The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study last week assessing costs and benefits of holding Election Day on the weekend instead of Tuesday, as is called for in the Weekend Voting Act. The study, as CBS News points out, was unfortunately but not surprisingly inconclusive:

“Since nationwide federal elections have never been held on a weekend, it is difficult to draw valid conclusions about how moving federal elections to a weekend would affect voter turnout,” the GAO report said.

The GAO report focused in large part on the logistical challenges of holding elections on weekends, identifying challenges in doing so including “finding poll workers and polling places, and securing ballots and voting equipment-and expected cost increases.”

We believe the concerns raised by the GAO report are valid but certainly shouldn’t be a reason to keep Election Day on Tuesday. For one, the cost to our democracy is far higher to have chronic low voter turnout than a modest increase in the monetary cost of administering elections. (more…)

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Our co-founder and resident scholar Norman J. Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute appeared with legendary political journalist Jeff Greenfield on the PBS series Need To Know last week to discuss “Making Congress Work.” They were joined by Mickey Edwards, the former Republican Congressman from Oklahoma and Democratic Congressman Jim Cooper of Tennessee.

Laura LeBlanc at PBS provides context for this conversation:

Congress has never been very popular, but its public image is currently at a historic low. Recent approval ratings for the first branch of government range from only 9 to 13 percent, depending on whom you ask, and frustration is coming from both sides of the political aisle… As a body, Congress is more polarized than ever.

Amongst all of the topics discussed in their nearly 20-minute chat was how to raise voter participation. Norm suggested mandatory voting and also Weekend Voting, as you might suspect. The discussion of voter participation starts at the 8-minute mark. (more…)

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I was at the CBS News Broadcast Center in New York last week to talk about our push to move Election Day to Saturday and Sunday to increase turnout. I sat down with senior political reporter Brian Montopoli and told him why we think it’s time to upgrade our voting system.

In 2011, coming onto 2012, we will be voting on a day and in a way that was set for an agrarian society 160-something years ago. Frankly it literally is just silly that we’re still voting on this day when so many Americans are working two jobs, don’t necessarily have time to make it to the polls before or after work.

Watch the complete interview and let us know what you think. (more…)

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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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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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