Brennan Center
Monday numbers: A closer look at the political pressure on local election officials (and the problems it’s causing)
"We will make sure not one single vote in this state is either cast or counted without Republican observers and attorneys in the room," said state Republican Party chair Michael Whatley at last week's Wake County Republican Party convention. The pledge to ramp up political scrutiny of polling sites ahead of the mid-term elections comes at a time that election officials nationwide are raising an alarm about the polarized voting environment.
Voting snafus in Texas primary show what may be on the way for other states
HOUSTON — Standing outside a polling location in the historically Black neighborhood of Kashmere Gardens on Election Day, lieutenant governor candidate Carla Brailey predicted that Texas’ performance in 2022’s first primary would gain national attention — no matter the outcome. Texas is already a model for other Republican-controlled states for its new law that makes it much tougher to vote for many elderly, low-income and non-white citizens, said Brailey, who went on to lose in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Must read report: The explosive growth in spending on judicial elections
In "The Politics of Judicial Elections, 2019-20," Brennan Center for Justice experts explain how and why special interests are spending more than ever on state high court races In 2019–20, state supreme court elections attracted more money — including more spending by special interests — than any judicial election cycle in history, posing a serious threat to the appearance and reality of justice across the country.
August 5 Crucial Conversation: Theodore Johnson on his new book, “When the Stars Begin to Fall”
Join us Thursday, August 5 at 2:00 p.m. for a very special (and virtual) Crucial Conversation: Author, scholar, and former U.S. Navy Commander Theodore Johnson, discusses his new book, "When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America"
With state elections bill sleight of hand, GOP seeks to revive enjoined voter ID law
Republicans add language in effort to circumvent two court injunctions; final vote today What started as a bipartisan effort to address the challenge of administering an election during the COVID-19 pandemic has devolved into a battle over another Republican attempt to require North Carolinians to show a photo ID to cast a ballot in November.
Kentucky restores voting rights to thousands of non-violent ex-felons
Kentucky governor Steve Beshear announced today that he would be ordering the restoration of voting rights to some 170,000 non-violent ex-felons who have completed their sentences, a step that would bring that state in line with others offering the same reinstatement. Kentucky had been one of the last states still permanently barring convicted felons from voting, along […]
Election day voting news
As voters in the state head to the polls today, parties in the federal voting rights cases are moving forward towards a trial on the remaining voter ID challenge, according to a report filed with the court yesterday. In late October, U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder denied the state’s request to dismiss those claims on the grounds that recently enacted […]
The verdict: Justice is for sale
Andrew Cohen follows up the report released yesterday by Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice on outside money in judicial elections — particularly Supreme Court elections — asking this question: What’s the impact? Justice at Stake’s Bert Brandenburg had this answer: Here’s what we can measure: the impression that justice is for sale. Our […]