Showing posts with label voting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voting. Show all posts

Friday, February 04, 2022

Pamela Moses, a Black woman, sentenced to six years in prison for illegally registering to vote

Pamela Moses, a Black woman in Memphis tried to figure out if she was a registered voter and eligible to vote. She wound up getting accused and convicted of illegally registering to vote and sentenced to six years in prison while white people convicted of similar crimes tend to get probation.

Watch more on this story below:

Thursday, June 11, 2020

LeBron James starts voting rights group

LeBron James is creating a voting rights group aimed in part at motivating African Americans to cast ballots in November, the NBA star told The New York Times on Wednesday.

James told the Times that the idea to form the group, More Than a Vote, was fueled by the worldwide protests over racial inequality and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody.

“Because of everything that’s going on, people are finally starting to listen to us — we feel like we’re finally getting a foot in the door,” James told the Times. “How long is up to us. We don’t know. But we feel like we’re getting some ears and some attention, and this is the time for us to finally make a difference.”

In addition to looking to turn out voters, James said he wants to use his platform on social media to help combat voter suppression.

“Yes, we want you to go out and vote, but we’re also going to give you the tutorial,” James told the Times. “We’re going to give you the background of how to vote and what they’re trying to do, the other side, to stop you from voting.”

More Than a Vote will team up with voting rights organizations, including When We All Vote and Stacey Abrams’s Fair Fight, according to the Times.

James and business partner Maverick Carter are putting up the initial funding for the organization, according to the Times.

Wednesday, March 06, 2019

Rep. Ayanna Pressley Introduces Amendment to Lower Voting Age to 16


WASHINGTON  – Ahead of debate in the House of Representatives on H.R. 1, the For The People Act - transformative legislation that puts the power of democracy back in the hands of the American people, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) introduced an amendment that would lower the federal election voting age from 18-years-old to 16-years-old.  In some states, including Massachusetts, 16- and 17-year-olds can pre-register to vote so that upon their 18th birthday, they can participate in the federal election process. Congresswoman Pressley’s amendment would expand these efforts so that people as young as 16-years-old can elect members of Congress and the President of the United States.

“Across this nation, young people are leading the way – from gun violence, to climate change, to the future of work – they are organizing, mobilizing, and calling us to action,” said Congresswoman Pressley. “My amendment to H.R. 1, the For The People Act, will strengthen the promise of our nation’s democracy. I am proud to propose an amendment that will lower the mandatory minimum voting age from 18-years-old to 16-years-old for federal elections, giving young people the power to elect members of Congress and the President of the United States. In the Massachusetts 7th, young activists remind us daily what is at stake, and just how high those stakes are. Our young people are at the forefront of some of the most existential crises facing our communities and our society at large. I believe that those who will inherit the nation we design here in Congress by virtue of our policies and authority should have a say in who represents them.”

Congresswoman Pressley has stood witness to deep and meaningful levels of engagement and mobilization by 16- and 17-year-olds. Last month, Congresswoman Pressley participated in the Boston Youth Justice Rally, organized by “I Have a Dream,” a statewide coalition of youth organizers.  At the rally, Congresswoman Pressley stood in solidarity with youth advocates, demanding more youth jobs and an end to youth criminalization. Additionally, Congresswoman Pressley will be hosting a Youth Summit this summer, which will bring youth together to actively engage on policy issues that matter most to them.
You can find text of the amendment here.



Saturday, November 03, 2018

Michelle Obama calls on NAACP members to not only vote but to increase black voter turnout

In a video released on Saturday, the former first lady teamed up with the NAACP, the country's largest civil rights organization, in efforts to increase African-American voter turnout in the Nov. 6 midterm elections. Check out the video below.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

#WakandaTheVote: Activist using Black Panther screening to increase voter registration

Days after the premiere of "Black Panther," lines are still out the door at theaters across New York City.

Now activists are using the Marvel super hero movie starring a nearly all black cast and set in the fictional East African nation of Wakanda as a chance to increase African American voter registration.

