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DEMOCRACY AND ELECTIONS: Voting and politics in the South

By Chris Kromm

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Articles

  • Human Rights
  • Politics

Oriaku Njoku on envisioning a South where reproductive justice is a reality

By Jessica Agbemavor
July 15, 2021 - The co-founder and executive director of the Atlanta-based abortion fund Access Reproductive Care-Southeast talked to Facing South about the critical difference between reproductive rights and reproductive justice, President Biden's proposal to scrap a budget provision banning federally funded abortions, and what a South with true reproductive freedom would look like.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics
A man and a woman hold a Texas flag with the text "Our Bodies Are Not Your Political Playground" written on it

Reproductive justice groups fight new Texas anti-abortion law while bracing for lawsuits

By Abby Zimmardi
July 21, 2021 - As conservative lawmakers across the South further limit access to abortion, leaders of reproductive justice organizations in Texas that help people in marginalized communities end unwanted pregnancies fear for the future of their groups — and the well-being of those they serve — under a new anti-abortion law with a litigious agenda.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics
  • History

Tram Nguyen on how Virginia passed its own Voting Rights Act

By Benjamin Barber
July 21, 2021 - Nguyen, the co-executive director of New Virginia Majority, helped craft Virginia's Voting Rights Act, the first such state law in the South and the nation's most far-reaching one. She talked with Facing South about the historical significance of the law, the need for federal voting rights legislation, and her hopes for the future of voting rights.
  • Education
  • Politics

How Art Pope's money shaped UNC's toxic debate over Nikole Hannah-Jones

By Sue Sturgis
July 16, 2021 - Long before journalist Hannah-Jones' tenure fight with the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, the influential conservative policy network built and funded by millionaire businessman and GOP power broker Art Pope had turned its attention to her reporting on racism with attacks and distortions reminiscent of its dishonest treatment of climate science. Pope denied direct involvement in the tenure controversy, but his organizations' messaging carries weight in a UNC system where he's a major donor and serves on the powerful Board of Governors thanks to the Republican legislature he helped elect.
  • Politics

VOICES: How students can fight back against attacks on their voting rights

By Jeffrey Clemmons
July 15, 2021 - Texas's SB7 anti-voter bill, which was set to be considered in a special session until Democratic lawmakers fled the state to block it, is part of a wave of nearly 400 such measures introduced in state legislatures this year in reaction to 2020's unprecedented turnout by young people. There are several steps they can take to fight back, says Jeffrey Clemmons, a student in Texas and an Andrew Goodman Foundation ambassador.
  • Human Rights

Southern states' anti-protest bills face First Amendment challenges

By Billy Corriher
July 14, 2021 - As legislative sessions wind down, Republicans in states across the South are still pushing bills that could lead to mass arrests of protesters. Meanwhile, lawsuits have been filed against new anti-protest laws recently passed in Florida and Louisiana.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

SCOTUS complicates DOJ's challenge of Georgia's restrictive voting law

By Benjamin Barber
July 2, 2021 - Last week the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was suing Georgia over its restrictive new voting law, part of a recent wave of such legislation passed by Republican-led state legislatures. But a July 1 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on a Voting Rights Act case out of Arizona makes the lawsuit's future even more uncertain.
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • Demographics

Working around Republican resistance on Medicaid expansion

By Rebekah Barber
July 1, 2021 - Over 2 million adults — including over half a million essential workers — fall into the Medicaid coverage gap in states that have refused to expand the program under the Affordable Care Act, and most are people of color living in the South. Congressional Democrats from Georgia and Texas recently unveiled plans to work around GOP-controlled legislatures' refusal to authorize broader Medicaid coverage even when facing a deadly pandemic.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics
  • History

VOICES: An original Freedom Rider welcomes the Freedom Ride for Voting Rights

By Joan C. Browning
June 28, 2021 - Joan C. Browning of West Virginia took part in the 1961 Freedom Rides challenging segregated transportation in the Jim Crow South, and she recently welcomed the Black Voters Matter Freedom Ride for Voting Rights to Charleston. We're reprinting the full text of her remarks drawing on history to suggest paths to a more just future.
  • Politics
  • History

Black Voters Matter holds Freedom Ride across the South to promote voting rights

By Benjamin Barber
June 17, 2021 - This Juneteenth, Black Voters Matter will launch a bus tour through Southern states marking the 60th anniversary of the original Freedom Rides that successfully challenged segregation. The tour will promote the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and drive home the importance of confronting voter suppression.  
  • Human Rights
  • Politics
  • History

VOICES: Betraying decency and democracy in North Carolina

By Gene Nichol
June 10, 2021 - As in the South of the 19th century, we have a massive group among us willing to throw democracy away in order to assure their ascendancy. With a dominant political party committed to autocracy, we're treading new ground — at least new ground in modern times.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

Advocates unveil pro-democracy 'blueprint' for North Carolina

By Benjamin Barber Chris Kromm
June 8, 2021 - A new collaborative report from leading state and national experts highlights bipartisan policy proposals for North Carolina to improve voting, combat corruption, and promote good government.  
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

