In light of the terrorist attack in Paris, lawmakers across the country are demanding President Obama shut down our borders and stop the resettlement of Syrian refugees in America, stoking widespread fear about these men, women and children. At this moment, twenty-four governors have announced that their states will not accept Syrian refugees.
Higher turnout has the possibility of weakening the donor class’s grip on policy. It could also reduce the influence of the extreme right wing on politics. It’s not surprising that the GOP, which benefits from a low-turnout, strong-donor environment, supports voting laws that tend to reduce turnout.
According to Sean McElwee, a researcher who studies voting rights at the progressive think tank Demos, some studies suggest up to 2.5% of the population is unable to vote thanks to such laws.
Police reform in New York City just took a significant step forward, and the voices of the people most affected by unlawful and discriminatory stops are front and center.
When a federal court ruled in Floyd v. City of New York that the NYPD’s stop and frisk practice violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, it was a tremendous victory. We knew, though, that the victory was not yet complete: The task of reforming the NYPD’s practices and ending racial discrimination in the use of stop and frisk remained.
Scandal introduced general audiences to the practice of dog-whistle politics, but it’s also important to know the political consequences of dog-whistle appeals.
The voting rights groups say that among other things, the federal exchange should be offering to help applicants complete a voter registration form. Although many applicants use the exchange independently, others turn to its call center or to “navigator” groups that have federal grants to help people apply for coverage.
“The navigators aren’t receiving any training or direction that they have to offer voter registration services,” said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, senior counsel at Demos.
"The Administration strongly supports the goals of the NVRA and is committed to enforcing its requirements, as applicable,” Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the HHS' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in an email.
But the current configuration doesn't meet the specific requirements in the law regarding language and other administrative mandates, the groups say.
Voting Rights Groups Urge Immediate Action to Provide Required Registration Services through Federal Health Exchanges
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, in a letter to President Obama, three of the nation's leading voting rights organizations—Demos, Project Vote, and the League of Women Voters—urged the Administration to come into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) by providing voter registration to eligible persons through the federally-facilitated health benefit exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Finally, automatic voter registration is good politics for the Democratic Party. "Among eligible voters, some 30% of African Americans, 40% of Hispanics, 45% of Asian Americans and 41% of young adults (age 18-24) were not registered to vote in the historic 2008 election," according to the progressive think tank Demos.
Americans who vote are different from those who don’t. Voters are older, richer, and whiter than nonvoters, in part because Americans lack a constitutional right to vote and the various restrictions on voting tend to disproportionately impact the less privileged. In 2014, turnout among those ages 18 to 24 with family incomes below $30,000 was 13 percent. Turnout among those older than 65 and making more than $150,000 was 73 percent.
The key to changing public policy in key areas is increasing the number of people who vote, according to a recent report by Demos, a public policy group that supports economic and social equality.
When compared to White voters, non-White voters were more likely to support policies that increased government spending on the poor, guaranteed jobs and a standard of living and reduced inequality.
“Because of the growth of the prison industry, you’re having these artificial shifts that empower the rural communities but take power away from the urban communities,” Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, told me.
That is wrong.
In 2012, Demos — a public policy organization that battles inequality in the U.S. — submitted testimony to the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations urging it to find a solution to “prison-based gerrymandering.”
As the 2016 campaign heats up, one story that's being largely ignored is how voter turnout will affect policy. Although many people, particularly young Americans, believe that their vote doesn't matter, new research suggests nothing could be further from the truth.
NEW YORK, NY (September 3, 2015)-- Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision reinstating a case challenging the State of Nevada’s failure to provide federally required voter registration services to its low-income citizens. The case, brought by the National Council of La Raza, the NAACP Reno/Sparks Branch, and NAACP Las Vegas, had been thrown out by the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.
In the 2016 presidential election, we are approaching a singular and momentous crossroads in our nation’s history. Will we, or will we not, make a serious effort to achieve a low-carbon future for our children and our planet? The fossil fuel magnates and the GOP say no, because we can’t or shouldn’t, but more than 75 percent of Americans want our leaders to take significant steps to fight climate change, according to a poll released in January 2015 by the New York Times, Stanford University, and Resources for the Future.
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which has been both sword and shield for racial equity and inclusive democracy. And yet today, the right to vote for millions of Americans is in more danger than at any time since the passage of the law, thanks to the Supreme Court decision two years ago that struck down the most important part of the law and cleared the way for states to enact targeted voting restrictions.