United for Democracy
From Georgia to New Hampshire and beyond, America Votes and affiliate partners are fighting efforts to undermine fair representation and the right to vote.

There are 63 days until November 6, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Control of the U.S. Congress hangs in the balance, countless critical ballot initiatives are up for a vote, and state and local contests nationwide could determine the next round of redistricting.
During this pivotal moment to shape the nation’s future, America Votes’ more than 400 national and state-level partners are on the ground across our 22-state network working to build back progressive power from the ground up.
To shed a light on these inspiring efforts, we’re bringing you Spotlight 2018 — a series of posts lifting up just a few of the countless initiatives our in-state partners have underway.
And what better place to start than with efforts in New Hampshire and Georgia to ensure all voices are heard freely and fairly in our electoral system. We create lasting progressive change through electing leaders who stand for our values, but far too often, conservatives undermine the core principles and rights of our democracy for their own political gain.
Luckily, America Votes and our affiliates and partners in New Hampshire and Georgia are ready to fight back.
First in the Nation? Not Always
Everyone knows that when it comes to electing U.S. presidents, New Hampshire is the first state in the nation to cast ballots. You’d think with such a symbolic role to play in America’s electoral process that the Granite State would be setting an example for the rest of the country when it comes to guaranteeing the right to vote.
Unfortunately, over the past few years, the opposite couldn’t be truer, with conservatives in Concord working time and again to limit eligible voters’ — especially young people’s — access to the polls. And last December was no different.
Republicans in the state House had proposed HB 1264, a bill that would change New Hampshire’s residency requirements for voting in a way that would make it harder for many Granite Staters — especially the state’s college students — to cast a ballot.

Luckily, a well-established coalition was ready to fight back.
Created several years ago and spearheaded by the America Votes New Hampshire team, the New Hampshire Campaign for Voting Rights brings together groups including the New Hampshire Young Democrats, NextGen America, the New Hampshire Youth Movement and many others to make sure that New Hampshire has secure and modern elections and that every Granite Stater is able to exercise the constitutionally-guaranteed right to vote.
Once the coalition got wind of the bill, partners sprang into action. Within two weeks, partners were making calls and activating national organizations in their network to do the same and draw attention to the bill. Together, they coordinated on messaging, circulated petitions, dropped veto pens off at Governor Chris Sununu’s office and even brought so many allies to a hearing on the bill that legislators were forced to move it to a larger room.
“I 100 percent look to the coalition as the hub for all things voting rights.”
-Teddy Smyth, NextGen America
All told, in its efforts to block HB 1264, the coalition along with allies and volunteers collectively made more than 20,000 calls, delivered more than 100 handwritten letters to the governor and sent 250 emails to the governor’s staff.
All of this work was made possible by the strong coordination among these groups on the ground fighting to protect the right to vote.
“I 100 percent look to the coalition as the hub for all things voting rights,” said NextGen America State Youth Director Teddy Smyth. When it comes to collaborating on work such as messaging around HB 1264, Smyth added, “consistency is impossible without someone playing a coordinating role.”
President of the New Hampshire Young Democrats, Lucas Meyer, agreed. “We would have been one-third as effective if we did not have access to the resources of America Votes,” he said. “To have a home base to direct all inquiries to is something that I haven’t seen does as effectively the past two years in New Hampshire with any other legislative fight.”


Despite the coalition’s best efforts, HB 1264 made its way through the legislature and was signed into law in July, but the fight isn’t over yet. With HB 1264 set to take effect in July 2019 and Election Day 2018 just around the corner, there’s plenty of work left to do. The coalition is informing students in the Granite State about their right to vote this year and working with town clerks to avoid any confusion at the polls and clarify any misinformation around voting.
Despite the bill’s passage, America Votes New Hampshire Political and Field Director Mike O’Brien knows that the coalition’s work had a lasting effect and will continue to in the fights to come.
“Actions have impact when they require the press or legislators to take notice,” O’Brien said. “I think we accomplished that this year in a way that was very impactful.”
Putting Georgia on the Map
Early one Friday morning in late March of 2017, Porsha White found herself among a packed crowd at the Georgia State Capitol. White, then the public policy manager at Planned Parenthood Southeast, was standing in solidarity with countless allies against a bill that posed a direct threat to fair representation in Georgia — and had come into existence just weeks earlier.
Earlier that month, just before a Georgia House of Representatives hearing was to be held, America Votes’ in-state affiliate, Georgia Engaged, got wind of a nasty bill that proposed cutting predominantly black precincts out of vulnerable Republicans’ districts and swapping them out with more conservative white ones.
HB 515’s introduction took both Democratic lawmakers and the general public by surprise, and while it was passed by the House two days later, the progressive coalition led by Georgia Engaged sprang into action to keep it from advancing any closer to the governor’s desk.
First things first — Georgians needed to understand that these bills were a thinly veiled attempt to weaken the voices of black voters for conservatives’ political gain. To that end, Georgia Engaged Director of Data and Analytics Nick Marshall set about using data technology to create maps illustrating the racial motivations behind the bill.


Once the maps were set, Planned Parenthood’s White spearheaded efforts to get them in front of as many legislators as possible. “We were already holding these weekly lobby days,” White said, “so we were able to engage our people immediately because we already had a base of people who were coming up to the Capitol to lobby every single week.”
To spread the word on these efforts beyond Georgia, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee stepped in, alerting its national allies and the media about HB 515.
“While the activists on the ground had the networks to move people around the cities and state,” said NDRC’s community projects and engagement director, José Morales, “we took the lane that was most open to us and supportive of them by garnering national attention.”

And it wasn’t just the Georgia Engaged table that put up a fight to block HB 515. Non-profits outside of the Georgia Engaged network also played a critical role in challenging the proposed maps, placing countless calls to lawmakers and publishing an open letter underscoring the discriminatory intent of the legislation.
When, just weeks later, HB 515 was up for its Senate vote, the committee room was packed with activists and allies who stood together against these racially-motivated attempts to undermine fair representation.
And, against many odds, HB 515 failed — thanks in no small part to the work of the progressive coalition on the ground.
“Stopping the bill in a trifecta [GOP-held] government would not have been possible without all of that coordination,” Morales said. “The partners constantly talking to each other, the people who have seen this before warning us what was going to come next so that we could stay steps ahead, that stopped that bill from going through.”
And the coordination didn’t stop there. With so many critical elections across Georgia in 2018, last year’s efforts to defeat HB 515 laid the foundation to building back progressive power during the midterms.
Now Georgia state director at Let America Vote, White said, “I think it built such a sense of trust among the partners, especially having to work together so quickly and so closely.” As Let America Vote is fighting to vote out conservatives undermining fair representation, the work around HB 515 helped determine where in the state to focus its efforts in 2018.
“[Georgia is] full of passionate, creative, innovative and hardworking people who know that Georgia was a battleground in the civil rights era. They retain, regard and embody that spirit.”
-José Morales, National Democratic Redistricting Committee
And at the NDRC, last year’s success helped propel grassroots organization and electoral efforts in Georgia in 2018, in addition to a pending lawsuit challenging additional districts that were unfairly redrawn in 2015.
As November 6 and the chance to effect real progressive change in Georgia approach, Georgia Engaged and the entire coalition are ready to continue fighting for democracy and making sure all Georgians’ voices are heard.
“[Georgia is] full of passionate, creative, innovative and hardworking people who know that Georgia was a battleground in the civil rights era,” Morales said. “They retain, regard and embody that spirit.”
