“Partisan gerrymandering distorts the political system. It’s often accompanied by the cracking and packing of voters of color to sap their political influence."
The marquee bill, which features improvements to voting, campaign finance, and ethics laws, addresses the deep political, racial, and economic inequalities that plague our democracy.
A system of Fair Elections for New York State will not only allow for candidates from diverse communities to compete, but it will help build lasting political power for communities of color.
Previously, we sued the Texas Secretary of State for a flawed voter purge list that unlawfully went after naturalized citizens, who are fully entitled to vote. The judge just ordered that they not be removed from the rolls.
On Friday, February 15, Lew Daly, Senior Policy Analyst at Demos, testified in support of New York State’s Climate and Community Protection Act. Following is Daly’s statement on the bill:
New York State’s Climate and Community Protection Act (CCPA) is a bold and necessary climate action policy for the people of New York. It will establish the strongest mandate for economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the country, requiring a 50 percent reduction by 2030 and set a timeline for achieving a 100 percent renewable energy economy by 2050.
H.R. 1 is a comprehensive proposal to address the deep political, racial and economic inequities that diminish the voices of everyday people, and particularly people of color.
Climate change poses an existential challenge to the planet. But the effects of climate change have fallen disproportionately on communities of color and working families. And the reality is that climate change has been accelerated by a coalition of corporations, donors, and policymakers who have adopted a willful blindness toward these dangers to our communities and our planet.
Albany, New York – Demos applauds New York lawmakers for passing a historic overhaul of the state’s outdated voting laws, and legislation to increase transparency around corporate donors. With this groundbreaking push for election reform, New York will shift from having some of the most restrictive voting laws in the nation to being a leader in creating a just democracy.
Demos estimates that National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) compliance work across nearly 2 dozen states has resulted in more than 3 million new voter registration applications through public assistance agencies covered by Section 7 of the NVRA, as noted in a new report, “Toward a More Representative Electorate.”
In November, a supermajority of Florida voters passed Amendment 4, which automatically restores voting rights for former felons and ends a discriminatory regime that robbed 1.4 million people of their fundamental rights. The historic amendment—the largest expansion of voting rights in decades—is self-executing, and goes into effect on Tuesday, January 8.
How our work to enforce Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act has resulted in over 3 million new voter registration applications through public assistance agencies.
Under the current system, eligible voters who are detained pretrial by the state are being unconstitutionally denied their fundamental right to vote. Ohio’s disenfranchisement of these qualified voters violates the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Voter suppression is alive and well in Florida where our election protection volunteers reported multiple voting rights violations as well as coercion during early voting and we secured an emergency order in response to the violation of a federal injunction
“In a state where elections have been won or lost by only one vote, protecting the right of eligible voters to have their voices heard will uphold the fundamental principles on which our democracy is supposed to operate.”