From Bob Hall, Executive Director Democracy North Carolina Direct line: 919-489-1931 Regarding H-589 rewrite at: http://bit.ly/nc-anti-voting-bill The Senate leadership’s rewrite of H-589 is being taken up at 2 PM today in LOB Room 544. It is breathtaking in scope and radical in purpose. It makes the most sweeping changes to the core parts of our [...]
A host of data collected by Democracy North Carolina shows how legislation to change election rules would significantly affect the voters in each county. For example, the bill to require that voters show a government photo ID could impact nearly 5% of North Carolina voters, according to the Board’s analysis conducted this spring. Statewide, 318,000 registered voters [...]
On the same day that the New York Times posted its widely circulating, must-read editorial about the demise of North Carolina as “a beacon of farsightedness in the South,” a more thoughtful column by veteran political reporter Tom Edsall received too little attention. His essay is titled, “The Decline of Black Power in the South,” [...]
The day after the Supreme Court’s disappointing decision on the Voting Rights Act, Portside.org posted an article documenting the less talked-about economic benefits of the VRA. In addition to an increase in African-American elected leaders, passage of the VRA correlates to improvements in the quality of life for millions of African Americans and other Southerners. [...]
Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show has two recent segments on “conservatives gone wild” in North Carolina. One features the “radical restructuring” of its election laws and another focuses on the state Senate’s “sneak attack” on women’s constitutionally protected access to an abortion. A longer segment places the North Carolina attack in the context of similar sinister [...]
Here’s the National Journal's real world analysis of what today’s US Supreme Court decision means regarding the Voting Rights Act – plus one pro-Court overview and a video report from WRAL-TV. The Court’s 5-4 conservative majority did not rule directly on the constitutionality of Section 5’s requirement of preclearance. Section 5 says certain jurisdictions with a history of discrimination must get pre-approval [...]
The American Prospect magazine features a collection of articles about the South's changing political dynamics. Bob Moser, once with the NC Indy and now AP’s editor, writes the lead essay about the “End of the Solid South.” Chris Kromm and Sue Sturgis of the Institute for Southern Studies have a timely article about North Carolina’s [...]
Click here for a video and a narrative overview of the arguments today in the lawsuit challenging the redistricting plans drawn for the state legislature and Congress. The witnesses and attorneys are arguing this week on key aspects of the case related to whether or not the Republicans were justified by law in packing more [...]
Maybe you’ve heard of the growing demonstrations occurring at the General Assembly in Raleigh on Monday evenings. Under the leadership of the Rev. William J. Barber II of the NC NAACP, thousands of people have rallied against regressive legislation and FOR economic justice, quality education and health care, and voting rights. In addition to the [...]
People who think Early Voting costs too much and Same-Day Registration promotes fraud will not be happy to see this short video featuring George Gilbert, the 25-year veteran director of the Guilford County Board of Elections. He recently retired but he’s not retiring; he speaks plainly about the value of Early Voting and SDR and [...]