As the Right ramps up its efforts to put up barriers to voting, from voter ID requirements to restrictions on third-party voter registration, it is becoming more urgent to empower students and defend their voting rights. That’s why People For the American Way Foundation’s Young People For (YP4) program wants to empower young progressives with tools to get out the vote among people their age in their communities. With the help of YP4, they will coordinate activities on their campuses, including rallies, phone banks, shuttles to the polls, and student housing canvassing. They will lead the charge to combat political attacks on student voting.

We are among many great organizations working to mobilize and protect the student vote.

UPDATE: While H 4139 has not moved since it got to the Senate, there is some good news on another front: a short-term agreement has been reached in a lawsuit alleging that Massachusetts violated the National Voter Registration Act. 478,000 public assistance recipients will now receive voter registration forms. Should the state and plaintiffs fail to reach a long-term solution, litigation will resume on December 31, 2012.

Update: On August 15, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) will release two new resources to help transgender Americans overcome barriers to voting. Voting While Trans: Preparing for the New Voter Suppression Laws will focus on ID requirements. Voting While Trans Check List will educate poll workers and election officials on the voting rights of transgender people. You can sign up here to be among the first to get these resources. NCTE encourages everyone to distribute them among LGBT friends and allies.

The Right’s so-called fight against voter fraud got a bit of airtime on The Daily Show this week, but that doesn’t mean the nationwide attack on voting rights is a laughing matter.

In a ruling last week hailed by voting rights advocates, US District Judge Gregg Costa temporarily enjoined Texas Election Code provisions restricting voter registration, including those implemented by HB 2194, which has ALEC ties in author Larry Taylor and sponsor Mike Jackson.

Citing the Federalist Papers, Judge Costa wrote:

On May 22, a coalition led by the American Jewish Committee and the Religious Freedom Project/First Amendment Center released Harassment, Bullying, and Free Expression: Guidelines for Free and Safe Public Schools. While we welcome the opportunity to keep the anti-bullying conversation going, this particular entrée has a problem.

It concludes:

With Kansas set for its August 7 primary, voting rights supporters are waiting with bated breath to see how severe the suppressive effects of voter ID (sponsored by Representative Lance Kinzer, an ALEC member) will be. KanVote will have volunteers at the polls.

8/6/2012: Voter ID supporters have accused Secretary of State Mark Ritchie of unlawfully altering the ballot measure’s title. In a Senate hearing about Ritchie’s actions, they claimed that the legislature has the exclusive right to draft ballot measures. However, a bipartisan group of law professors pointed out that the state constitution mandates that the Secretary "provide an appropriate title" for ballot questions. The Minnesota Supreme Court reviewed the issue in late July. A ruling is expected later this month.

UPDATE: New developments continue to shed light on the purge and its far-reaching impact. An article in the Atlantic details the possibility that it could lead to a 2000-style fiasco. A woman who is most certainly alivewas removed from the rolls twice because the state thinks she is dead. The Guardian has profiled several other voters who are battling to preserve their rights. Thankfully, there is some good news, as despite being granted access to the SAVE database, it now looks like county election supervisors won’t be removing more voters from the rolls before the August 14 primary. Officials are being encouraged to proceed cautiously since the state may not be able to settle its ongoing disagreement with the federal government over the purge. In other news, Congresswoman Corrine Brown has filed a lawsuit to try to stop early voting cutbacks.

UPDATE: With the so-called Secure and Fair Elections package facing an uncertain future, confusion is surely looming for Michigan’s August 7 federal primary election. The vetoed citizenship check box remains, but without legislative force behind it, as Secretary of State Ruth Johnson conceded, checking it remains optional. Left is the question of whether voters know their option or if elections officials will enforce the rule. Elsewhere military access to absentee ballots has been called into questionby DOJ.