More questions on “non-partisan” voter registration

Nov. 26, 2012 — I really enjoyed Kevin Brown’s article “Underfunding of voter registration: a guarantee that 25 percent or more of Americans won’t participate.”

I have been fascinated by non-partisan voter registration organizations since 1995 and likely own the largest collection of items documenting their efforts.

I have a few additional questions regarding your article:

1. Are Project Vote and Rock the Vote truly non-partisan?

   Project Vote’s own mission statement states that it works to empower, educate, and mobilize low-income, minority, youth, and other marginalized and under-represented voters. Rock the Vote clearly targets young voters. These targeted populations vote heavily Democratic.

2. With all the money that was spent in the 2012 campaign, why were the funds available for these organizations way down?

3. My last question both somewhat addresses my second question and the “important and obvious question concern[ing] the partisan voter registration drives” mentioned at the end of [the] article.

   Did the Obama campaign essentially take the model of the “non-partisan vote organizations” and copy it through their “Gottavote.com” campaign, therefore taking funds that might have traditionally been donated to the non-partisan organizations, but accomplishing the same goal?

— John Olsen, Ankeny, Iowa