A president who can attach his own new conditions to federal grants to states could use that power to undermine state autonomy on many issues - especially now that federal spending has been massively expanded during the coronavirus crisis.
From our modern vantage point, it's easy to scorn some decisions that suffrage movement leaders made. Suffrage adds context.
Plus: Yang endorses Biden, Klobuchar's antitrust bill, and more...
Fining non-voters would show that government is all about forcing people to do things just to make politicians happy.
It is unconstitutional, the 11th Circuit holds, for Florida to deny voting rights to ex-felons solely because they have outstanding fines or fees. to vote And yes, "re-disenfranchise" is a real word.
"Equally guilty but wealthier felons are offered access to the ballot while these plaintiffs continue to be disenfranchised, perhaps forever."
You have this Democrat or this other Democrat. What other options do you need?
Letting any single state go first is a mistake. But a national primary would be problematic too. Luckily, those aren't the only two options.
When politicians call to punish “disinformation,” we should worry about what that definition encompasses.
The Court argues that Amendment 4's language covers financial obligations, not just terms of imprisonment and supervised release.
It will be published by Oxford University Press in April.
Meanwhile, outgoing Gov. Matt Bevin made some controversial pardon choices as he headed for the door.
A proposition approved last week will require a majority of city voters to approve any future stadium project that uses more than $5 million in public money.
Voters won’t have to worry as much about having to choose between similar candidates or “throwing away” votes on third-party choices.
Plus: A ranked-choice voting win, a scheduled execution in Georgia, Twitter wavers on political issue ad ban, and more...
The ruling is a partial victory for civil liberties groups, who argue that lawmakers were subverting a constitutional amendment expected to restore voting rights to 1.4 million Floridians.
Written ruling says the state is violating the rights of voters as well as the presidential candidates.
This is a giant step in advancing Prime Minister Nardendra Modi's vision of India as a Hindu nation.
Even if the president's motives were partisan, a more plausible cover story would have been enough to pass judicial muster.
Incarcerated people are already paying their debt to society. What good does it do the rest of the population to take away their right to have a say?
A Florida House committee advanced a bill that would require people with felony records to pay off their court debts before they could regain the right to vote.
A new symposium outlines several ideas for improving our democratic system. All are worth considering. But none are likely to be as good as expanding opportunities for people to "vote with their feet."
We trust young people to make a lot of weighty decisions. Voting should be one of them.
More than 8 percent of the state's population is currently disenfranchised.
If its recent record is any indication, Winston Churchill might have been wrong about democracy.
There are more forms of hepatitis than there are major parties in America.
A Canadian Supreme Court decision striking down a law denying the right to vote to expats who have resided abroad for over five years raises broader questions about democratic theory.
The Introduction to the revised second edition summarizes the rest of the book, and is available for free.
Now the Party needs to register over 5,000 voters to get on the ballot in 2020, even though it already had that many before the state arbitrarily changed their registration.
A Republican representative lost his seat in the new instant runoff system, so he sued.
Given only two candidates from the same party, millions just don't choose at all.
Few will agree with Cambridge political scientist David Runciman's proposal to lower the voting age to 6. But standard reasons for rejecting the idea raise serious questions about many adult voters, too.
Bush lost because voters punished him for the recession of the early 1990s - an event he did not cause. This is just one example of a broader phenomenon of voters rewarding and punishing politicians for things they do not control.
Watch the Oxford-style debate hosted by the Soho Forum.
But not according Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin fails to get a majority vote. Jared Golden joins the House's new Democratic majority.
Also, are people putting on disguises so they can vote more than once?
Bruce Poliquin is currently ahead. But a new requirement that he get a majority vote could unseat him.
Plus: The FDA will ban flavored e-cigarette sales at most places, and Chris Christie is being floated as Jeff Sessions' replacement.
Meanwhile, Fargo citizens adopt a different way to choose winners of citywide races.
When it comes to predicting the outcome of an election, bettors are better.
Amendment 4 will reverse Florida's more than 100-year-old law disenfranchising felons, a vestige of the state's racist "Black Codes."
Values are important. But so is factual knowledge about public policy. In some ways, the significance of values actually makes the problem of voter ignorance more pressing, not less so.
