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Threats to Ballot Access: New Report Examines Risks of Wrongful Voter Removals Across the Country

Dēmos examines ballot access issues, voter suppression in AZ, GA, OH, CA, IN, WI, MI, NC, TX, LA 

Press release/statement
August 10, 2023

We are changing the conversation around our democracy and economy by telling influential new stories about our country and its people. Get our latest blog and media updates here. For more in-depth explorations and analyses, visit our Resources page.

Featured
Ground level view of the Wall Street Stock Exchange

Unfinished Business: Revisiting Dodd-Frank and the Path to Economic Progress

On the anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, we reflect on recent banking failures and the inequities inherent in our current financial system. 

Blog
Daniella Zessoules
Black mother and daughter looking at the city river

A Supreme Court Power Grab: Attacking Federal Agencies to Advance an Extremist Agenda

Why the Court's decision to limit the EPA's power to regulate water access is yet another case of eroding the power of the other branches of government at the expense of Black and brown people.

Blog
Ashley Tjhung
supreme court

Supreme Court's Rejection of Affirmative Action Widens the Divide: Dēmos Calls for Renewed Efforts to Combat Systemic Racism

“The 14th Amendment is supposed to be a shield against racism, and now it’s being used as a sword.” 

Press release/statement
Taifa Smith Butler

Joining the Fight to End Stop and Frisk in New York City

Yesterday, the federal court in New York appointed Demos co-class counsel in Floyd v. the City of New York, the landmark case challenging the NYPD’s use of the stop and frisk tactic. We now represent the thousands of mostly Black and Latino pedestrians who have been or will be unlawfully stopped by
Blog
Jenn Rolnick Borchetta

Welfare Agencies Are Failing to Help Poor People Vote

Last week, Massachusetts became the latest state to either settle or lose in litigation over complaints that it wasn’t providing adequate voter registration services at welfare offices. The settlement is part of a broad effort by voting rights groups to reverse the decline in voter registrations at
In the media
J.B. Wogan

The Proposed Payday Regulations Are a Good First Step, But More Needs to Be Done

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a blueprint for new regulations pertaining to payday loans and car title loans. The regulations will not include an interest rate cap, the holy grail for advocates, because industry allies watered-down the provisions (I discuss the fight over
Blog
Sean McElwee

The Hidden Racism of Young White Americans

Recently, chilling videos surfaced online of young University of Oklahoma students, members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, reciting a racially-charged chant. The story appeared surprising for numerous reasons. Among them, education is supposed to reduce racial resentment (or at least temper
In the media
Sean McElwee

Ferguson’s Exploitive Policing Came With an All Too Common Motive

The Department of Justice’s report on its investigation of the Ferguson, Mo.
In the media

Voting Rights Advocates Settle Voter Registration Suit: DTA Agrees to Remedy NVRA Compliance Problems

BOSTON, NEW YORK, and WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, voting rights advocates announced a settlement with the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) that will ensure that hundreds of thousands of eligible Massachusetts citizens are provided opportunities to register to vote in
Press release/statement

Today in Terrible Student Aid Ideas

There’s no scenario in which freezing Pell Grant awards is a good idea.
Blog
Mark Huelsman

Obama Is Right: America Needs Universal Voting

Yesterday, President Obama said, in a speech at the City Club of Cleveland, “In Australia, and some other countries, there's mandatory voting. It would be transformative if everybody voted." Obama is right to point to voting as a mechanism to fight elite domination of politics.
Blog
Sean McElwee

Massachusetts Partially Settles Lawsuit Over Voter Registration

The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance has settled a 2012 lawsuit with voting rights organizations by agreeing to distribute voter registration forms to people applying for public assistance, to help people complete the forms and to provide oversight to ensure that public assistance
In the media
Shira Schoenberg

The Congressional Progressive Caucus Budget Makes the Right Investment in Higher Education

Policies like this would incent states to return to an era when college could be funded through a summer job, part-time employment, and maybe modest savings when available, for the largest and most diverse generation of students in our history.
Blog
Mark Huelsman