For Many, Tremendous Obstacles Remain in Accessing Democracy

Comprehensive report released today by Women's Voices. Women Vote outlines
critical areas in need of election reform

WASHINGTON, April 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Seeking to focus the attention
of lawmakers and election reform groups on the obstacles to full participation
of the American electorate and the path to election reform, Women's Voices.
Women Vote (WVWV) today released a comprehensive report titled, "Access to
Democracy: Identifying Obstacles Hindering the Right to Vote." Consolidating a
variety of studies from expert sources into one document, the findings confirm
the most significant obstacles to voter participation and outline those
election reforms which would yield the most positive results.

While the study discusses obstacles to voter participation in general, it
focuses on the unique impact it has on traditionally under-represented groups
who comprise the majority (52%) of the population - African Americans,
Latinos, unmarried women and young voters; it is unmarried women who drive
this majority and the mission of Women's Voices Women Vote.

"Unmarried women are the fastest growing large demographic in the population,
comprising 25% of the voting age population," said Page Gardner, president and
founder of WVWV, a national nonpartisan organization focused on the increased
participation of unmarried women in the civic process.

"Challenges that affect unmarried women most particularly include greater
mobility and access to less economic resources - they have the highest poverty
rate of any cross-section of the adult population," said Gardner. "Yet it is
exactly this portion of the population for whom we make voter registration
most difficult in this country."

According to the report, laws posing the most significant obstacles to voter
participation fall into five key areas:
1. Voter Registration: controversies over voter registration produced more
litigation than any other election issue in 2008, primarily due to
outdated and problematic voter registration systems. By allowing
reforms
such as universal registration and greater uniformity of registration
standards, many registration issues could be resolved.
2. Absentee and Early Voting: the rate of voters casting ballots via
absentee or early voting methods is on the rise (38 million Americans
in
2008). However, the rules surrounding these methods vary significantly
from state to state. Given the increased flexibility of these voting
methods, relaxing the requirements would increase participation of
underrepresented populations, such as hourly workers who cannot afford
to
take time off from work.
3. Voter Identification Requirements: lack of consistency across state
lines
in relation to the types of ID required (e.g., driver's license,
proof of citizenship) as well as whether ID is required at all, make it
confusing and cumbersome to register and/or cast a ballot.
4. Provisional Ballots: among the top five complaints logged by the
Election
Protection Coalition's hotline during the 2004 election were
problems with provisional ballots. While the Help America Vote Act of
2002 requires that voters not on the registration list or lacking
proper
ID be given a provisional ballot, the regulations surrounding this
practice vary from state to state.

5. Voter Lists: state regulations are notably inconsistent when it comes
to
the maintenance of voter registration lists - from who updates them to
how the state maintains them, whether state or local election officials
allow for name variations, and how and when the lists are purged.

The full report, "Access to Democracy: Identifying Obstacles Hindering the
Right to Vote" may be accessed at the Women's Voices Women Vote Web site:
http://www.wvwv.org/assets/2009/4/15/WVWV-Access-to-Democracy-Report.pdf

Women's Voices. Women Vote, is a national nonpartisan organization that
promotes the participation of the nation's 51 million unmarried women in the
democratic process. For more information, please visit our Web site:
www.wvwv.org.

SOURCE Women's Voices. Women Vote

Amy Weiss, +1-202-203-0448, Amy@PointBlankPA.com, for WVWV