Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Culling of Georgia's voter rolls moves forward

Stacey Abrams

Fair Fight Action, the voting rights group associated with former Senate candidate Stacey Abrams, failed to stop the state of Georgia from removing more than 120,000 people from the voter rolls.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

More than 300,000 people were on course to get dropped from Georgia's voter rolls after a federal judge on Monday rebuffed an emergency request to exempt almost half of them.

Fair Fight Action — the voting rights group affiliated with the state's Democratic candidate for governor last year, Stacey Abrams — sought a court order blocking the state from removing about 120,000 people who hadn't cast a ballot since 2012 and failed to return two notices seeking to confirm their addresses.

The fight over the registration lists is part of a long run of voting rights disputes in one of the country's newest and biggest politically competitive states.


The second culling of the state's voter rolls this decade was announced in October by the Republican secretary of state's office, which sent out notices to those targeted for removal.

The purge comes amid a lawsuit filed by Fair Fight Action alleging that Georgia's elections are rigged against minority voters, with precinct closures, long lines and malfunctioning voting equipment blunting the black electorate's potential impact on Election Day.

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones declined to grant the emergency request in part because he could still order the state to reverse the canceled registrations in time for the next election.

"It appears that any voter registration cancellations can be undone at a later date," wrote Jones, who planned to reconsider the issue in a hearing Thursday. "The court's ruling is based largely on defense counsel's statement that any voter registration that is canceled today can be restored within 24 to 48 hours."

After Abrams lost a nail-biter last year — amid widespread charges of voter suppression — Democrats are working to make ballot access as open as possible for next year. They are hoping that boosts their chances for ending the GOP's hold on every statewide office, including both Senate seats, and also making a run at Georgia's 16 electoral votes. But the party's chances rest heavily on a huge turnout, especially by African-Americans and people who only think about voting in presidential years.

Read More

Entertainment Can Improve How Democrats and Republicans See Each Other

Since the development of American mass media culture in the mid-20th century, numerous examples of entertainment media have tried to improve attitudes towards those who have traditionally held little power.

Getty Images, skynesher

Entertainment Can Improve How Democrats and Republicans See Each Other

Entertainment has been used for decades to improve attitudes toward other groups, both in the U.S. and abroad. One can think of movies like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, helping change attitudes toward Black Americans, or TV shows like Rosanne, helping humanize the White working class. Efforts internationally show that media can sometimes improve attitudes toward two groups concurrently.

Substantial research shows that Americans now hold overly negative views of those across the political spectrum. Let's now learn from decades of experience using entertainment to improve attitudes of those in other groups—but also from counter-examples that have reinforced stereotypes and whose techniques should generally be avoided—in order to improve attitudes toward fellow Americans across politics. This entertainment can allow Americans across the political spectrum to have more accurate views of each other while realizing that successful cross-ideological friendships and collaborations are possible.

Keep ReadingShow less
Close-up of military man holding hands with his therapist during counseling at mental health center.

PTSD Awareness Day is not only a time to advocate for veterans' mental health but also an opportunity for all Americans to reflect on the emotional responses triggered by political division.

Getty Images, Drazen Zigic

National PTSD Awareness Day: A Call to Action for Veterans and Civil Discourse

Each year on June 27, National PTSD Awareness Day shines a light on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), encouraging those affected to seek support. This observance was officially recognized by the U.S. Senate in 2010, following an initiative by Senator Kent Conrad to honor a North Dakota National Guard member who tragically took his own life after serving two tours in Iraq.

PTSD can develop after experiencing or witnessing traumatic events such as combat, assault, accidents, or natural disasters. Its symptoms—ranging from flashbacks and anxiety to mood swings and avoidance behaviors—can be deeply disruptive. PTSD Awareness Day is part of PTSD Awareness Month, which spans the entire month of June, promoting education, treatment options, and community support for those affected.

Keep ReadingShow less
International Students Cope With Growing Mental Health Issues
woman in brown sweater covering her face with her hand
Photo by Dev Asangbam on Unsplash

International Students Cope With Growing Mental Health Issues

Maeve Zhu, an undergraduate at the University of Washington, said moving to Seattle with hopes of studying computer science quickly became overwhelming.

"The hardest part for adjusting to life in the U.S. as an international undergrad was also my first year living overseas alone without my parents around me," said Maeve Zhu, an undergraduate at UW. "Trying to manage your time, your money, and your energy, all while being so lonely, the first year felt like living in a nightmare."

Keep ReadingShow less