voting rights 
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SOURCE: CNN
1/10/2020
Black Southerners are Wielding Political Power that was Denied their Parents and Grandparents
While the voter mobilization efforts that tipped Georgia's senate races to the Democrats have been much-discussed, they capitalized on a long-term shift in the Black population to the urban and suburban south, a "reverse great migration" that will be politically consequential for years to come.
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SOURCE: Slate
1/11/2021
The Only Way to Save American Democracy Now
by Richard R. Hasen
"We need bold changes to deal with the threat to democracy from an authoritarian wing of the Republican Party that appeared ready to abet Trump’s stealing of the election, as well as the separate problem that the Republican Party can continue to consistently win elections with minority support thanks to backward American election rules we have in place."
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SOURCE: New York Times
1/8/2021
How to Ensure This Never Happens Again
by Beverly Gage and Emily Bazelon
A menu of democratic reform initiatives ranging from strictly defining the electoral vote process to abolishing the electoral college: reforms needed to stop the temptation to undemocratic rule and authoritarianism.
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SOURCE: New York Times
1/8/2021
We Need a Second Great Migration
by Charles M. Blow
Times Columnist Charles Blow relocated from New York to Atlanta and says that American democracy would be healthier if younger African Americans migrated en masse to the South.
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SOURCE: USA Today
1/4/2021
Georgia's Rural Black Voters were Ignored and Suppressed. Now they Might Flip the Senate
Takeo Spikes, a native of Washington County, Georgia, retired from the NFL to earn and MBA and serves on the board of the New Georgia Project. He says that Black Georgians are realizing their power at the polls after decades of vote suppression and political discouragement.
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SOURCE: Bill Moyers
12/15/2020
Decades of Inequality Shadow Voter Turnout in Rural Georgia
A small-town voter drive reveals why only trusted family, friends and local leaders can boost turnout in the Senate runoffs.
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
12/10/2020
The Long History of Black Women Organizing in Georgia Might Decide Senate Control
by Danielle Phillips-Cunningham
Black women in Georgia have long been leaders in building coalitions for political rights, labor protection, and equal justice under law. It's fitting that Black women have been leaders in the state's political shift toward the Democrats.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
12/5/2020
Trump’s Voter Fraud Yarn is Unraveling. But it can Still Help the GOP
Rick Perlstein suggests that the Republicans' unwillingness to condemn Trump's wild theories about a stolen election are part of a historical pattern of fear that if the electorate expands Republicans will be lose. The theories won't overturn this election, but they will be used to justify future restrictions on the ballot.
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SOURCE: New York Times
11/14/2020
Democrats Work to Defy History in Georgia Runoffs That Have Favored G.O.P.
Georgia's runoff election laws were instituted in response to a 1960s Supreme Court decision to eliminate the "county unit" system that had overrepresented white rural voters at the expense of urban and Black Georgians.
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SOURCE: MSNBC
11/7/2020
Will the Trump-Biden Election Disaster Finally Convince Us to Scrap the Electoral College?
by Kevin M. Kruse
Abolishing the Electoral College isn't a radical idea. It had bipartisan support in the 1960s as a reform consistent with the Supreme Court's rulings that established "one person, one vote" as the core principle of representation in a constitutional democracy.
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11/8/2020
There is Nothing Sacred About the Military Vote
by Rachel Gunter
After a patient count, Joe Biden has claimed victory, and fears that late-arriving military absentee ballots could be subject to litigation that might decide the election have receded. This is fortunate, because history shows parties won't hesitate to interfere with the military vote for political advantage.
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SOURCE: Made by History at The Washington Post
11/3/2020
What Modern Voter Suppression Looks Like In Florida
by Julio Capó Jr. and Melba V. Pearson
"The result of legal maneuvering in Florida is a 21st-century version of Jim Crow, now matured into James Crow Esq. The intent — to restrict minority community access to the ballot box — is the same, but the methods of voter suppression have become more sophisticated."
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SOURCE: Washington Post
11/2/2020
D.C. Man Fights to Educate Americans on the Importance of Voting
“No matter what position you have, in a democracy if you don’t have the right to have your voice heard, you cannot really be considered a full citizen,” Phil Portlock said.
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SOURCE: Made by History at The Washington Post
10/29/2020
This Year’s Elections Will Decide Whether America Witnesses A Third Reconstruction
by David A. Love
The United States has twice attempted to reorganize the nation's politics and institutions around principles of equality, and failed. A third reconstruction is needed to realize the promise of the Fourteenth Amendment.
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SOURCE: NPR
10/29/2020
The Most Sacred Right
Frederick Douglass dreamed of a country where all people could vote and he did everything in his power to make that dream a reality. In the face of slavery, the Civil War and the violence of Jim Crow, he fought his entire life for what he believed was a sacred, natural right that should be available to all people - voting.
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SOURCE: The Nation
11/2/2020
This Election, Black Women Are Leading the Way—Again
by Keisha N. Blain
Black women are continuing a long history of fighting to secure political rights in the face of efforts to deny them the vote.
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SOURCE: Slate
11/2/2020
A Giant Test for Election Law (podcast)
Election Law expert Rick Hasen joins "What's Next" to discuss the state of litigation over voting procedures as election day approaches.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
11/1/2020
My Party is Destroying Itself on the Altar of Trump
by Benjamin L. Ginsberg
"Proof of systematic fraud has become the Loch Ness Monster of the Republican Party. People have spent a lot of time looking for it, but it doesn’t exist."
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11/1/2020
The Shine is off the City on the Hill: American Democracy Seen From Abroad
by Niels Eichhorn
Viewed from abroad, the American belief that their nation exemplifies democracy has always been viewed with skepticism.
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SOURCE: New York Times
10/29/2020
The Vote Suppression Tipping Point
Have decades of efforts to stop Democratic constituencies from casting ballots become flagrant enough to inspire revenge by voting?
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