Recently, suffrage was expanded in Takoma Park, Maryland to include voters of ages 16 and 17. At the same time, New York City considered allowing documented residents to vote in local elections irrespective of citizenship status.

Last night, the Takoma Park city council passed a charter amendment on first reading that, if approved when before the council again in the coming month, will be in the best tradition of cities and states leading the nation in advancing voting rights. It would establish same-day voter registration and extend voting rights to residents after they turn 16 and after incarceration. Here's why we think it's important.

Among news coverage surrounding the upcoming landmark Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which will decide the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Jerome Gray has received partiuclar attention.. Gray has had a remarkable career as a community organizer, including helping to make sure fair voting systems were effective for African American voters.

True the Vote, an organization dedicated to eradicating voter fraud through controversial methods, issued a report on February 27 concluding that new voter ID laws  not only did not have an adverse impact on turnout in the 2012 elections, but may have increased turnout. But it turns out the report’s authors made a huge methodological mistake.  

The right to vote is essential for a truly representative democracy, and legislation implemented with widespread support in Congress to enhance this right, such as Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, should be upheld.

On February 27, the U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral arguments in the case of Shelby County v. Holder, reviewing the constitutionality of Section 5 "preclearance" provisions of the Voting Rights Act. A largely overlooked part of the case is the fact that Section 5 was the reason that Calera, a growing city in Alabama's Shelby County just south of Birmingham, adopted one of the fair voting systems we recommend to uphold voting rights.

When President Barack Obama paused in his victory speech, thanking voters for waiting in long lines to vote but noting 'we have to fix that', one might have assumed that reform would come from the top.

In southern states, racially polarized elections remain an active part of political life. Since 1965, the Voting Rights Act has guaranteed that African Americans in the South cannot be shut out of elections either through direct barriers to voting or through discriminatory districts that prevent the achievement of representation. However, relying on winner-take-all elections has inherent limitations. In the belt of southern states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas, the use of districting to achieve a fairer level of representation for African Americans has hit a ceiling. To push through that ceiling and achieve truly fair representation, FairVote recommends abandoning the single-member district in favor of super districts elected by choice voting.

  As was expected, problems at the polls abounded on November 6, nationwide. While glitches were reported across the country, voter-rights watchers paid particular attention to the swing states, where obstacles to ballot access in the form of registration ambiguities, voting-day misinformation, voter suppression tactics, and long, exhausting (and cold!) lines had potential to lower turnout and affect outcomes. President Barack Obama in his acceptance speechTuesday night, thanked people for waiting in those lines --- and then added, “By the way, we have to fix that.”  

One first class stamp: 45 cents. One extra ounce to ship: 20 cents. Voting in a democracy: priceless.