The US Supreme Court has announced it will hear arguments on February 27 in the case from Calera (Shelby County), Alabama, that challenges the pre-clearance provision (Section 5) of the federal Voting Rights Act. That’s the provision that allows the US Justice Department to step in and block changes in election procedures that will have [...]
From Robert Reich's blog on Sunday: Exactly a century ago, on February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, authorizing a federal income tax. Congress turned it into a graduated tax, based on “capacity to pay.” . . . The 1880s and 1890s had been the Gilded Age, the time of robber [...]
Regardless of how you felt about who won the White House or State House, record levels of Big Money and new restrictions on voting played a bigger role in the 2012 election than you might imagine, according to this sweeping essay in The American Prospect magazine. As you might expect, North Carolina takes center stage [...]
On the eve of tomorrow’s General Assembly session, you’d like to see your legislators in meetings with their constituents, discussing their concerns about what state government should do. Well, that’s not exactly what you get in today’s General Assembly, where many seats cost more than $250,000 to win and money is always on the mind. [...]
Infographics are a cool way to present complex data; we’re trying to use more of them ourselves. Learn Stuff has a series, with the most recent focusing on unequal pay for women. Four years after President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as his first law, men in nearly all sectors of the [...]
A host of public-interest organizations have renewed their opposition to a photo ID requirement for NC voters. At a press conference yesterday, they rolled out a new website (www.protectourvotenc.com), new data about who does not have a photo ID, and a history lesson about an almost forgotten compromise struck a decade ago between Democrats and [...]
A host of public-interest organizations have renewed their opposition to a photo ID requirement for NC voters. At a press conference yesterday, they rolled out a new website (www.protectourvotenc.com), new data about who does not have a photo ID, and a history lesson about an almost forgotten compromise struck a decade ago between Democrats and [...]
A Democracy North Carolina report today compares voter turnout rates among 30 subgroups of voters in all 100 counties. WRAL-TV combined today’s report with an earlier release looking at statewide participation rates to write a story that begins: “A new analysis of voter turnout data for the November 2012 election proves North Carolina has earned [...]
The Fayetteville Observer has a revealing story today about how Republicans in the NC General Assembly plan to "move gingerly but deliberately to pass a law this year requiring voters to show IDs at polls." It includes extensive comments from Rep. David Lewis, co-chair of the House Elections Committee and the man charged with crafting the new legislation. He's ready [...]
An article today in the Wilmington Star-News describes the shifting profile of voters in New Hanover County; it points out that nearly all the growth since 2008 has come from new voters who chose to affiliate with neither major party. Democracy NC released a report that provides loads of state-level data showing changes in who [...]