Fair Access to Participation

The long term health and integrity of American democracy depend upon the degree to which Americans choose to participate and the access to participation granted by our governmental institutions. Americans deserve policies that anticipate and facilitate their participation rather than obstruct it. We must have expanded suffrage rights, universal voter registration and secure, transparent and accountable election administration. Therefore, FairVote seeks a constitutional amendment establishing a federally guaranteed right to vote and other statutory reforms in the same spirit--such as universal voter registration--that invite Americans’ participation in the political process.

Learn more about FairVote-backed reforms that facilitate fair access to participation:

Right to Vote Amendment

The right to cast a free and secret ballot is the foundation of American democracy. Yet it has become all too clear that our voting system remains deeply flawed. In recent elections, we have seen millions of U.S. citizens denied the right to vote because of voter registration problems, lost or miscounted votes, language barriers, felony convictions, and targeted voter disenfranchisement.

To address these problems, FairVote seeks to ensure that the right of every U.S. citizen to vote is enshrined in our Constitution, so that neither state nor national laws will restrict the ability of citizens to cast a ballot, and so that our voting system is fair and equally accessible to all Americans.

Learn more about the Right to Vote Amendment.

Universal Voter Registration

Universal voter registration is a government-run system that automatically registers all eligible citizens to vote. Instead of contending with the confusing and potentially fraudulent current system, which leaves the construction of voter rolls to private voter registration organizations and election officials, with universal voter registration the government’s automatic process eliminates the haphazard complexity of voter rolls.

Learn more about Universal Voter Registration.

Special Projects

To expand Americans’ access to political participation, FairVote also supports these reforms:

• Youth Pre-registration - The advance registration of 16- and 17-year-olds to vote so that young would-be voters are ready to take part in our democracy as soon as they are of age.
• 17-year-old Primary Voting - Allowing young people who will be 18 by the time of a general election to vote in corresponding primary elections.
• Elections for U.S. Senate Vacancies - Gubernatorial appointments to fill vacated U.S. Senate seats in undemocratic and prone to corruption and cronyism. Special elections should be the norm in these contingencies, as they already mandated for filling vacancies in the U.S. House.
• D.C. Voting Rights - Nealry 600,000 U.S. citizens residing the the nation's capital have no representation in either house of Congress. FairVote joins allies in the voting rights community in support of legislation giving the District of Columbia a voting House member and, ultimately, full representation in both houses.
• Felon Disenfranchisement - The right to vote and to cast a free and secret ballot is supposed to be the cornerstone of democracy. Yet, upwards of 5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote because of a past felony conviction. In fact, felons are the only group who is banned from voting by law.
• Democracy SoS Project - The Democracy SoS (Secretary of State) Project aims to shine a spotlight on the role of election officials and their decisions. We seek to hold election officials accountable for poor decisions and promote best practices for ensuring fair elections.