VOICES: In DeSantis' Florida, the Tally 19 face an uphill battle for justice

By Kacey Johnson
June 4, 2021 - Some of the 19 young people arrested in Tallahassee last year while protesting deadly police violence are still facing charges that carry prison time. But their push for justice continues, with the goal of one day winning a community task force that holds officers accountable.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

VOICES: A step toward occupational licensing fairness for Georgians with criminal records

By DJ Sims
May 27, 2021 - Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed into law a bill that would bar Georgia's many licensing boards from denying credentials to people on probation or parole for many crimes. That's an important step toward fair chance licensing, says DJ Sims, a reentry organizer in Georgia — but additional reforms are needed to ensure that people who've served their time are able to make a living.  
  • Human Rights

New Southern voter suppression bills face challenges in state and federal court

By Billy Corriher
May 21, 2021 - Republican state legislators across the South are making it harder for voters to cast a ballot. Voting rights groups and local officials are suing over the changes, which they argue will disparately impact voters of color and those with disabilities. But the judges with the final say are mostly Republicans.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

GOP legislators shift from voting rights attacks to election interference schemes

By Benjamin Barber
May 20, 2021 - Following an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results by far-right extremists, Republican lawmakers have introduced measures in Southern states and elsewhere across the country that could open the door to partisan election interference and vote manipulation.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Nonprofit 'donor privacy' bills would make politics less transparent

By Sue Sturgis
May 13, 2021 - Measures under consideration in states including several in the South are being promoted as protecting the privacy of people who donate to nonprofits. But because the bills don't distinguish between charitable nonprofits and those that engage in partisan politics, they could make it harder to know who's trying to influence elections.
  • Politics
  • Demographics

Census results show the South's growing political power

By Elisha Brown Chris Kromm
May 7, 2021 - While Southern states didn't grow as fast as many expected, more than half of U.S. population gains in the 2020 census were in the South, boosting the region's clout.
  • Politics

Southern legislatures want new courts to rule on challenges to state laws

By Billy Corriher
April 28, 2021 - Republican-controlled legislatures are restructuring the judicial branches in three Southern states in ways that could benefit the GOP and threaten judicial diversity. By contrast, legislatures in several other states in the region could expand appellate courts in ways that foster greater diversity on the bench.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Duke Energy PAC donates big to NC voting restriction sponsors

By Sue Sturgis
April 23, 2021 - The three Republican co-chairs of the North Carolina Senate elections committee have introduced legislation to restrict absentee voting by mail following a presidential election in which it was used heavily by Democratic voters. Duke Energy is among the top contributors to all three sponsors — one of whom is a former company executive.
  • Politics
  • Demographics

Most Southern states at high risk of partisan gerrymandering, report finds

By Elisha Brown
April 22, 2021 - Delayed census results, GOP control of Southern legislatures, and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act could lead to unfair new legislative and congressional election maps across the region, according to a new report from the nonprofit RepresentUs. Voting rights advocates say the solution lies in Congress passing the For the People Act.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

Mississippi high court could block medical marijuana and ex-felon voting rights

By Billy Corriher
April 22, 2021 - A Mississippi city challenged a medical marijuana amendment that was overwhelmingly approved by the state's voters last year because of how the signatures to put it on the ballot were counted. A ruling in its favor would also end a new campaign to restore voting rights to people with felony convictions, along with any future amendment efforts.
  • Politics

State legislatures across the South consider bills to expand voting

By Benjamin Barber
April 21, 2021 - Amid an unprecedented onslaught of legislation to restrict voting nationwide, legislatures across the South have also taken up measures that would make voting easier — and some of them have already passed into law.
  • Politics

VOICES: The fixes to Georgia's voting restrictions await action in Congress

By Wambui Gatheru Gabrielle Slaughter
April 20, 2021 - Georgia lawmakers passed a slew of voting restrictions last month that put an especially heavy burden on young and Black people. The best hope to ensure the survival of democracy is for Congress to pass the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
  • Politics

With big business backing, GOP revamps appellate courts in Southern states

By Billy Corriher
April 8, 2021 - The Texas legislature may consolidate the state's appeals courts, where Democrats have gained seats in recent elections — and watchdogs say the changes could violate the Voting Rights Act. The plan is being pushed by a big business group that has spent nearly $1 million to back GOP judicial candidates. A new West Virginia appeals court also had the support of big business.
  • Politics

Meet the South's next wave of voter mobilization groups

By Elisha Brown
April 8, 2021 - Inspired by the historic organizing work that's transformed Georgia politics over the past decade, nonprofits in the Carolinas, Louisiana, and Tennessee are taking their own unique approaches to increasing voter participation in their states.
  • Politics

Voting rights attorney Allison Riggs on fighting for an inclusive democracy

By Benjamin Barber
April 8, 2021 - Riggs, an attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, led the successful legal fight against North Carolina's 2013 voter suppression bill. She talked with Facing South about the ongoing attacks on voting, legal strategies for combating new voter suppression bills, and her hopes for the future of voting rights.
  • Politics
  • Demographics
  • History

VOICES: Georgia's new voting law is an assault on our democracy's future

By Evan Malbrough Alba Villarreal
April 1, 2021 - Young people are among those whose access to the ballot would be limited under a restrictive new voting law passed in Georgia, a state that once led the nation in empowering the youth vote. Congress should act to lift these limits and shore up young people's eroding faith in democracy by passing the For the People Act.
  • Politics
  • History

