News
Panel charged with fixing Congress is given another year to try
The House has rewarded its special "fix Congress committee" for its wholly bipartisan and relatively productive first year by extending its life for another year, giving the panel time to tackle some of the more contentious problems on its watch list.
With polarization, dysfunction and gridlock now Capitol Hill's three defining characteristics, the panel was created in January to set the stage for different behaviors to germinate — by proposing how the House could become a more efficient, transparent and up-to-date place for members to pass bills and conduct oversight, and for staffers to help them.
The idea is that it's essential for Congress to get back some of the capacity, stature and muscle ceded in recent decades to the president and the courts — and thereby recalibrate the balance of powers at the heart of a thriving federal republic.
League of Women Voters asks Georgia to stop new voter purge
Georgia's plans to remove at least 300,000 names from the voting rolls before the primary in March are badly flawed and should be delayed or dropped altogether, one of the country's most renowned nonpartisan civic activist groups says.
The national League of Women Voters and its Georgia chapter have made that request to the Republican secretary of state, maintaining the biggest problems are with the state's policy of cancelling registrations of people simply because they haven't voted in five years.
The state's plan, announced two weeks ago, is getting heightened scrutiny because the primary could be a turning point in the Democratic presidential contest and there will be three important races next fall: The parties will be competitive in a tight contest for Georgia's 16 electoral votes and both Senate seats. Republicans have won every statewide contest since 2004 but the record could be threatened if there's a big turnout from Democrats who have not been regular ballot-casters.
Online voter registration ban in Texas survives in federal court
A federal appeals court has blocked a lower court ruling that had opened the door to online voter registration in Texas.
The decision is a setback for advocates of easing access to the ballot box. They contend the nation's second-most-populous (and increasingly purple) state is being improperly strict in its interpretation of a federal law requiring states to give residents an opportunity to register when they apply for or renew driver's licenses.
But the ruling is not necessarily the final word on easing voter registration in Texas.
Meet the reformer: Kristin Hansen, moving from Silicon Valley to civic ed
After earning a bachelor's and two master's degrees from Stanford, Kristin Hansen spent nearly two decades at Silicon Valley software startups and in executive roles at both IBM and Intel. While teaching at Stanford's business school, she gave up the corporate life last year to become the founding executive director of the Civic Health Project. Her answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
What is your deepest, darkest secret?
I voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger. For a bodybuilder, he was a pretty good governor of California.
Debate
Corruption and voter suppression leave a paper trail
American Oversight Executive Director Austin Evers argues that when corruption is exposed in black and white, "it can be truly shocking — and can break Americans from viewing it as routine."
Community
Census 2020, Redistricting 2021
Common Cause Maryland and League of Women Voters of Maryland are looking for folks to help them make sure all Marylanders are counted in the 2020 census. Join them on Nov. 21 to start creating a redistricting process that that empowers people over politics.