New York, NY --Miles Rapoport, President of Demos, and former Connecticut Secretary of the State, commended current Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill for championing Same Day Registration and other improvements in voting and elections.
The federal Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the State of New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) violated Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) by improperly withholding voter registration applications from certain public assistance clients.
A Vermont Partnership Bank will generate new revenue for Vermont, save local governments money, and make our small businesses, farms and consumers less vulnerable to cutbacks in lending in our state.
NEW YORK – Today Demos applauded the announcement by New York City Comptroller John Liu of a new proposal for the creation of “New York City Personal Retirement Accounts.” These accounts would be both a historic achievement and a huge step towards enabling millions of New York City workers to obtain the retirement security they so desperately need.
Same Day Registration (SDR) (also known as Election Day Registration) states have historically led the nation in voter turnout, with average turnout rates 10 to 12 percentage points higher than non-SDR states. In the high-turnout 2008 presidential election, SDR states led the nation in turnout by 7 percentage points and by nearly 6 percentage points in the 2010 midterm elections.
NEW YORK - The New York Court of Appeals today declined to hear plaintiffs’ direct appeal in Little v. LATFOR, a lawsuit challenging New York’s law ending prison-based gerrymandering.
New York, NY--Demos views the mortgage servicing deal reached today between a coalition of state Attorneys General and 5 major Wall Street banks as an important stepping stone in the effort to secure justice for homeowners victimized by the foreclosure crisis.
Washington, D.C. – Today U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Demos released a new analysis of the funding sources for the campaign finance behemoths, Super PACs. The findings confirmed what many have predicted in the wake of the Supreme Court’s damaging Citizens United decision: since their inception in 2010, Super PACs have been primarily funded by a small segment of very wealthy individuals and business interests, with a small but significant amount of funds coming from secret sources.
D.C. – This Wednesday, February 8th, Demos and U.S. PIRG are holding a press call to release a new and comprehensive analysis of Federal Election Commission data on Super PACs, from their advent in 2010 through the end of 2011. This new report, “Auctioning Democracy: The Rise of Super PACs and the 2012 Election,” details FEC data findings, lays out actionable recommendations for all levels of government, and provides vivid new infographics (for use with attribution) that illustrate the damage dealt by Super PACs.
In the midst of the worst economic downturn in decades, millions of Americans are out of work and struggling to keep up with bills for even the most basic expenses. What they need more than anything is a job. But for too many people, access to employment is blocked by the growing practice of employment credit checks. Employers in the public and private sectors now routinely check the credit histories of prospective employees and may use the information to deny them jobs.
Demos applauds the Department of Labor’s and Treasury Department’s announcements on Friday of several rule changes that would make it easier for some Americans to protect themselves against the risk of outliving their retirement savings when they retire.
NEW YORK - Richard Brodsky, plaintiff and lead attorney in the major litigation on nuclear fire safety Brodsky v. NRC today released the following statement concerning the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's denial of "exemptions" to fire safety requirements at Indian Point. Brodsky v. NRC is the leading legal challenge to the illegal NRC practice of "exempting" nuclear plants from binding safety requirements. It is currently awaiting oral argument before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
Virginia legislators are considering several bills that would make it more difficult for eligible persons to cast a ballot that will be counted, and would impose large costs for implementation. One bill requires photo identification in order to vote, while others require one of an enumerated list of identification documents. If the voter does not have identification he must sign a sworn statement of his identity and then cast a provisional ballot.
La Constitución de los Estados Unidos requiere que los distritos electorales sean aproximadamente iguales en tamaño para que todas las personas tengan la misma representación en el proceso político.
Judge Pannell ruled that, contrary to Georgia's practice, the NVRA requires that public assistance agency clients be provided with the opportunity to receive a voter registration application every time they apply for or renew benefits or submit a change of address.
NEW YORK – On the eve of the release of new GDP numbers, Demos is publishing a new report challenging the dominance of GDP in the nation’s economic and policy debates. Beyond GDP: New Measures for A New Economy illuminates the limits of a measurement that shows economic growth, as the 2011 numbers will likely indicate, against the backdrop of an ongoing national economic crisis.
State-sponsored infringement on the right to vote is not a new phenomenon in Florida. Indeed, Florida’s history of voting rights violations led Congress to require that five Florida counties seek pre-clearance by the U.S. Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before any voting changes could go into effect. That history continues to play out until this day.
A Nelson hold is a wrestling move used to pin an opponent. The Montana Supreme Court recently upheld its century old restrictions on corporate political spending, finding that the State had a compelling interest in protecting its state government from corruption, encouraging the full participation of the electorate, and defending the integrity of its judiciary.