around racial, economic, and health justice into one of the most powerful actions they can take: voting."
Voter suppression is a strategy used to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing specific groups of people from voting. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters through persuasion and organization, activating otherwise inactive voters, or registering new supporters. Voter suppression, instead, attempts to gain an advantage by reducing the turnout of certain voters. Suppression is an anti-democratic tactic associated with authoritarianism.
The youth vote in the United States is the cohort of 18–24 year-olds as a voting demographic, though some scholars define youth voting as voters under 30. Many policy areas specifically affect the youth of the United States, such as education issues and the juvenile justice system; however, young people also care about issues that affect the population as a whole, such as national debt and war.
Voter registration in the United States is required for voting in federal, state and local elections. The only exception is North Dakota, although cities in North Dakota may register voters for city elections. Voter registration takes place at the county level in many states and at the municipal level in several states. Most states set cutoff dates for voter registration and to update details, ranging from 2 to 4 weeks before an election; while a third of states have Election Day or "same-day" voter registration which enables eligible citizens to register or update their registration when they vote before or on election day.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a liberal or progressive nonprofit law and public policy institute. The organization is named after Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. The Brennan Center advocates for public policy positions including raising the minimum wage, opposing voter ID laws, and calling for public funding of elections. The organization opposed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, which held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by nonprofits.
HeadCount is a national nonprofit organization that works with musicians to promote participation in democracy in the United States. It is one of the largest voter registration organizations, having registered over 1.2 million voters since launching in 2004. HeadCount started off registering voters at concerts before expanding to sporting events, community events and online.
The Voter Participation Center (VPC) is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that seeks to increase voter registration among young people, people of color, and unmarried women, a group it calls "The New American Majority." Its sister organization, the Center for Voter Information, is a 501(c)(4) organization that conducts get-out-the-vote campaigns. VPC runs a large direct mail program, sending voter registration materials to targeted voters. It also produces research material on demographic and voting trends. Between 2004 and 2020, they registered more than 4 million voters. Some election officials and campaigns have contested the group's methods of voter registration and voter turnout.
Vote.org, formerly Long Distance Voter, is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is based in the United States. It provides online voter guides for every state, including voter registration forms, absentee ballot applications, and information on deadlines, directions, and ID and residency requirements. The organization is best known for large-scale voter registration programs, registering 4 million voters in the 2020 election cycle alone.
Jocelyn Benson is an American academic administrator, attorney, and politician serving as the 43rd Secretary of State of Michigan since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she is a former dean of Wayne State University Law School, a co-founder of the Military Spouses of Michigan, and a board member of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality. Benson is the author of State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process.
Voto Latino is a dual 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States, founded in 2004. The organization's primary aim is to encourage young Hispanic and Latino voters to register to vote and become more politically involved. The organization was co-founded by Rosario Dawson and Phil Colón. The current president and CEO is María Teresa Kumar.
VoteRiders is an American non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to ensure that all US citizens over 18 years old are able to exercise their right to vote. Through resources and media exposure, one of its main focuses is assisting citizens who want to secure their voter ID, and it often collaborates with other organizations in these efforts.
Karla Jurvetson is an American physician, philanthropist, and major Democratic donor. She has particularly focused on supporting candidates who are women, people of color, and from underrepresented communities, and she is a prominent activist in the movement to protect voting rights and American democracy. Jurvetson is vice chair of EMILY's List, which supports Democratic pro-choice women and has more than five million members.
Following the 2020 United States presidential election and the unsuccessful attempts by Donald Trump and various other Republican officials to overturn it, Republican lawmakers initiated a sweeping effort to make voting laws more restrictive within several states across the country. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, as of October 4, 2021, more than 425 bills that would restrict voting access have been introduced in 49 states—with 33 of these bills enacted across 19 states so far. The bills are largely centered around limiting mail-in voting, strengthening voter ID laws, shortening early voting, eliminating automatic and same-day voter registration, curbing the use of ballot drop boxes, and allowing for increased purging of voter rolls. Republicans in at least eight states have also introduced bills that would give lawmakers greater power over election administration after they were unsuccessful in their attempts to overturn election results in swing states won by Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The efforts garnered press attention and public outrage from Democrats, and by 2023 Republicans had adopted a more "under the radar" approach to achieve their goals.
Black Voters Matter (BVM) is an American 501(c)(4) voting rights and community empowerment organization. BVM's stated purpose is "to increase power in our communities" by focusing on voter registration, getting out the vote, independent election-related expenditures, and organizational development & training for other grassroots groups. Founded by activists LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright in 2016, BVM was involved in the election of United States Senator Doug Jones of Alabama in 2017, the 2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia and the 2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia.
The Forward Party, also known simply as Forward (FWD), is a centrist political party in the United States. The party, founded by former Democratic 2020 presidential and 2021 New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, describes its goals as the reduction of partisan polarization and the implementing of electoral reforms. As of early 2024, Forward has ballot access in the states of Colorado, Florida, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. It is looking to achieve ballot access in all 50 states by the end of 2024 or early 2025. The party seeks federal recognition by 2028.
The New Georgia Project is a nonpartisan effort to engage, register and build power for traditionally underrepresented groups like black, Latinx and young voters in Georgia. In addition to registering voters and boosting voter turnout, another focus is to monitor for changes at election boards around the state of Georgia to be able to help other voters fight and/or adapt to the changes.
The New North Carolina Project works to register and turnout voters regardless of party. The organization also speaks out against misinformation online and other forms of voter suppression and intimidation. It also tries to counteract those efforts and a disillusionment with politics reach potential voters by making calls and organizing volunteers. The project, for example, hosted a number of events to engage HBCU students on the first day of early voting in 2022. They also hired a Native American engagement director in 2021. The group hopes to close the turnout gap between white voters and voters of color.
Arekia Bennett is an American activist and the executive director of Mississippi Votes, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting voter registration. Bennett leads efforts to reach young and underrepresented voters in Mississippi through voter drives, community education, and civic protests.
