Elections and Voting

September 11, 2013 - Plaintiffs suing over North Carolina's controversial new elections law have notified the Civitas Institute -- a conservative think tank founded and largely funded by Republican mega-donor Art Pope, now state budget director -- to preserve documents and other records related to the legislation.

September 11, 2013 - After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, Florida Gov. Rick Scott began planning to reinstate a voter purge program that had been challenged under the law. But his scheme to use a federal database of immigrant welfare benefits is drawing legal fire from advocacy groups that say it will discourage recently naturalized citizens from exercising their voting rights.

September 5, 2013 - Inspired by the Moral Monday movement, students across North Carolina are organizing a college tour to raise awareness around election protection, planning a march on the governor's mansion to protest attacks on voting, and launching a group to protect voters from intimidation at the polls.

September 3, 2013 - In a decision that holds important implications for student voting rights statewide, the N.C. State Board of Elections overruled a local elections board that barred Montravias King -- a student at historically black Elizabeth City State University -- from running for local office because he registered to vote at his campus dormitory.

August 29, 2013 - The conservative mega-donor, now the state budget director, played important but behind-the-scenes roles in the passage of one of the nation's most restrictive voting laws, from ginning up fear of voter fraud to backing politicians who fought for voting restrictions.

August 28, 2013 - With events underway to commemorate a historic march for voting rights, legal battles are unfolding in Texas and North Carolina to defend students' right to vote and run for office, with students at historically black colleges and universities bearing the brunt of recent voter suppression efforts.

August 23, 2013 - North Carolina has been grabbing national headlines for its efforts to restrict access to the franchise, but it's not alone, as recent developments in Texas and Arkansas make clear.