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Great New Books on Organizing:

Virginia has this year taken a number of steps to be in full compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, specifically its requirement that states provide voter registration services in public assistance agencies, according to a new report published in early October by Demos, a national election reform and voting rights policy center.

Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) with two primary aims: increasing voter registration opportunities and ensuring the integrity of the voting process. Yet, while most states created effective programs for mail-in and Department of Motor Vehicles-based registration processes, many neglected the NVRA’s Section 7 requirement that states offer voter registration in public assistance agencies.

The new study, entitled Expanding Voter Registration for Low-Income Virginians: The Impact of the National Voter Registration Act, details how the state’s public assistance voter registration services, as mandated by the NVRA, had lapsed in recent years. In April 2008, Demos, along with Democracy South, the Virginia Organizing Project, the ACLU of Virginia and the Virginia Conference of the NAACP, notified the State Board of Elections and the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) of their declining registration numbers in public assistance offices. The state responded almost immediately to help bring the state into full compliance with the law by following a set of recommendations developed in collaboration with Demos and its Virginia partners.

For a press release about this study, go to www.demos.org/page669.cfm.

And here’s an online version of the report: www.demos.org/pubs/NVRA_VA.pdf.