Politics

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.  

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.