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Articles by Catherine Kelley
First Election Certification Under Updated Law Was a Success
The 2024 presidential election did not end in the early hours of November 6, when major news networks called the race for President-elect Donald Trump. Instead, the full process actually ended on January 6, when Congress officially counted each state’s electoral votes. Our democracy includes a comprehensive set of checks and balances to ensure all votes are counted and election results are honored.
A Peaceful Transition: First Election Certification Under Updated Law Was a Success
The 2024 presidential election did not end in the early hours of November 6, when major news networks called the race for President-elect Donald Trump. Instead, the full process actually ended on January 6, when Congress officially counted each state’s electoral votes. Our democracy includes a comprehensive set of checks and balances to ensure all votes are counted and election results are honored.
First Election Under Updated Law Was a Success
The 2024 presidential election did not end in the early hours of November 6, when major news networks called the race for President-elect Donald Trump. Instead, the full process actually ended today, when Congress officially counted each state’s electoral votes. Our democracy includes a comprehensive set of checks and balances to ensure all votes are counted and election results are honored.
Protecting Americans From Mass Voter Challenges
Our democracy is strongest when every American has the opportunity to participate. Yet coordinated efforts by partisan actors to conduct “mass voter challenges” threaten Americans’ freedom to vote across the country and stand to overwhelm and overburden election officials during an already busy time. Mass challenges are exactly what they sound like — attempts by individuals to question or challenge someone’s eligibility to vote.
We Voted, Now What? How the President Is Elected
Every four years in November, Americans head to the polls to elect a president and vice president of the United States. But what happens between the time everyone’s votes are cast and when the next president takes the oath of office on Jan. 20? A federal law, the Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA), lays out the procedures for finalizing the election during this period.
Arizona’s Latino, Native Voters Score Voting Rights Win
Free and fair elections rely on every voter having the ability to access the ballot box. A federal judge in Arizona just reaffirmed that principle, striking down provisions of two Arizona laws, H.B. 2492 and H.B. 2243, passed in 2022 that severely restricted the ability of Arizonans — particularly Latino and Native Arizonans — from exercising their freedom to vote.
Why America Needs the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
March 7th marks the anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday,’ when Black civil rights champions led by John Lewis, who later served in Congress for 33 years, were violently assaulted by law enforcement while marching for voting rights across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL.
How Artificial Intelligence Influences Elections, and What We Can Do About It
2024 will be the first election year to feature the widespread influence of AI before, during and after voters cast their ballots, including in the making and distribution of public messages about candidates as well as electoral processes.
Bipartisan Arizona Law Makes Crucial Updates to Presidential Election Deadlines
After the January 6th attack on our country revealed gaps and ambiguities in the process of certifying presidential elections, Congress passed the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 – a strong bipartisan bill and major victory for voters’ ability to make their voices heard in future presidential elections. In the year since, advocates and lawmakers at the state level have been working tirelessly to ensure their presidential election procedures conform to the newly passed federal law.
Updating the Electoral Count Act to Protect the Will of the People in Presidential Elections
The president and vice president are chosen by the Electoral College, which is composed of individuals called “electors” from each state. When Americans cast their ballots for president, they are actually voting for their state’s slate of electors. After Election Day, electors meet in their respective states to cast their electoral votes and send those votes to Congress. The role of Congress is to count the electoral votes from each state to confirm the winner.
Want Election Results Sooner? Allow Election Officials to Process Mail Ballots Early
American elections have many built-in processes for verification and review before, during and after a vote is cast. This is especially true when voting by mail. After a voter fills out and returns a mail ballot, it goes through a host of steps prior to being counted and election results being released to the public. These steps are known as ballot processing and can include opening envelopes and removing ballots, verifying signatures on envelopes and preparing ballots for counting or scanning.
The Inclusive Democracy Act: A step toward real democracy
Felony disenfranchisement laws, which take away someone’s freedom to vote if they have been convicted of a felony, are the biggest remaining obstacle to a truly inclusive and equitable democracy in America. These laws proliferated in the United States as an intentional scheme to strip Black Americans of their freedom to vote and continue to disproportionately impact Black and brown voters.
Victory! Democracy Wins Big in Michigan
The freedom to vote and to make your voice heard is critical to the health of our democracy. Michigan’s legislature just took major steps forward to ensure its voters can have their voices heard and respected in future elections. This session, Michigan lawmakers have passed major pro-democracy bills to help ensure the state is ready for the 2024 election. This includes four bills that CLC testified in support of and provided feedback for throughout the legislative process.
Electoral Count Reform Act Makes It Harder to Undermine Presidential Elections
Last week, Rep. Mike Johnson — a “key architect of Republicans’ objections to certifying Mr. Biden’s victory on Jan. 6,” according to the New York Times — was elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s important to understand that our elections are safe, secure and accurate.
Why the FEC Is Ineffective
The five authors of this blog are all former FEC employees To reduce political corruption, we need real transparency about who is spending big money on elections. Voters need to know who is funding election messaging, so they can properly weigh the credibility of that messaging and cast an informed vote. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent government agency charged with ensuring that voters have the information they need about spending in our elections.
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