The posts in this category discuss our core issues.
Here’s a weekend adventure: Explore how the State of North Carolina spends your tax dollars, who gets the big contracts or grants for doing what, and what tax revenues are lost because of loopholes or special breaks (these are called “tax expenditures”). The NC Open Book website is rated among the best in the nation [...]
Here’s a sobering essay from Forbes magazine (“the capitalist tool”) about a two-pronged plan by the super-rich in the U.S. to gain even more political clout and wealth at the expense of the middle and working classes. Business publications (like Business Week and Fortune) are so much more straightforward in explaining how capitalism works than [...]
House Bill 351 was introduced in the NC General Assembly yesterday requiring NC voters to present government-issued photo ID each time they vote. Our research shows that this bill could negatively affect more than 460,000 active voters statewide who lack a government-issued photo ID, primarily seniors, women, college students and African-American voters. Worse, as our [...]
NC GOP leaders finally introduced their voter photo ID bill late yesterday and it's just a bad bill all around. Not only does it not address the biggest causes of voter fraud, it actually makes it easier to commit absentee ballot fraud, is badly underfunded and imposes a host of costly administrative requirements on NC counties. [...]
Context is always important. These two columns in national publications provide valuable context and important insights into what are the reasonable limits of a code of ethical conduct for Supreme Court justices and what are unreasonable restrictions on voting. The column about voting includes the conservative Cato Institute’s worry that the misplaced drumbeat for a [...]
Is there a national effort to make voting harder for young people? The head of Generation18 provides an overview of the issue and the anti-voter efforts across the country, as well as a plea for deeper civics education in our schools. Closer to home, Charlotte WBTV has a cover story on how the issue is [...]
The Independent Weekly this week features a blockbuster series of investigative stories about the Art Pope empire. One big shocker: Pope failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes on his foundation’s earnings for YEARS, eventually begging the IRS for forgiveness with various lame excuses. So Pope turns out to be a miserly [...]
For additional information, contact Bob Hall, Democracy North Carolina, 919-489-1931 Data Highlight: Who Are the Active Voters Without A Photo ID? Who are the voters most likely to face barriers by a proposal to require voters to show a government-issued photo ID each time they vote? In early February, the State Board of Elections matched its database [...]
The evidence of inappropriate behavior is mounting: Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas not only attended an expense-paid strategy retreat with the Koch brothers and their corporate friends before the Citizens United ruling; it turns out that back in 1991 Citizens United spent $100,000 to support Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court. As [...]
Who are the voters most likely to face possible disenfranchisement by a Republican proposal to require NC voters to show a government-issued photo ID each time they vote? In early February, the State Board of Elections matched its database of registered voters with records at the Division of Motor Vehicles and learned that 1 million [...]