Reading Time: 3 minutes Earlier this year, a federal court in Connecticut allowed the NAACP to proceed in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit to challenge a widely overlooked population impacted by gerrymandering: inmates. The plaintiffs in the case allege that prison gerrymandering — counting inmates in districts with prisons during the census instead of where that person last lived —particularly disenfranchises low-income and Read More
Reading Time: 4 minutes More college students are voting now than ever. Many of them prefer Democratic candidates, so GOP-controlled states are making it harder for them to cast ballots.
Reading Time: 4 minutes By counting inmates as residents of districts with prisons — rather than where they lived prior to their incarceration — rural communities often get federal funds they do not deserve. The NAACP now wants to put a stop to this practice.
Reading Time: 3 minutes It all started with an effort to get big money out of politics. Now, lawmakers and campaign finance reform advocates might end up right back where they started. Last week, the Supreme Court remanded a Ninth Circuit Court ruling that upheld Alaska’s strict campaign finance laws for further review. The legislature passed a $500 contribution Read More
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ahead of the fifth Democratic presidential primary debate in Georgia, a state that has been mired in election security concerns and faced allegations of voter suppression, 2020 candidate Andrew Yang revealed his plan to reform US elections and increase participation. Yang’s plan is four-pronged: Combat voter suppression by restoring key parts of the Voting Rights Read More
Reading Time: 7 minutes If you want to warn Georgia officials about election security problems, you better brace for retaliation.
Reading Time: 3 minutes Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards will return to the governor’s mansion for another four years in what is being considered pushback against President Donald Trump, who stumped for his Republican challenger. Now, with just months before the 2020 presidential primary election, Edwards will need to work with state lawmakers and election officials to upgrade Louisiana’s Read More
Reading Time: 3 minutes Local and state elections were held this week, and although Democrats had historic victories, they would have had a much harder time winning had it not been for grassroots organizing to level the playing field and judicial wins. In Virginia… Democrats overcame years of gerrymandered districts to flip the state house. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling Read More
Reading Time: 3 minutes With the 2020 presidential election a year away, adversaries of US democracy will spend that time finding new ways to gain improper advantages. WhoWhatWhy dedicates a significant amount of original reporting to election integrity and covers related topics that national outlets often overlook or neglect. By launching this weekly newsletter, we aim to keep you Read More
Reading Time: 6 minutes The Minnesota senator has made election security a key part of her presidential campaign. As she is unlikely to win the nomination, it may be her most lasting and important contribution to the 2020 race.
Reading Time: 4 minutes With the FEC in disarray, watchdog groups are working the courts to test the limits of Citizens United and reveal the donors of so-called “dark money” super PACs.
Reading Time: 5 minutes Native Americans could significantly sway the outcome of the 2020 election in several states — if they’re allowed to vote.
Reading Time: 4 minutes An FEC complaint that President Donald Trump violated a federal law that prohibits soliciting information from a foreign national could produce long-awaited answers.
Reading Time: 2 minutes World leaders attending the UN Climate Action Summit in Manhattan only need to cross the East River to bear witness that delay is no longer an option.
Reading Time: 4 minutes Once-discounted voters could sway the 2020 election, as voting-rights groups registered hundreds of thousands of voters on National Voter Registration Day.
Reading Time: 5 minutes As lawmakers scramble to curb information warfare, the FEC held an unusual symposium with big tech and experts to discuss the threats to democracy online.
Reading Time: 7 minutes Without a quorum of four commissioners at the FEC, Facebook announced updates to its ad policy. Experts warn self-regulation could bring more problems than solutions ahead of the 2020 election.
Reading Time: 3 minutes Election integrity experts have laid out a blueprint for states to implement risk-limiting audits after conducting three successful pilot tests in Rhode Island.
Reading Time: 3 minutes Saying that North Carolina’s legislative map unconstitutionally favors Republicans, a panel of three judges ruled that it must be redrawn within two weeks.
Reading Time: 6 minutes Five of the 45 US presidents won their election without winning the popular vote. A movement to institute a national popular vote aims to prevent that from happening again.