Reclaim Democracy!

Expanding Access: How States Are Protecting Voting Rights

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October, 2024
By Luisana Rodriguez

While using false claims about voter fraud to undermine public confidence in elections, Republican state legislators have often succeeded in creating new obstacles for Americans to cast ballots. This year, voters in 29 states will face at least 63 restrictive voting laws newly enacted since 2020.

Yet, despite the understandable attention on these attacks, we also see citizens and legislators working successfully to proactively expand voting access and broaden participation. In September, Michigan’s state senate passed a Voting Rights Act that includes same-day voter registration, increased early voting, and expanded voting-by-mail options. The bill awaits action in the state House of Representatives, where Democrats hold a single-seat majority.

Earlier this year, Minnesota enacted its own multi-faceted VRA to strengthen voter protection, signed into law by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Democratic Party nominee for Vice-president. The Minnesota Rights Act protects ballot access for all residents and specifically aims to protect communities of color and other historically disenfranchised groups. 

Additionally, New York, Virginia, California, Oregon, Connecticut, Washington D.C., and Illinois, all recently expanded voter access or protection. A recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice notes these positive steps:

  • Virginia: Amplified access to drop boxes and absentee voting for individuals with visual impairments and eligible citizens in jail. New laws allow people with disabilities to vote outside polling places and broaden the criteria for disability eligibility.
  • California: For the upcoming elections, California will place drop boxes on state college campuses to encourage student participation.
  • Oregon: New requirements mandate translations of voting materials into more languages, ensuring that non-English speakers can access important voting information and understand the process better.
  • Connecticut: By offering an extended early voting period, Connecticut aims to improve voter participation and reduce long lines and wait times on Election Day.
  • Washington: A new law automatically restores voting rights to individuals with past convictions, even if they are still on parole, allowing more people to participate in the democratic system.
  • Illinois: The state has expanded vote-by-mail options to make it easier for residents to cast their ballots from home. Polling place hours have been extended, local jurisdictions can now set up polling places in jails, and central polling locations have been created in each county for added convenience.

Of course, no one should be deprived of voting rights because of the state they reside in, so passing nationwide protections like The Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA) remains crucial. Throughout U.S. history, underrepresented communities faced tactics designed to repress their voting power, which accelerated since the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County v. Holder ruling, which drastically weakened the Voting Rights Acts (1965) and enabled new state restrictions. Lawmakers passed onerous voter ID laws, voter roll purges, cuts to early voting, and other laws that impede voting and disproportionately affect marginalized groups. 

Color-coded map of U.S. states grouped by ease of voting and participating in elections

See details on how your state ranks for voting accessibility and what can be improved from the Movement Advancement Project, the source of the map above.

As a Venezuelan immigrant, I cannot vote, but I’m invested in the state of our democracy, especially when it comes to the rights of people of color. I consider protecting the rights of eligible BIPOC voters critical since they are not only voting for their own futures but also for the future of their communities, including those of us who don’t cast a ballot. It’s a shared responsibility that highlights the power of collective advocacy in a democracy.

The strength of this democracy relies on today’s actions—because protecting votes creates a fairer system, where decisions reflect the needs of the diverse populations living within our borders. In Venezuela, the regime of acting President Nicolás Maduro made it almost impossible for citizens living abroad to vote in the 2024 presidential election because most of them opposed his government, one that the United Nations accuses of crimes against humanity. 

Despite these barriers, the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, won by a margin of more than two to one. This achievement came from the hard work of dedicated individuals who ensured the ballots were counted and refused to let democracy die, even when the National Electoral Council failed to publish these results and ignored the mandatory transparency required in Venezuelan elections. While Maduro’s regime refuses to give up power, causing social and political conflicts that tear our people apart, the movement led by María Corina Machado continues to work every day to ensure our voices are heard, both at the ballot box and in the streets.

