Yesterday, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed the 21st Century Voter Registration Law, which would have automatically registered Minnesotans to vote when applying for a driver’s license, instruction permit or identification card. With little fanfare or attention, Gov. Pawlenty struck down HF1053/SF0660–a bill that would have created a “streamlined procedure [that] would have been convenient for [...]

New York Senator Charles Schumer released a report today showing about 25% of military and overseas voters who requested absentee ballots did not have their votes counted in the 2008 presidential election. The report is a survey of election officials in seven states with the “highest number of deployed troops” (totaling nearly 50% of active [...]

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has released a report with recommendations to make her state’s elections run more smoothly. Taking suggestions from the Brennan Center for Justice’s Lawrence Norden, the Ohio Association of Elections Officials, the County Commissioners Association of Ohio and election administration experts in her office, she has put together a list [...]

On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, freeing the enslaved people of Washington, D.C. nine full months before he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. As the “first freed” by the federal government, the residents of the District hold a special place in the darkest chapter of American history. According to [...]