America needs an election process that is efficient, trustworthy, and welcoming. We need a renewed sense of citizenship and service, and a government that people can believe in.
Advocates Call for Passage of Feinstein and Kerry's "Veterans Voting Support Act"
New York — In response to the Department of Veterans Affairs' decision to modify its policy barring voter registration activity in VA facilities, today the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, Demos and the League of Women Voters submitted a letter to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein calling the VA's directive an important but still inadequate step towards protecting the voting rights of veterans.
All over America, there were plenty of reasons to celebrate women last month: August marked the 88th anniversary of the 19th Amendment's ratification, which gave women the right to vote. Women's Equality Day, which was on August 26, commemorated that victory. There are now more women in the U.S. Congress than ever (88) and 2008 was a year when a woman came within a hair's breadth of becoming a major ticket presidential nominee.
Americans are confused and anxious about trade and globalization. On the one hand, many voters fear for their jobs and living standards, worrying about rising competition from developing nations. On the other hand, many Americans see clear benefits from globalization, believe that the United States must engage in the global economy, and want poorer nations to develop. Trading Up offers a new framework for understanding and responding to this phenomenon — one that balances a commitment to markets and open trade with dramatic efforts to reduce inequities and insecurities.
New York, NY--Demos, a national public policy and research organization, is making a wide array of research and experts available to the media for interviews on issues central to Election 2008--from the mechanical challenges of the election process to economic and social issues driving voters' choices at the polls.
Election Day Registration (EDR), which allows eligible voters to register and cast a ballot on Election Day, is a reform that reduces the unnecessary disfranchisement of eligible voters that may be caused by arbitrary registration deadlines.
In remarks recently delivered at a community ministry in Zanesville, Ohio, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged to revive George W. Bush’s “faith-based initiative.” It was to be Bush’s signature domestic policy, increasing the role of smaller faith-based providers in government social service programs. The surprising announcement strengthened Obama’s claim to a new kind of politics, even as he sharply contrasted his own faith-based vision with Bush’s “photo-op” version.
New York, NY — Today, Miles Rapoport, President of the national public policy center Demos, sent a letter of support to Senators Clinton, Feinstein, Leahy, Schumer, Kerry, Wyden, Reid, Murray and Obama for their sponsorship of S. 3308, introduced in the Senate on July 22, 2008. This legislation would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to permit facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to be designated as voter registration agencies, in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act.
Demos' research on student debt reports an 11 percent rise in credit card debt among college students since 1989, leading to financial hardships that spill over onto the whole family.
Voting Rights Groups Encourage Voter Registration at VA Facilities
Washington, DC — Today, leading voting rights groups called on James B. Peake, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to reverse a recent decision that prohibits VA offices and facilities from offering voter registration and potentially registering tens of thousands of veterans.
Demos' Public Works Senior Program Director, Michael Lipsky and Demos Fellow Nicole Kazee argue that small business interests have been hijacked by powerful interest groups that do not full represent the views or interests of small-business owners. So then, who speaks for small business?
Fifteen years after NVRA passed Congress, many states are still ignoring their duty to low-income voters. Recent research and field and field investigations have indicated that states throughout the country are neglecting their responsibility to offer voter registration at public assistance offices.
Demos Legal Director Brenda Wright helps examine how high limits on individual campaign contributions disproportionately benefit the incumbent in an election.
"...a terrific new book on our dysfunctional health care system..."
-Paul Krugman, "The New York Times"
Recently named a finalist for Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, the New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Award and World Hunger Year Harry Chapin Media Award