Here in the United States, people are taking crucial steps toward building a more inclusive democracy, where every individual—regardless of background—has a voice. As laws evolve and new challenges emerge, citizens must remain informed, engaged, and proactive in advocating for fair and accessible elections. While it’s now clear no federal voting rights legislation can pass unless a pro-democracy House of Representatives majority emerges from the November elections, we can encourage others in our community to vote, and share news of other state-level successes to remind people that when we work together, we can protect and strengthen our most fundamental rights.

Luisana Rodriguez is a freelance bilingual writer and the co-founder of an affinity group for Latinas in Vermont. She earned her BS in Psychology from Universidad Arturo Michelena in her home country of Venezuela. Luisana has contributed to Business Insider, Reader’s Digest UK, Her Agenda, Latino Leaders Magazine, and Mitú Magazine, among others. Currently, she works in advertising and marketing in Vermont and will soon begin further studies at Champlain College. 

disc notes

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Putting

Confidence is the most important component. Practice mostly shots you typically make, and putt to make it on others. Putting sessions should be about 15 minutes. Focus time should be 2-4 seconds.

  1. Check for wind
  2. Visualize, verbalize, and audibilize success. I’m making this putt.
  3. Practice full motion
  4. Pull disc forward and pop wrist open (don’t spin/hinge more when trying to add power). Follow through straight and reach forward with fingers outstretched to your link, holding pose and focus on your link
  5. Hold your putter at the release point pre-shot, take 2 sec to aim, drop arm slowly
  6. Deep breath first! Breathe in at windup, out on putt
  7. Still head and chin up
  8. If not feeling confident, step back and reset, breathe.
  9. Weight forward after release, hold and pick up next disc 

Backhand

  1. Relax the arm — it’s whip!
  2. Right foot plant on toe angles back and rotates/shifts to heel
  3. Plant to the left of your target when throwing for power, not straight/
  4. Align your body with release line, not necessarily the basket
  5. Pull back as far as possible on exactly the line you’ll throw it on – no further
  6. Wrist in straight line with arm, not cocked.
  7. For hyzer or anhyzer, angle body like a hula hoop through follow-through
  8. Think of smashing elbow into the disc Paige is holding while thrusting hip forward (not up). Hips thrust forward first, then around after release.

Approach

  1. Play catch from 80-150 feet in warm-up
  2. Envision the line
  3. Align body with intended flight path, not necessarilythe basket
  4. Follow through!!
  5. Eyes on basket all the way 
  6. Nose up for touch– Keep wrist above elbow

Forehand: Feel the weight of disc pulling on fingers in wind-up before snapping. Finish with palm to sky. On short forehands, keep arm and palm up through entire motion. Video 

THINGS TO TRY OUT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4wRZ_kPxfI 

  • In putting practice: Try separating pinky from rim, Keep wrist cocked. 
  • Push putts
  • BACKHAND: For more RPM, grip tighter and let disc rip itself out of hand, rather than opening hand
  • Try experimenting with thumb position–near edge= more RPMTo turn L and go far, throw understandable disc!

Play “Dice” game: randomly choose:

  • 20’ in front of/behind tee pad, left-handed, forehand, kneel, stretch, putter…

Cheap disc storage: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/vesken-shelf-unit-black-30450807/ 

  • Play within your game
  • RPM’s matter
  • Have molds for cold, wet weather of key discs: one straight driver, one understable…

Notes on Mental Game

Plan ahead to avoid potential problems, then focus on success

Always reinforce positive mentality. Purge negative thoughts.

Joe Parent: “As you walk between shots, maintain an upright posture, shoulders back, taking full breaths. No matter how you’ve been playing, maintaining a confident posture will make you feel more positive.”

“It takes practice and patience to break habits like negative self-talk. Find something good about every shot, about every round, to replace the habit of complaining or criticizing.”

“Make a commitment to finding a way to enjoy yourself regardless of how you’re scoring. Shift your focus from performance to learning. Stay true to that commitment and there won’t be any such thing as a bad round.

“Preparation is the first stage of the PAR Approach. The key factors in preparation are the three C’s: Clarity, Commitment, and Composure. Clarity is having a vivid image of the shot you intend, both the target and the path the ball will take to get there. Commitment is free from second-guessing, doubt or hesitation. Composure is being calm and focused, poised and at ease. -ZEN GOLF: Mastering The Mental Game

Notes from Golf is not a game of perfect by Bob Rotella

A person with great dreams can achieve great things.  