Confronting the anti-civil rights filibuster

By Benjamin Barber
March 24, 2021 - U.S. senators are currently considering whether to eliminate, reform, or protect the filibuster. The parliamentary procedure that gives the minority outsized power has a long history of being used to undermine civil rights legislation — and it now threatens to derail a bold Democratic agenda that includes voting rights and other pro-democracy reforms.
  • Human Rights

INSTITUTE INDEX: Southern lawmakers seek new ways to criminalize protesting

By Billy Corriher
March 24, 2021 - In the wake of historic Black Lives Matter protests, Republican lawmakers in Southern states have introduced two dozen bills this year that could lead to new criminal charges for protesters — even peaceful ones. Most Southern states already have at least one such law on the books.
  • Politics

VOICES: Our infrastructure failures are political failures

By Scott Huler
March 17, 2021 - Water being delivered by truck in Mississippi's capital city. The electrical grid collapse in Texas. The hacking of a Florida water treatment plant. All of these appear at first glance to be infrastructure failures, but at their root is a failure of politics.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics
  • History

The PRO Act would undo decades of Southern anti-union laws rooted in racism

By Olivia Paschal
March 11, 2021 - Passed by the House earlier this week and championed by President Biden, the pro-labor law could break the stranglehold that right-to-work laws adopted under Jim Crow have placed on workers' power in the region. But it has to get through the Senate first.
  • Politics
  • History

As states crack down on voting, advocates look to Congress

By Benjamin Barber
March 10, 2021 - Republican lawmakers nationwide have introduced over 250 bills this year to restrict voting access in 43 states — 39 bills in Georgia alone. Given the backlash against last year's record-breaking voter turnout playing out at the state level, voting rights advocates are looking to Congress and the promise of H.R. 1, which has now advanced to the U.S. Senate. But can it get past the filibuster?
  • Politics
  • Demographics

Delayed census data forces state officials to alter redistricting plans

By Benjamin Barber
February 25, 2021 - With census data now set to be released to the states at the end of September, six months later than usual, election officials across the South are scrambling to prevent major redistricting challenges.
  • Politics
  • Demographics

Extreme partisan gerrymandering sent Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress

By Sue Sturgis
February 12, 2021 - How could such an extremist end up in Congress? Consider Georgia's congressional district map, which like all state congressional and legislative maps is set to be redrawn later this year. A new report out this week finds that Georgia and a handful of other Southern states remain at risk for more extreme partisan gerrymandering.
  • Politics

Republicans ramp up efforts to suppress voting in Southern states

By Benjamin Barber
February 12, 2021 - After massive turnout in last year's election, GOP state lawmakers across the South are introducing bills that would erect barriers to voter participation.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Flood of anti-abortion legislation hits Southern legislatures

By Elisha Brown
February 11, 2021 - Republican lawmakers in states across the South are rushing to introduce anti-abortion bills with an eye to challenging Roe v. Wade in the U.S. Supreme Court, where the conservative majority has been bolstered by three Trump appointees.
  • Economy
  • Politics

A new day for labor in the South?

By Chris Kromm
January 29, 2021 - Biden has pledged to be the country's "most pro-union president." But will he and congressional Democrats succeed in passing sweeping reforms that could dismantle the barriers to labor organizing in the South?
  • Politics

New Democratic Senate majority opens path to democracy reforms

By Benjamin Barber
January 29, 2021 - Now in control of the U.S. Senate, Democrats motivated by the Jan. 6 extremist attack on the U.S. Capitol are determined to pass legislation that will combat the current threats to U.S. democracy and fortify election systems that have been undermined by voter suppression and misleading claims of election fraud.
  • Human Rights

Lawmakers in Florida and other states want felony penalties for protesters

By Billy Corriher
January 28, 2021 - GOP state lawmakers are using the recent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to justify new laws that subject protesters to harsh criminal penalties. Many of the bills were introduced last year, amid nationwide protests for racial justice. Some would bar efforts to reallocate funding from police. 
  • Politics
  • History

Political scientist Angie Maxwell on countering the 'Long Southern Strategy'

By Benjamin Barber
January 22, 2021 - The University of Arkansas professor who co-wrote a book on the Republican Party's decades-long effort to win white Southerners' support through coded and not-so-coded appeals to racism, sexism, and Christian nationalism talks with Facing South about where that approach stands today — and what the election results in Georgia tell us about its future.
  • Politics

GOP state attorneys general spread election lies that fueled Capitol riot

By Sue Sturgis
January 15, 2021 - The Republican Attorneys General Association, currently led by Chairman Chris Carr of Georgia and Policy Chair Steve Marshall of Alabama, is under fire for its role in amplifying false claims of presidential election fraud. We look at the group's history and its corporate funders — some of whom are now reconsidering their support.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

Violent far-right rallies fueled by baseless voter fraud claims

By Benjamin Barber
January 15, 2021 - For over a decade the Republican Party has engaged in a mass propaganda campaign to delegitimize the electoral process with false claims of voter fraud. Now, this strategy has sparked a violent reaction from right-wing extremists who refuse to accept the outcome of the presidential election.
  • Politics

How rural Black organizers helped Democrats win the Senate

By Olivia Paschal
January 12, 2021 - A deep, well-resourced infrastructure of civic organizations helped Georgia's rural Black Belt counties achieve the highest level of voter turnout in a runoff election the state has ever seen.  
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Who's funding the Senate's Sedition Caucus?

