Ten years ago this week, the US Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore turned over the White House to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, the losers of the national popular vote. The blatantly political decision to stop the Florida recount launched a new era of anti-social ideologues undermining the rights of real people in [...]
Following up yesterday’s post about the NC Republican’s quest to ban certain citizens from voting, here’s a marvelous account from the Institute for Southern Studies that unpacks the disturbing parallels between the Democrats’ anti-black, anti-poor Jim Crow laws of the early 20th Century and the Republicans’ voter suppression campaign of the early 21st Century. Highly [...]
During their first 100 days in control of the NC General Assembly, Republican leaders say they will push through a bill to require anyone who votes to first show a NC driver’s license or other photo ID. They think it’s a “common sense” way to “stop voter fraud” - but consider who is most affected [...]
Here are two quick overviews of the impact of the Republican victories on redistricting in the state and nationally. In North Carolina, the General Assembly will redraw the lines for state legislative and Congressional districts; the governor has no veto authority or any other role. In addition, each local governmental body is responsible for using [...]
The good folks at NC Policy Watch have put together a baker’s dozen of targets the new Republican majority aims to destroy when they take their seats in the 2011 NC General Assembly. At the top of the hit list is Fair Elections. The goal of the new majority is apparently to gut public campaign financing [...]
The election of the decade is nearly over: The political party that wins majority control of the NC General Assembly will use new Census data to redraw political district lines to maximize its ability to win legislative and Congressional elections for the next decade. That’s one reason why the battles are so intense and complaints [...]
Two front-page stories by the Raleigh News & Observer highlight the perspective of the forces dominating this year's election cycle: make voting for poor people harder and the influence of big-money political donors easier. The first story describes Tea Party supporters in Raleigh harassing Chavis Park voters by writing down their names, asking them questions, [...]
Two websites provide background and instructions, including a video, about the Instant Runoff Voting method being used this year in three local Superior Court races and one statewide Court of Appeals election. The Court of Appeals race, which is the nation’s first use of IRV in a statewide general election, has a certain historical fascination. [...]
A hat tip to Art Pope’s Civitas Institute for providing two practical, fairly objective services without overt ideological interpretation (no doubt they’re offered this year because the GOP is promoting Early Voting, but anyone can use these tools). One service tracks the use of absentee voting; caution: counts of mail-in ballots and in-person ballots cast [...]
The Washington Post reports today that a study of felony disenfranchisement laws has found that 800,000 former felons have returned to the voter rolls in the past decade thanks to a push by criminal justice advocates and civil rights groups -- including Democracy North Carolina -- to rewrite state laws and eliminate various voting barriers [...]