What is the Voter Access Act?
Northwest Health Foundation lends lobbying capacity to legislative work that aligns with our values and is led by our grantees. Our legislative priority for this year is HB 2678, Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which we highlighted in a previous blog post. We’re also endorsing HB 2745, the Voter Access Act, highlighted below.
The Problem
Oregon’s current voter registration cards do not include questions about race, ethnicity and/or preferred language. When reaching out to voters, volunteers and organizations aren’t informed about who they are talking to and what their shared values might be. Instead, they must make assumptions.
The Solution
HB 2745! Update voter registration cards to include the option of voters identifying their race, ethnicity and/or preferred language. This will allow voter outreach efforts to recruit volunteers with specific language skills and target outreach to communities of color, who often turn out to vote at lower rates than their white peers. Access to this information could facilitate targeted campaigns to increase voter turnout.
The Players
Forward Together leads the Voter Access Act coalition. Participating organizations include APANO, Next Up, Our Oregon, UFCW 555, Oregon Students Association, OLCV, East County Rising and more.
Who to reach out to if you have questions about the coalition
Michele Ruffin, Oregon Political Director at Forward Together