By Sue Sturgis
January 11, 2021 - The legal, real estate, investment, and oil and gas industries are among those that have contributed the most to the U.S. senators who were part of the effort to overturn the outcome of the presidential election. Among the companies that back spending groups which in turn have supported the Senate's election deniers are Altria Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Noble Energy, and Walt Disney. There's growing pressure on companies to reconsider their giving.
  • Politics

In the Georgia runoffs, 'poll chaplains' continue King's legacy

By Deirdre Jonese Austin
December 21, 2020 - With mail-in and early voting in full swing in the runoffs for two U.S. Senate seats, Georgians of faith are working around the clock to mobilize their communities to vote.
  • Politics

Deep canvassing effort in Georgia aims to flip the U.S. Senate

By Benjamin Barber
December 17, 2020 - With Georgians now casting early ballots in two runoff races that will determine partisan control of the U.S. Senate, organizers are going all out to mobilize voters — and that includes in-depth, heart-to-heart conversations about what's at stake for them.
  • Environment
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: What Georgia's Senate runoffs mean for U.S. climate policy

By Sue Sturgis
December 14, 2020 - The Jan. 5 runoff elections for two U.S. Senate seats in Georgia will determine which party controls the Senate — and that will be a critical factor for whether the Biden administration will be able to advance its ambitious policy goals and cut greenhouse gas emissions to a level that gives the international community a chance at staving off even more devastating climate disruption.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Meet the conservative powerbroker suing True the Vote over fraud claims flop

By Sue Sturgis
December 4, 2020 - North Carolina pharmaceutical entrepreneur Fred Eshelman gave $2.5 million to the Houston-based group to pursue claims of fraud in the presidential election, which he says they failed to take adequate action to substantiate. It's not the first time Eshelman, a big political spender who gives most of his money to outside groups, has been involved in funding ethically questionable efforts.
  • Politics

Tracking the continuing election fallout in Georgia

By Olivia Paschal
December 4, 2020 - Conspiracy theories and false allegations about the presidential election are flying around in the Peach State, with all eyes on the two January runoffs that will decide control of the Senate. Here are some of the important recent developments.
  • Politics
  • Demographics

First-time voters played a decisive role in the 2020 elections

By Benjamin Barber
December 3, 2020 - First-time voters including young people, former felons, and newly naturalized citizens proved to be a crucial voting bloc in many races nationwide including in Georgia, which a Democratic presidential candidate hadn't won in 28 years. Experts predict that these first-time voters will continue to play an important role in shaping Southern and national politics.
  • Politics

GOP maintains dominance in Southern legislatures, locking in power over redistricting

By Chris Kromm
November 20, 2020 - Democrats hoped 2020 would be their year to make gains in state legislatures across the South, which would give them greater control over redistricting. But their vision failed to materialize.
  • Politics

North Carolina election results show the persistence of partisan gerrymandering

By Billy Corriher
November 18, 2020 - Last year, courts ordered the North Carolina legislature to undo the extreme partisan gerrymandering that kept Republicans in control, even when Democrats got more total votes. But the recent election results suggest that many of the districts remained skewed towards the GOP. 
  • Politics
  • History

Election problems show why Congress needs to restore the Voting Rights Act

By Benjamin Barber
November 18, 2020 - Black voters turned out in record numbers this election cycle but had to overcome barriers to the ballot box that undermine the fairness of the electoral process. Advocates continue to call for restoring the Voting Rights Act to ensure that African American voters are protected from voter suppression.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Virginia senator's law firm promotes GOP voter fraud lies

By Sue Sturgis
November 16, 2020 - Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky, whose managing partner is Virginia state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R), was one of three main law firms involved in this year's unprecedented election litigation. That work continued the partners' longtime efforts to create the appearance of voter fraud where none exists — a gambit that's gotten the firm sued for defamation in North Carolina.
  • Politics

Conservatives make inroads on Southern high courts

By Billy Corriher
November 6, 2020 - Conservatives won supreme court races across the South this week. The results could shift Kentucky’s high court to the right. The race for North Carolina chief justice is too close to call as mail-in ballots are still being tallied. 
  • Politics

Georgia keeps Democratic Senate hopes alive

By Olivia Paschal
November 6, 2020 - Progressives in the rest of the Deep South suffered loss after loss in statewide elections — but years of grassroots organizing in Georgia paid off.
  • Economy
  • Politics

Southern workers mobilize to ensure that every vote is counted

By Rebekah Barber
November 5, 2020 - Low-wage essential workers engaged in massive efforts this year to get out the vote across the South and country. Now they're working to ensure that every vote counts.  
  • Politics

Lost House race in Arkansas shows Democrats' collapse in the state

By Olivia Paschal
November 5, 2020 - Joyce Elliott would have been the first Black representative Arkansas ever sent to Congress. But the Democratic state senator's 10-point loss to incumbent Republican French Hill in the state's 2nd Congressional District reveals a political reality that one observer calls "redder than ruby red."
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: 2020 ballot measure outcomes shape a more just South

By Sue Sturgis
November 4, 2020 - Though the South trended red in this year's general election, voters in Southern states approved progressive ballot measures that raise the minimum wage, reject Jim Crow-era election laws and flag symbolism, and relax drug laws. They also turned down measures that would have impeded this kind of direct democracy.
  • Politics

These Georgians can't vote on Tuesday. But they're mobilizing by the thousands.

