voting rights

February 15, 2017 - Gerrymandering voting district lines is one way to rob political power from people of color, but another is not drawing any lines at all. A lawsuit filed last week is challenging such an at-large voting system in one Eastern North Carolina county — and history suggests the plaintiffs stand a good chance of winning.

January 5, 2017 - As U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama prepares for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week, civil rights groups are working to block his nomination, citing his poor record on civil rights and role in targeting African-American voting rights activists.

December 16, 2016 - As North Carolina's special legislative session on disaster relief drew to a close this week, Republican legislative leaders announced a surprise special session that ended with the state's newly elected Democratic governor stripped of key powers and dozens of protesters arrested.

December 2, 2016 - A think tank founded and largely funded by GOP mega-donor Art Pope has jumped into the still-unsettled North Carolina gubernatorial race with a lawsuit challenging same-day registration — a program the legislature killed in 2013 but a federal court revived for this year's election.

November 30, 2016 - Gregg Phillips of Texas, a former Republican Party official turned conservative activist, sits on the board of True the Vote, a tea party-connected poll monitoring group that peddles exaggerated claims of voter fraud while pressing for restrictive voting laws.

November 18, 2016 - Voting changes in states no longer subject to federal preclearance under the Voting Rights Act impacted this year's election, though it's still unclear whether they affected its outcome.