The US Supreme Court has announced it will hear arguments on February 27 in the case from Calera (Shelby County), Alabama, that challenges the pre-clearance provision (Section 5) of the federal Voting Rights Act. That’s the provision that allows the US Justice Department to step in and block changes in election procedures that will have [...]
Tomorrow morning, thousands of people from around North Carolina will gather in downtown Raleigh and march together to the General Assembly. They'll be carrying messages of peace, hope, equality and justice. It’s the 7th annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street march (HK on J), and Democracy North Carolina will be there. Join us as we [...]
Regardless of how you felt about who won the White House or State House, record levels of Big Money and new restrictions on voting played a bigger role in the 2012 election than you might imagine, according to this sweeping essay in The American Prospect magazine. As you might expect, North Carolina takes center stage [...]
A host of public-interest organizations have renewed their opposition to a photo ID requirement for NC voters. At a press conference yesterday, they rolled out a new website (www.protectourvotenc.com), new data about who does not have a photo ID, and a history lesson about an almost forgotten compromise struck a decade ago between Democrats and [...]
A host of public-interest organizations have renewed their opposition to a photo ID requirement for NC voters. At a press conference yesterday, they rolled out a new website (www.protectourvotenc.com), new data about who does not have a photo ID, and a history lesson about an almost forgotten compromise struck a decade ago between Democrats and [...]
A Democracy North Carolina report today compares voter turnout rates among 30 subgroups of voters in all 100 counties. WRAL-TV combined today’s report with an earlier release looking at statewide participation rates to write a story that begins: “A new analysis of voter turnout data for the November 2012 election proves North Carolina has earned [...]
“Voting says that the government is accountable to the people; Voter ID says the people are accountable to the government,” reads a letter to the Durham Herald-Sun editor written in response to John Hood’s statement that “Voter ID is not controversial.” Letters like this one are very timely because the issue of voter ID will come [...]
The Fayetteville Observer has a revealing story today about how Republicans in the NC General Assembly plan to "move gingerly but deliberately to pass a law this year requiring voters to show IDs at polls." It includes extensive comments from Rep. David Lewis, co-chair of the House Elections Committee and the man charged with crafting the new legislation. He's ready [...]
Earlier this week, the NC State Board of Elections released a report which found that, of the 6.6 million registered voters in North Carolina, 612,955 may not have a DMV-issued photo ID. The News & Observer reports that "the new analysis, which compared Division of Motor Vehicles records to state voter lists, discovered that 53 [...]
An article today in the Wilmington Star-News describes the shifting profile of voters in New Hanover County; it points out that nearly all the growth since 2008 has come from new voters who chose to affiliate with neither major party. Democracy NC released a report that provides loads of state-level data showing changes in who [...]