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In response to a declining voter turnout rate, California recently implemented big reforms to help boost the turnout rate: online registration, same day registration (SDR), and relaxing the vote by mail deadline. A recent report by the Public Policy Institute of California analyzed the impact of the changes and claims that while online registration and the relaxed vote by mail deadline were worthwhile reforms, SDR might not be.

Extreme market forces are corrupting us as individuals – morally and ethically.

Pennsylvania has been trying for almost two years now to download a voter ID law Republican legislators passed into something workable on the ground. They’ve failed at every turn because grassroots organizers have consistently exposed the burdens the law imposes on voters, which courts have taken seriously, and because the state has yet to find a way to administer the law without disenfranchisement being a certified outcome.

The “Procurement Act" allows President Obama to pass an executive order to raise the pay for federal contract workers.

Details are sketchy about the new retirement plan that President Obama proposed in the State of the Union Address last night, so it's too early to offer any verdict. What causes concern, though, is that the Obama administration has previously floated retirement schemes that would double down on America's failed experiment with individual private accounts that are the cornerstone of the 401(k).

Republicans didn't just respond to the State of the Union, they responded four times. The problem is that a lot of their talking points don't stack up with reality. 

1) Taxes Are Too High on The Rich

In fact, taxes have become less progressive since 1960:

At Fox News, President Obama's push to increase the federal minimum wage for millions of American workers through legislative and executive action is merely a "symbolic" gesture.

Will Wilkinson is tired of arguing about inequality. He writes,

President Obama took the podium for last night’s State of the Union Address at a time when mood of the country is sour—toward the president and toward the economy. [...]

Of course, actions speak louder than words. In the speech, Obama announced he will sign an executive order that will force federal contractors to pay employees a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour.