Democrats Are Winning The Battle To Expand Voting Access

An under-the-radar strategy that could decide the election.

Every week, Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia sits in his office in Richmond for a few hours with a stack of papers and reads the names of convicted felons.

The governor, a close friend of Hillary and Bill Clinton, checks that they have all served their time and that none is on parole. Then his staff rush out and send thousands of letters with the governor’s seal and the news: Your right to vote has been restored. Governor’s orders.

As of late September, McAuliffe’s had re-enfranchised some 59,000 ex-felons, his office said. Many of them lean Democratic and could help tip the scales for Clinton in the key swing state of Virginia in November.

For this, the governor has earned the scorn of Republicans, the scrutiny of the state supreme court, and the praise of civil rights groups who say his executive orders are only fair to ex-felons who have served their time.

“Proud of my friend,” Clinton tweeted when McAuliffe first announced his plan, “for continuing to break down barriers to voting.”

McAuliffe’s executive orders are just one part of a new wave of voting rules that could help Clinton get elected in November. Much scrutiny has fallen on Republicans in the past five years for pushing restrictive new voting laws in state legislatures, but Democrats’ efforts to expand the vote to young voters and African Americans may have a more decisive effect on the 2016 election.

At the vanguard of this effort is a team of top Democratic attorneys and strategists working on an unprecedented countrywide effort to expand its voter base to improve Clinton’s odds in November against Trump. They are relying on a variety of legal tools to increase voting hours and ensure there are enough polling sites at convenient locations, focusing on swing states including North Carolina, Florida and Ohio.

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