News & Commentary

2020 has been an unprecedented year in many ways; a pandemic during a presidential election being one of them. Not unique to 2020, however, is politicians’ and states’ systematic efforts to suppress voting and disenfranchise Americans.

The younger you are, the less likely you are to vote. At least, that’s been the enduring trend in American politics for decades. But that trend is beginning to shift — today’s young voters are more engaged than ever before

Election Day is fast approaching, and while we’re doing everything we can to prepare, some questions remain unanswered. Dale Ho, director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project, and University of Michigan law professor Leah Litman join the At the Polls podcast this week to discuss litigation across the country that could impact who gets to vote and how.

Did you know the U.S. Postal Office existed before the Declaration of Independence? The USPS’ role in this country is so essential that it was written into the Constitution. This year, it’s preparing for an unprecedented task: delivering millions of mail-in ballots for Election Day. In this week’s episode of At the Polls, we answer voters’ questions about absentee voting along with Joyce Harris, a veteran employee who has been with the USPS for more than 30 years, and Bobby Hoffman, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Democracy Division -— and coincidentally, a former letter carrier for USPS.

We usually know what to expect on any given presidential Election Day. After all, they happen every four years. But this is the first election in our lifetime to occur during a global pandemic, and there have already been significant changes to the electoral process as more voters plan to mail in their ballots than ever before. How will that change our quintessential American tradition of watching the results roll in on election night? 

It’s after Labor Day, the weather is changing, leaves are turning, which all means — Election season is officially here.

The ACLU’s focus on a prosecutor race in Oakland County paid off.

The 19th Amendment inked women’s suffrage into American history, a culminating moment in an effort to win political power. But as the 100th anniversary of its ratification fast approaches, it's essential to reflect on who the 19th Amendment excluded in practice if not on paper, and what the popular

If the appeals court affirms the lower court’s judgment, it may enable hundreds of thousands of returning citizens to register to vote in time for the November election.