By Deirdre Jonese Austin
November 2, 2020 - Over 200,000 returning citizens in Georgia on probation and parole are ineligible to vote. But many have begun to challenge the state's law, drawing inspiration from movements across the country like the one behind Florida's successful 2018 ballot measure, Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to 1.4 million formerly incarcerated people.
  • Politics
  • History

A record number of Black Southerners could be elected to the Senate in 2020

By Olivia Paschal
October 30, 2020 - The South is where most Black Americans live, but the region has sent just one Black senator to Congress since Reconstruction. That could change in 2020.
  • Politics

Could a Southern state legislature hand Electoral College delegates to Trump?

By Billy Corriher
October 29, 2020 - Legal experts have warned that election results could be delayed for days due to all of the mail-in ballots and litigation over voting during the COVID-19 pandemic. This could open the door to federal courts intervening — or legislators deciding who won the presidential election in their state.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

THE STAKES 2020: Jim Carnes on the future of Medicaid in Alabama

By Olivia Paschal
October 28, 2020 - Alabama has one of the most restrictive Medicaid programs in the country, available only to people with incomes 18% or less of the federal poverty level. We spoke with Jim Carnes, the policy director of the nonprofit coalition Alabama Arise, about how this year's elections could impact the coalition's fight for Medicaid expansion.
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • Demographics

The South's low-wage workers are building 'a movement that votes'

By Benjamin Barber
October 28, 2020 - As Election Day approaches, frontline workers and anti-poverty activists are encouraging eligible low-wage voters in the nation's poorest region to take part in this year's election in hopes of electing leaders who will support a living wage and respond to the needs of low-wealth communities.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Election Protection's unprecedented effort to safeguard the vote

By Sue Sturgis
October 27, 2020 - The national nonpartisan Election Protection coalition, now almost two decades old, is mobilizing like never before to help voters cast ballots in an election season beset by a pandemic and widespread threats of voter suppression, intimidation, and disinformation.
  • Human Rights
  • Economy
  • Politics

THE STAKES 2020: Calandra Davis on how elections shape poor Mississippians' lives

By Olivia Paschal
October 26, 2020 - Mississippi is one of the poorest states in America, and one-third of Black Mississippians live under the federal poverty line. We spoke with Calandra Davis, a policy analyst at Hope Policy Institute and a community activist, about how federal elections affect the regulatory state and thus people's access to affordable housing, health care, and banking.
  • Human Rights
  • Environment
  • Politics

THE STAKES 2020: Catherine Coleman Flowers on the environmental justice movement and elections

By Rebekah Barber
October 23, 2020 - Across the rural South's Black Belt, the lack of adequate sewage and water infrastructure has created serious public health problems. We spoke with Catherine Coleman Flowers, a longtime environmental justice activist in rural Alabama and the recent recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, about her work to draw attention to the region's intersecting crises and how grassroots activism can impact federal policy. 
  • Politics

Federal judges block efforts to ease rules for mail-in ballots

By Billy Corriher
October 22, 2020 - As millions of voters cast ballots this month, federal courts in the South shot down attempts to make voting easier during the pandemic, and some relied on a novel argument giving them more power to overrule state courts. The rulings have led to calls to expand the Supreme Court and lower courts if Democrats take the White House and Senate. 
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

THE STAKES 2020: Aranza Sosa on voting out racist officials in a rural North Carolina county

By Olivia Paschal
October 19, 2020 - Alamance County, North Carolina, has been the site of recent protests over a local Confederate monument, and its sheriff has long been accused of racism for public comments and his participation in ICE's controversial 287(g) program. We spoke with local activist Aranza Sosa about growing up in the shadow of 287(g) and the power of elected officials who come from the same background she does.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

THE STAKES 2020: Albious Latior on the power of first-time Marshallese American voters

By Olivia Paschal
October 15, 2020 - COVID-19 struck Arkansas' small Marshallese community hard, in part because of their limited access to health care. We spoke with community leader Albious Latior about the power the first generation of Marshallese Americans eligible to vote has to advocate for health care for themselves and their elders.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics
  • History

Confederate 'Lost Cause' defenders run to keep seats in Southern legislatures

By Greg Huffman
October 8, 2020 - Meet the state lawmakers up for reelection in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee who champion the Lost Cause version of history that claims that the Civil War was not about slavery and the Klan were the good guys. Also meet who's funding their campaigns.
  • Politics
  • Demographics

Organizers predict strong youth voter turnout in 2020 election

By Benjamin Barber
October 8, 2020 - Following protests against police brutality, growing anxiety over COVID-19, and now a concerted effort by Republican leaders to strengthen the Supreme Court's conservative majority, polls are showing that young voters plan to turn out in record numbers this election cycle. We look at youth voter organizing underway in a key Southern swing state.
  • Politics

