NC Policy Watch, the online journalism initiative of the North Carolina Justice Center, has launched the “Defending Democracy” project. This project will generate a steady drumbeat of new and original content (news stories, commentary, newsmaker interviews, expert analysis and more) related to the latest state policy developments, court decisions, research, advocacy and organizing efforts in the fight to preserve democracy in the battleground state of North Carolina.
Monday numbers: a closer look at the election turnout rates of white and Black voters
As U.S. Senate Democrats united behind a bill dubbed the “Freedom to Vote Act” that would expand voter registration, promote nonpartisan redistricting and designate Election Day a federal holiday, experts at the Brennan Center for Justice have identified gaps in voter turnout that warrant stronger protection for non-white voters.
- Monday numbers: a closer look at the election turnout rates of white and Black voters(Graphic: Brennan Center) As U.S. Senate Democrats united behind a bill dubbed the “Freedom to Vote Act” that would expand voter… Read more »
- Superior Court permanently enjoins 2018 NC voter ID lawA three-judge panel ruled 2-1 Friday that the state voter ID law enacted by the General Assembly in 2018 is… Read more »
- Monday numbers: A closer look at mass incarceration in NC, and the implications for redistrictingLast week, the Prison Policy Initiative published a report – States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2021 – which compared… Read more »
- Advocates seek to make ‘communities of interest’ an important consideration in NC redistrictingFor the first time, the North Carolina General Assembly is considering the characteristics of various communities as it redraws voting… Read more »
- U.S. House passes voting rights bill but Senate approval unlikelyThe U.S. House on Tuesday passed, 219-212, along party lines a bill to reinstate a core section of the Voting… Read more »
- Superior Court panel restores voting rights of people with felony convictions serving time outside prisonImage: Adobe Stock For more than a century, North Carolinians with felony convictions could only register to vote upon completion… Read more »
- PW special report: Demystifying the redistricting process(Screenshot of “Redistricting & You” showing population in congressional districts. Districts shaded in green have a higher than average population,… Read more »
- Republican legislators reject Democrats’ proposal to include racial data in redistrictingSen. Ben Clark, a Democrat representing Cumberland and Hoke counties, unsuccessfully proposed an amendment to the redistricting criteria that would… Read more »
- New report shows how close a Trump DOJ official’s letter came to fomenting a coupJeffrey Clark speaks at a 2020 press conference (Photo by Yuri Gripas-Pool/Getty Images) On Dec. 28, a top official in… Read more »
- State legislators rally in D.C. to urge congressional action on voting rightsSen. Natalie Murdock Rep. Kandie Smith Rep. Pricey Harrison Rep. Ricky Hurtado NC lawmakers travel to Washington to help lead… Read more »
- Stein, other attorneys general tell congressional leaders to guard against voter suppression, possibly reform the filibusterAttorney General Josh Stein announcing a lawsuit settlement in June A group of 22 attorneys general including North Carolina’s Josh… Read more »
- Gene Nichol: Worried that President is not fighting hard enough to preserve democracyGene Nichol Be sure to check out UNC law professor Gene Nichol’s powerful commentary in today’s edition of Raleigh’s News… Read more »
- U.S. House Dems to unveil revamped voting rights bill named for the late John LewisRep. James Clyburn (D – S.C.) WASHINGTON—House Democrats plan to next week unveil a new version of legislation named after… Read more »
- The voting rights struggle: State lawmakers report on where things standWASHINGTON—State Democratic legislators on Tuesday outlined their efforts to not only protect voting rights, but also expand them in their… Read more »
- U.S. Senate Democrats push voting rights bills, lambast Georgia election lawU.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar called Georgia ground zero for restrictive voting laws during a Monday voting law hearing in Atlanta.… Read more »
