TEXAS Sixty Democrats in the state’s lower house fled to Washington to deny a quorum to the Republican-dominated legislature determined to adopt repressive voting restrictions. The Lone Star State is slated to gain… Read More ›
VOTING RIGHTS
Ranked Choice Voting: Yea? Nay?
NAY Virginia’s GOP conducted a nominating convention utilizing ranked choice voting (RCV) among delegates to select statewide candidates. New York City recently concluded a Democratic primary under RCV. RCV is intended to afford voters an opportunity to order choices for… Read More ›
Supremes Allow Voting Disparity Impact
Editors’ Note: Reposted from Mother Jones, July 1, 2021. The majority’s opinion that the existence of “some disparity in impact” upon racial minorities is acceptable and not sufficient to make such laws illegal. This guidepost means that any future challenges… Read More ›
Proportionality Matters
The 2020 election drew 155 million voters to the polls. On January 6, 2021, a violent mob of hundreds or more sought to nullify those votes by assaulting the Capitol Building where the Electoral College count was being conducted. One… Read More ›
Jim Crow Ate America
THE NEW JIM CROW by Michelle Alexander Book Review by Jim McCarthy Although published 11 years ago, the content, information, and observations are not only fresh for consideration today but prophetic. The author offers… Read More ›
Money and Politics, Redux
By Frank Blechman Several weeks ago, I conducted and this blog published a conversation about the impact of money in politics (Money and Politics: Making it Transparent, May 3, 2021, https://wp.me/p9wDCF-2zW). At the end, I proposed that the topic deserved… Read More ›
Yute Voting
In the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny, Vinny Gambino (Joe Pesci) immortalized the term “yute” in an exchange with Judge Haller (Fred Gwynne): Judge: “What is a yute?” Gambino: “Oh, excuse me, Your Honor, two youths.” Gambino demonstrated that his… Read More ›
Cut Nose, Spite Face
THE SUM OF US, by Heather McGhee Book Review by Frank Blechman In The Sum of Us, Heather McGhee brings over 20 years of experience into a strong and very readable case that white supremacist racism hurts white people as… Read More ›
Dillon Rule Rules
That the Commonwealth is a “Dillon Rule” state is a fact of reality cognitively and consciously known to only a small population of residents and geeks who author or edit blogs on politics. In short, the rule means that local… Read More ›