Georgia court may let governor, not voters, pick a local district attorney

By Billy Corriher
October 5, 2020 - Republicans in Georgia have maneuvered to stop competitive elections for some judicial and prosecutorial positions, passing a law in 2018 that gives Gov. Brian Kemp the power to fill certain vacancies. A federal judge struck down the law, but now the case is with the state Supreme Court.
  • Politics
  • History

INSTITUTE INDEX: Confronting the GOP's poll watcher threats

By Sue Sturgis
October 2, 2020 - This presidential election will be the first in 40 years to take place without a consent decree in place requiring the Republican National Committee to refrain from voter intimidation under the guise of ballot security. With President Trump urging his supporters to go to the polls and "watch very carefully," we look at what the law says about such activity and how voting rights advocates are responding.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

Groups mobilize to pay off legal debts, restore ex-felons' voting rights in Florida

By Benjamin Barber
September 24, 2020 - The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a Florida law requiring people with felony convictions to pay off all court fines and fees before they can cast ballots again, so voting rights advocates are redoubling efforts to raise funds to help the indigent.
  • Politics

The Black Southerners hoping to chart a new path to the U.S. Senate

By Olivia Paschal
September 22, 2020 - In Marquita Bradshaw of Tennessee and Rev. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, the South has two prominent Black Democratic U.S. Senate candidates who have never held elected office before. They represent a new type of statewide candidate emerging from grassroots community organizing and advocacy work.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Voter registration deadlines loom in Southern states

By Sue Sturgis
September 22, 2020 - With cutoff dates for registering to vote approaching across the South, we take a look at this year's registration trends and how they've been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread protests against racial injustice.
  • Politics

Legal fight continues over amendments passed by gerrymandered N.C. legislature

By Billy Corriher
September 16, 2020 - In a lawsuit filed by the state NAACP over constitutional amendments passed by a legislature that federal courts found to be racially gerrymandered, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled to uphold them, reversing a lower court's decision. The group is now taking the case to the state Supreme Court.
  • Politics
  • Demographics

Southern Black women make history in the 2020 election

By Rebekah Barber
September 10, 2020 - More Black women are running for Congress than ever before, including in several key races across the South. Many of these women are already trailblazers, and now they're building new paths into politics.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

Poverty continues to prevent many ex-felons from voting

By Benjamin Barber
September 9, 2020 - As states across the country gear up for the November elections, millions of formerly incarcerated people could be blocked from voting because of laws requiring them to first pay all court fines and fees. But voting rights advocates are challenging those laws — and they recently racked up a big win in North Carolina.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Courts in Arkansas and Florida kick reforms off the ballot

By Billy Corriher
September 9, 2020 - High courts in Arkansas and Florida have blocked ballot measures that would have required nonpartisan redistricting and banned assault weapons. The courts cited new laws that raise the bar for citizens to put constitutional amendments on the ballot.
  • Politics

Election Day could mean big changes for Southern high courts

By Billy Corriher
August 26, 2020 - Southern states are holding judicial elections this year that will shape the outcome of critical cases involving voting rights and criminal justice. The elections could also bring unprecedented diversity to courts in some states.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

VOICES: Saving our burning house will take more than voting

By Evan Malbrough
August 24, 2020 - As a voting rights activist in Georgia, I understand the sacred importance of the hard-won ballot. But as a young Black man in America, I recognize that elections alone cannot save Black lives.
  • Politics
  • Demographics

More Southern states ease mail-in ballot restrictions

By Benjamin Barber
August 13, 2020 - As cases of the coronavirus surge nationwide, states across the South have begun to loosen absentee ballot restrictions ahead of a presidential election that's expected to see unprecedented levels of mail-in voting.
  • Politics

Court rejects judicial election district for Louisiana parish's Black citizens

By Billy Corriher
August 12, 2020 - A federal appeals court recently overturned a lower court ruling that required a new majority-Black judicial election district in Terrebonne Parish. Only one Black judge has served there, but a white judge was re-elected after donning blackface and a prison jumpsuit for Halloween. The case is part of a broader struggle for judicial elections that are fair to Black voters.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Meet the Trump megadonor behind Postal Service delays

By Sue Sturgis
August 6, 2020 - After North Carolina businessman and major GOP donor Louis DeJoy was appointed postmaster general in May, he announced an "operational pivot" to control costs that's caused delivery delays. Critics worry that DeJoy — who grew wealthy on USPS contracts and remains invested in USPS competitors — is a political partisan who's operationalizing President Trump's hostility to mail-in voting.
  • Politics
  • History

Will Mitch McConnell continue to block restoration of the Voting Rights Act?

