This week, NC lawmakers approved House Bill 100 – legislation that would make elections for trial court judges partisan. With no one to stop them, legislative leaders have already turned our state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals races into million-dollar partisan elections, making judges worry about how their decisions will sit with wealthy special [...]
The people have spoken. Last week, voters elected Michael Morgan, an African-American judge from Wake County, to serve on the North Carolina Supreme Court. That will shift the Court’s ideological make-up from a conservative to a liberal-leaning majority. But multiple media outlets are reporting that leaders in the NC General Assembly plan to stifle Morgan’s [...]
The Washington Post published a front-page story on Sunday about Art Pope’s unique role as both a powerful inside and outside player in a state’s politics. The writer drew on interviews and material from several groups across the political spectrum, including Democracy NC, for the profile and a clever chart of Pope’s network of influence. The article [...]
Blue Cross and Reynolds Tobacco are teaming up with the Koch brothers to take over North Carolina’s Supreme Court. That sounds sensational but an article in today’s New York Times documents over $1 million that business and right-wing groups have spent just in the primary to defeat incumbent Justice Robin Hudson. Buying a seat is [...]
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.
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 [...]
On Friday, Democracy North Carolina, the NAACP and other groups challenging the 2011 redistricting plans filed a new motion with the NC Supreme Court to have Justice Paul Newby removed from hearing that challenge. As NC Policy Watch reports, “That’s because the . . . organization largely responsible for the drafting of the redistricting plans, [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
