FairVote's Rob Richie has a featured op-ed in the Washington Post that explains why the winner-take-all election system lets a minority of voters elect a majority of the members of Congress. His solution involves adopting federal and state laws that establish bigger US House districts with multiple members per district elected using forms of proportional [...]
For the latest analysis of electioneering groups spending money to influence the outcome of North Carolina’s gubernatorial, Supreme Court and other elections, see this updated report from the Institute for Southern Studies released today. WRAL reports that the volume of Republican Party money spent on ads to elect Paul Newby to the Supreme Court puts [...]
An update from the Institute for Southern Studies asks, “What do Big Tobacco, insurance interests, and a D.C. group that's spent millions to help Republicans draw political lines all have in common? In North Carolina, they've all put big money into a pair of super PACs that want to re-elect Justice Paul Newby and maintain [...]
Only three states have new Congressional districts that wiggle and waggle in more weird patterns than North Carolina’s, according to a sophisticated computer analysis measuring compactness. NC Policy Watch provides some context for what happens when politicians design districts to segregate voters by race or ideology, creating safe havens for incumbents but more polarized politics.
A report released today pinpoints potential hot spots in North Carolina where Tea Party-inspired volunteers may try to disrupt the upcoming election by questioning the legitimacy of voters, particularly at heavily African-American polling places. The report by the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights says there are 286 volunteers signed up with Texas-based [...]
The Associated Press reports: “A coalition of civil and voting rights groups alleges in a legal motion filed Friday that political districts approved by the majority-Republican North Carolina legislature disenfranchise black voters and asks a state court to declare the lines unconstitutional” – not for the November elections but for the future. Democracy North Carolina [...]
The NC Free Enterprise Foundation, a pro-business nonprofit that tracks political developments in the state, has produced two insightful documents that profile the most competitive contests for the NC House and NC Senate. The two reports also rank all the seats in each chamber for partisan competitiveness, revealing the overall tilt toward Republicans as a [...]
Democracy North Carolina today released a “Voter Confusion Index” that ranks the counties suffering the most complex changes as a result of redistricting. Most voters will go to the same precinct polling site where they voted in 2010, but their ballots will now have a different set of General Assembly and Congressional candidates because of [...]
You may be surprised by the names you see on the ballot in this election – especially if you’re among the millions of North Carolina voters with new General Assembly and Congressional districts. You may even get the wrong ballot – but how will you know!?! Be prepared – preview YOUR ballot before you vote; learn [...]
Early voting for the primary has begun – and so has the confusion caused by the new district maps drawn up after redistricting. Many voters have been placed in new districts, and about two million voters live in hundreds of precincts that are divided between two different state House, state Senate or Congressional districts. That [...]