Please tell your member of Congress to make the passage of election protection legislation a priority before they break for the summer recess, starting with the bi-partisan DISCLOSE Act (H.R. 5175), which will mitigate the corrosive effects of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. Two-thirds of Americans are opposed to this decision because it undermines our democracy and puts profits over people.

In addition, passage of other common sense federal legislation will protect the votes of millions of people who are either unfairly kept from voting or are disenfranchised when their lawfully cast vote is not counted. These include citizens who have been wrongfully purged from voter lists, voters challenged at the polls for various technicalities, felons who have been released back into society, people who have been given false information about the day or place of voting, and nuns, retirees and the homeless who do not possess a state issued photo ID.

Other bills referenced in this petition:

Caging Prohibition Act of 2009 -- (Conyers; HR 103 and S. 528 PDF) This bill would prohibit election officials from preventing individuals from registering to vote or voting in any federal election or from permitting formal voter challenges to voters' registration status or eligibility if the basis of information gathered from voter caging documents or lists or unverified match lists. It would also establish requirements of individuals other than election officials who wish to challenge the voter eligibility of another individual, and prohibit challenges based on voter caging documents or lists or unverified match lists.

Provisional Ballot Fairness in Counting Act - (Holt; HR 3552) this removes the "wrong precinct" rule that many states have used to invalidate provisional ballots. Under this language if you cast your provisional ballot in the correct state for state-wide federal races, or in the correct Congressional District for Congressional races, it must be counted. In addition, it would prohibit a state from certifying a result or commencing a recount prior to all provisional ballots being reviewed and counted in accordance with the foregoing requirements, and it would treat any rejected provisional ballots as voter registration applications.

Protection Against Wrongful Voter Purges Act -- (Holt; HR 3835) this provides for advance notice of possible removal from the rolls, and an opportunity to challenge and remedy if your name is removed. In addition, it would prohibit a state from refusing to register a voter who has submitted all information required by the nation (NVRA) form, notwithstanding additional information requested by the state form, and it would prohibit a state from refusing to register a applicant solely on the basis of a failure to match data contained in another state database.