LOD: Good Data on Bad Law
Click here for a one-page briefing, loaded with data, about the damaging and discriminatory changes to North Carolina’s election rules, prepared by Democracy NC for a press briefing held by the NC NAACP.
LOD: The Good, Bad & Unclear
It’s been a rough year for democracy in North Carolina – but there were some positives worth noting, too. Check out Democracy North Carolina’s special wrap-up report, “2013: The Good, the Bad and the Unclear.” There are 12 items, 4 for each category. You may have some candidates to add to the list. Share them [...]
LOD: Swamped in Corruption
Here’s a brief but important column from Chris Fitzsimon of NC Policy Watch: Governor Pat McCrory spent more than five years campaigning for his current job and it seemed like he couldn’t give a stump speech without complaining about what he called “the culture of corruption” in Raleigh. . . . McCrory promised a more [...]
LOD: Mapping Campaign Cash
Want to know how much money Wake County donors gave to federal elections in 2012? Compared to 2000? Or compared to Guilford or Dare? Check out this amazing national map of county-by-county contributions, with a slider that lets you pick an election cycle and pop-up bubble of info when you hover over your county of [...]
LOD: Lawsuits Challenge Monster
Gov. Pat McCrory today signed the monster, 60-part elections bill into law that will dramatically change North Carolina’s election process, beginning in 2014 and 2016 when its most sweeping provisions come into effect. Our handy factsheet shows how the law restricts and redefines who can vote, where, when and how and, at the same time, [...]
LOD: Inside the Monster Bill
Gov. Pat McCrory is expected to sign the monster anti-voting bill any day now. H-589 began in the state House as a photo ID bill but in the final days of the session, the state Senate rolled out a harsher version of the ID requirement, plus 40+ new provisions, including dozens that had never been discussed [...]
Statement on HB-589, the Anti-Voting Bill
Late Thursday night, the NC General Assembly passed an elections bill that it is breathtaking in scope and radical in purpose. It makes the most regressive and sweeping changes to the core parts of our state’s election process in decades. In 56 pages, this redefines and restricts who can vote, where, when and how and [...]
LOD: Monster Bill
The Senate took a preliminary vote late Wednesday to pass the monster bill that aims to limit voting and expand ways for big money to influence North Carolina elections. This WRAL story gives a rundown of the provisions in the bill (H-589) and the action on the Senate floor. The Senate will take up the [...]
LOD: The 1% of the 1%
The parasite sucking life from the body politic is smaller than the 1%, according to a new study of the political money suppliers. The Sunlight Foundation found that just 1% of the top 1% gave 28% of all the disclosed political contributions influencing the 2012 federal elections - $1.7 billion of the nearly $6 billion [...]
LOD: Kiss for Cash?
Imagine speed dating adapted to the world of political fundraising and policymaking. It’s happening here in North Carolina routinely, thanks to the courtship of lobbying firms with wealthy clients and politicians eager for their cash. In identical front-page stories, the Charlotte Observer and Raleigh News & Observer described one such event on May 10, 2012: [...]