Last week, Massachusetts became the latest state to either settle or lose in litigation over complaints that it wasn’t providing adequate voter registration services at welfare offices.
The settlement is part of a broad effort by voting rights groups to reverse the decline in voter registrations at public assistance offices, which Congress intended to serve as a mechanism for signing up low-income voters. National voting rights groups argue that the decline in registrations is because of improper implementation by staff at government welfare offices. (...)
On Thursday, a day on which many New Yorkers were squinting in what seemed like the first full sunlight in months, New York Mayor de Blasio announced at Gracie Mansion that he, along with a number of other leading progressives, was putting forward a vision for how to address income inequality. Speaking first, de Blasio said that the group had come together to formulate a template for how best to conquer income inequality, which, he said, is worse today than it was at the height of the Great Depression.
Having to register to vote is a practical barrier for some people, especially those who are poor and marginalized. So shifting that burden to the state leads to more people voting.
President Obama's recent comments on universal voting have spurred a debate about how such a policy would influence elections. On the Monkey Cage blog, John Sides examines the partisan consequences and argues that turnout would generally benefit Democrats, but that the effect would be modest.
In the wake of the recent gutting of the Voting Rights Act, partisans were quick to jump on the opportunity to restrict unfavorable voters. Across the country, conservatives in particular have debated fiercely whether to pursue voter suppression to remain competitive in an increasingly diverse electorate.
Barring a dramatic scandal or an unforeseen event, Hillary Clinton will be the 2016 Democratic party nominee for president. While many on the left have complained about her close ties to banks and her past unwillingness to tackle inequality, such complaints are unlikely to be solved by any challenger. Progressives should instead begin creating the infrastructure to shift American politics in a more progressive direction -- and do so while supporting Clinton in 2016.
To date, the Senate has been mostly unsupportive of the Moreland Commission's proposals. The good government groups are hopeful the current wake of scandal will be enough to finally persuade lawmakers to enact real change.
"We think that should be a wakeup call now to the Senate," Scharff said.
"This is not only a political decision,” said Emmanuel Caicedo, a senior campaign strategist with Demos. “This is a moment where our leaders can make a moral and ethical choice about whose voices matter."
This resource guide is intended to help advocates and local leaders make common-sense improvements to current voter removal practices and oppose bad bills that limit access to the ballot.
Leaders must reject false choices rooted in the idea that social and economic advancement is a zero-sum game or that working-class people must spar over scraps while all the spoils go to the elite few.
These executive actions are a clear signal of this administration’s enduring hostility toward the fundamental right to vote, citizenship for immigrants, and empowered workers.
The concurrence of today’s presidential inauguration and Martin Luther King Jr. Dayunderscores the promise of the multiracial democracy Dr. King envisioned and highlights the stark test our country is about to embark on.
The SAVE Act would gut third-party voter registration, a method more often used by Black and brown voters and other groups that have historically faced greater hurdles in voting.
Ending birthright citizenship would deprive millions of Americans of their foundational right to a representative government and would fundamentally alter and degrade the democratic equality that all citizens enjoy.
These proof of citizenship bills capitalize on anti-immigrant sentiment and perpetuate outright lies to justify restrictive practices that will make it harder for everyone to vote.
The administration’s detention and removal of immigrants without free speech, due process, and judicial authority is a crisis for immigrants and a sign that our democracy is in peril.
