Following up the LOD posting for Monday, here’s a statement from Democracy North Carolina about the partial maps of new legislative districts proposed by NC Republicans leaders - and also an action alert about how you can weigh in with a written statement or personal appearance at the public hearing tomorrow. After further research, it’s even clearer [...]
The same rightwing law firm that engineered the Citizens United decision also attacked North Carolina’s judicial public financing program a few years ago; they took their challenge all the way to the US Supreme Court and lost. Now they’re representing a “right to life” group in Wisconsin, claiming that state’s new judicial program (modeled on [...]
Republicans in the state legislature are beginning to roll out their maps for the new General Assembly districts using 2010 Census data. They’re following federal law by first drawing districts that comply with the Voting Rights Act, which is good. But it appears they are going well beyond that mandate to use the VRA to create [...]
North Carolina’s infamous photo ID bill (H-351 – we call it the “Voter Suppression Act of 2011”) passed as expected on party line votes and is on its way to Gov. Bev Perdue. You can encourage her to veto the bill with this handy action alert. The other major anti-voter bill, S-47, was pulled off [...]
Pay-to-play politics can be petty – or deadly serious. The Wilmington Star-News reports that state Sen. Thom Goolsby received a $4,000 donation from the head of the city’s home builders association and shortly thereafter introduced a bill in the General Assembly that the association’s lobbyist had prepared. The bill overrides a city policy about how [...]
A hodgepodge of anti-voter bills resurfaced this afternoon in the House Committee on Elections as a single 44-page proposal, without warning or even a summary of its complex contents for committee members. Republican chair David Lewis wanted the bill voted on that afternoon. Rep. Deborah Ross (D-Wake County) called the process “legislative malfeasance,” and others [...]
A report from the Pew Center on the States reveals the sharp differences in what various state legislatures achieved this year, depending on which partisan group has “one party rule.” Republicans now have control of the legislature and governorship in 20 states, up from 8 before the 2010 election, while the Democrats are in total [...]
According to a new analysis by Rock the Vote, only three states (Washington, Iowa and Montana) have better policies to help young people participate in elections than North Carolina. We tie with Oregon in fourth place and 45 states rank below us, with neighbors South Carolina and Virginia tied for dead last! This Voting System [...]
The photo ID bill, known by opponents as the “Voter Suppression Act,” passed its final House vote by a party line vote of 68 to 48. The goal of Democracy North Carolina and other voting rights groups has been to keep the conservatives’ margin of victory small enough to send a message to Gov. Bev [...]
Big Tobacco has dropped from its ranking at the top of big contributors to federal candidates, but the industry is still spending millions to advance its political agenda in less visible ways. A new report from the Center for Responsive Politics tracks millions going into 527 committees and leadership PACs and notes that the Citizens [...]