By Benjamin Barber
August 5, 2020 - As the U.S. marks the 55th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, there's a political fight underway in the U.S. Senate to restore the law after its 2013 gutting by the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Politics

Trump's judges will rule on Florida poll tax, despite perceived conflict of interest

By Billy Corriher
July 28, 2020 - A federal appeals court is allowing Florida to enforce a law that requires payment of court fines and fees before people with felony convictions can vote again. The court is still deciding if it's an illegal poll tax, and Democratic senators say two of the judges are violating ethics rules by remaining on the case.
  • Politics
  • History

John Lewis's final fight to restore the Voting Rights Act

By Benjamin Barber
July 28, 2020 - As the civil rights icon lies in state this week at the U.S. Capitol, lawmakers continue to press to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the landmark civil rights legislation that Lewis nearly died fighting for.
  • Politics

Will one of NC's chief voter suppression architects back expanded mail-in voting?

By Benjamin Barber
July 15, 2020 - Before he was elected to the U.S. Senate, Thom Tillis helped carry out the North Carolina Republican Party's strategy to restrict voting under the guise of preventing fraud. Now facing a tough re-election battle amid a pandemic, Tillis is under pressure to back two bills that would increase voters' access to absentee ballots.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

A poll tax by any other name

By Dana Sweeney
July 9, 2020 - States across the country require people with felony convictions to purchase their voting rights back if they ever want to cast a ballot again. It is a mechanism that felony disenfranchisement schemes increasingly rely upon, and it marks a return to the sordid tactics of Jim Crow.
  • Politics

Southern primaries offer critical lessons for November

By Benjamin Barber
June 30, 2020 - As the general election approaches, states across the South are attempting to properly safeguard electoral processes. But recent primaries in Georgia and Kentucky reveal the challenges of holding elections without proper infrastructure in the midst of a pandemic.
  • Politics

With election in mind, Senate fills final court vacancies with Trump nominees

By Billy Corriher
June 17, 2020 - The Republican-led U.S. Senate has confirmed nearly 200 federal judges nominated by President Donald Trump, leaving the judicial branch less racially diverse and much more conservative. The few remaining appellate court vacancies are being filled by Southern judges with controversial records on civil rights.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

The GOP fight against voting by mail

By Benjamin Barber
April 21, 2020 - There's a growing push for voting by mail amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but Republicans are fighting it — the latest move in the party's decades-long campaign to limit voting.
  • Politics

Mobilizing young voters during the COVID-19 pandemic

By Benjamin Barber
May 7, 2020 - Already dealing with longstanding barriers to the ballot, voter organizations will be turning out the youth vote this year amid an unprecedented public health crisis — and they are transitioning to a virtual format for their mobilization efforts.
  • Politics

Lawsuit seeks to ease North Carolina's new limits on voting by mail

By Billy Corriher
April 8, 2020 - Calls have grown louder for states to allow more voting by mail as the coronavirus pandemic spreads. North Carolina recently made it harder to request an absentee ballot in response to fraud in a congressional race, but a group that works with black voters wants a court to strike down the changes as discriminatory.  
  • Politics
  • Demographics

Safeguarding elections amid a pandemic

By Benjamin Barber
March 27, 2020 - With daily life disrupted by the novel coronavirus outbreak, voting rights advocates are calling for action to ensure that the 2020 elections are free, fair, accessible, and secure. Here are the steps they say we need to take to protect both public health and democracy.
  • Politics
  • Demographics
  • History
Students head to vote in the Sandhills. (Photo via the Democracy NC Twitter page.)

Democratic primaries show the hard-earned power of the South's black voters

By Benjamin Barber
March 20, 2020 - When the Democratic primaries shifted from overwhelmingly white states in the Midwest and New England to Southern states with large African-American populations, so did the outcomes. But African-American voters in the South are not a monolith, and there's a significant divide between older and younger black voters.
  • Politics
  • History

Ranked-choice voting could fix the problem of ballots cast for dropouts

By Rebekah Barber
March 13, 2020 - Three Democratic presidential candidates quit the race right before Super Tuesday but after early voters had already cast ballots for them. Ranked-choice voting could prevent citizens from feeling like they wasted their votes — but it's not without its problems.
  • Politics

Two Southern states could have redistricting commissions on the 2020 ballot

By Olivia Paschal
March 12, 2020 - Arkansas and Virginia would be the first Southern states to have citizen-led redistricting commissions draw their legislative and congressional districts. Advocates hope it will help put an end to partisan and racial gerrymandering.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Behind the long lines that plagued the Texas primary

By Sue Sturgis
March 9, 2020 - Some Democratic voters in Texas waited as long as six hours to cast ballots on Super Tuesday. Observers blamed the delays on widespread poll closures, misallocation of voting machines, and one local GOP refusing a joint primary because it didn't want its voters to have to "wait in Democrat lines."
  • Politics

How the last presidential election changed rural organizing in the South

By Olivia Paschal
March 6, 2020 - The 2016 election made it clear that neither political party was going to invest in rural Southern communities for the long haul. So the people living there decided to do it themselves.
  • Politics
  • Demographics

As young voter participation has grown, so have Southern states' efforts to curb it

By Benjamin Barber
February 28, 2020 - With experts predicting record turnout of young voters this year, states across the country — and especially in the South — continue to put up roadblocks to participation.
  • Politics

Democratic presidential candidates spend big on Facebook ads in the South

By Rolando Zenteno
February 28, 2020 - Nearly $30 million in 90 days: that's how much the Democratic presidential hopefuls spent on political Facebook ads in Southern states. Where the candidates are choosing to target them provides a glimpse of their strategy for winning the party's presidential nomination.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Virginia declines to advance the national popular vote for president

