News
Historic youth turnout expected in Iowa caucuses
A historic number of young voters are set to turn out during the pivotal Iowa caucuses next month, a new poll finds. And by participating in record numbers, the youth bloc could tilt the results heavily in favor of the leading progressive candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination.
More than a third of eligible Iowa voters between the ages of 18 and 29 said they were "extremely likely" to participate during the Feb. 3 caucuses, a number that would dwarf previous turnout figures, according to researchers at Tufts University's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement and Suffolk University.
Only an estimated 11 percent of young Iowans turned out for the 2016 caucuses, when both parties had contested primaries. In 2008 and 2012, just 4 percent of young voters participated in the country's first-in-the-nation nominating contest, the researchers said.
Beverly Hills 911: City sues over 'flaw' in new voting devices
The city of Beverly Hills is suing Los Angeles County election officials, claiming that new voting devices are going to confuse voters and hurt the chances of some candidates running in the March 3 county primaries.
The new hand-held touchscreens, which the city admits are an improvement over old voting methods, contain "a severe ballot design flaw, one that threatens the integrity and accuracy of dozens of races in the upcoming consolidated primary election," according to the lawsuit, which was filed this week.
The problem is that the screen shows at most four candidates in a particular race — requiring voters to hit the "more" button to see additional contenders.
Bill would designate Jan. 24 as ‘Granny D Day’ in New Hampshire
A New Hampshire lawmaker has proposed legislation to establish Jan. 24 as "Granny D Day" to honor the beloved political activist.
A Granite State native, Doris "Granny D" Haddock was known across the country for her dedication to campaign finance reform. She died at age 100 in 2010. Friday would have been her 110th birthday.
In 1999, at the age of 88, Granny D embarked on a 3,200-mile walk from California to Washington, D.C., to bring attention to the need for campaign finance reform. The journey ended with a rally at the Capitol 14 months later.
Meet the reformer: Nsé Ufot, who's got ambitious goals for Georgia's voter rolls
Nsé Ufot is executive director of the New Georgia Project and its political arm, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, a voter registration organization founded by Stacey Abrams when she was a Democratic leader in the state House. Ufot emigrated from Nigeria to Atlanta as kid, graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Dayton Law School and was previously an executive at Canada's largest faculty union and a lobbyist for the American Association of University Professors. Her answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
What's your most disappointing setback?
I don't have any. I count them all as learning opportunities.
Debate
Hey, N.Y. Times: Don't endorse two for president. Don't even pick one.
"News organizations should show us the facts about each candidate and let us decide who to choose," argues journalist Peter Copeland.
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Worth a Listen
Looking for a crash course on a core cause of our republic's dysfunction, along with 10 of the leading proposals for fixing it? Consider spending 25 minutes listening to this WTTG podcast featuring Neal Simon. A Maryland businessman and democracy reform philanthropist, his experience running for the Senate as in independent in 2018 prompted him to write "Contract to Unite America." (RealClear Publishing, 2020) "We have a political system that incentivizes our leaders to be very divisive and to push us apart," he says at the end. "Through a set of political reforms we can change that and we can have leaders that are promoting unity."