Organizations involved in campaign finance reform, civic participation...

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Thanks to NVRI - http://www.nvri.org/about/index.shtml -

The National Voting Rights Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit organization committed to making real the promise of American democracy that meaningful political participation and power should be accessible to all regardless of economic or social status. NVRI is based in Boston, though NVRI can be found wherever in the country voters are disenfranchised.

NVRI's central goals to achieve our core purpose are as follows:

Pass and successfully defend reforms that limit campaign spending in local, statewide and national elections.
Strengthen, defend and protect political participation against threats at the state and local level.
Affirm and support constitutional protection of the right to vote.
Obtain public funding for local, state and federal elections.
NVRI has led the national effort to reconsider campaign spending limits as a constitutional means of making meaningful political participation available to all Americans. In its 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision, the U.S. Supreme Court equated money with speech when it struck down congressional campaign spending limits on First Amendment grounds. It is that decision that NVRI has attempted to change, both through litigation and coalition work.

NVRI is active in efforts to enfranchise U.S. citizens, through lawsuits in many states and jurisdictions regarding absentee ballots, provisional voting, candidate filing fees, public access to contribution records, and enforcement of campaign spending laws, among other things. CLICK HERE FOR MORE. Among NVRI's most recent efforts is pursuit of a full and meaningful recount of the Ohio presidential ballots in 2004. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

NVRI also initiated the only Wealth Primary lawsuits in the country, challenging campaign finance laws on equal protection grounds and seeking public financing of elections. Private money is one of the most significant barriers to voting rights in the country. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

NVRI is committed to public funding for elections, believing that this is one of the best ways for political participation to be available to all.

http://www.nvri.org/resources/index.shtml

Organizations listed are involved in campaign finance reform, civic participation, civil rights, or other issues related to democracy.

Public Interest Advocacy Organizations

ACORN, http://www.acorn.org/: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a nationwide community organization of low- and moderate-income families that focuses on housing, community investment, and living wage issues.

Action Agenda for Election Reform, http://www.ips-dc.org/electoral/intro.htm: a collaborative effort of the Institute for Policy Studies’ Progressive Challenge Project and the Nation Magazine. This site serves as a clearinghouse for information, citizen action toolkits, and educational resources on electoral reform.

Alliance for Better Campaigns, http://www.bettercampaigns.org/: an organization that seeks to improve elections by promoting campaigns in which the most useful information reaches the greatest number of citizens in the most engaging ways.

Alliance for Democracy, http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/: a progressive populist movement working to end the domination of large corporations.

America Speaks, http://www.americaspeaks.org/: an organization working to strengthen democracy by creating mechanisms that are accessible to the public and reflect the realities of the 21st century.

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, http://www.aaldef.org/: a legal rights organization that focuses on voting rights and removing barriers to political participation for Asian Americans.

Brennan Center for Justice, http://www.brennancenter.org/: an organization based out of NYU School of Law that works to develop and implement a nonpartisan agenda focusing on issues related to democracy, criminal justice and poverty.

Campaign Legal Center, http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/: a non-profit organization whose mission is to advance a nonpartisan agenda by representing the public perspective in administrative and legal proceedings interpreting and enforcing the campaign and media laws.

Center for Voting and Democracy, http://www.fairvote.org/: a nonprofit that studies how voting systems affect participation, representation and governance. Issues include redistricting alternatives, the range of voting systems for legislative elections, and instant runoff voting, among others issues.

Common Cause, http://www.commoncause.org/: a nonprofit, nonpartisan citizen's lobbying organization promoting open, honest and accountable government.

Counting on Democracy, http://www.itvs.org/countingondemocracy/: investigates charges of disenfranchisement and 175,000 uncounted Florida votes cast largely by the working poor and people of color, in the most contested and controversial election in US history.

Demos, http://www.demos-usa.org/: a non-profit organization that conducts research and builds networks of civic and economic reformers to strengthen democracy and create a more broadly shared prosperity.

Fannie Lou Hamer Project, http://www.flhp.org/: a project dedicated to creating a national grassroots movement to redefine campaign finance as a civil rights issue.

Japanese American Citizens League, http://www.jacl.org/: a membership organization whose mission is to secure and maintain the human and civil rights of Americans of Japanese ancestry and others victimized by injustice.

Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, http://www.lawyerscomm.org/: an organization formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The Lawyer’s Committee works to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law.

League of Women Voters, http://www.lwv.org/: a nonpartisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and works to increase understanding of major public policy issues.

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, http://www.maldef.org/: national nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and promote the civil rights of the more than 35 million Latinos living in the United States.

National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, http://www.napalc.org/: works to advance the legal and civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans through litigation, public education and public policy.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), http://www.naacp.org/: an organization that focuses on the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of the United States.

National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, http://www.bigvote.org/: a nonpartisan organization dedicated to increasing African American participation in civil society.

National Congress of American Indians, http://www.ncai.org/: the oldest national Indian organization serving the needs of a broad membership of American Indian and Alaska Native governments.

National Council of La Raza, http://www.nclr.org/: an organization established in 1968 to reduce poverty and discrimination, and improve life opportunities, for Hispanic Americans.

Native American Rights Fund, http://www.narf.org/: an organization that provides legal representation and technical assistance to Indian tribes, organizations and individuals nationwide.

NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF), http://www.ldfla.org/: Founded in 1940 by Thurgood Marshall, LDF fights for equality and empowerment for African Americans and other disenfranchised groups in the areas of education, employment, criminal justice, voting rights, housing, health care, and environmental justice.


Organization of Chinese Americans, Inc., http://www.ocanatl.org/: national non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization of concerned Chinese Americans.

People for the American Way, http://www.pfaw.org/: a political action committee formed in 1998 to hold candidates accountable, organize to get voters out to the polls and work to fight the Right.

Project Vote Smart, http://www.vote-smart.org/: a non-partisan group gathering and distributing biographical history, voting records, campaign finances and promises, and performance evaluations about elected officials and candidates.

Public Campaign, http://www.publicampaign.org/: a non-partisan organization dedicated to reducing the role of special interest money in America's elections and the influence of big contributors in American politics.

Public Citizen, http://www.publiccitizen.org/: a consumer advocacy organization that fights for safer drugs and medical devices, cleaner and safer energy sources, a cleaner environment, fair trade, and a more open and democratic government.

ReclaimDemocracy.org, http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org: an organization dedicated to restoring democratic authority over corporations, reviving grassroots democracy, and revoking the power of money and corporations to control government and civic society.

Rock the Vote, http://www.rockthevote.org/index2.html: an organization dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and empowering young people to change their world.

US Action, http://www.usaction.org/: a national coalition of social action organizations.

USPIRG , http://www.pirg.org/uspirg/: U.S. PIRG speaks for the public interest against the special interests, on issues such as electoral reform, democracy, environmental protection, consumer issues, and higher education.

Voter Rights March, www.votermarch.org: an organization whose platform calls for a Voters' Bill of Rights that includes such reforms as campaign finance reform, the extension of the Voting Rights Act, and the creation of new user friendly voting machines.

Vote, www.voteforchange.org: an organization dedicated to the proposition that in the American political system the government must represent the will of the people.