A person without large dreams consigns himself to mediocrity

People by and large become what they think about themselves (and live or play up or down to expectations)

P. 39 Plan ahead to avoid potential problems, then focus on success (fear inhibits performance– balance beam example)

P 69. The foundation of consistency is a sound pre-shot routine. Have a “trigger” that start your pre-shot routine and create a bubble of focus around yourself. 

Pick a small, precise target.

P 75 If you take a practice swing thinking about form, take another not thinking about it.

More than half of practice should be in “trusting” mode, more like 80% pre-tourney and 100% in tourney warm-up 

P114 No matter what happens with a shot, accept it. Acceptance is the last step in a sound routine 

The first thing to do is throw away your expectations when you step onto the course and just play. It’s difficult to do. But I have never worked with a golfer who could play close to his potential uness he shed his expectations before starting.

Expectations are great if you can find them to long-range considerations. but expectations can hurt you if they are focused on the results of a particular whole or round.

A great shot is a thing of beauty, Savor and celebrate it. It will make the game more enjoyable. It will help make the memory of good shots stronger– improving confidence.

P 152 Play every  meaningful round with a game plan and plan each hole. What is the goal? Stick to the plan. 

Scouting a new course:  is your goal a birdie or par? Note your preferred disc from the tea, intended Landing areas, and Hazards to avoid.

“The smaller the target, the sharper the athlete’s focus, the better his concentration, and the better the results.” 

191  A successful round is when you can say “I had my mind where it was supposed to be on every shot and I played my game plan.” 

 When a golfer is in the right frame of mind, he’s confident that he can produce the shot he sees with his mind’s eye. He trusts that the skills he has ingrained through practice are going to work for him if he just lets them and doesn’t try to guide or steer the ball. But at the same time, part of his thinking is acceptance of whatever happens to the golf ball once he hits it. He knows that because he’s a human being, not every shot will come off the way he intends it. 

“Putt to make it.” 

“If you’re going to be a victim of the first few holes, you don’t have a prayer. You’re like a puppet. 

“It will try to send the ball in the direction of the last thing you look at or think about. If that happens to be a pond, you can find yourself in severe trouble. So if you’re preparing to hit an approach shot over water, or a pitch over a bunker to a pin, it’s important that you have an established habit of focusing your mind firmly on your target.” 

In tough conditions, stay patient and let others beat themselves.

Whenever you feel stress levels rising, inhale twice through your nose, exhale fully for 6-8 seconds and re-focus on what you need to do.

Not only does our mind affect our body, but our body also sends messages to our minds. As you walk between shots, maintain an upright posture, shoulders back, taking full breaths. No matter how you’ve been playing, maintaining a confident posture will make you feel more positive.”

Notes from Mastering Golf’s Mental Game by Michael Lardon

P63 Make a plan to have fun playing tournaments and play will be better.

P69  Vary your practice rounds try playing with just 2 or 3 discs, pick different tee locations, practics rollers, etc

P 77 drop your frustration with a hole like you would a hot coal because it will hurt you. if you get agitated oh, watch your speed. Don’t speed up. stop and breathe

P80 also, calm yourself after a great shot before teeing off. when you need to calm yourself put your hand on your belly breathe in through your nose for a count of 4 hold and then exhale for a count of 8. Just as practicing your Strokes improves your form, working on your breathing improved your ability to handle anxiety.

P88 Think about one simple thing to clear the mind. E.g. “reach for the link” or “pop”
Substitute a calm, neutral thought to push out any stressful one.

P132 Begin with the image of disc sitting where you want it to land Now rewind to your release.

148 Have short-term, mid-term and long-term goals. 

180 Three elements of every shot: 1. Calculate (assess potential hazards, winds, determine your objective). 2. Visalize, audibilize in your mind. 3. Execute. 4. Accept the result

When you change your mind you need to leave time for two things to happen. first, your mind has to be comfortable with the new idea. clear away any lingering thoughts about the old plan. you need to be committed to the new one. however, commitment isn’t only experienced in the thinking mind. it’s also felt in the body. your body has to feel comfortable with the new plan.