Friday, July 07, 2017

Booker asks N.J. to keep data from Trump voter fraud commission

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker asked NJ state officials to reject any request from President Donald Trump's voter fraud commission for information about New Jersey voter rolls.

He said comments by Robert Giles, director of New Jersey's division of elections, didn't go far enough.

"I am alarmed by the purpose of this commission: to look into a nonexistent problem of widespread voter fraud as a guise to collect data that is likely to be used to suppress legal voting in future elections and to provide President Trump's outlandish and laughable claim that he actually won the popular vote with some appearance of legitimacy," Booker said.

Booker (D-N.J.) earlier called Trump's campaign comments about voter fraud "a blatant lie" and the commission "a thinly veiled voter suppression effort."

His latest comments came in a letter to Dennis Robinson, serving as acting secretary of state since Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno has recused herself from all election-related issues while running for governor.

Booker acted after Giles rejected the commission's request for information that went beyond names, addresses and birth dates to include last four digits of Social Security numbers, voting history, felony convictions, military service and registrations in other states.

New Jersey was one of 46 states that rejected the request in all or in part.

[SOURCE: NJ.COM]

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Trump: Black voters staying home ‘almost as good’ as those who voted for him

When many of us tried to warn our fellow black voters that staying home and not voting was a vote for Donald Trump we were ignored. Well maybe hearing it from Trump himself will finally wake some of you up. President-Elect Donald Trump bragged about this at a rally in Grand Rapids Michigan. Listen to this below.

Saturday, October 01, 2016

Early voting boosts voting among minorities

Here is the real reason Republican led state legislatures have been trying to eliminate or limit early voting in their states. African Americans who typically vote democrat tend to use it more which drives up voter participation rates among that group. George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 37 states now offer voters some way to cast ballots early and avoid lining up at the polls on Election Day.

These options are popular. About one-third of voters made use of them in the 2012 election.

But so-called “convenience voting” remains controversial: In some states, various types of early balloting has been challenged on grounds that it opens the door to fraud, though there’s been little evidence that such fraud is taking place.

Supporters of early voting say partisan politics is what really drives the objections. Research shows early voting increases turnout by 2 percent to 4 percent. In some cases, it particularly boosts voting among minorities, a constituency that tends to vote Democrat.

A GOP consultant acknowledged as much after a federal judge struck down North Carolina’s effort to curtail some kinds of convenience voting on the basis that legislators had targeted measures that disproportionately aided African Americans.

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2016/10/01/which-voters-show-up-when-states-allow-early-voting_partner/

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Appeals Court blocks Kansas, Alabama, Georgia voter ID laws

It's been a tough few weeks for Republican attempts at voter suppression. When forced to defend their blatant attempts to keep minority voters from the polls in court Republicans are failing miserably. Recently we have seen voter ID laws struck down in Wisconsin and North Carolina, and now you can add Kansas, Alabama, and Georgia to that list. George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com

A U.S. Court of Appeals on Friday blocked an effort by Alabama, Georgia and Kansas for voters to furnish proof of citizenship when registering at the polls, which opponents say disenfranchises voters, especially minorities.

The decision effectively strikes down a rule that requires voters in the three states to provide proof they are United States citizens. Elsewhere, voters only need swear that they are citizens in order to cast a ballot.

"With just weeks to go before a critical presidential election, we are grateful to the court of appeals for stopping this thinly veiled discrimination in its tracks," Chris Carson, president of the League of Women Voters, which had sued to block the new requirements, said in a statement.

The Appeals Court of the District of Columbia said the League of Women Voters had shown there would be irreparable harm if the rule was permitted, and had also shown it was likely to win the case on its merits.

It ordered any voter applications filed since Jan. 29, 2016, to be treated as if they did not contain the proof of citizenship instructions.

Alabama and Georgia, which passed provisions several years ago, have not implemented their laws while at least 20,000 voters in Kansas, where the law took effect in 2013, have been blocked from registering to vote, the League's lawyers say.

[SOURCE]

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Black voters sue over Alabama's method of electing judges

A civil rights group is challenging Alabama's practice of electing appellate judges by statewide vote, saying it has resulted in all-white courts in a state where one of every four people is African-American.

