Democracy North Carolina today released a “Voter Confusion Index” that ranks the counties suffering the most complex changes as a result of redistricting. Most voters will go to the same precinct polling site where they voted in 2010, but their ballots will now have a different set of General Assembly and Congressional candidates because of [...]
Hey, check out this blog posting from Beth Messersmith of MomsRising. Maybe it will bring back fond memories or introduce you to timely resources for this election – plus, it describes a kids/family friendly event this Saturday. Another mother called Democracy NC today to let us know she was given the wrong ballot by the election [...]
The multi-part series in the News & Observer about NC hospitals will make you sick. Today’s part adds the money-in-politics dimension to the profile of heartless institutions with unbelievable profit margins, hiding behind the respectable shield of non-profit charitable service. Rep. Dale Folwell, the Republican House Speaker Pro-Tem, says his effort to cap a sales [...]
Here are an NBC-17 video report and the Associated Press news article about the rally today by Democracy North Carolina, other organizations and grassroots leaders protesting the “Out of Control” General Assembly. After the rally, people moved inside the legislative building and presented a petition against voter suppression to the legislative leadership. The petition included [...]
In a historic decision today, Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks found that prosecutors deliberately excluded qualified black jurors from serving on the jury in the case of death row inmate Marcus Robinson. The hearing was the first to apply North Carolina’s landmark Racial Justice Act. Following the law’s directives, the judge resentenced Robinson to life [...]
Early voting for the primary has begun – and so has the confusion caused by the new district maps drawn up after redistricting. Many voters have been placed in new districts, and about two million voters live in hundreds of precincts that are divided between two different state House, state Senate or Congressional districts. That [...]
Robert Reich, economist and chairman of Common Cause, has a two-minute video that shows how top corporations use their profits to manipulate the political system to reap more tax breaks and the lion’s share of productivity gains over the past several decades; Reich connects a lot of dots in 135 seconds. His themes are fleshed [...]
Video: Fifty years of “participatory democracy” – from 1962 to 2012, from the Freedom Movement to Occupy Wall Street – as told by SDS co-founder Tom Hayden in a video interview today with Democracy Now. Hayden was the principal author of the “Port Huron Statement,” the 1962 manifesto of the white student movement; his cover article in this week’s [...]
A group of well-heeled New Yorkers are pushing the governor and legislators in that state to adopt a comprehensive public campaign financing program that parallels the successful one used in New York City’s elections. The group includes hefty political donors affiliated with both major parties. According to the New York Times, “Coalition leaders said they [...]
The Charlotte Observer uses research from Democracy North Carolina for an analysis of Duke Energy’s political clout, which would grow even larger after the proposed merger with Progress Energy. “We are not apologetic about what we do in state capitals and Washington,” said Duke spokesperson Tom Williams. “We are a large player and we serve [...]