When it’s time to execute a shot, turn off the thinking mind. picture a clear image of the disc traveling to the Target, then let the intuitive mind take over. Plan with your head then play from your heart.

……………..

Use low glide in headwind.

In headwind, disc will fade later and less. Beware of any disc that can turn and crash upwind before any fade. Consider a faster disc.

In tailwind, choose slower disc.

Right to left wind, throw big anhyzer for distance

Crosswind approach shots, cut into the windMVP Uplink, understandable mid-range 5.0/5.0/-3.0/0.5

Appreciating Recent Victories for Citizens and Consumers Against Corporations

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May 2024

Amid much horrific news this month, some major victories for citizens over corporate power have received little attention. Among the recent victories delivered by federal civil service agencies:

Non-compete Agreements
Lina Khan, President Biden’s selection to chair the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has emerged as a civil service superhero, and it’s been delightful to follow the reactions of corporate mouthpieces to Khan fulfilling her role as an advocate for the public. In April, the FTC voted to ban non-competition contracts (“non-competes”) that corporations often impose on employees that prevent them from leaving to work for any competitor. 

While such agreements may be legitimate in rare instances involving intellectual property issues, the practice has been wildly abused and applied to positions like fast-food service, where no legitimate purpose is served. Some 30 million U.S. workers today are trapped by such involuntary “contracts,” leading to:

  • Limiting entrepreneurship (workers often are banned from starting a business that overlaps in any way with their previous job).
  • Suppressing wages. If workers are not free to work where they choose, corporations gain power, including power over compensation. “Non-competes” restrict workers’ ability to find new employment opportunities within a given field.
  • “Job Lock.” Noncompete clauses make it tougher for workers to advance their careers by limiting job mobility within their field. 

The Biden Administration claims the non-compete ban will raise wages by $400 billion over the next decade once the ban takes effect in August. Corporate advocates like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have filed lawsuits to try stopping the rule from taking effect.

Credit Card Fees

In March, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a rule limiting the penalty credit card corporations may impose for a single late payment to $8 (current averaging $32, exclusive of interest fees). It will take effect by late May, barring any successful legal challenge. 

The CFPB says late fees cost U.S. residents more than $14 billion a year and that 45 million Americans charged late fees will see an average savings of $220 a year.

The fee cap is part of the Biden administration’s campaign against “junk fees,” including air travel, event tickets and airline fees, which the FTC defines as “unnecessary, unavoidable or surprise charges that inflate costs while adding little to no value.“ The credit card fee cap also is under legal attack from financial corporations and their lobbying groups.

Blocking Anti-competitive Mergers

The FTC is joined by the Department of Justice in increasing vigilance over corporate mergers and acquisitions that would harm competition, small businesses, and consumers. A lawsuit by the DOJ succeeded in stopping the merger of JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, which would have reduced or eliminated competition on many travel routes.

Most recently (January 2024), the FTC sued to block a major hospital acquisition by Novant Health Corporation. The FTC said the merger would raise healthcare costs for patients and could likely harm quality of care.

While these wins have not fundamentally altered the power imbalance between citizens and corporations, they represent a sharp reversal from the last several presidential administrations. Let’s thank and encourage the people responsible for these actions while continuing to push for the  longer-term structural changes we’re working to achieve.

Key 2024 Supreme Court Cases — environment and democracy: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo

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Will a majority of Justices overturn a 40-year-old precedent to grab more power for itself and for corporations?

March 2024

On the surface Loper Bright is a dispute about fishing corporations challenging the power of the National Marine Fisheries Service to require them to pay the cost of observers who monitor companies’ compliance with federal fishery rules. But this seemingly narrow legal question actually could yield widely destructive consequences because the justices have opted to re-examine a 40-year-old precedent the court established in Chevron Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council. 