The NAACP's Alabama chapter and four black voters sued the state on Wednesday in Montgomery federal court, arguing that electing judges through at-large elections in Alabama violates the Voting Rights Act.

Alabama's appellate judges run statewide for election, just like the governor, attorney general and other top officials. The system has resulted in Republican-dominated courts — not a single Democrat is running for the appellate court seats open in November.

Alabama is one of about seven states that elect appellate judges in partisan elections, and racially polarized voting patterns in the deeply red state means elections are largely decided in the Republican primaries, resulting in a court that is not reflective of the state's population, said attorney James Blacksher, who is working the case.

Read more: Black voters sue over Alabama's method of electing judges

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

6 Ways Donald Trump Shows He Doesn't Want The Black Vote.

by George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com EMAIL

A recent NY Times article states that the G.O.P is urging Donald Trump to broaden his outreach to black voters The G.O.P which itself has no significant record of outreach to black voters should really be asking Trump not to increase but to begin outreach to black voters.

It should be no surprise that despite Donald Trump's rhetoric that "the blacks love him" polls show he will only get 2% of black voters in November's presidential election. The man has done done everything possible not to get the black vote.

In my belief the only reason Trump is polling so low with black voters is because he doesn't care about black voters or want their votes. Here are six reasons why I believe that to be so.

1. Donald Trump has refused to speak to African American organizations such as the NAACP and the National Urban League unlike John McCain, Mitt Romney and George W. Bush. These civil rights organizations are the end all be all when it comes to getting the black vote but not speaking to them says volumes.

2. Donald Trump has refused tp speak with black media, radio, newspapers, television, etc. Listeners of know the Joe Madison radio show know that there is an open invitation for Trump to show up and discuss his political viewpoints, all he has to do is have someone pick up the phone and call in. People who watch Roland Martin on NewsOne know that there is a similar invitation for Trump to go on that show. Both shows reach millions of black voters, but both shows have host who call people on their BS so that may be why Trump avoids them.

3. Donald Trump has not made visits to black neighborhoods. I don't mean flying into a city on his private jet to make a speech and then high-tailing it home. I mean going to black churches, barbershops, and restaurants where black voters are. I guess he's scared he may have to kiss some black babies.

4. When Donald Trump does decide to reach out to black voters he for some reason thought he could do it through black pastors who preach the prosperity gospel. Yup, the genius thought that a bunch of pimps in the pulpit could sway black voters.

5. He picked a former reality show star, Omarosa Manigault to be head of his outreach to African American voters. That one is self-explanatory.

6. Donald Trump just learned 3 or 4 months ago to stop calling African American's "the blacks" cause it's kinda sorta racist. Hell he just learned the term African American.

Is there still any real doubt that Donald Trump doesn't give a damn about African Americans?

George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Judge strikes down Wisconsin voter ID, early voting laws

This past week has been a busy one on the voting rights front. North Carolina's voter ID law was struck down as discriminatory. We now we learn that parts of Wisconsin's voter and early voting laws were struck down as the presiding judge saw no evidence of supposed voter fraud which the laws were meant to stop. The judge also stated that the laws did hurt minority communities. Looks like republican attempts at voter suppression are running into this very annoying thing, the truth about voter fraud. George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.com.

Finding that Republican lawmakers had discriminated against minorities, a federal judge Friday struck down parts of Wisconsin's voter ID law, limits on early voting and prohibitions on allowing people to vote early at multiple sites.

With the presidential election less than four months away, GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel said he plans to appeal the sweeping decision by U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson.

Peterson also turned back other election laws Republicans have put in place in recent years.

"The Wisconsin experience demonstrates that a preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud leads to real incidents of disenfranchisement, which undermine rather than enhance confidence in elections, particularly in minority communities," U.S. District Judge James Peterson wrote.

"To put it bluntly, Wisconsin's strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease."

Judge Peterson struck down the following provisions of the law:

■ Limits on early voting Republicans have put in place in recent years. GOP lawmakers restricted early voting to weekdays during the two full weeks before elections, thus eliminating weekend voting that was popular in Milwaukee and other urban areas.

