Defending Democracy

Democracy is under attack. The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia is working to defend Democracy and encourage more people to become engaged in civic life. We are protecting voting rights, fighting voter supression, advocating for increased government transparency, fighting unfair government practices, expanding individual access to civil courts and improving public education.

Automatic Voter Registration - The ACLU-WV will continue to work to protect automatic-voter registration and fight any efforts to repeal this provision.

Same Day Registration - The ACLU-WV is committed to removing restrictions to voting, including moving West Virginia to allowing voters to register and vote on the same day.

Election Protection Hotline - As part of our committment to protecting voters' rights, the ACLU-WV has partnered with Mountain State Justice and students at the WVU College of Law to provide a hotline for voters facing any issues at the polls. The hotline is maintained throughout early voting and on Election Day.

Voter ID -- Since the passage of the voter ID law in 2016, there have already been efforts to narrow the list of acceptable ID's. The ACLU-WV is prepared for another attempt and ready to defend against any attempt to rollback or limit the list of acceptable ID's.

Voter Registration for the Formerly Incarcerated -- The vast majority of those with past felony-convictions in West Virginia are free to vote once they have completed their sentence. The ACLU-WV will continue working to expand access to the voting booth for all with policies like providing voter registration forms to West Virginians within one week of completing their sentence and regaining their eligibility to vote.

Judicial Election Reform - The top-vote-getter in both of the most recent Supreme Court elections won with the support of significantly less than a majority of voters. We can reform this broken practice by instituting rank choice voting or establishing a runoff during the general election if no candidate gets a majority of the votes.

Fighting Gerrymandering - What good is your vote when election districts have been set to make sure that your vote doesn't matter? Through political gerrymandering, legislators from both parties manipulate the boundaries of voting districts to predetermine the outcome of elections. Gerrymandering creates a sham democracy that protects the status quo. The ACLU-WV will continue to work towards ending gerrymandering, particularly racial gerrymandering.

Increased transparency - Justice is not administered behind closed doors. The ACLU-WV is committed to improving laws and practices in transparency and accountability in government.

Anti-corruption laws - The ACLU-WV is commited to promoting laws that will prevent conflicts of interest in the political process.

Strengthening whistleblower protections - Good-faith whistleblowers who identify wrongdoing or uncover national security breaches must be offered better protections. The ACLU-WV will continue to work to ensure that whistleblowers are protected both in law and in practice.

Trainings - The ACLU-WV is committed to teaching West Virginians about their rights, particularly to audiences who may be vulnerable to having their rights infringed upon. Likewise, we will continue to teach activists about the work of the ACLU and help provide them with the tools they need to advocate for the issues they care about.

Connecting Citizens with Lawmakers - The ACLU-WV wants to help constituents interact with their legislators. We offer training and tools to connect West Virginians with their representatives.

Protecting Protestors' Rights -- The right to protest is vital to maintaining our democracy. We will continue to fight state interference with 1st Amendment-protected protest activity.

Know Your Rights: What To Do When Faced With Voter Intimidation