Why we need to fight complacency:

Every time I think we’ve finally fought off the barbarians at the gate, some arrow comes flying over the barricades from a totally new direction to remind me that when it comes to democracy someone had better be paying attention every moment of every day — because there’s always someone looking to jam the system for their benefit. The latest attack comes courtesy of some partisan jockeying masquerading as nonpartisan benevolence over in Kingston, where they’re clearly putting more than vinegar into the barbecue these days. From Democracy NC’s Link-of-the-Day:

Kinston, North Carolina, may be ground zero for the next challenge of the Voting Rights Act that reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.

Several voters and prospective candidates in the city filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for refusing to pre-clear a change in the method Kinston uses to elect its city council, from partisan to nonpartisan. The lead plaintiff is former Republican House member and current House candidate Steve LaRoque. Voters overwhelming passed a ballot measure in November 2008 to make the change, with African-American voters in apparent support. Blacks are the majority of registered voters in the city, but are not typically the majority of voters in the municipal elections. Using its power under the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department denied the shift to nonpartisan elections, saying the “effect will be strictly racial.” It turns out the shift as proposed would also eliminate the primary, where black candidates often gain position to win the general election; the two-stage election would be replaced with a single, nonpartisan plurality election. It’s a complicated case, with multiple complicating factors, but it has the backing of national rightwing litigators determined to gut the Voting Rights Act.