■ A requirement that cities can have only one place for early voting. Critics have said large cities such as Milwaukee should be able to have multiple voting sites because not everyone can get downtown easily.

■ A requirement that people must live in their voting ward 28 days before an election. Previously, people had to live in a ward for 10 days before an election.

■ The system the state uses to determine if people with the most difficulty getting IDs should be provided identification for voting. He ruled anyone in that system must immediately be granted an ID for voting within 30 days.

■ Part of the voter ID law allows people to use certain student IDs to vote, but those IDs cannot be expired. Peterson found that aspect of the law is unconstitutional, ruling that expired student IDs can be used at the polls — just as expired driver's licenses can be used for voting.

■ A requirement that dorm lists provided to poll workers include citizen information. Universities provide the lists of those living in dorms to poll workers so they have an easy way to check whether students are voting in the right wards; lawmakers put in a requirement that those lists show whether the students are U.S. citizens.

■ A prohibition on providing voters with absentee ballots by email or fax

[SOURCE]

Friday, July 29, 2016

North Carolina voter ID law struck down as discriminatory to black voters

A U.S. appeals court on Friday struck down a North Carolina law that required voters to show photo identification when casting ballots, ruling that it intentionally discriminated against African-American residents.

The ruling is likely to be seen as a boost for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton going into November's election. The state is politically important as it does not lean heavily toward either Democrats or Republicans, and Clinton is heavily favored among black Americans over Republican nominee Donald Trump.

The court's decision also canceled provisions of the law that scaled back early voting, prevented residents from registering and voting on the same day, and eliminated the ability of voters to vote outside their assigned precinct.

Critics argue that voting laws enacted by North Carolina and several other states are designed to drive down turnout by minorities and poor people who rely more on flexible voting methods and are less likely to possess state-issued photo IDs.

In its ruling, a three-judge panel at the U.S. Appeals Court for the Fourth Circuit said the state legislature targeted African-Americans "with almost surgical precision."

"We cannot ignore the recent evidence that, because of race, the legislature enacted one of the largest restrictions of the franchise in modern North Carolina history," Judge Diana Motz wrote.

Voting rights advocates heralded the decision as a major victory.

"This ruling is a stinging rebuke of the state's attempt to undermine African-American voter participation, which had surged over the last decade," Dale Ho, director of the Voting Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. The ACLU was one of the groups that challenged the law in court.

[SOURCE]

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

President Obama Shows Us 5 Things That Are Harder Than Registering To Vote

President Obama has teamed up with Buzzfeed and TurboVote to launch "Turn Up the Vote," an initiative to encourage people to engage in the democratic process and register to vote.

Your vote is not only the most powerful tool we have to shape our collective future, it's easy for you to do. In fact, watch President Obama do a few things that are harder than registering to vote:

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Check out the grassroots organization Black Girls Vote

Black Girls Vote (BGV) is a grassroots organization that seeks to uplift the Black community by educating and inspiring voting age Black women to understand the public policy decisions affecting their families and communities. The organizations goal is to empower Black women to change policy through the electoral process

Vision

To improve the lives of Black Women one vote at a time.

Mission

To inspire a community of women to use the democratic process to address issues that impact Black women.

Goals

To close the opportunity gap focusing on family, community and country and lending our collective voice to policies that support BGV, Inc. vision, mission and strategic goals to:

Advance education

Advance economic development; and,

Advance quality health care while improving outcomes

Learn more, get involved, and donate to Black Girls Vote here: http://www.blackgirlsvote.com/

Sunday, March 27, 2016

U.S. states giving more ex-felons voting rights back

Baltimore community organizer Perry Hopkins, 55, is looking forward to stepping into a voting booth for the first time in his life this election season.

Hopkins lost his never-exercised right to vote when he was convicted for drug and other offenses. He gained it back last month when Maryland joined a growing list of U.S. states making it easier for ex-convicts to vote.

