Texas Governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry added another “oops” moment to his campaign this week. This time, he seemingly told a New Hampshire audience he believes the voting age in the United States is 21. The Los Angeles Times was there:

“Those of you that will be 21 by Nov. 12th, I ask for your support and your vote,” Perry said to a crowd that included college students.

“Those of you who won’t be — just work hard — because you are going to inherit this and you’re counting on us to get this right. The idea that you’re looking at a $15-trillion debt, that you’re looking at entitlement programs that will not be there for you if we continue on this path, is not fair to you and it’s not right.”

The minimum voting age in the United States is 18.

Perhaps, then, it shouldn’t be a surprise Perry hasn’t responded to our challenge to the 2012 candidates to outline a plan to increase voter participation. Tomorrow we’ll release the full list of candidate responses and non-responses.

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Earlier this mont we relaunched our efforts with a kickoff event at the Newseum in Washington (video) called “Creating The Voting Rights Act Of 2012.” Thursday in the New York Times UC Irvine professor and blogger Rick Hasen called for just that.

Congress needs to pass a new Voting Rights Act, national in scope, to move beyond these stale debates. We need fair, nonpartisan standards for election administration, that ensure that all eligible voters, and only eligible voters, get to vote, and that minority voting rights are protected.

If minority voters can’t count on the courts, let’s hope Congress acts. Otherwise, expect to see more states enact additional restrictions on voting and draw new electoral districts that will decrease minority voting strength.

You can read professor Hasen’s full Times op-ed here.

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Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has submitted the first video response to the Why Tuesday? Candidate Challenge. Two weeks ago we asked all of the 2012 candidates, including President Obama, as we did in 2008, to send us a video with their ideas for increasing America’s low voter participation.

As you’ll see in Mr. Cain’s video, he specifically answers our question about whether or not he believes the American voting system is broken. Mr. Cain says he does not believe the American voting system is broken.

Mr. Cain acknowledges, however, America’s low voter turnout in his response. “More people need to participate,” he says, “in order to enhance the integrity as well as to better represent the voice of the people.” One of the fixes Mr. Cain says he’d like to see to “improve the integrity of our system,” is “requiring picture IDs” for voters. Watch the video for his complete answer. (more…)

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Our co-founder Norman J. Ornstein, pictured above at our 2012 kickoff, presents an interesting idea on the New York Times Campaign Stops blog today. Norm suggests a “Race To The Top” for voter turnout, with electoral votes on the line.

Race To The Top is the Obama education policy that rewards funding based on states hitting “education innovation” benchmarks. If we can do it for test scores, Norm wonders, why not for voting?

The 10 states that end up with the lowest turnout rates compared to the overall national turnout (based on percentage of all voters in the state, not percentage of registered voters) each lose one or two electoral votes, and the 10 states that have the highest turnout rates get a bonus electoral vote or two. (more…)

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One week after we kicked off our 2012 campaign with a call for a Voting Rights Act of 2012, Congressman John Conyers chaired a congressional forum in Washington, D.C. to hear testimony about the current voting rights crisis in the United States.

“The loudest sound that exists in a democratic society is the voice of a voter in an election. Ensuring that every veteran, every senior citizen, every student – whether born or naturalized – has the right to vote should not be a partisan issue, it should be a legal and moral imperative of both parties,” said Rep. Conyers in a statement.

We’d like to thank Matthew Segel, our friend and partner from Our Time, who testified to the committee and advocated moving Election Day from Tuesday to the weekend to increase participation. (more…)

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Mimi Murray Digby Marziani, third from left at our 2012 kickoff, is joining the Why Tuesday? advisory board.

We are thrilled to announce Mimi Murray Digby Marziani is joining the Why Tuesday? advisory board. Mimi, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, participated in our 2012 kickoff event at the Newseum, “Creating the Voting Rights Act of 2012.” Her work on and knowledge of voting rights make an extraordinary addition to our team. Here’s Mimi’s bio:

Mimi Murray Digby Marziani serves as counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program where her work focuses on money in politics, voting rights and legislative dysfunction. (more…)

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