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Voters of Color Are Helping Flip GOP Strongholds. We Know Exactly Who Should Get Their Flowers for That
There are many who will scramble to take credit—or to diminish—the surge of Democratic votes that flipped Wisconsin and Michigan blue and are on the verge of similarly flipping Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, states that helped elect Donald Trump in 2016. No matter how they arrived—be it through the mail, in lengthy early voting lines,…
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America Has Yet to Achieve Racial Equity in Cannabis Reform. New Jersey Is Hoping Dianna Houenou Can Change That
On Election Day, New Jersey became one of four states where voters legalized marijuana for recreational purposes, joining a wave of drug reform and decriminalization that has been sweeping the country since Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational cannabis in 2012. This means that a third of Americans (more than 111…
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The Cops Charged With Killing George Floyd Wanted Separate Trials. A Minnesota Judge Ruled: Nah
A Hennepin County Judge ruled Wednesday that the former Minneapolis police officers charged with killing George Floyd will stand trial together in Minneapolis, rejecting two requests made by their defense attorneys. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill said in the 51-page ruling that trying all four defendants together would ease the burden on state prosecutors and…
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Tired of Mitch McConnell? The Future of His GOP Majority Lies in the Georgia and North Carolina Senate Races
On Thursday afternoon, the future of the Senate still remained hazy thanks to two tight races in Georgia. Going into Election Day, Democrats needed to pick up four seats in order to win control of the Senate, though, in the event of a Joe Biden presidency, three seats would suffice. Ballots were still being counted…
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Waiting on the Mail: Millions of Mail-In Ballots Remain Uncounted as Legal Challenges Loom
As of Wednesday afternoon, the presidential election was still very much ongoing, with millions of ballots still being counted in crucial battleground states. In total, voters mailed in nearly 64 million ballots prior to Election Day, spurred in large part by concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, reports the New York Times. But it may take…
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The Winner of the 2020 Election Was Drug Reform
The clear victor on election night was neither President Donald Trump nor Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden—it was drugs. Voters in six states across the country backed more progressive drug laws, continuing a long march toward legalization. Among them are New Jersey, Arizona, Montana and South Dakota, who each voted to legalize recreational marijuana, and…
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SCOTUS Has Shown More Mercy to Juvenile Defendants in the Last 20 Years. A New Case Could Reverse That
Today marks the final day of voting in this year’s presidential election, considered by many to be the most consequential of our lifetimes. But no matter what result (or lack thereof) we wake up to on Wednesday, some of the ramifications of President Donald Trump’s actions will last well past the next presidential term. There…
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Robocall Disinformation Campaign Tells Flint Voters to Avoid Long Lines and Vote After Election Day
Modern-day voter suppression takes many forms: Disproportionately long lines at precincts in majority-Black neighborhoods, biased voter ID laws, and requiring the formerly incarcerated to pay off all their fines before voting, to name just a few. Political disinformation campaigns, in which individuals and groups spread information they know to be false or misleading, can also…
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Voters of Color in 2 Key Swing States Are Seeing Their Mail Ballots Returned at Higher Rates Than White Voters
Florida and Georgia—two crucial battleground states in the 2020 election—are rejecting mailed-in ballots from voters of color at substantially higher rates than those from white voters, according to a recent analysis by NBC News and the Democratic political data firm TargetSmart. According to NBC News, the data looks at mailed-in ballots across 11 different states.…