"To have the right to vote now is empowering. I'm stoked," said Hopkins, who spent a total of 19 years in prison for non-violent crimes, and was one of 40,000 in the state to regain his right to vote from a legislative action.

"I plan to vote in every election possible. I'm voting for mayor, I'm voting for city councilman in my district, and, yes, I'm voting for president," said Hopkins. He hopes to vote for former Secretary of State Hillary

Clinton, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, on Nov. 8.

Hopkins is among some 800,000 Americans who have regained the right to vote in the last two decades as about two dozen states have eased restrictions on felons casting ballots, according to the Sentencing Project, a prison reform advocacy group.

The restoration of voting rights has drawn support from both Democrats and Republicans as a way to improve prisoners' reintegration into society.

Read more: U.S. states giving more ex-felons voting rights back


Thursday, August 06, 2015

Federal Appeals Court Tosses Out Texas Voter ID Law

A federal appeals court Wednesday struck down a voter ID law in Texas, saying it violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act. A 5th Circuit three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the law does not equate to a "poll tax" but does discriminate against minority voters.

The 2011 law, considered one of the toughest in the country, was in effect during the midterm elections last year. It was one of a handful of voter ID laws enacted in Republican-governed states. The Texas law required voters to provide certain forms of identification before they could cast a ballot.

Read more: Federal Appeals Court Tosses Out Texas Voter ID Law

Sunday, March 22, 2015

6 points Stephen A. Smith should keep in mind when discussing blacks voting republican.

Stephen A. Smith made news for his receding hairline, naw just joking. Mr. Smith made news for his suggestion that in one election African American should vote republican. He believes and probably correctly so that the democrats take the black vote for granted, and they should be made to earn the black vote. No argument with him there. But from I heard Mr. Smith said he was asking African Americans to vote for people that they don't know.

Mr. Smith also stated that, “A vast majority of black Americans look at the Republican Party as the enemy.” He says that democrats have successfully painted republicans as such. That may be true, but I have a few points that Mr. Smith might want to keep in mind.

* If black voters did vote republican the republicans would repay them by enacting policies on education, housing, and healthcare that would be detrimental to many African Americans.

* As an elected official at the local level, I know there is one thing you MUST do if you want someone's vote. ASK FOR IT. Republicans don't come to black communities to ask, so why would anyone vote for them.

* For some reason, republicans still regard outreach to African Americans as "catering to a specific group", although when it comes to Hispanics they think differently.

* Democrats may have painted republicans as the "enemy", but that's the republicans fault for letting someone else paint their narrative and CHOOSING not to be there to refute that narrative.

* Optics. The republicans constantly do things that infuriate African Americans such as with the Loretta Lynch situation, always choosing the police side in the shootings of young black men, voter suppresion, finding new and inventive ways to attack the President of the United States, etc.

* It's not the job of black voters to for even just one election to reach out to the Republican Party, it should be the other way around.

I understand the intended point behind Mr. Smith's suggestion and thinks he has good intentions but I just don't think it's necessary to vote republican to get democrats to step up their game. Maybe African Americans just need to flirt with republicans (yes, I know that means we have to find one in our neighborhoods first but work with me here) I also don't think that Mr. Smith looked at the ramifications of such a vote. Of course that's just my humble opinion.

George L. Cook III, AfricanAmericanReports.com Email Mr. Cook

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Vote today 11-04-2014

Today's mid-term elections are important so go VOTE! This election can effect all aspects of your life so you owe it to yourself and/or your family to go vote.

Thursday, October 02, 2014

3,200 new registered voters in Ferguson!

[SOURCEOne response to Ferguson unrest from area leaders has been telling people to register to vote, and it appears they have listened.

Ferguson has seen thousands register to vote in the weeks since Michael Brown was shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.

About 3,200 Ferguson residents have registered with the St. Louis County Board of Elections since Aug. 11, out of a population of about 21,000. Board of Elections director Rita Heard Days says that’s unprecedented in a non-presidential election year.

“It’s a huge number,” Heard Days says. “Unfortunately, the record it says that there [were] so many people in the Ferguson area that were not registered, so, I’m happy to see the number’s increased.”