State Policy
October 14, 2013 -
Environmental advocates call North Carolina's 2013 legislative session one of "heartbreak," with an unprecedented number of lawmakers earning zeros on an annual scorecard. The governor also got graded for the first time, earning an F on his budget and a D- overall.
October 1, 2013 -
The Justice Department wants to subject the entire state to preapproval for any elections changes under Section Three of the Voting Rights Act -- not just the 40 counties previously covered under the law's now-defunct Section Five.
September 30, 2013 -
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce today in North Carolina that he will take aim at provisions in the state's restrictive new election law that shorten the early voting period, ban same-day registration, disallow out-of-precinct voting, and impose strict photo ID requirements on voters.
September 24, 2013 -
Activists across the country are looking to duplicate the energy and politics of North Carolina's remarkable Moral Mondays movement.
September 20, 2013 -
The Republican governor is traveling to states led by Democrats in an effort to lure companies to Texas -- an effort financed largely by corporations that risk alienating political allies and residents in the targeted states.
September 19, 2013 -
The Texas chapter of the NAACP and the state's Mexican American Legislative Caucus are the latest groups to challenge the state's voter photo ID law as racially discriminatory. The Texas fight is likely to end up at the U.S. Supreme Court, where other states like Mississippi and North Carolina that recently passed similar laws will be watching closely.
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.