That precedent, widely known as the Chevron Doctrine, says state courts should defer to federal agencies’ interpretation of a law when the language is ambiguous or leaves discretion regarding implementation.

Chevron effectively says the civil servants with expertise in their field and who are accountable to an elected president should decide how to implement Congress’ mandates, rather than judges — a principle clearly rejected by the most regressive justices. Reversing this precedent would do enormous harm, stripping many federal agencies charged with protecting civil rights, consumers, and public health and safety; limiting pollution and environmental harm; and much more. 

Stripping the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to limit carbon emissions is one obvious industry target. 

Dozens of corporate and far-right advocacy groups are pushing the court to overturn Chevron and anoint federal courts as the arbiters of which federal regulations are proper. Such a ruling would invite floods of lawsuits challenging rules that limit or regulate corporate activities. Workplace safety rules, product safety regulations, and limiting emissions to abate the climate crisis are among the obvious targets.

Reversing Chevron also would undermine other core Unitarian Universalist values by enabling state politicians to challenge crucial federal civil rights and voting protections.

Congress is ill-equipped to manage the day-to-day administration of legislation it passes and necessarily must empower federal agencies to turn its broad directives into specific actions based on good-faith interpretations. Those actions remain subject to judicial oversight if any agency truly exceeds its authority. Accordingly, SCOTUS should uphold theChevron precedent and sustain the ability of civil servants to do their jobs effectively.

SCOTUS however, appears likely to at least weaken, if not overturn, the Chevron Principle, based on reports from oral argument.

Origin and Status: The case came on a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In October, the court also agreed to hear a second challenge to the Chevron Doctrine, Relentless v. Department of Commerce, which will be argued simultaneously with Loper v. Raimondo. 

Related: Edison Electric Institute v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC):  Other corporations also are pushing the Court to overrule Chevron and grant them more power. The Edison Electric Institute and the utility NorthWestern Energy seek to have a lower court ruling in favor of the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission overturned. They object to approval of a FERC finding that a Montana solar and battery storage facility qualifies for incentives that encourage small renewable energy producers to upload power to the grid. No action has been taken by the Court as of April 2024.

Citizen Lawmaking Is Under Attack as Regressive Lawmakers Work to Suppress Democracy

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Citizen lawmaking via state ballot initiatives is overwhelmingly popular with people across political spectra and has no inherent bias, but in the wake of citizens using initiatives to counter Republican extremism in recent years, GOP legislators have unleashed a wave of bills to obstruct the process. These tactics fall into three categories: keeping initiatives from reaching the ballot, impeding passage, and altering voters’ intent post-passage. 

Every Western state in the Lower 48 except New Mexico enables citizens to make laws directly, a vital check on legislators who refuse to act on pressing issues. As a result, Montanans’ water is protected from cyanide leach mining, thousands of Idahoans can access needed health care via Medicaid expansion, and documented immigrants in Arizona gained in-state tuition rates at public colleges.

The surge in Republican attacks seems driven by alarm over pro-choice voters winning in all six states where abortion ballot questions appeared following the U.S. Supreme Court’s regressive majority overturning Roe v Wade in 2022, including GOP strongholds like Montana, Kansas, and Kentucky. In November of 2024, Arizona and Florida voters will likely vote on whether to overturn abortion bans imposed by legislators despite overwhelming support for bodily autonomy among residents (e.g. sixty-four percent of Floridians say abortion procedure should be legal in most or all cases). Up to nine states may have abortion on the ballot this fall.

But direct democracy has no partisan bias. Empowering voters sometimes favors conservative causes. In Colorado, for example, 65 percent of voters approved a 2022 initiative cutting state income taxes and passed another measure saying only U.S. citizens may vote in the state.

Looking beyond policy outcomes, suppressing ballot initiatives invites turmoil. The process serves as a safety valve, giving citizens a constructive option when legislatures defy constituents. This is especially valuable when ousting incumbents in “safe seats” is nearly impossible due to gerrymandered districts. 

