Elections and Voting

June 27, 2017 - While much of the country was focused on last week's special election in Georgia's 6th Congressional District, Democrat Archie Parnell pulled off a 17-point leftward swing in South Carolina’s strongly GOP 5th. His near-victory offers insight for the 2018 midterms and raises questions about the kind of candidate who can win in the South.

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 9, 2016 - This week the U.S. Supreme Court took up cases involving potentially racially gerrymandered voting districts in North Carolina and Virginia. The rulings are expected to define for the first time what constitutes excessive reliance on race when drawing district lines. 

October 21, 2016 - The deadly storm caused widespread flooding, displacing entire communities as voter registration deadlines loomed. In one Southern state, the governor voluntarily extended the deadline. But in three others — all competitive in the presidential election — Democrats and voting rights groups had to sue to win only modest extensions.

June 3, 2016 - After North Carolina lawmakers' attempt to help the reelection of a conservative state Supreme Court justice failed, a business group has spent nearly half a million dollars backing his campaign in hopes of preserving the court's conservative majority.

June 3, 2016 - North Carolina will hold a special primary election for Congress on June 7 because of a court ruling that the legislature unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts. The election is costing the state millions, with turnout expected to be extremely low. Will the debacle boost the case for independent redistricting?

June 3, 2016 - Latinos have been underrepresented among voters in Southern states, but a new study finds they are emerging as a key demographic in 2016, with the potential to be a decisive swing voting bloc in political battlegrounds like North Carolina.

May 27, 2016 - Bernie Sanders has picked five progressive members for the Democrats' platform drafting committee while Hillary Clinton has turned to party insiders — and one pick from the party chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, is a glaring example of pay-to-play politics.

May 26, 2016 - A new national survey finds Asian Americans, who are among the South’s fastest-growing voter demographics, are turned off by anti-immigrant rhetoric and increasingly identifying as Democrats.

May 18, 2016 - This week Ben & Jerry's ice cream unveiled a new flavor in North Carolina to benefit the N.C. NAACP's voter engagement efforts. The event took place in Durham, a city where ice cream has played an historic role in the fight for racial equality.