Media

League of Women Voters of Virginia says proposed purge could threaten eligible voters in November election

Tomorrow, a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, will address a request by the League of Women Voters of Virginia to intervene in an ongoing legal battle there, where a self-styled “election integrity” group has sued the city’s registrar in an attempt to pressure her into conducting an unnecessary and improper purge of the voter rolls in advance of the 2016 election.

The Rising American Electorate was credited with helping Barack Obama win the presidency in 2008 and his reelection in 2012. Comprised of people of color, women, and young people, this Rising Electorate represents people in constituencies that have been underserved in a political system that increasingly caters to the needs of the wealthy.

Shortly before I went on parental leave, an acquaintance asked me about my plans for the “three-month vacation” awaiting me. After explaining that I was going to take care of a newborn child full-time for three months, my acquaintance responded, “Oh, good for you!” This interaction marked the first time I realized that many people do not take fathers as caregivers seriously.

The first platform committee meeting for the 2016 Democratic National Convention, featuring representatives from both campaigns as well as DNC neutrals, took place on Wednesday. Their deliberations will likely feature tough negotiations on a range of issues — a $15 minimum wage, fracking, the legitimacy of giant banks — that were points of contention during the campaigning, helping clarify the political and ideological shift that has taken place in the party since the mid-1990s when Robert Rubin was its intellectual lodestar.

Statement from Demos President Heather McGhee:

The mass shooting at Pulse in Orlando is a heartbreaking event. A man terrorized a place of joy and pride, and now 49 people are dead, more than 50 are wounded, and the shockwaves throughout the LGBT community can never be measured.

The mass shooting at Pulse in Orlando is a heartbreaking event. A man terrorized a place of joy and pride, and now 49 people are dead, more than 50 are wounded, and the shockwaves throughout the LGBT community can never be measured.

Latinos have various national origins and ancestries, as well as generational, citizenship, and political differences. Even within our diversity, Latino unity is on the rise thanks to the emergence of the Latino counterpublic.

The 2016 presidential election is dominated by big money – with close to half of all Super PAC money coming from just 50 donors.  When wealthy, white donors set the agenda each election season, whose voices are left unheard?

The Brennan Center for Justice, Demos and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights invite you to engage in a thought-provoking and timely discussion about how the outsized influence of big money in politics may be a 21st Century civil rights issue and what we can do about it.  

Differences of opinion are certainly important, but at some point the question of how inclusive the dominant society must be to the concerns of different people will have to move beyond the realm of personal preference.