Much of the current GOP policy agenda is deeply unpopular, even among their voters, but rather than listening to constituents or moderating policies, stifling constituents has become the norm (in more ways than one). Montana Senate Bill 93, passed last year, would have forced citizen groups to pay a $3,700 filing fee just to start a petition drive (a Montana court struck down that portion of the law in early 2024) while giving state officials the power to reject a proposed initiative if they deemed it similar to any that failed within the previous four years. 

After defeating an initiative to cap homeowner taxes in the previous election, powerful corporate lobbying groups like the Montana Chamber of Commerce and Association of Realtors backed the proposed barriers to direct democracy. Democratic State Representative Kelly Kortum calls the bill, “An attempt to strip Montanans of the ability to make laws themselves.”

In Idaho, the GOP introduced a resolution to amend the state constitution to accomplish voter suppression the state supreme court struck down just two years ago. It would require initiative backers to gather in-person signatures from six percent of voters in all of Idaho’s 35 districts–doubling the current 18-district requirement and requiring the assignment of signature gatherers to small towns nine hours from the state capital of Boise. Luke Mayville of Reclaim Idaho, the grassroots organization behind the 2018 initiative that expanded Medicaid coverage, says such restrictions “would render citizen initiatives impossible.”

While that bill appears dead for the current legislative session, several other states are pushing related tactics that impede signature-gathering and give outsized power to rural areas.

Even without an impossibly short window, extreme signature-dispersal schemes proposed in Idaho and other states would grant corporations the power to prevent voters from ever seeing a measure disfavored by big business. That threat exists thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court creating a First Amendment “right” for corporations to spend unlimited sums influencing ballot questions, in 1978 (First National Bank of Boston v Bellotti).

In Nevada, NV Energy spent $63 million to thwart an initiative that aimed to end its electric monopoly. With extreme signature-gathering requirements, corporations could prevent the public debate ballot questions provoke by coopting or propagandizing voters in a single district (to deter residents from endorsing an initiative). This would be easily accomplished in rural districts where gaining endorsements from six percent of voters already is burdensome. 

Direct democracy in the West arose largely through citizens fighting the corruption of state legislatures by mining, railroad, and timber interests — especially in Montana). South Dakota led the way in 1898, followed rapidly by Oregon, Montana, and now 24 total states. So laws that would enable corporations to stifle citizen initiatives before they reach the ballot completely betray that original intent.

The merit of citizen lawmaking is one point of broad agreement among citizens of differing party loyalties and ideologies. This vital tool is under increasing attack, and it’s up to all of us to defend our right to self-governance from politicians who seek to elevate their power at the expense of their constituents.

Jeff Milchen is a board member of Reclaim Democracy!

Editor’s note: we’ve been warning of the escalating attacks on citizen lawmaking for years and are pleased to see have been opened as the sabotage attempts became more glaring in 2023. Our previous reporting has appeared in Jacobin and Governing, among others.

Reclaim Democracy! Commends the Introduction of Federal Voter Protection Bills

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September 2023

The Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA) are imperative bills to pass through Congress in light of ongoing attempts to pass restrictive, anti-voter bills. At least 14 state legislatures enacted 17 restrictive laws during the first nine months of 2023 erecting barriers for eligible voters and disproportionately impacting voters of color, youth, and those with limited mobility. State legislatures continue impeding our ability to vote and have our votes count equally through gerrymandering, voter roll purges, and more than 50 other tactics Reclaim Democracy! has identified across the states. We call on Congress and President Biden to do everything in their power to ensure passage of both the FTVA and VRAA.

Along with protecting citizens from being denied their vote, the FTVA includes key actions to shrink the influence of big money in politics, guarantees congressional districts provide fair representation for all, and creates national standards to ensure the integrity and security of federal elections.

See summaries from the Brennan Center for Justice for detailed information on both the FTVA and VRAA.

Reclaim Democracy! is among more than 250 allied pro-democracy organizations united via Declaration for American Democracy to advance such voter protection measures.

Finally, we must recognize a hard truth: when our ability to vote depends on politicians who control the levers of power in our state, voting is merely a vulnerable privilege and not a right. Ultimately, we must amend our Constitution to embed an affirmative right to vote and ensure our votes count equally.