New York, NY — Today, Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action announces the launch of its new Bankruptcy & Debt Clearinghouse (www.demos-usa.org/debt), an online information center containing key research, data points and analysis on trends in debt, bankruptcy and credit industry regulation in the United States.
A new report by Demos and the Center for Governmental Studies that shows that current (February 2005) legislation and proposed initiatives on redistricting in California all fail to sufficiently address the needs of the public, and suggests clear guidelines for much fairer redistricting.
New York, NY — Across the United States, families increasingly rely on credit cards to make up for stagnant wage growth and soaring costs. In order to cope, homeowners are depleting their home's equity to pay off a growing mountain of unsecured debt. This is a financial strategy fraught with serious consequences, according to A House of Cards: Refinancing The American Dream, a new report released today by Demos, a nonpartisan public policy organization based in New York.
In this preliminary analysis, Demos finds that the right to provisional ballots was violated across the country on November 2, 2004. While all the data on provisional balloting have yet to be collected and assessed, available evidence suggests that Congress and the states must revisit provisional ballot statutes, regulations and procedures if the original "failsafe" voting mandate is to be fully realized.
New York, NY — Advocates for democracy had one strong reason to cheer on election night: higher voter turnout, especially among youth, reversed a decades-old trend of low electoral participation. Although they are still counting votes in almost every state, it is clear that about 120 million will have voted in the election — an increase of 15 million voters from 2000.
The link between corporate practices and the economic security of Americans has become a major focus of public debate over the past several years. The off-shoring of new kinds of jobs has garnered the most attention, but cutbacks in employee health benefits and the under funding of pension plans has also drawn scrutiny at a time when corporate profits have been robust and executive mismanagement has been widespread.
New York, N.Y. — Today Miles Rapoport, President of Demos and former Connecticut Secretary of State, released a statement saying that tens of thousands of voters would be disenfranchised if lawsuits challenging the legitimacy of the San Diego mayoral election succeed.
New York, NY — Widespread challenges to our electoral system surfaced on November 2nd, according to thousands of documented cases of system failure collected by troubleshooters and monitors at election call-centers across the country. Problems ranged from machine breakdowns, intimidation and long lines, with many focusing on widespread errors in the implementation of new provisional ballot requirements. Some of these include:
New York, NY — On November 2nd, troubling reports of voting machine errors flowed into election assistance call centers across the country by the thousands. This pattern of system failure underscores the magnitude of ongoing problems with recording and counting votes — and election officials' lack of transparency in tabulating final results — as a threat that undermines Americans' faith that their votes will be fairly counted.
New York, NY — Today Demos, a leading, national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting democracy, voiced its strong support for rulings by U.S. District Judges Susan Dlott and John Adams barring all voter "challengers" from Ohio voting places.
New York, NY — Today Demos, a national, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting democracy, issued a statement regarding the brewing voter registration scandal in Nevada, where political consulting firm Sproul and Associates, sometimes operating as Voter Outreach of America, has been accused of destroying registration forms completed during a months-long voter registration drive.
New York, NY — Today Demos, a national, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting democracy, voiced its strong support for South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson's recent decisions regarding counting voter registration applications without "double affirmations" of citizenship.
New York, NY — Anticipating a razor-thin election Nov. 2, many election officials and political commentators are making alarmist and inaccurate claims that "new" voter registration procedures will enable voter fraud.
However, election fraud is at most a minor problem across the 50 U.S. states, and does not affect election outcomes, according to a 2003 study being re-released today by Demos, titled "Securing the Vote: A Report on Election Fraud."
New York, NY — Today Miles Rapoport, President of Demos, a nonpartisan voting rights organization, and former Connecticut Secretary of State, issued the following statement on the dramatic nation-wide shortage of poll workers:
"Election officials across the country are facing critical shortages in poll workers, falling more than 500,000 workers short of what's needed nationally. When record numbers of Americans show up on Election Day, including many new voters, we must be prepared to handle the influx.
New York, NY — Today Demos, a national, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting democracy, voiced its strong support for Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver's recent decisions regarding how to handle provisional ballots and voter registration applications.
NEW YORK — The economic security of younger Americans is eroding at an alarming pace as a result of slow wage growth, underemployment, rising costs and mounting student loan and credit card debt, according to a new report, "Generation Broke: The Growth of Debt Among Younger Americans," released today from Demos, a nonpartisan, public policy group based in New York City.
New York, NY — More than 200,000 votes cast on November 2nd could be invalidated due to improperly and illegally applied provisional balloting procedures, according to a new report released today by Demos, a nonpartisan public policy research organization based in New York.
NEW YORK — Millions of eligible voters may be prevented from casting their ballots on November 2nd due to non-existent or flawed procedures used by state election officials to purge felons from voter rolls, according to a new report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union and Demos, as part of the Right to Vote Campaign.
In November 2004, California will vote on Proposition 62: “The Voter-Choice Open Primary Act.” Currently, voters may vote for the nominees of only one political party. Proposition 62 would replace this “modified-closed” system of party primaries with one in which all candidates for state or federal offices (except for presidential electors) run in a single primary election and only the top-two vote recipients are allowed to run in the general election.
Washington DC/NY, NY — Today Demos and Project Vote, two leading, national nonprofit organizations dedicated to voter registration, criticized the Department of Justice for failing to remind states of their responsibilities under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to offer voter registration services in public assistance agencies.