Link-of-the-Day – Page 52 – Democracy North Carolina

Friday, October 29, 2010

The election of the decade is nearly over: The political party that wins majority control of the NC General Assembly will use new Census data to redraw political district lines to maximize its ability to win legislative and Congressional elections for the next decade. That’s one reason why the battles are so intense and complaints [...]

By Bob Hall| 2010-10-29T19:18:10-04:00 October 29th, 2010|Civic Engagement, Get Out the Vote, Link-of-the-Day, Voting Rights|0 Comments

Thursday, October 28, 2010

A segment on NPR today exposes a nasty example of public policy for sale to private interests. It turns out that private prison officials, along with a shadowy group nicknamed ALEC, basically wrote Arizona's controversial new anti-immigration law as a revenue generator; they envisioned special prisons for women and children, among other things. Thirty of [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:45-05:00 October 28th, 2010|Citizens United Case, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics|0 Comments

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Two front-page stories by the Raleigh News & Observer highlight the perspective of the forces dominating this year's election cycle: make voting for poor people harder and the influence of big-money political donors easier. The first story describes Tea Party supporters in Raleigh harassing Chavis Park voters by writing down their names, asking them questions, [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:45-05:00 October 27th, 2010|Citizens United Case, Get Out the Vote, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics, Voting Rights|0 Comments

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The money keeps pouring in, setting all kinds of records – in state legislative races and nationally. Conservative investors who previously shied away from sinking large amounts into elections are writing big fat checks: the buyout of American democracy is on! On the national level, many of the investors have been involved, in one way [...]

By Bob Hall| 2010-10-26T16:57:59-04:00 October 26th, 2010|Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics|0 Comments

Monday, October 25, 2010

Two websites provide background and instructions, including a video, about the Instant Runoff Voting method being used this year in three local Superior Court races and one statewide Court of Appeals election. The Court of Appeals race, which is the nation’s first use of IRV in a statewide general election, has a certain historical fascination. [...]

By Bob Hall| 2010-10-25T14:08:15-04:00 October 25th, 2010|Get Out the Vote, Judicial Elections, Link-of-the-Day, Voting Rights|0 Comments

Friday, October 22, 2010

The New York Times blows a hole in the myth that the US Chamber of Commerce represents hundreds of thousands of Main Street businesses across America; in fact, only a handful of big corporations are bankrolling the lobby group and its gigantic electioneering operation. NYT researchers pierced the secrecy around the Chamber’s donors, at least [...]

By Bob Hall| 2010-10-22T22:40:18-04:00 October 22nd, 2010|FENA, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics, Voter-Owned Elections|3 Comments

Thursday, October 21, 2010

A hat tip to Art Pope’s Civitas Institute for providing two practical, fairly objective services without overt ideological interpretation (no doubt they’re offered this year because the GOP is promoting Early Voting, but anyone can use these tools). One service tracks the use of absentee voting; caution: counts of mail-in ballots and in-person ballots cast [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:45-05:00 October 21st, 2010|Get Out the Vote, Link-of-the-Day, Voting Rights|0 Comments

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Talk about a conspiracy. The New York Times and Think Progress provide the details of an ongoing series of twice-yearly, four-day strategy sessions held by a Who’s Who of hard-line “free enterprise” champions, billionaire businessmen, front-group consultants, and Glenn Beck provocateurs – all hosted by the super-secretive Koch brothers. The end of the posting on [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:45-05:00 October 20th, 2010|Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Washington Post reports today that a study of felony disenfranchisement laws has found that 800,000 former felons have returned to the voter rolls in the past decade thanks to a push by criminal justice advocates and civil rights groups -- including Democracy North Carolina -- to rewrite state laws and eliminate various voting barriers [...]

By gabe@democracy-nc.org| 2010-10-19T20:55:01-04:00 October 19th, 2010|Civic Engagement, Get Out the Vote, Link-of-the-Day, Voting Rights|0 Comments

Monday, October 18, 2010

Who makes up the largest group of the early-early voters this year? In 2008, black Democratic women were the largest demographic group during the first 3 days (and all 17 days) of the early voting period. Their enthusiasm and organizing paved the way for the Obama victory. By sharp contrast, white Republican men are the [...]

By Bob Hall| 2010-10-19T02:38:14-04:00 October 19th, 2010|Get Out the Vote, Link-of-the-Day|0 Comments