voter suppression
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The GOP Keeps Quietly Purging Black Voters—and Democrats Aren’t Doing Anything About It
When both Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Marcel Groen and the North Carolina Democratic Party’s deputy executive director, Douglass Wilson, were asked about a little-known, but nasty, national voter-purge effort called “Interstate Crosscheck” in their respective states during a broadcast of Reality Check, this author’s daily public-affairs radio program on Philadelphia’s WURD, neither could say what…
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Stop Playing: Impeachment Is Not a Black Political Strategy
Since the election of President Donald Trump, black political leaders have seemingly led the charge as public Democratic Party surrogates calling for impeachment. When everyone else couldn’t quite fathom Trump as a real-life Manchurian candidate, the black political and pundit class (to its credit) was already gnawing strong at the Trump-Putin link while vigorously questioning…
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The Troubling History of ‘the Most Racist Politician in America’
He goes by many names. The director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project refers to him as “the king of voter suppression.” Kansas’ state Senate minority leader called him “the most racist politician in America today.” Until the newly written Muslim ban goes into effect, he still holds the title of “architect…
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This Is What Happened When Boost Mobile Came Up With a Solution to Voting Inequality
In the running conversation about voter-identification laws, roll purging and the efforts to decrease minorities’ access to the ballot box, the ongoing dialogue often omits the No. 1 form of voter suppression: time. Time makes it difficult for some poor and minority people to vote. Single parents, people who work multiple jobs and people whose…
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This Secret Form of Voter Suppression Might Be the Civil Rights Issue of Our Time
When federal judge Nelva Gonzales struck down Texas’ discriminatory voter-identification law on Monday, voting rights advocates applauded the ruling as if the minorities barred from casting ballots had won the Super Bowl. Amy Rudd, the attorney who represented the NAACP Texas State Conference and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said, “We hope today’s decision sends…
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Jeff Sessions Is the New Jim Crow
Perhaps the worst thing about America’s mistreatment of black people in this country has nothing to do with the violence inflicted against us or the centuries of historic subjugation we’ve endured. It is the constant disregard for our voices that frustrates us most. Black America is the neighbor in the horror movie who warns the…
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Was the 2016 Election Stolen by Massive Voter Suppression?
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s effort to recount the vote in states Donald Trump closely won continued this weekend after a brief stutter step when Stein said that she ended, but then resumed, her efforts to push a recount in Pennsylvania. Stein’s actions have been called many things—the current president-elect calls them “a scam”—but…
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Voting Rights, Already Under Siege, May Fare Worse Under Trump
During the Thanksgiving holiday, President-elect Donald Trump added a bit of fuel to the increasing nationwide debate over voting rights in the wake of his election. On Sunday, railing against a push for recounts in several states, Trump sent out a tweet with this baseless claim: “In addition to winning the electoral debate in a…
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7 Ways to Stay Safe and Sane This Election Day
This Election Day kind of feels like the day you’re scheduled to get your wisdom teeth pulled: You’ve gotta do it, and it’s gonna hurt, but you’re not sure how much it will hurt. For better or worse, we’re gonna have a new commander-in-chief-elect by the end of the day. Here are seven ways to…
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Judge Issues Restraining Order to Stop Voter Intimidation by Trump Campaign
A U.S. district judge in Ohio issued a restraining order Friday that prevents anyone working on Donald Trump’s campaign from harassing and intimidating voters at the polls Tuesday. The judge’s ruling came after a two-hour hearing during which Trump’s lawyer was asked to justify the Republican presidential candidate’s inflammatory rhetoric about voter fraud, Mother Jones…