A group of civil-rights organizations, including the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the think tank Demos, and the ACLU of Ohio, filed a lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted challenging the supplemental process’s legality in early 2016.
The Supreme Court granted Ohio’s petition for certiorari in the case of Husted v. Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI). The case addresses Ohio’s Supplemental Process, a practice of targeting voters who fail to vote in a two-year period for eventual cancellation of their registrations – even if they have not moved and are still fully eligible to vote.
“It doesn’t do anything to address the root problems of college affordability and of rising student debt,” said Mark Huelsman, a senior policy analyst at Demos, a left-leaning think tank. Those include state disinvestment in higher education, a trend that the federal government could help reverse, according to Huelsman, by using federal money to encourage states to up their investment in their public colleges. [...]
New York, New York — Today, Demos, Every Voice, People for the American Way, and 21 other organizations sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing Judge Amul Thapar’s confirmation to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The organizations called into question Judge Thapar’s troubling record on money in politics, noting that they are deeply concerned with the growing role of big money in American politics.
Washington, DC – President Trump signed an executive order today formatting a “Presidential Commission for Election Integrity.” In response to these reports, Brenda Wright, Vice President for Policy and Legal Strategies at Demos said:
LatinoJustice and Dēmos submitted an amici curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a petition for certiorari challenging Michigan’s controversial Emergency Manager Law, Public Act (PA) 436.
A 2015 report by Demosfound that California had one of the country’s the lowest ratios of DMV voter registration applications to DMV transactions, between 0.01 and 0.1. [...]
Legal Action taken due to State’s Failure to Comply with "Motor Voter" Law
SACRAMENTO, CA —Voting rights groups filed a federal lawsuit today against California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for its failure to offer federally mandated voter registration opportunities to millions of Californians.
Since 2006, states across the country have implemented strict voter ID laws, which require photo identification at polling places. Extensive research has suggested that these laws are motivated by racism and partisanship.
New York became the first state in the country to return to a guarantee of tuition-free college for students at state public colleges and universities.
New York’s plan is a step forward in returning to the days when students could work their way through public college without taking on debt. But the impact on reducing the need to borrow may be minimal, especially for first-generation, low-wealth students.
New York approved a state budget Sunday that included the Excelsior Scholarship, which will allow students whose families earn less than $125,000 a year to attend state public colleges and universities tuition-free.
April 9, 2017 (New York, NY) -- Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy and Research at Demos, released the following statement after New York became the first state in the country to pass tuition-free college:
Judge Neil Gorsuch’s troubling record on money in politics and concern that he’ll tilt our elections even more toward the wealthy and powerful is a key reason to oppose his lifetime confirmation to the Supreme Court, at least 20 U.S. Senators have said in their statements opposing him.