voting

11Nov

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Few States Ban The Presence Of Guns At Voting Sites – Which Have Long Sparked Fears Of Intimidation And Violence

A couple in Mesa, Arizona, was dropping off their ballots on Oct. 21, 2022, for the forthcoming midterm election when they saw two people carrying guns and dressed in tactical gear hanging around the Maricopa County drop box. The armed pair left when officers later arrived. It wasn’t an isolated incident. A lawsuit filed Oct. 24 by Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino noted that on several occasions “armed and masked individuals” associated with the group Clean Elections USA had gathered at drop boxes in the county “with the express purpose of deterring voters.” Voter intimidation is a crime in Arizona – as it is throughout the country. In the case of Maricopa County, a judge ruled on Nov. 1 that the actions of the individuals – who present themselves as anti-voter frau...

Online Political Election Voting System Based On Blockchain Technology

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Online Political Election Voting System Based On Blockchain Technology

We hear about Blockchain and Bitcoin every day; however, it should be noted that Blockchain is way beyond Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. It is a platform which is being used for carrying out economic transactions in the most incorruptible way. As a matter of fact, this technology can be used not only for economic transactions but for anything of value in a virtual way. Blockchain is being used in the pharmaceutical industry, fashion and accessory industry, food safety industry, airlines industry and many more. In a world where technology has reached a point where scientists are coming up with flying cars, why is one of the essential systems that form the government of a country still unsecured and rigged? With the advancement of technology, everything has become a lot more transparent and ...

5 Essential Reads – The Battles Over Voting Rights, Preventing Fraud And Access To Ballots

12Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, POLITICS

5 Essential Reads – The Battles Over Voting Rights, Preventing Fraud And Access To Ballots

President Joe Biden chose Atlanta – the historic home of the 20th century’s battle for civil and voting rights – to make a strong argument on Jan. 11, 2021, that the Senate must ditch the filibuster and pass legislation soon to protect voting rights. Biden told his audience, “I will defend your right to vote and our democracy against all enemies foreign and domestic.” After Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, Trump’s false assertions of election fraud sparked Republican-dominated state legislatures to pass bills that Democrats say restrict voting rights and place election administration in the hands of rank partisans. GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell says those charges are just “scary stories … about how democracy is at death’s door.” As part of our focus on how democracy...

Bias Keeps Americans From Voting For Candidates Of Color And Women

30Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Bias Keeps Americans From Voting For Candidates Of Color And Women

When Americans vote this fall, the candidates on their ballots will not reflect the diversity of the United States. Despite recent gains, women and people of color still do not run for office as frequently as white men. In part, this is because they face skepticism about their electability. When former Rep. Katie Hill launched her campaign for Congress in 2017, for example, Democrats told her a woman couldn’t win in her California district. In Alabama, meanwhile, when Adia Winfrey was exploring a 2018 run for Congress, a senior party official told her there was “no point” continuing with her nascent campaign. The problem? As a Black candidate, she seemed unelectable. And in Michigan, 2018 congressional candidate Suneel Gupta, an Indian-American, heard similar concerns. As Gupta recount...

Voting In A Pandemic – What’s The Best Way?

14Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Voting In A Pandemic – What’s The Best Way?

Identifying supporters and getting them to the polls are key parts of any political campaign. The pandemic, however, creates new challenges for candidates trying to convey their messages and mobilize voters. Decades of political science research have made clear that mobilizing in person, either on the doorstep or on the phone, is the most effective way of moving voters to the polls. A well-run door-to-door campaign can be expected to increase turnout by 7 to 9 percentage points; an effective phone campaign can be expected to lead to a 3% to 5% increase in voter turnout. However, even before the pandemic, it was getting harder and harder to reach voters in person or on the phone. When I began studying voter mobilization in 2005, it was common for door-to-door get-out-the-vote efforts to r...

Trump Assumes Voting By Mail Favors Democrats

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Trump Assumes Voting By Mail Favors Democrats

President Trump’s plan to destroy democracy was on full display last week, as he made the U.S. Postal Service his new battlefield, with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy leading the charge. This is coming at the worst possible time for the health of our nation, because mail-in voting is expected to surge in November as Americans stay home to avoid the COVID-19 pandemic. And for many Americans, especially those in rural communities and people (including 330,000 veterans) who receive their medication by mail, the post office is a lifeline. The reason for Trump’s action is clear: He assumes voting by mail favors Democrats (many absentee voters traditionally are seniors, who have been one of Trump’s more supportive demographics). He believes he can only “win” reelection if he makes it impossib...

Young Black Americans not sold on Biden, the Democrats or voting

5Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Young Black Americans not sold on Biden, the Democrats or voting

Most political analysts define “swing voters” as those who swing their support from one party to the other between election cycles – determining winners and losers in the process. According to this conventional wisdom, the “swingiest” voters are working-class whites in the Midwest, who supposedly hold the keys to the White House. Meanwhile, by contrast, pundits often portray Black Americans as an undifferentiated mass – loyal Democrat-supporting foot soldiers who will execute their mission for The Team on Tuesday as long as some preacher provides the right marching orders on Sunday. If these depictions have not already expired, they are certainly growing stale. Having studied electoral trends for decades, we can tell you that those undecided voters of the past are an endangered species ...

Research on voting by mail says it’s safe – from fraud and disease

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Research on voting by mail says it’s safe – from fraud and disease

As millions of Americans prepare to vote in November – and in many cases, primaries and state and local elections through the summer as well – lots of people are talking about voting by mail. It is a way to protect the integrity of the country’s voting system and to limit potential exposure to the coronavirus, which continues to spread widely in the U.S. I am a political scientist and part of a National Academy of Public Administration working group offering recommendations to ensure voter participation as well as public confidence in the election process and the outcome during this coronavirus pandemic. To meet that goal, our work has found that state and local governments will need to make significant adjustments to their voting systems this year – changes that will likely require new f...

Stripping voting rights from felons is about politics, not punishment

8Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS, SOCIAL JUSTICE

Stripping voting rights from felons is about politics, not punishment

In 2018 Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment ending the disenfranchisement of ex-convicts. Though it excluded people convicted of murder or sexual offenses, Amendment 4 restored voting rights to felons “after they complete all the terms of their sentence including parole or probation.” Civil rights groups and prisoner rights groups celebrated the election result. In contrast, Republicans worried that allowing felons to vote would tilt Florida toward Democrats. Scholars estimate that across the United States voter turnout among felons would average around 35%. If correct, this figure could have swayed several 2016 elections with small victory margins, including Florida, where President Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 by 1.2 percentage points. Florida Republicans s...

I’m a Young Black Activist in Georgia. I Don’t See Voting As the Only Answer

3Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

I’m a Young Black Activist in Georgia. I Don’t See Voting As the Only Answer

I never thought about politics purely in the context of elections. When I was growing up in Georgia, my first exposure to inequity came through my lived experience of living in a majority Black area. My first exposure to fighting inequity came through reading books. I learned about the icons of Black grassroots organizing: civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., anti-rape activist Rosa Parks, workers rights champion Dorothy Bolden. What spoke to me was their commitment to door knocking, radical imagination, hard conversation, and deep care for people they had never met. To me, that looked like the most viable path to liberation. This history taught me that when discussing the role and impact of electoral politics for Black people, the context of community is paramount. It wasn’t unti...