Authors R. Michael Alvarez (California Institute of Technology) and Jonathan Nagler (New York University) have analyzed the likely impact on voter turnout should Maryland adopt Same Day Registration (SDR). Under the system proposed in Maryland, eligible voters who miss the current 21-day deadline for registering may be able to register to vote during the state's 7-day early voting period, or on Election Day.
“Same Day Registration” (SDR) allows eligible citizens to register and vote on or before Election Day. In doing so, SDR greatly enhances the opportunity for Americans to participate in the electoral process and cast a ballot that will be properly counted. States that allow for Same Day Registration consistently lead the nation in voter turnout. Nine states and the District of Columbia currently have Same Day Registration.
TOP FACTS:
Advocates, educators and students often make the assumption that more education is always better, that a bachelors or graduate degree is always superior in terms of providing additional economic opportunity. As the following report show, this is not always the case.
Report authors R. Michael Alvarez and Jonathan Nagler have analyzed the likely impact on voter turnout should New Mexico adopt Same Day Registration (SDR). Under the system proposed in New Mexico, eligible voters who miss the current 28-day deadline for registering by mail may be able to register to vote during the state's early voting period. The availability of Same Day Registration procedures should give voters who have not previously registered the opportunity to vote.
The following report evaluates the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) — the primary U.S. policy response to the job dislocations caused by trade. It shows the ways in which TAA has failed to respond adequately to the challenges facing dislocated workers. It highlights the need for a more comprehensive set of policies to help workers and families navigate the economic restructuring that has become an inevitable part of increasing trade and globalization.
Some Facts & Figures:
When drawing legislative districts, New York State counts incarcerated persons as "residents" of the community where the prison is located, instead of counting them in the home community to which they will return, on average, within 34 months. This practice of prison-based gerrymandering ignores more than 100 years of legal precedent.
Increasing numbers of low- and middle-income families use credit cards for basic living expenses. As health care costs have increased and health insurance coverage has become inadequate, medical expenses have become another basic cost that families increasingly cover through credit cards.
"Public structures" has proven to be an effective organizing idea for more constructive conversations about the role of government in American life. The concept was first developed by the principals of the Topos Partnership in research they conducted for Public Works in 2005, and since then, it has been field-tested by Public Works with advocates, elected officials, public sector managers, and public policy organizations around the country.
America's students are facing a serious threat from subprime private loans, and the situation could worsen unless Congress votes to close a potential loophole in the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
The United States has long granted trade preferences to developing countries that meet various criteria. These criteria, which are stipulated by the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), have changed with time — reflecting U.S. economic and foreign policy priorities.
While the criteria include non-support for terrorism, enforcement of intellectual property rights, and respect for internationally recognized worker rights, the GSP does not include an environmental provision.
Comprehensive and meaningful systemic risk reform must undo many of the ill-advised deregulatory measuresof the past 20 years, including the four key changes wrought by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
Even before the Great Recession of 2008, today's young adults were on track to have the dubious distinction of being the first generation in a century not likely to end up better off than their parents. Stagnant wages, job insecurity, the decline in employer sponsored health insurance and retirement benefits, rapid increases in the cost of basic expenses, soaring debt, and minimal savings have diminished the prospects for opportunity and mobility.
In a recent report from the Heritage Center for Data Analysis (2008) titled Welfare Reform a Factor in Lower Voter Registration at Public Assistance Offices, authors Muhlhausen and Tyrrell argue that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)--passed in 1996 as part of Clinton's Welfare overhaul-- is an important cause of the decline in the number of individuals who have registered to vote in public assistance agencies.
Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) in 1993 in order to increase the number of eligible citizens who register to vote in federal elections. To help meet this goal, Section 7 of the NVRA requires state public assistance agencies to provide voter registration services to applicants and clients. Recent research has indicated that the number of voter registration applications from public assistance agencies has de- clined 79 percent since initial implementation of the law in 1995.
Credit card debt continues to threaten the financial stability of many low- and middle-income families in the United States, hampering their ability to save and move up the economic ladder. When shortfalls arise, credit has been the only available safety net to help these families make ends meet. In this economic crisis, even though America’s households took on less credit card debt in 2008 than the year before, high levels of revolving debt from previous charges and compounding interest keep balances high and trap families in a vicious cycle.
Over the past eight years, even as the U.S. signed a number of new bilateral trade pacts, the U.S. government actually decreased its capacity for promoting strong labor standards and enforcing the labor provisions of trade agreements. The Bush Administration sought to slash funding for the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) at the U.S. Department of Labor and, though it wasn't entirely successful in this effort, it still managed to significantly downsize the agency.