Voting Rights

Many states and localities have laws on the books that unfairly restrict citizens’ ability to both register to vote and vote. These laws should be reformed to allow the broadest access to the political process possible. Until these reforms are achieved, however, there are ways in which on-the-ground voter mobilization efforts can mitigate the impact of some, but not all restrictions.

During the 2006 midterm elections, the Student PIRGs tested the effectiveness of a selection of these mitigation methods – namely enhanced voter education and intensive relationship building with local elections officials - on five college campuses in Arizona and New Mexico. The results were mixed; we successfully eased some of New Mexico’s restrictions, but not Arizona’s.

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