By Sue Sturgis
February 27, 2020 - Though recently passed by the Virginia House, a bill requiring the state's electoral votes to go to the winner of the national popular vote for president was put off until next year by a Senate committee. Had Virginia approved the measure, the U.S. would have been three-quarters of the way toward ending the possibility of a president who didn't win the popular vote.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

Another blow to North Carolina's new voter ID law

By Billy Corriher
February 26, 2020 - Ruling that a 2018 voter ID law could disenfranchise black voters, the North Carolina Court of Appeals put it on hold last week. A federal court had already blocked the law through the state's primaries, and this latest decision means it's likely to be blocked through November.
  • Politics

Can Democrats win Southern legislatures in time for redistricting?

By Chris Kromm
February 14, 2020 - With another round of redistricting on the horizon after the Census Bureau releases new population data at the end of 2020, Democratic and Republican groups are amassing vast war chests to win state legislatures. Here are the key races to watch.
  • Politics
  • Demographics

Young Latino Southerners have a voice many of their elders don't: a vote

By Rolando Zenteno
February 12, 2020 - In November, the Latino electorate is projected to make U.S. history as the largest racial or ethnic minority in a presidential election. In the South, the children of many Latino migrants will be making history of their own by casting their family's first U.S. vote.  
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Will presidential candidates pay attention to the South?

By Olivia Paschal
February 10, 2020 - With the South Carolina primary and Super Tuesday coming up soon, some Democratic presidential candidates are turning their resources to the South — yet some states in the region are being almost entirely ignored.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics

Court will decide if Floridians have to pay court fees to regain voting rights

By Billy Corriher
January 29, 2020 - The voter registration deadline for Florida's 2020 primary election is approaching. A federal judge ruled that the state cannot require people with felony convictions to pay court fines, if they cannot afford it, to have their voting rights restored. An appeals court is reviewing that decision.
  • Politics

Will N.C. officials return shady pro-Confederate PAC contributions?

By Rebekah Barber
January 29, 2020 - Longtime elections watchdog Bob Hall has filed a complaint with the state elections board claiming that the Sons of Confederate Veterans' North Carolina Heritage PAC was unlawfully formed and engaged in illegal financing activity. But so far the elected officials who received money from the PAC aren't rushing to return it.
  • Politics

Citizens United at 10: Why fighting corruption is a racial justice issue

By Chris Kromm
January 17, 2020 - It's been a decade since the Supreme Court ruling opened a new era of Big Money influence in politics, heightening concerns over corruption and creating new barriers for lower-income candidates and candidates of color. But democracy advocates and their allies have responded by building a movement that links anti-corruption measures with broader reforms.
  • Politics

How does war affect elections?

By Rebekah Barber
January 16, 2020 - With a presidential election season underway, the Trump administration carried out a deadly drone strike in Iraq, killing key Iranian military leaders and stoking fears of another war. What does recent research say about war's impact on elections and voting?
  • Politics

Big money will dominate high court elections in 2020

By Billy Corriher
January 16, 2020 - Since the U.S Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United 10 years ago, corporate campaign cash has poured into supreme court races across the South. With seats up for grabs this year in Arkansas, North Carolina, and West Virginia, that trend is likely to continue.
  • Politics

Michael Bloomberg's Southern strategy

By Olivia Paschal
December 19, 2019 - The presidential candidate, billionaire philanthropist, and former New York City mayor hopes Southern cities will hand him the Democratic nomination. But it'll be an uphill battle.
  • Politics

INSTITUTE INDEX: Florida court could block progressive amendments in 2020

By Billy Corriher
December 18, 2019 - Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' appointments have transformed the Florida Supreme Court, which will soon review nine constitutional amendments — including a $15 minimum wage — that were proposed by citizens.
  • Politics

Sons of Confederate Veterans is funding political candidates in North Carolina

By Rebekah Barber
December 18, 2019 - The North Carolina division of the leading neo-Confederate group has a political action committee, and it's spending money to influence legislative and council of state races.
  • Environment
  • Politics

Industry money backs attorneys general pushing Atlantic Coast Pipeline

By Sue Sturgis
December 17, 2019 - Eighteen state attorneys general have signed a friend-of-the-court brief calling for construction to proceed on the legally blocked Atlantic Coast Pipeline. All of the signatories are members of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a political influence group funded by dirty energy interests.
  • Human Rights
  • Politics
  • History

The push to overturn felony disenfranchisement in Southern states

By Benjamin Barber
December 10, 2019 - With the 2020 elections approaching, efforts to repeal laws that strip ex-felons of their voting rights are gaining momentum across the South.
  • Politics

Southern states take up fight for bold democracy reforms

By Chris Kromm
December 6, 2019 - With reform blocked in Washington, voting rights advocates are shifting their attention to the states and are proposing far-reaching, pro-democracy agendas across the South. While the plans face an uphill battle, advocates see their efforts as a chance to be proactive after years of playing legal and political defense.
Chris Kromm

Chris Kromm

@chriskromm

Chris Kromm is executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies and publisher of the Institute's online magazine, Facing South.

Email Chris

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