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.
Voting rights advocates air worries about onslaught of new state election laws
NC’s G.K. Butterfield and Allison Riggs featured prominently in U.S. House hearing
WASHINGTON—A U.S. House elections panel on Thursday heard from witnesses about the need to craft a new formula that identifies which states or jurisdictions have problematic histories of racial discrimination when it comes to access to the ballot box.
- NC Democratic legislators introduce sweeping election reform billsRallying for election reforms, House Democrats unveiled a new bill entitled the “Fix Our Democracy Act” and highlighted a recently… Read more »
- NC Democrats push for common sense voting reformsSay this much, at least, for those legislators who favor making it easier, not harder, for North Carolinians to vote:… Read more »
- Voting rights advocates air worries about onslaught of new state election lawsAllison Riggs with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (Photo: Screen grab from Thursday’s committee hearing) NC’s G.K. Butterfield and… Read more »
- GOP legislative leaders should let voters have their say on proposal to end gerrymanderingGerrymandering. For decades, this maddening phenomenon in which politicians rig elections by drawing legislative maps and, in effect, choosing their… Read more »
- Special report: The GOP’s national effort to make voting more difficultAs strategy shifts from election lawsuits to laws, voting rights advocates warn of Tennessee As Republican-led legislatures continue a systematic… Read more »
- Editorial: Virginia leaves NC behind once againElected leaders in Virginia have been pursuing a more progressive and productive path on a number of important issues of… Read more »
- Special report: Trump acquitted as Senate falls 10 votes short; Burr a surprising “aye”Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr Tillis joins 42 Republicans in voting to acquit as seven others join 48 Democrats… Read more »
- Evidence has already convicted Trump, even if Tillis, Burr lack the courage and integrity to do soIt’s possible to imagine even more shameful behavior from an American president than the nation witnessed from Donald Trump. He… Read more »
- GOP senator blasts Trump legal team’s ‘terrible’ performance, supports impeachment trialWASHINGTON — Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana was one of six GOP senators who voted Tuesday to uphold the Senate’s… Read more »
- The best op-ed of the weekend: A new inductee into the “North Carolina’s Trumpian Hall of Shame”If you missed it, be sure to check out Ned Barnett’s excellent weekend column in Raleigh’s News & Observer: “NC… Read more »
- Congressional Dems, Biden advance ambitious plan to reform elections, strengthen democracyWASHINGTON—Democrats who control Congress by narrow margins and the White House are making a fresh attempt to move forward a… Read more »
- We can repair our democracy and this legislation is the place to startNorth Carolina can rectify the hateful legacy behind last month’s insurrection. Make no mistake: when an armed mob stormed the… Read more »
- Monday numbers: A closer look at some surprising facts about 2020 voter turnoutVoter turnout was higher in last year’s general election among most demographic groups, but it barely changed from 2016 for… Read more »
- After a pandemic pause, jury trials are back. The assurance of a “jury of peers,” however, may be missing.Visitors are screened for a fever before entering the Durham County Courthouse. (Photo courtesy of the Administrative Office of the… Read more »
- Donald Trump’s misdeeds were much more than “distractions”(Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images) Why several things must happen before our nation can “move on” As you’ve probably already… Read more »